Bore Lapping?

[flathead]

Hello,

Has anyone had experience with the "Tubb Bore Polishing System" or "Wheeler Engineering Bore Lapping Kit?" They are in the Midway Catalogue #30 on pg 246. I just bought a new 300 WM and will hand load it. I was thinking of going one step further to increase accuracy by bore lapping first. My other rifles are all MOA or better. Never lapped them. Browning and Savage mostly. New one is a Savage. Just wondering if the bore lapping kits are worth it. Thanks for the input and God Bless!

[Mikey]

flathead:  I would see how she shoots first.  She might shoot just fine for you and give you the accuracy you want or expect.  If later you feel you should lap the bore I would first drop on down to Veral Smith's column for advice on what products he would recommend.  I have also used the Beartooth Bullets literature on firelapping and the author refers to Veral Smith on a number of occasions, so I would run your question past Veral for his advice, first.  HTH. Mikey.

[The Sodbuster]

I've used Tubb's bore finishing system on 2 rifles.  I did this as a barrel break-in procedure so I can't say if it improved their accuracy or not.  Both rifles shoot well.  They do seem slightly easier to clean and foul less than my other rifles.  It's not a huge difference, but it's noticeable.  I wouldn't bother with it on a high-dollar, after-market barrel (or a Weatherby Mark V, which uses Krieger barrels, I think).

[The Gamemaster]

 My daddy says that a man and his money shall soon be parted.

The imperfections that they talk about when they polish the bore are not more than .002 deep.

I would spend the money on a set of RCBS dies and reload my own shells and forget about all the gimic's out there that claims to make your gun shoot better when all it does is takes money out of your pocket.

[Slamfire]

If there is a tight spot in your barrel, or some sharp edges in the rifling, lapping is the way to get rid of them, however, firelapping just accelerates wear in the throat. Get a tight fitting brush, wrap it with a patch, and put your lapping compound on that andrun it back and forth through the bore, avoiding the lede as much as possible. 

[Catfish]

I`m anotherone that would not recomand lapping a new barrel untill you see how it shoots. I have fire lapped afew barrels and it will usually help with cleaning, but usually not with accuracy, and always with the extra wear in the bore. If you shoot and clean a new barrel it will usually clean easier after 10 to 15 shoots without the extra wear. The only barrel that fire lapping really payed off for me was a .17 Rem. barrel that was fouled with Molly. I could not get the Molly out of the barrel enough to get it to shoot a reasonable group and tried fire lapping it as a last resort to rebarreling it, and it did save the barrel.