Well I am definately not new to shooting and I'd say I have a good solid knowledge of firearms and shooting but living in Aussie I have never heard of 'fire-lapping' before coming to this sight. So my question is what exactly is it? and what does it do? Pros, Cons etc thanks guys!

It is a method of shooting bullets at low speed coated with a lapping compound to make the bore smoother on the inside. Done right it makes a slightly tapered bore being slightly larger at the breech than the muzzle while retaining nice sharp rifling.

It usually makes a rifled gun shoot more accuratly and much easier to clean. It will also give you an increase in velocity for the same loads. It does this by making the bore extremly smooth.

I would suggest getting Marshall Stantons book/technical guide available thru beartooth bullets on shooting cast bullets. It is a wealth of information and explains exactly how to firelap a weapon and gives some idea of the increased accuracy potential.

It is fairly easy to do and well worth doing.

Thanks that was just what I was looking for

Making lapping rounds is hard, boring,dirty work. I can't wait to do it again. I think I have pics on my 1894 development thread. It has been longer than a week ago that I did it and that is to long for me to remember.

Chief, If I can remember details from the fifties, you surely can remember the last month or so. By the way those targets you posted on that thread looked real good.

Lee L.

That's the thing about old age...can remember how to rebuild a Hudson's suspension or the price of pototoes in 1933, but forget what you had for lunch or to zip up your zipper.

HAve used fire lapping, and probably will again, but to start I'd certainly not pick the best shooting un in the house....pick the "stinker".

I looked at possibly fire lapping a couple of my rifles a while back and if you do a search on threads, you should be able to find some of them. From my understanding if you have a pitted barrel or one that isn't shooting well it can improve it. Also if it's fouling pretty bad it'll help. Some do it to smooth out the tool marks from cutting the rifling in the barrel. You can also buy bullets that are already coated, I've seen them on Cabela's site, I think they're called the Tubbs bore finishing system or something like that. And you can also get ammo already loaded for it but it's expensive. The con is I've heard it can erode the throat of your rifle. I'd shoot the rifle you plan on doing first and see how it groups. YOu may not need it. The rifle I planned on doing shot excellent out of the box so I decided not to. Also, in time, shooting normal rounds will do the same thing.