what is your opinion on lapping? i just fire lapped a barrel using the david tubb system and it worked better than expected. it really cut the group size almost in half. now that is fire lapping but what about the hand lapping end of it. has anyone had it done? what are the ups and downs?

It takes a very patient and competent person to handlap a barrel. You have to pour molten lead into the bore with a rod centered and plugged to form the lapping head. The lap strokes must be even and often. The lead slug must be repoured as the old one wears.

There are folks that recommend using tight swabs loaded with J-B compound. The same ritual must be followed, only more of it.

Personally, any bore that needs to be lapped for me gets the bullet lapping method.

Hand lapping for the really ugly barrels (usually well abused)...fire lap for the rest of them.