bsteve
Is there a source for the Harvester sabots?
http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=00072H15045BR
This is one source there are several others on the net, but this is where I got mine. The HPH-24's should work, on a clean barrel you should be able to insert the sabot/bullet combination - push it down with your thumb and push it home with yourram rod. If you are unable todo this do try the Crush Rib.
Do you ran adamp patch after each shot - I use Windex @ the range and spit when I am hunting,to get excess fouling? Nowyou can not do this all the time when you are hunting I know - but when you can try it.
The rifle has been fired about 50-60 times.
Gee Whiz! - Your rifle is like brand new. And it sounds like your cleanig regement should work just fine. I don't even use the brush... the boiling water will cause the plastic that might be in the barrel to soften and almost lift itself from the lands. The real trick is to get the barrel smooth, I hesitate to say polished but that is what it will be when your barrel is really ready. When you have your barrel completely clean and before you lubricate it push a cotton ball down through the bore, then look and see if you left any cotton in the barrel.
There is a couple of ways you can work your barrel in to the smooth finish. 1) shoot a couple of packages of lead conicals through the gun, the conicals will help smooth out the bore. 2) Pick up a jar of J-B bore paste - follow the directions on the jar and work that through your barrel with your ram rod and a bore swab.
The closer your bore is to being smooth the less fouling you will incurr. I really can't say that I suffer plastic fouling at all anymore. But I have a whole lot more rounds through all of my barrels.
Here is a copy of some instructions form
Cayuagd hope he doesn't mind me bring these over - he is a much better writer than I...
I have lapped a number of barrels using the method you describe only I put the valve grinding compound now, on a small piece of Scotch Brite Scouring Pad. What you need to remember is lapping is a process that actually removes metal from the bore of you barrel. Therefore lapping is kind of a last resort for a rifle when nothing else seems to work to make the rifle accurate. Lapping is also used when a rifle is in such poor condition that it is about the only way to possibly save the barrel.
What you do to determine if your rifle even is close to needing any real work, is take some cotton balls and put them on a patch worm. Then slowly push that to the breech and pull it back out. If you drop a light down the bore, this in the case of a traditional rifle or in an inline shine a light through the breech towards the muzzle, look to see if any of the cotton strands are hanging from the walls of the bore.
A few strands of cotton fiber is no big deal. All bores will normally grab some of the fibers. If you see a spot that has a considerable concentration of fibers, that is usually a sign of a ruff spot in the bore. Another way to check the bore is to shoot patched roundballs through it. Then check the patches. If the patches are shredded, that is a sign of possible ruff spots in the bore of the rifle. This still does not mean that the rifle needs to be lapped. It just means it needs some attention.
Many people with new rifles will shoot a box of patched round ball through the rifle or a box of pure lead conical through the rifle. This many times will smooth out any ruff spots that were left from the milling of the barrel. It will also many times improve the accuracy of the rifle too.
Another easy way to smooth a barrel is with some J-B Bore Paste and some Scotch Brite Pad. Take a patch worm and put a small amount of pad on the worm. Now dip that in the bore paste and give the barrel 50 strokes. A stroke is down and all the way back up. Change or re-dip the pad every 15-20 strokes. After that wash the barrel with hot soapy water and then run some solvent patches through it. It should shine like a new silver dollar now.
Many years ago a person shot their sidelock rifle during hunting season and then for some reason unknown to me, they just propped it in a corner in the basement unattended for the next five months. When they finally saw it there the rifle was a mess. Rust was all over the outside of the rifle, the nipple was rusted into the rifle, and the bore of the rifle was all rust. They considered it a lost cause. So they gave that rifle to me, thinking I could use parts off it. Instead, I took valve grinding compound and lapped all the rust out of the barrel. Then I took J-B Bore Paste and polished the barrel. Then at night when having nothing to do I continued to run hot soap and water patches through the barrel. Finally, the patches came out light gray. I cleaned the outside of the barrel, put a new hot shot nipple on it, and now, it shoots perfect bulls all day long with 70 grains of Goex 3f and a patched roundball. That's a case where the barrel had to be lapped.
Another rifle was brought to me and we tried everything to make that rifle shoot. It would not hold a constant group. I finally lapped the barrel doing only a 30 stroke lapp. After I polished the bore and cleaned it, the rifle suddenly began to behave and they are still shooting and hunting with that rifle as far as I know.
Most new rifles if you lapp them, make it a very light lapp if any. I actually prefer to see someone if they feel it needs work to J-B Bore polish the bore. Do about 50 strokes and then clean it. It will often times make a stubborn rifle behave...
Good luck - keep asking questions...