Now at a crisis

Degrease the area thoroughly with acetone, then soak it in Ed's Red for a few days. Grasp the nipple in a pair of small vise-grip locking pliers and wiggle it. Repeat the soaking and wiggling until it works loose or you can't get a hold on it anymore.

Then take it to the gunsmith!!

I think there is at least an even chance you can break it loose this way.

Avoid getting acetone on the wood, it will damage the finish.

Kroil?

Probably; I just have never used it so did not feel right recommending it for that reason. I have used Ed's Red though.

Kroil is a brand of penetrating oil. Oil that Kreeps.

Don't sweat it, we all run into nipple problems at one point or another. Once solved, your Minnie balls will be hitting their target as long as you don't jerk the trigger prematurely.

Clamp down on that thing with vice grips and twist away; after letting your penetrating oil some time to work.

I just used a M7 box wrench last week to remove a nipple from a Kentucky Pistol. None of my nipple wrenches would fit it.

from your image posted it looks like a small box wrench would line right up with the flats and have clearance to break it loose. Although appearances can be deceiving.

Machinist's Workshop magazine did an interesting test of penetrating oils where they measured the force required to loosen rusty test devices. The results are worth sharing.

Pentrating oil / Average load / Price perfluid ounce
None / 516 pounds /
WD-40 / 238 pounds / $0.25
PB Blaster / 214 pounds / $0.35
Liquid Wrench / 127 pounds / $0.21
Kano Kroil / 106 pounds / $0.75
ATF-Acetone mix / 53 pounds / $0.10

The ATF-Acetone mix was mixed 1 to 1 ratio.

I'm with Gary -- cut a socket to fit.
I would just go to sears and get one rather than going around to garage sales and the like.
--Dawg

I use PB blaster because that's whats in my shed and a cheap socket I found floating around in the tool tray.
Soak it for a couple of days and give it a shot , cheaper than a trip to the smithy for sure.
good luck,,,

Yep sockets work great. made one for my Rifle and fitted a cheap chicom Allen key on it for leverage

and when you get it apart, the next nipple will have a liberal coating of anyi-seize on it, won't it?

Kroil?

Click to expand...

yup
Let it honk on it for a day or two.
If you can't get a good enough purchase on the outside of the nipple, an EZ Out might help (nothing really easy about it though )
Tap it in easy if it's not grabbing.
or
take it to a gunsmith

I'm with the other guys.Try using a small socket cut into a nipple wrench first. If that don't get it, it's time for small vice grips.

I don't get how the ATF/acetone mix can penetrate. I've mixed it up to remove a stuck nipple and the two are like oil & water: they separate like Italian dressing. It seems to me that it is either the ATF or the acetone that is gonna get in but not both. I'd say Ed's red might work better because it has ATF & acetone in it as a solution rather than as a quickly separating suspension. Anybody like Ed's Red for a rusted bolt remover?

Kroil...and heat. I've got one gun that needs to have the nipple and breech soaked in boiling hot water to get the nipple out...and I remove it for cleaning every time. Soak it in Kroil overnight, and tap the nipple every hour or so.

Mike OTDP said:

Kroil...and heat. I've got one gun that needs to have the nipple and breech soaked in boiling hot water to get the nipple out...and I remove it for cleaning every time. Soak it in Kroil overnight, and tap the nipple every hour or so.

Click to expand...

Sounds like you need to apply choke tube lube on the threads of the nipple.

Hellgate said:

I don't get how the ATF/acetone mix can penetrate. I've mixed it up to remove a stuck nipple and the two are like oil & water: they separate like Italian dressing. It seems to me that it is either the ATF or the acetone that is gonna get in but not both. I'd say Ed's red might work better because it has ATF & acetone in it as a solution rather than as a quickly separating suspension. Anybody like Ed's Red for a rusted bolt remover?

Click to expand...

Ive never been that impressed witht he stuff. The ATF addition was a later nod to the fact that you can't get sperm oil like the original formula called for and sperm oil was replaced by ATF in the original mix so it must be the same thing. Its not. ATF is basically 0 weight motor oil with some friction modifiers and detergent and red dye.

I know people swear by the stuff but I swear my kids are smart and good looking and well...

1 part dexron II, 1 part kerosene, 1 part mineral oil ( or old fashioned stoddard solvent if you can find that stuff any more ) and one part acetone with some lanolin thrown in if you want. Basically 2 polar and 2 non polar solvents. It works but Kroil works better and isnt a pain to mix and keep in solution. Kroil does smell terrible not that Eds red doesnt.

Try a EZ out of the correct size. Put the EZ out in a tap wrench and don't bend it or it will break.

I'm getting here late.
I am guessing the nipple has been in a long time without thread protectorant on it and is thus siezed.
The nipple probably takes a standard #!! nipple wrench from the looks of it.
But needs to be a high quality one.

Many musket nipples do use a 4 sided square but not all.
Spray the nipple down with any good penetrating oil.
Then lay a thin piece of leather over the nipple and set hammer down on it.

Then stand it up vertical muzzle up. Now spray or pour enough penetrating oil down the muzzle to reach the nipple threads on inside.

What many people forget, is the corrosion and gummy substances from BP
starts on the inside and seeps to the outside. So you need to soak the inside too.
While it is soaking us a bore brush to help work the caked on stuff loose

I drill mine out with progressively bigger diameter drill bits.

In general, musket nipples have four sides, rifle and handgun nipples 2.

Do you have or have access to a drill press? If so, once you get or make a nipple wrench and if Kroil or whatever doesn't work, pad the drill press table and set the gun up so the nipple is vertical. Then clamp the nipple wrench in the chuck, bring the press down with the handle (no power) until the wrench fits over the nipple and manually turn the chuck back and forth to break the nipple free.

Most nipple problems arise when the nipple wrench rides up and distorts the nipple before applying enough pressure to turn it. Using the downward force of the drill press to keep the wrench down allows full force to be used and almost always will break the nipple free. If all else fails, you can drill the nipple out with a drill the same diameter as the minor diameter of the nipple threads. then you just pick out the pieces of thread and replace the nipple.

Jim

oh yea if using heat! IT IS NOT LOADED RIGHT! It could ruin your day