I recently read about “Fire Lapping” your rifle or pistol in order to make it more accurate.  It seems that during the manufacturing of the riflings inside the barrel there are slight constrictions produced and according to what I read, these constrictions are nearly impossible for the gun makers to omit.  Every gun made has them.  Sometimes three or more in the barrel.

So, some smart guy, came up with a way to get the constrictions out, but shooting the gun with a special bullet coated with an abrasive substance called lapping compound.  Ever hear of such a thing?

The article said that the military guys who are the specialists at long range snipping, get really involved with the weapon that is issued to them.  They literally live with that weapon and they all “fire lap” their weapon to make it the most accurate of all the weapons out there.  They do other things to their weapons as well, but this is one of the things they do to accurasize them.

You can do it to a muzzleloader as well.  Special “harder than lead” bullets must be used, but it can be done.  Perhaps we should look into this and get our rifles better tuned for the upcoming rendezvous!  A kit I found on line, comes with the compound, two metal plates and 20 rounds of the special bullets for $45!  It takes 20 rounds to properly firelap a gun, according to this article.

Firelapping just might make you the winner of all the beers!

Bears Butt

Aug. 2011