Skychief
69 Cal.
FWIW,
Yesterday I took the time to firelap a barrel of a halfstock percussion .36 that has been giving me fits (accuracy-wise). The rifle came to me years ago with signs of neglect in the bore...it was somewhat pitted. Still, the rifle shot well with the loads it liked, but, over time, accuracy really went South. I THINK that with minor pits, they just run deeper and deeper as the rifle is shot.
I had tried seemingly every load combination to include different patch materials and thicknesses, types of lubes, amount of lube, brands and granulations of powder, overpowder wads, etc, etc....
Nothing helped as it constantly threw fliers and just did not shoot tight. I tried to steel wool and scotch brite the bore and spent HOURS bringing a loading rod to and fro :shocked2: . No change.
Yesterday, I felt I had nothing to lose, so off to NAPA I went. I bought a can of valve grinding compound. Using it as a patch lube, I shot 4 shots with 15 grains of 3f. Then it was 2 shots at 20 grains. Next was 2 shots at 25 grains, and finally 2 shots at 30 grains. I had no light left to shoot for groups as night moved in. It took quite a bit of time as I cleaned the bore real well between each shot. Fast forward to today....
The rifle once again will deliver ragged holes at 25 yards, whereas before the treatment, I was darn lucky to get 4" at this short range. Often the groups were larger than that when counting the common fliers out there at 5-8" from center! :shake: :barf:
Anyhow, it worked for MY rifle and I wish I had done it about 400 roundballs ago.
Do I believe that the pits are GONE? Hardly. Yet it loads much smoother and cleaned up like it never had before. To me though the proof is in it's accuracy and I am happy.
Wanted to share this as it MIGHT help someone riding the fence about making this leap as a last avenue to salvaging a barrel. :thumbsup:
Skychief (shade tree gunsmith) :haha:
Yesterday I took the time to firelap a barrel of a halfstock percussion .36 that has been giving me fits (accuracy-wise). The rifle came to me years ago with signs of neglect in the bore...it was somewhat pitted. Still, the rifle shot well with the loads it liked, but, over time, accuracy really went South. I THINK that with minor pits, they just run deeper and deeper as the rifle is shot.
I had tried seemingly every load combination to include different patch materials and thicknesses, types of lubes, amount of lube, brands and granulations of powder, overpowder wads, etc, etc....
Nothing helped as it constantly threw fliers and just did not shoot tight. I tried to steel wool and scotch brite the bore and spent HOURS bringing a loading rod to and fro :shocked2: . No change.
Yesterday, I felt I had nothing to lose, so off to NAPA I went. I bought a can of valve grinding compound. Using it as a patch lube, I shot 4 shots with 15 grains of 3f. Then it was 2 shots at 20 grains. Next was 2 shots at 25 grains, and finally 2 shots at 30 grains. I had no light left to shoot for groups as night moved in. It took quite a bit of time as I cleaned the bore real well between each shot. Fast forward to today....
The rifle once again will deliver ragged holes at 25 yards, whereas before the treatment, I was darn lucky to get 4" at this short range. Often the groups were larger than that when counting the common fliers out there at 5-8" from center! :shake: :barf:
Anyhow, it worked for MY rifle and I wish I had done it about 400 roundballs ago.
Do I believe that the pits are GONE? Hardly. Yet it loads much smoother and cleaned up like it never had before. To me though the proof is in it's accuracy and I am happy.
Wanted to share this as it MIGHT help someone riding the fence about making this leap as a last avenue to salvaging a barrel. :thumbsup:
Skychief (shade tree gunsmith) :haha: