Fire Lapping Revolvers?

[Totch]

Hi Guys,

New guy here. I've been lurking for a while and I'm a huge Ruger fan. I have a couple of new to me Super Blackhawks and have been looking into the best way to accurize them. I've been reading a lot of information about fire lapping them with abrasive bullets to make sure that the bore is one consistent size from bore to muzzle. Have any of you done this process. How did it work out? Is it the answer to elimination leading with cast bullets? Would you worry about harming your revolver?

I know you can drop pin gauges down the muzzle end of your barrel and see that if it starts and doesn't go all the way down the barrel, you have a restriction. Thoughts?

Totch

 

[Three44s]

First a big welcome to the forum!

A lot of folks use a range rod for checking chamber to bore alignment.

I have read of the use of long pin gauges for checking for bore constrictions but most do that another way:

Most slug the barrel with soft lead slugs. The best of that involves using the hollow egg shapped fishing sinkers.

A good book on fire lapping and bullet fitament is put out by Beartooth Bullets. At $15 postage paid it is a gem. I have not bought their bullets as they are expensive and I am CHEAP ......... and you also have very long waits sometimes .... but THAT BOOK is well worth the nickels.

The abrasive normally applied in firelapping wears out as it travels down the bore and thus you get a tappered bore, bigger at the begining and smaller at the muzzle and that's good.

Personally, I would just shoot your guns for a time and get an idea if they even need this treatment. Even Marshal Stanton the author of the above book freely repeats that "you can not grow steel back onto your gun".

And while you are getting acquainted with and testing your gun ...... mix it up here! And do searches as there is a wealth of info as well as opinions here.

I own several revolvers and have not gotten around to fire lap any of them ........ not adverse to the process .... just cautious.

You ask if there is a down side ..........

As Stanton points out: It does not grow back on.

The biggest critisim of fire lapping I have seen is that the sharp edges of your rifling will be diminished or eliminated.

But I maintain if you have a gun that's not suiting you as to accuracy and it has legitamet constrictions and most have minor ones ........ then what's the beef?

It's your gun and yours to wear out.

I don't embrace fire lapping as the silver bullet for accuracy nor do I condemn it. It's like most other things, there is a time and place for it.

What you should do is first determine if your guns need it and there is no dead line on applying it.

Three 44s

 

[2 dogs]

Totch, go back and reread the article http://gunblast.com/FerminGarza-Firelapping.htm carefully. It answers all your quesions. I have firelapped several revolvers with this kind of results. I do understand your reluctance however I am here if you have specific questions. Be glad to help.

 

[2 dogs]

Totch, note that in the pic above the base pin oversize set screw is loose. That is because I was pulling the base pin frequently to check for leading as I shot that gun. I remember I was firelapping along and suddenly my firelap loads started to group. Then, they sucked up into a very tight group! Excited, I cleaned the gun and shot that group above. At the time I didnt have any pin gauges to measure restriction. I had Alan Harton set the cylinder throats at .431 before I started shooting. I pulled the base pin and my bore was sparkling clean and I had a nice lube star on the muzzle of my barrel. I knew I was there!!! I never had to clean that barrel again. I dont own the sixgun pictured anymore, but another forum member does and Im quite sure he can attest to how well it shoots.

You dont have to have pin gauges to firelap. You wont ruin your gun if your CAREFUL! Too many guys OVER do the process. Dont be that guy!

 

[Totch]

Firmin, you don't know how happy I am to find you here! Your article started it all in my mind. I will be in contact, you might be sorry that you offered to answer my questions! LOL!!! I'm ordering pin gages tomorrow and working towards the project. Thanks for the support and the welcome. I'm excited to attempt to rign every bit of accuracy available out of my Rugers. My shooting, on the other hand, might be an entirely different subject. But, I always want to know that any inaccuracy i have resides in me, the shooter, not the firearm.

 

[Iron Mike Golf]

The biggest critisim of fire lapping I have seen is that the sharp edges of your rifling will be diminished or eliminated.

Why is that a criticism? Is there an effect on accuracy? Or is it a cosmetic issue for you?

 

[Boge]

There is already a HUGE thread on this very topic. Did you do a search?:

http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=105618

 

[2 dogs]

Iron Mike, every revolver that I have firelapped has displayed much improved accuracy with cast bullets. I dont know how anyone could criticize that.....However, Three 44s is certainly entitled to his opinion.

Three 44s openly says he has never firelapped a gun. I believe his post above is more about welcoming a new member and summarizing what he knows/had read about the subject at hand rather than criticizing the process itself.

 

[Iron Mike Golf]

2 dogs and Three 44s, I misread that. Three 44s referred to criticisms he's seen, not that it's his criticism. Sorry about that.

Given that there's plenty of fine shooting guns using polygonal rifling, which has no sharp edges, I can't see why some rounding to the lands' edges would cause a problem.