Shotgun manufacturers are building firearms that are lighter and
easier-to-handle. To satisfy shooters who want lighter-weight weapons,
companies like Browning are using steels that can contain thousands of pounds
of pressure per square inch (psi). "If shortening the barrel is not an option",
Reid Coffield from Shooting
Times explains, factory gunsmiths "make the barrel walls thinner." Unfortunately,
these thin-walled shotgun barrels are susceptible to dents ranging from
cosmetic flaws to safety hazards.
Flexible Honing for Firearms
Severe dents are visible not just on the outside of a shotgun
barrel, but on the inside of the bore, too. "There have been a number of ways
of removing dents," Reid Coffield explains, noting his preference for a
hydraulic dent-raiser that's made in England. For a final polish after the
dents are removed, however, Coffield recommends a brush tool that's made in the
U.S.A. - the Flex-Hone for firearms from Brush Research Manufacturing (BRM) of Los Angeles, California.
Shotgun
Barrel Hones
BRM offers a full line of flexible honing tools for firearms, but the abrasive
brush Coffield writes about in "The Ins and Outs of Shotgun Barrel Dents" is
the shotgun
barrel hone for smoothbores. Built with a stiff, coated stem and finger-like
formations of abrasive globules, the Flex-Hone follows the geometry of the
bore to polish the metal gently and create a uniform surface finish. The
flexible hone is designing for polishing and is not, as the Shooting Times article indicates, capable of removing dents.
Polishing
Shotgun Barrels
The
Flex-Hone shotgun barrel hone polishes a smooth bore to a beautiful finish and
creates a surface that reduces fouling and resists corrosion and wear.
Available in 10, 12, 16, 20, and .410 gauges (GA), this abrasive brush tool
uses medium or fine grits of either aluminum oxide (AO) or silicon carbide
(SC). For best results, BRM advises gunsmiths to use with Flex-Hone oil, a
proprietary blend of honing and lapping oils that assures complete surface
lubrication.
Author's Note: This CR4 blog entry appeared originally in BRM's Flex-Hone Blog.
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