Gunsmithing Fire Lapping

[Eric B.]

Has anyone used NECCO's FIre Lapping Kit to smooth barrels' innards?

I've done it on my .300 win mag Browning A-Bolt Stainless Stalker and it DID reduce the amount of copper on my patches when cleaning. Accuracy remained the same but this rifle has a BOSS System (micrometer barrel harmonics adjustment) on it that works very well.

 

[The Mechanic]

Re: Fire Lapping

Fire lapping = last chance for a barrel before replacement is required.

 

[m41]

Re: Fire Lapping

I recently hand lapped a .308 PSS barrel with a NECO kit. This thing would foul like crazy and was shooting at best 1 moa. I turned the barrel in about 3/4", cut a new chamber and lapped it by hand while it was still off. It really made the thing shoot (1/2 moa) and clean easy. About 4 hours of work and I saved 300.00 over buying a new tube.

My biggest concern with fire lapping is trashing the throat. IMO the last thing a person wants is a longer leade/throat on a factory tube. I recommend buying or making some lead slugs and doing it by hand allowing you to stay off that throat.

FWIW I have done a few rough barrels by fire lapping. They cleaned up easier after words but didn't really shoot any better.