Lapping

[Hooker]

My Knight BK85 shoots well from a clean barrel after 2 shots I'm all over the paper.
It has been this way since I brought it new. It dosen't seem to matter whether I use sabots or buffalo bullets the first 2 rounds are touching then every thing goes to pot. I have reduced my powder charge and the accuracy is very good with sabots 255 gr Keith type 44s soft cast  and 85 grs of P dex. I know that groups will open up as the bore gets dirty but this pitiful some times the shot dose not even hit the paper. The bore is nice and smooth but edges on the rifling looks a bit ragged. Has anyone had any experience lapping the barrel on their muzzle loader?
Do you think lapping will cure this or is it time to trade it off?

Pat

[Swampman]

My Knight BK85 shoots well from a clean barrel after 2 shots I'm all over the paper.
It has been this way since I brought it new. It dosen't seem to matter whether I use sabots or buffalo bullets the first 2 rounds are touching then every thing goes to pot. I have reduced my powder charge and the accuracy is very good with sabots 255 gr Keith type 44s soft cast  and 85 grs of P dex. I know that groups will open up as the bore gets dirty but this pitiful some times the shot dose not even hit the paper. The bore is nice and smooth but edges on the rifling looks a bit ragged. Has anyone had any experience lapping the barrel on their muzzle loader?
Do you think lapping will cure this or is it time to trade it off?

Pat

You should be patching the bore with a patch slightly dampened with Windex between shots.

[liv2hunt]

I agree with Swampman. A wet swab (I use No.13 Bore Cleaner, but pre-saturated patches or Windex works just as effectively) followed by a dry patch in between shots is my recommendation, if consistency is what your looking for.

liv2hunt

[sabotloader]

Hooker

I really do not think i would got to the process of lapping the bore... basically because once you remove it you can not put it back...

Take a cotton ball and push it through a clean bore and out the other end.  This little rocedure should tell you a lot about your bore.  My first process rather than lapping would be to polish the bore with a product like JB's bore paste.. the non-embedding type.  This process will remove burrs (cotton catchers) smooth and polish as well as clean the bore.  It might take a couple of applications and cleaning but the stuff really works well and is not an overkill...

[DennyRoark]

I used Flitz SS paste on a bore swab (Omega X7 SS/Laminate).  Swabbed from breech end to about 1" from muzzle crown (ARO 50 strokes), then cleaned well with brake cleaner.  I don't know about accuracy, but it has reduced plastic fouling considerably.  I was told by a friend who swears by this DON'T polish the end of the rifling!  IMHO!

Denny

[DennyRoark]

Oh. also, was told by Brian at T/C custom shop with previous X7 rifle with accuracy problems to to do this same procedure with well oiled 4/0 steel wool.  Once barrel was a little smoother, it became obvious that there was a bulge, as you could feel difference in patch drag while cleaning.

Denny

[alsaqr]

It is not unusual for a muzzleloader to scatter bullets on a dirty barrel.  My Encore will make tiny groups with 100 grains of 777 and the 250 grain SST in the black sabot.  First round is to the exact point of aim.  Ater that the barrel has to be throughly swabbed with a wet patch followed by at least 2 dry patches  between shots.  Failure to do this will result in bullets all over the paper. 

When i bought that Encore it had a rough bore.  Worked it over with jewelers rouge.  That made it easier to load.

[jammer308]

I used Flitz SS paste on a bore swab (Omega X7 SS/Laminate).  Swabbed from breech end to about 1" from muzzle crown (ARO 50 strokes), then cleaned well with brake cleaner.  I don't know about accuracy, but it has reduced plastic fouling considerably.  I was told by a friend who swears by this DON'T polish the end of the rifling!  IMHO!

Denny

Can you, or someone else elaborate why you should stop 1" short of the crown?

[DennyRoark]

I was told it would keep the rifling sharp at the crown.  Kinda like accuracy suffers as the crown wears.  I literally wore out the crown on my 1979 T/C Hawkin even though only brass ever touched.  I'm guessing 20,000 rounds thru it in 20+ years, tho.  Toward the end it wouldn't even shoot maxi-balls very well.  Again, just my honest opinion...

And the flitz polishes it up quick!