Firelapping question

[Bucks Owin]

I've been thinking about making up a few cast bullets imbedded with valve grind compound to polish the bore of my .45 BH and have been wondering what size to use? My groove is .452" but my throats are around .455" and I shoot .454" cast bullets. Should the firelap bullets be .452" or .454"? Seat bullet backwards? Maybe a lead HP?

What about any lube? None? LLA? Super Moly? JB Bore paste?

Apparently, the velocity works best as slow as possible and I expect there'll be little or no obturation of the bullet..

I'm leaning towards a .454" MP 270 SAA with a deep HP (not the penta) smeared with JB, seated backwards and powered by a small charge of 700X to maybe get a little "bump up" via the HP...??

I'd like to hear from someone who's done this and their results... :?

 

[WMB30]

Suggest the article in Gunblast by Fermin Garza

Bill

 

[Bucks Owin]

Thanks Bill, that article is kinda what I'm going by. I don't have pin gauges, and I'm really not looking to remove any constriction. (That I know of) The gun shoots decent with .454" bullets, under 2" @ 25, just want to slick up the FC where I get a little leading, and machining marks in barrel, switch to LBT bullet lube and live "lead free" forever with the pretty blue lube!.... :wink:

 

[EDK]

I'm getting ready to cast up some 44 full wadcutters to fire-lap with. IIRC Fermin suggested using UNSIZED boolits...if they would chamber. Since you are loading VERY LOW END velocity, you won't get much if any obturation....and therefore need the largest diameter available. I've got an assortment of valve grinding compound scavenged from work to use.

Veral at LBT makes some nice lube, as well as moulds, but WHITE LABEL LUBES over at castboolits website has pretty good stuff at a lot better prices....he sells on eBay also.

 

[Bucks Owin]

Am gonna load five .454" MP 45 270 SAA HPs backwards to tee off and see what happens... :? (Probably over about 4 grs 700X or 5 grs Green Dot or PB)

Lube..Tried quite a few, with OK results, I like Super Moly except it's kinda messy. I figure if anyone knows their "stuff" it's Veral... :wink:

 

[gerryb158]

Beartooth Bullets offers quite a lot of information as well as supplies, tools and soft cast bullets specifically for firelapping. I've done the operation once with a .44 Special and it seemed to work out very well. Interesting to note that the bullet, about 240 gr, with only 2 or 3 gr of Bullseye went through several wet phonebooks. Very "light" powder charges can be quite surprising. Good luck with your project. Gerry