Fire lapping techniques

[rrdrifter]

I have memories of fire-lapping an old 1873. It shot ok, but nothing to brag about.
The club Gu-ru suggested that I fire lap it to improve the groups. I was young and impressionable. I did. A nightmare followed. I ruined the barrel very quickly.
I hated to part with that old rifle, but I had not yet met a Larry Crow, Gunsmith Extraordinaire. So I sold the old gun. I should have left it alone and not lapped it, or having ruined it- had it sleaved or re-barreled. What a waste. But I was young...
I remember Larry telling me the quote that someone mentioned earlier- "it's easier to remove steel than it is to put it back."
I'd recommend getting a good gunsmith involved. Then working on the parts that won't require major expense- trigger, crown, forcing cone. If that doesn't work- re-barrel it or get another gun.
In any event, that was the last of my fire-lapping.

[jgt]

Many people in our world do not bother with instructions. Many do not know what they do not know. Some get lucky and learn eventually without meeting with disastrous results. That outcome does not always happen though. Personal research and asking questions help, but one has to be ready to take the end result of their action when it all goes haywire. Gunsmiths do this all the time. That is why you see their extensive libraries and many years of prep before hanging out a shingle. None of them live in a Mansion or drive Rolls Royce for transportation. To us their prices are high. But we do not see their expenses or man hours put into these projects. They have to love to do what they do and be ok with the living they make from it. If you are saving money performing some of their tasks, you too may be very skilled at some of the tasks it takes to do that work. Just be sure you are the kind of man that knows and can acknowledge his limitations.

[bigbore5]

I don't have any Taylor throated revolvers, but have fire lapped a couple. They always slug a larger bore afterwards even if accuracy has improved and leading stopped. But it's done with care and understanding of the characteristics of lapping abrasive. After all, the precision mating of metal parts is what I do for a living.

I currently have a GunBroker buy Old Model 357 with a constriction in the barrel. After the first of the year, it will end up with Mr Crow for Taylor throat. With the reasonable rates he posted here, probably the whole stage 4 package.

Currently I only own two fully custom guns built by someone other than myself. Both Redhawks by Reeder. 475 and 500 Linebaugh. They work well, but I don't like the huge throat he cut on them. My other professionally done gun is a 5-shot 454 conversion by Leonard Baity with a cylinder he made and the factory barrel set back. It has a standard forcing cone and is extremely accurate. It's fired thousands of maximum rounds with no problems.

Mr Crow's price for the full stage 4 package included Taylor throat, cylinder truing, polished crown, cylinder throat correction, trigger tune, and action blocking for about the cost of a basic rebarrel from other some smiths. I got a quote from Manson on a custom Taylor throat reamer. It's better to just send the gun to him for the work.