Thread choke

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dwayne

Single-Sixer
Joined
Sep 22, 2013
Messages
285
Location
Eastern Virginia
Does anyone have tips or tricks associated with fire lapping the barrel to frame thread choke out of a Ruger S/S 45 Colt barrel? Mine has a pretty good dose of it. I have heard that the S/S barrels require more rounds than their blue steel brothers.
 

WOB

Bearcat
Joined
Feb 18, 2007
Messages
98
Location
Central Texas
Taylor throating is the proper cure for barrel thread choke and is likely to improve accuracy in general. Fire lapping is properly used to improve bore finish and not enlarge a constricted bore. To do so will require firing a lot of bullets that will not only enlarge the choked bore but will also enlarge the rest of the bore downstream, not a good thing. See http://www.alphaprecisioninc.com/revolver/

WOB
 

DougGuy

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jul 21, 2014
Messages
171
dewayne, I have a Taylor throated Vaquero, it dropped the point of impact with 340gr SSK TC bullets by 6" in 25yds afterwards. Mine was really severe at .4485" or thereabouts. I have the Taylor throat reamer but no FFL. If you get down towards Raleigh NC it's possible to meet in person.

Blued steel barrels are easier to firelap than SS that's for sure, and as mentioned already, if you have very much of a choke to lap out, firelapping is not really going to cure the problem without curing the rest of the barrel along with it.
 

98Redline

Blackhawk
Joined
Dec 9, 2010
Messages
681
Location
PA
While I do agree that firelapping is going to burnish the entire bore, by it's very nature it will remove the most metal at the tightest spot of constriction. Once the bullet is swaged down by the constriction the amount of actual lapping that gets performed toward the muzzle end is minimal.

Cylinder throat change is minimal if even measurable.

First and foremost is to ensure your throats are the correct size. Firelapping with undersized throats will minimize the effectiveness.

As for the blued steel vs. stainless, my stainless SBH Hunter required 100 firelapping rounds to get out the thread choke and the constriction under the roll mark on the side of the barrel. Blued barrels require normally around 25-30 rounds.

Also after firelapping, barrel cleanup is a snap. 2 patches is all that it takes. One with a light coating of Hoppes, the next dry...done.
 

98Redline

Blackhawk
Joined
Dec 9, 2010
Messages
681
Location
PA
Using a regular lap can be done, however it will not leave you with a tapered bore which is what you really want for shooting cast bullets.

Additionally, if not done correctly it is easy to over lap part of the barrel or egg it out.

Unless you are experienced in using this method, I think I would recommend firelapping.
Yes it is a PITA to make up all of the bullets
Yes it is a very dirty process
Yes it is a pain to clean after every 6 shots
Yes it can turn a mediocre shooter into a real tack driver.
 

DougGuy

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jul 21, 2014
Messages
171
Jimbo357mag said:
You can lap a barrel without shooting bullets down it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml-9oLLKYsM

That's for a 1911 style barrel, not even remotely comparable to a single action revolver barrel that has a thread choke. The thread choke will prevent a lead lap or a cast lap from even going all the way through the constriction. Firelapping a mild thread choke is possible, a severe one either needs to go back to Ruger for a rebarrel or Taylor throated to remove the choke. Trying to firelap a severely choked barrel will result in ruining the rest of the barrel before the choke is removed.
 

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