Black Powder Pistol Barrel Improperly Welded/Assembled? (Pics)

[lee1000]

So I was given this 50% complete replica pistol and noticed a cut between the breech and barrel.

Is this ok or should it have been welded 360 degrees?

 

[44-henry]

You absolutely do not want to weld that. What you have is called a patent breech and it screws into the barrel with the threaded stub forward of that line. Welding it would not only make it impossible to remove in the future, but could also negatively impact the safety of the barrel in that region.

Those Jukar's are cheap pistols and some would say not to shoot them at all. I have owned a few over the years and have never found them to be unsafe and they can even be quite accurate, but your mileage may vary and you should have someone familiar with these guns check it out before shooting it.

 

[lee1000]

Ok Thanks, I never would have thought it screwed in.

 

[rcmodel]

Might even be wise (or not?) to try to screw it out and get some anti-seize grease on the threads before it gets black powder fouling packed in it & rusts so bad it won't come out.

If it ever needs to?

rc

 

[Jim K]

Instead of screwing in a breech plug in the more common way, the idea was that the whole breech was made as a separate piece and screwed in. But given the poor reputation of Spanish-made percussion rifles, I would hesitate to fire that gun unless I personally ran some severe proof tests on it.

Jim

 

[lee1000]

Thanks, I'll look into it

 

[Jim Watson]

Oh, dear.
Seems you just can't go a day on the Internet without learning something else to worry about. I am glad I don't have any Spanish guns.

 

[Jim K]

Some of the guns by that maker seem to have barrels made from seamless tubing, which is nowhere near strong enough for a firearms barrel, even with black powder. There were also allegations that some guns were never submitted for proof or proof certificates were copied and included with guns that had not been proved. Illegal, of course, but often proof laws are not enforced on guns to be exported.

FWIW, in most countries, gun parts are NOT required to be proved since they are not assembled for sale. So kit guns and the like will not be proved.

Jim