Fire lapping

11683 Views 9 Replies 6 Participants Last post by IDShooter, Jul 25, 2001

Jon Holmes

Discussion Starter · Jul 21, 2001

I have a Reminton 700 Sendoro 308 on the way. This is my first rifle I am building up and I wanted to know what you guys thought of fire lapping. I also want to know which comapny makes good rounds for doingng it. I am 75% sure I am going to put Leopold Vari X III on it.
Thanks in advance for the help <!--emo&

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~Jon

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DOK

· #2 · Jul 21, 2001

Jon,

If you peruse the prior posts on this site, you'll find several discussions in detail about fire lapping. Also, highly recommend ordering the "Beartooth Technical Manual" that covers fire lapping in detail as well as a number of other items of interest for cast bullet shooters.

An additional source is an article in "Guns" magazine, August, 2001 titled "Firelapping for Accuracy". Their results with a .223 Remington 700 was an improvement from 1.237" (five 5-shot groups at 100 yds.) to 0.758.

I can only vouch for fire lapping from a single experience, but that experience was excellent. It did remove the barrel into receiver constriction and the barrel has noticeably less tool marks. I'm leaving this morning to test the accuracy improvement.

Dan

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Jon Holmes

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jul 21, 2001

I went through all 15 pages (whew!) and only found a couple of post about Fire Lapping, none of which ansered my question about a good brand to go with. In my search I also heard a few things about hand lapping. Is it better? I want to set my rifle up to be top notch from the beggining

) Has anyone heard anything about Neco bullets?

~Jon

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MikeG

· #4 · Jul 21, 2001

Jon, most people on this board would probably fire-lap with cast bullets, not jacketed. It is pretty easy to roll your own. Hence you aren't going to see much discussion of various brands.

I think that Marshall will sell you a small quantity of lapping bullets, 20 or 30 should be plenty for the average rifle, and he may have lapping compound also. If not he can give you some recommendations on what to use.

As an example I lapped my .30-06 with some of his .30 cal. lapping bullets. I used 4 grains of Bullseye in the '06 case. That should work for you or maybe you can even cut the charge back to 3.5 grains. But 4 grains should definitely work.

If you haven't gotten the Beartooth technical guide I'd highly recommend that also.

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DOK

· #5 · Jul 21, 2001

Jon,

Apologize for not being more specific -- didn't mean to imply that the firelapping data would necessarily be in just the "General Discussion" category. One post you may find interesting is located in the "Handloading Procedures" category and is on the second page, entitled "Handlapping versus Firelapping".

Also, go back to the Beartooth homepage and select option "Bullet Selection". Then select either "Lapping Bullets" option or "Lapping Supplies" option and you'll see the material Beartooth offers you for "making your own".

If you don't want to make your own, the "NECONOS.COM" web site offers you bullets already impregnated. You can also order a jacketted (not lead) kit from Cabela's that is part number 21-4206 "Final Finish Bore Polish System".

But as before, I'd still recommend a copy of the Beartooth Technical Guide -- and the NECO web site also gives some information. And the article I referenced in the "Guns" magazine used the NECO bullets for their firelapping.

Dan

(Edited by DOK at 4:19 pm on July 21, 2001)

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Jack Monteith

· #6 · Jul 22, 2001

Hi, Jon:
Here's a direct link to the "Handlapping vs. Firelapping" thread. We hashed it over pretty well there.

http://beartoothbullets.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard/topic.cgi?forum=2&topic=23&start=20

The load of 4 grains of Bulleye of Mike's or my 4 grains of Red Dot for a .30-`06 is only for lead bullets. IIRC, the plan with jacketed bullets is to use the starting load or loading manual minimum load with your full snort powder. You don't want a jacketed bullet stuck in the barrel. Learned that the hard way. <img src="http://beartoothbullets.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':angry:'>

Bye
Jack

(Edited by Jack Monteith at 9:38 pm on July 22, 2001)

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Jon Holmes

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jul 22, 2001

Thanks for the great information guys <!--emo&

--><img src="http://beartoothbullets.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt='

'> I will shurley use it.

~Jon

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Marshall Stanton

· #8 · Jul 23, 2001

Mr. Holmes,

The link that was given to our previous discussion on this subject details some very pertinent information on the subject.

I would emphatically implore you to use a lead bullet fire-lapping process rather than a jacketed bullet system for the many reasons detailed in the posts mentioned above.

We have had literally thousands of persons use the lead bullet lapping process with absolutely no problems or complaints. We also have police tactical units that have fire-lapped their tactical sniper rifles for their entire units! The CO of one of these units fire-lapped his own personal hunting rifles, then several friends' firearms as well, did before and after accuracy testing, then made the decision to to their tactical rifles. Other units have followed suit thereafter.

As detailed in the earlier posts that you have been directed to , do be cautious concerning the use of jacketed bullets to lap your new pet rifle...

PLEASE!!! Ask whatever questions you might have here before comitting to your lapping project.

Let us know what you do!

God Bless,

Marshall

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Jon Holmes

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jul 25, 2001

Thanks Marshal. I have been posting on a couple other boards trying to get a well rounded consensus and that falls right in line <!--emo&

--><img src="http://beartoothbullets.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt='

'> Another great bit of information I picked up was to go through a break in period, don't fire lap it right out of the box. Do you have any imput on a specific manner to break it in? Or is it straight forward, put rounds through it?

~Jon

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IDShooter

· #10 · Jul 25, 2001

Jon,
I sure wouldn't bother to break it in before you lap it. After all, lapping the bore is going to expose fresh steel anyway. To break in before-hand is to waste components.
As for the break in procedure itself many variations exist, but all are essentially shoot-clean, REPEAT! The regimen I have used is this; fire one round, clean the bore for five shots; fire two rounds, clean the bore for ten shots (five sets); fire five rounds, clean the bore for 25 shots (five sets). Thereafter clean every ten rounds through the first hundred shots. By clean the bore, I mean absolutely clean- no copper, no powder fouling, NOTHING! I use Barnes cleaner now, but J-B paste is what I used to use. All of my rifles clean up VERY easily now, and I believe it has to do with this break in.
I did firelap one rifle (a Remington .308 ironically) because it continued to copper foul severely. Firelapping didn't improve accuracy much but that rifle doesn't foul any more and cleans up like a charm.
By the way, I HATE cleaning and I'm picky about exposure to solvents. Breaking in and/or lapping helps reduce cleaning time in the long run and may aid accuracy too. Have fun! :biggrin: ID

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