As indicated, I outsmarted myself again -- which I've found isn't very hard to do.
A previous post on fire lapping suggested what I thought was a good, labor saving idea -- use a wood plane to roll the bullet to impregnate them, an easier process than using the smaller 5" piece of steel. You can really get some leverage with the plane! In fairness to the individuals involved in the post, Marshall commented that you might need to be concerned about compressing the bullet so that it wasn't in the necessary oversize condition. The gentleman with the "wood plane" idea responded he anticipated that and put a block on the bottom plate of a size to prevent compression.
As you might have guessed, I skipped the step about the block to prevent compression. And didn't mic. the impregnated bullets "because they were really messy"! I shot 24 rounds and was disappointed to find when I reslugged the barrel that the "barrel into frame" constriction was still there. Shot another 20 rounds of the nicest looking impregnated bullets you ever saw and the constriction was still there. So I rolled one of the bullets this morning with out the paste and found that my .434" bullet was now a .429 to .430 bullet.
I'm not comfortable with my ability to accurately use a wood block to prevent the undersizing, so back to "everything in moderation" and the little 5" steel plate. But you should see those impregnated bullets done with the wood plane -- they were some of the nicest undersize impregnated lapping bullets you've ever seen.
Dan
A previous post on fire lapping suggested what I thought was a good, labor saving idea -- use a wood plane to roll the bullet to impregnate them, an easier process than using the smaller 5" piece of steel. You can really get some leverage with the plane! In fairness to the individuals involved in the post, Marshall commented that you might need to be concerned about compressing the bullet so that it wasn't in the necessary oversize condition. The gentleman with the "wood plane" idea responded he anticipated that and put a block on the bottom plate of a size to prevent compression.
As you might have guessed, I skipped the step about the block to prevent compression. And didn't mic. the impregnated bullets "because they were really messy"! I shot 24 rounds and was disappointed to find when I reslugged the barrel that the "barrel into frame" constriction was still there. Shot another 20 rounds of the nicest looking impregnated bullets you ever saw and the constriction was still there. So I rolled one of the bullets this morning with out the paste and found that my .434" bullet was now a .429 to .430 bullet.
I'm not comfortable with my ability to accurately use a wood block to prevent the undersizing, so back to "everything in moderation" and the little 5" steel plate. But you should see those impregnated bullets done with the wood plane -- they were some of the nicest undersize impregnated lapping bullets you've ever seen.
Dan