Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders File a complaint against Swampman700

This is from back before I got interested in all this old stuff. Life with the Thunderbirds SUX sometimes. I decided to break for lunch after flyin' in from Wright Patterson one day. I had a wrist watch RC controller so nobody was hurt and nothing was bent. The CO chewed on my butt a little though.

I think I know how Swamp feels. Just like the unit on the right side of this pic... Life can be overwhelming sometimes.

You girls don't bother me.

Lots of old junk.

It appears someone might be close to havin' a stroke. Swamp even sez his self that "700 ML SUX Blue monkey butts".

Another convert to the old true path....I'm all misty eyed...

Is that a distant scream of anguish I hear? Faintly, ever so faintly in the distance????

Yep to all accounts, including the latter.

As far as barrels go, which is the most important component of a MZ, hand lapping with a cast lead lap and an abrasive compound is what makes a great barrel. It doesn't require the lastest in technology to achieve extremely tight tolerences.

When did they first started hand lapping barrels? I don't have a clue.

You said: "I worked on Rem's junk for years as a professional ..."

You work where ? Just exactly how many Remingtons have you fixed ? Your professional training was at ?

Amazing that the US Military got along for DECADES with a 700 as the primary sniper rifle. The USMC sniper platoon leader I roomed with during TET (you can look it up) had nothing but praise for the 700 and all the bad guys it had sent along to Viet-Cong heaven.

That 721 will still be filling freezers long after you are worm food.

as far as hand lapping goes, i normally just run 60 strokes of jb bore paste on a lightly oiled patch. Bergara Barrels really makes a good clean bore but you just never know if there may be a burr or something that the naked eye cant see. The jb paste does a really good job.

Harry Pope maintained that lapping a barrel wasn't necessary if one took the care that one should in reaming and rifling. Results from his barrels give mute testimony to that statement.

When y'all say you are lapping your bores, are you casting a lead slug on a rod and infusing it with lapping compound to be pushed through the bore? That I think is the classic definition (and overly simplified description) of lapping. To put something like JB Paste on a patch and pushing it back and forth through the bore is more properly called polishing, and doesn't provide the even removal of metal that a properly set up lap will.

When you stop and think about it, lapping or polishing by it's very nature removes metal. Granted, not much, but some. I wonder how many bores have had their accuracy lives shortened by overzealous lapping and or polishing. A tiny bit goes a long way.

Personally if I spent hundreds of hard earned dollars on a custom barrel and it arrived in a state requiring lapping or polishing, I would send it back with a request for a refund. On the other hand I wouldn't be surprised to learn that most barrel guys routinely lap/polish before delivering a barrel.

+1 on that.

Damn right! Some of us here don't know everything and would like to learn a little more. Keep it coming.

Yes a separate thread would be in order. It's not right to lump these fine rifles in with poking sharp sticks at buffoons.

I only mentioned lapping in reference to the question of modern cnc machining methods vs old tech. There are hand "machining" methods that involve skilled craftsmanship that are extremely accurate. It's wasn't about hand lapping barrels in general.

In the hands of a true craftsman a lead lap is the most accurate method of finishing a barrel to achieve very fine tolerences. It can involve lapping before and after the barrel is rifled and it does, to a degree, make up for less than perfect machining. It's a low tech process that works and as far as I know isn't duplicated by any machine.

I was just throwing in a guess as to why the fine rifles DD posted are as accurate as modern rifles. As I said though, I don't know the history or details on how they were made.

And .... I wasn't, by any stretch, suggesting lapping a finished barrel.

I hear you, and I wasn't implying that lapping/polishing is a bad thing necessarily- just when done improperly or when not needed.

if you all want to start a new thread , count me in . but i will not continue to banter on the subject of this post .

Flew F-105's for 3 tours in the Nam AND bunked with Marine Snipers... her imagination runneth deep...

The 721 may still feel freezers after Blackheart is gone but it won't be by your decrepit hands... Your clock is ticking Fool...

Not a response to "I am a guide/I am an outfitter/I am not either"
as he is having a time out in the ignore room.

Rather just a general question,

Blackheart is silent. You don't suppose all that badmouthing Remingtons was just a baseless rant ?

Jealous that I am everything you always wanted to be and more...

2nd place doesn't mean you were second best... It means you were the first loser... Story of your useless existence Lawrence...