Lapping Bullets

B

bwest

Guest
I have a friend who introduced me to the idea of what I will call lapping bullets. I believe they were from David Tubbs products. He swears by the idea especially for factory i.e. rough barrels. I have a few concerns and thought I would tap the collective knowledge of the many experienced people on this forum. What is the scoop on these?
 
Be careful! Done carefully it may improve the accuracy and cleaning interval of a rough factory barrel. If not done correctly or carefully you may make things worse.
 
I've never used David tubbs lapping bullets.
I have used the Midway "Wheeler" roll your own kit.
My expierience with the do it yourself kit is you'll remove more of the throat than any other imperfections further on down the tube that cause copper and loss of accuracy.

For instance hears some measurements using the wheeler kit. It comes with 220,320 and 600 grit.

308 Win Savage factory tube. One of the old ones with railroad tracks in it.
5 shots with 220
5 shots with 320
8 shots with 600

Moved the throat ahead .100. Helped somewhat with copper but not enough.
The 208 A-Max fits the throat better now.

243 Win (custom Sav prefit.) This tube seems to have missed the handlapping. The throat was short for the 8 twist barrel otherwise I never would have firelapped it.

5 rds of 600 grit moved the throat .032.

Tubbs bullets may be better I don't know but as Vic said you need to be careful.

Bottom line. If you have a factory barrel with lots of reamer marks its best just to dump it.
If its just a little rough there are better ways to cure it.
 
there are techniques to cast a slug, attach to a cleaning rod, and then hand lap. I've never done it, and it may cause more wear than the Tubbs. I have used the Tubb's but only in pistols, so can't comment on how far it moved the throat forward. But they did smooth the barrel. You can also NOT use the course grits and just use the medium and fine grits.
 
I used a Tubb kit on a CZ .222 that collected copper, but didn't notice any reduction in that or accuracy. A gunsmith checked the bore with his borescope, saw chatter marks near the muzzle from the use of a piloted crowning cutter, cut off and recrowned the barrel, and cured the coppering problem.
 
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