I just bought a kit out of curiosity from NECO. I am thinking of stocking some, especially for the hammer forged barrel guns. Any opinions or techniques I need to be aware of?

Thanks, Aleko

The only barrel I would use the NECO system on would be on a factory barrel that plated copper and was difficult to clean....it will make it easier to clean and "may" help accuracy. The one I used on a Rem 700 Classic 350 RemMag did not improve accuracy, it did reduce copper-plating and make it easier to clean and it did move the throat forward.

I have also used the David Tubb's "Final Finish" and it is a much, much better product. I have an experimental gain-twist barrel made briefly by one of the well-known custom barrel makers and the maker suggested I use "Final Finish" to do the final lapping as he could only do so much because of the radical gain-twist rifleing. The barrel was very accurate and easy to clean from the beginning and running a patch thru it was smooooth but I did what he suggested, using only the bullets with the finest grades of grit. The barrel is still very accurate and even slicker than before and the throat moved only the very smallest amount...did not need to change my seating depth to accomodate.

If you want to stock this type of item I would strongly suggest you look at the Final Finish closely...it is heads and shoulders about NECO.

I've been using NECO fire lapping product for several years. My use is restricted to factory barrels and unlapped after market barrels.

Much less problem with fouling. Can't say that accuracy improves other than that gained by decreased fouling between cleanings.

Wally

Hi

Just have had a 35 Wheelen AI made up for my Blaser. It's very rough, would it help any to shoot a bunch of lead bullets at a reasonable velocity through it?

Regards
Stig

stig...do a "Google" search for David Tubb's "Final Finish" lapping kit...it is by far the best. I believe Cabeleas is sellin it now.

Hey guys, if you want a smooth lapped barrel. Lap the barrel before you do any machine work on it. Lapping a blank is not difficult. It takes little equipment and some common sense. I have lapped several barrels. All were 45 caliber. I used the cheap Numrich barrels. They were gutter quality with gross imperfections. I belive they were made of free maching steel. I started with 180 grit and ended with 320. Yes, valve grinding compound. No fancy "technical grade" or decomposing types. I used linotype alloy for the lap. Soft lead does not cut long enough to do much. I have used softer alloys and put a wood screw in the center of the lap to swell it as it wears. In my barrels I leave a choke, on purpose. Cast bullets like a choke. After lapping I polish with JB, Flitz or Semichrome and fine steel wool. The 45-70s shot like a dream. Very accurate and no metal fouling. I did one 45-70 barrel and made a muzzle loader out of it. I removed about 3" from the muzzle, after lapping, and made a size die out of it. Sized 405 gr lead bullets with the die and was able to thumb press the bullets in the muzzle then seat them with almost no effort on the rod. The rifle shot really well. I guess Witworth invented that trick about a hundred years ago.

I guess my point is that real lapping can be a good thing for a barrel as a manufacturing step. Shooting abrasives through a finished barrel will damage the throat. Trying to lap a finished barrel is a bad idea too. Both ends will be damaged by the rod and the lap. You need to remove the ends by reaming or cutting a piece off after lapping. Only them will you get the smooth uniform barrel that you were after in the first place.

Thanks for the info the accuracy is fine however I have found that hammer forged barrels foul quite heavily and the ease of cleaning is what attracted me to the kit.

Aleko

I may be mistaken but I believe "Neco" is the manufacture for Tubb's product.

If you read any backgkround on FinalFinish you'll see that Tubb's touts it's biggest benefit and polishing the throat rather than the barrel as the "burr" for want of a better word that is formed when the barrel is chambered is difficult to lap like the barrel. The FinalFinish does this.....the instructions specifically mention not to seat the bullet into the lands. Take a look at the Krieger web-site and see what they say about barrel break-in and what the typical break-in process is actually doing and you see where Tubb's is coming from.

MarshMule.....I don't know if they are or not but the philosphy of how to do it and the more variety of grit-grades is what makes the difference....there have been several articles on in Precision Shooting you might want to read.

I have a Neco kit at my bench, and I use it all the time. It's amazing how handy it is to have four different grades of non-embedding polish at your disposal!

As far as firelapping, I've done it, but I would only do it on rough factory bores to reduce fouling. JMO, Dutch.

I used the kit last weekend and found that the fouling reduced considerably. The accuracy was as good as always.

Aleko

I know this might piss a whole bunch of people off, but if my rifle barrel fouls enough after three shots to the point that it won't hit jack shit, I'm sure as shit not gonna be be worried about fire lapping the barrel. If you can't do it with three shots, what's the point? varmint/varget barrels are a whole different issue.