Is Over-polishing a barrel a thing?

[Treefrog]

This is a very educational thread. It's much appreciated.

I've polished bores with jeweler's rouge and seen gains in accuracy with the smoother bores. One .22 bore actually lost accuracy after.

Ride on,

J~

 

[Vetmx]

Guys screw up barrels every day trying to lap, polish, fire lap, or any other magic cure they see on the internet. We just don’t hear about it because they’re embarrassed. We might hear about it shortly after sub forums titled “Look how big my groups are” or “This is how many times I missed a bird at 150 yards before I hit one” become successful.

 

[masterblaster79]

So did anyone decide if over polishing a barrel is possible or had a bad experience after polishing a Barrel?

 

[Mycapt65]

So did anyone decide if over polishing a barrel is possible or had a bad experience after polishing a Barrel?

Never had bad experience polishing with JB bore paste on a tight patch. Done it dozens of times. JB is such a fine grit I don't think you can over polish with it without wearing out your body joints.

I do however believe you damage a barrel over polishing with a higher grit and or bad practices like going in through the muzzle.

Disclaimer. I use JB on Weihrauchs and PBs. Perhaps lesser quality softer barrels may not fare as well.

 

[Firewalker]

So did anyone decide if over polishing a barrel is possible or had a bad experience after polishing a Barrel?

Yes, it's possible. The issue would be one of surface friction.

To grossly oversimplify the issue, look at cylinder cross hatching. In an engine, the cross hatching creates tiny lines where oil can film and reduce friction.

To an extent, we see something similar happening with lead as it travels down the barrel. Remove enough of the high peaks of chatter and tool marks and make the surface *smooth, the friction will actually increase, sloughing off lead will increase and fouling will happen quickly.

As someone mentioned, you'd polish your arms off before you achieved this by hand.

When "hand-lapping" a barrel then polishing it, I shoot a group through the chrony to see what the velocity does. I see a rise, a fall and another rise. I clean the barrel and shoot again. Rise/fall/rise.

 

[masterblaster79]

Yes, it's possible. The issue would be one of surface friction.

To grossly oversimplify the issue, look at cylinder cross hatching. In an engine, the cross hatching creates tiny lines where oil can film and reduce friction.

To an extent, we see something similar happening with lead as it travels down the barrel. Remove enough of the high peaks of chatter and tool marks and make the surface *smooth, the friction will actually increase, sloughing off lead will increase and fouling will happen quickly.

As someone mentioned, you'd polish your arms off before you achieved this by hand.

When "hand-lapping" a barrel then polishing it, I shoot a group through the chrony to see what the velocity does. I see a rise, a fall and another rise. I clean the barrel and shoot again. Rise/fall/rise.

What do you polish with?

 

[Firewalker]

What do you polish with?

If it says "metal polish" you can use it. I've bought all the name brands and several off brands over the decades and the latest, Rolite, has been as good as any.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075T2NBGY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

 

[SpiralGroove]

This is a very educational thread. It's much appreciated.
I've polished bores with jeweler's rouge and seen gains in accuracy with the smoother bores. One .22 bore actually lost accuracy after.
Ride on,
J~

I've cleaned/polished every pellet gun barrel owned since 2012 - (likely 30) using 400 grit clover/JB Paste. You only need 10 to 20 strokes to notice the patch is moving easier in the bore and major bore imperfections have been greatly reduced. Then wax it ...........

Never had a issue with over doing it - just use common sense. All guns were improved to a varying degree.... based on it's genetics.

 

[cosmic]

JB is a frangible, becomes smaller grit the more used..

 

[Firewalker]

"J-B is an ultra mild, abrasive oil paste, finer than jewelers’ rouge..."

"The original, time-proven formula developed by Jim Brobst and produced under exclusive license. J-B has been getting burned-on, caked-in powder residue and copper jacket fouling out of gun barrels since the 1960’s, and hasn’t damaged an inch of rifling yet."
-Brownells

 

[masterblaster79]

Is this the method you guys use?

 

[Firewalker]

I personally NEVER use a rod or a mop.

 

[Flavi]

Is this the method you guys use?

This is the method i used on my Ghost 22HP. I followed it pretty much to a tee and did see an improvement on my groupings afterward..

This was the first time I ever polished a barrel and boy was i messy...

 

[nervoustrig]

For what it’s worth, Nic’s approach is a close match to mine. Back when his video was first posted here on AGN, he stated it is based on input from Michael and me so that explains why it is so similar. My early learning about the process was informed by guys like Sean Pero (seanmp) and Scott Schneider (motorhead).

 

[Motorhead]

For what it’s worth, Nic’s approach is a close match to mine. Back when his video was first posted here on AGN, he stated it is based on input from Michael and me so that explains why it is so similar. My early learning about the process was informed by guys like Sean Pero (seanmp) and Scott Schneider (motorhead).

Yea it has been entertaining these past few years Watching Many take the ideas others shared on the subject of barrel WAXING, prep & polishing to a community of Airgunners who prior too HAD NEVER HEARD of such a thing

The AG waxing trick I did for years as a IN HOUSE procedure on AG's being tuned / prepped. When bringing it out of the closet into public conversation a few years ago it has become a very successful trick for those who more or less followed the original recipe.
At the same time many have tried differing miens to prep & hone/polish, used soft waxs, yet still use cleaners leaving trace oils etc that simply don't work with a proper bore prep and a Hard wax treatment

There are a lot of folks who love posting videos, much of there content is rubbish, some is solid content. Digest & apply it wisely

 

[Firewalker]

Yea it has been entertaining these past few years Watching Many take the ideas others shared on the subject of barrel WAXING, prep & polishing to a community of Airgunners who prior too HAD NEVER HEARD of such a thing

The AG waxing trick I did for years as a IN HOUSE procedure on AG's being tuned / prepped. When bringing it out of the closet into public conversation a few years ago it has become a very successful trick for those who more or less followed the original recipe.
At the same time many have tried differing miens to prep & hone/polish, used soft waxs, yet still use cleaners leaving trace oils etc that simply don't work with a proper bore prep and a Hard wax treatment

There are a lot of folks who love posting videos, much of there content is rubbish, some is solid content. Digest & apply it wisely

I know I have been smacked on the nose a time or two but as long as I have followed EXACTLY the guidance you have given me, I've been very successful.

 

[HogKiller]

I approached it a bit differently, cleaned bore, inspected bore, determined the tight spots, marked them on barrel and on the rod, used a rod with 2,000 grit paper and some lubricant and worked on the first area but left a very small bit of 'resistance' , changed paper moved to next one, did it the same, cleaned barrel, then finished up with a bit of semi chrome until it had an even feel, never going as far as the choke until the very end to give it a touch of a polish..