I thought I'd get a start on the hours-long (but relaxing) lapping of the GG&G mount for my scope. But the process was cut short by the near perfect roundness and concentricity of the mount itself. After just a couple minutes of lapping, I could feel that the lap was no longer cutting anything.
Rather than just tightening the mounting screws some more and continuing, I took everything apart and looked at the results. The lapping compound had barely polished, much less removed, the anodizing, yet it showed a 90+% lapped area, far better than needed.
My work there was done. I dusted some rosin inside the rings, and tightened things up slightly. Here's what I have so far:
I still have to level the crosshairs, and add a bubble level and the offset mount for a Docter red dot sight, but I've now got the major part of the job behind me.
On one of the gun boards, folks were talking about a miracle substance called NanoLube. It's "lubricant" that uses nanometer-sized round diamond particles in it. The theory is that the diamonds stick to the surface via atomic forces (after the oil evaporates), and everything slides on diamond "ball bearings".
Whatever the theory, I bought a tiny tube, and first tested it on my Benchmade Nitrous assisted-opener. All I can say was that I noticed an increase in speed and smoothness after the first few trial openings. Under a magnifying glass, I also saw that the one drag mark on the blade camming surface was being polished down, and the rest of the surface was showing polishing action, too. I think the stuff may work like a very gentle form of lapping.
I also did a quick test on the trigger mechanism of my FN FiveseveN. Quick, as in 60 hours of work per week doesn't leave me much time for gunsmithing.
The trigger pull averaged 6 lbs, 6oz before treatment. After hitting all the drag marks, bearing surfaces, and pivot points, I tested again after about two dozen dry fires. The pull is averaging 6 lbs, 3oz, with one going down to 5 lbs, 15oz. A couple of hundred rounds will make for a better test.
I'm impressed, even though I'm not sure what the exact mechanism is. I'll be sending a vial to my nephew at Georgia Tech, and let him pick some test articles, and check them out with his scanning electron microscope. But, so far, so good. Others are reporting measurable improvements in muzzle velocity by treating rifling with this stuff.