How to get a really really stuck breech plug out?

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Yes, before you ask, I'm an idiot.

This is a Savage ML 10-II

Before ML season, I removed plug, replaced with *copious* quantity of anti-seize lube.

BUT, then I did an extended sighting session (at least 25 shots), and then hunted with it in October for 9 days (2 weekends), including 2 more shots (one at the end of each uneventful weekend).

Cleaned it from the muzzle, of course. Been sitting there every since. I never removed the plug since the season, and didn't think it would be an issue (due to said copious lube amounts). But here we are.

I ussed black powder equiv only, rather than smokeless, during the season, which may also be contributing to the problem, perhaps (more fouling or even rust possibly?).

Now I'm trading it to my buddy for a prohunter T/C, and we cannot get the plug out.

Does anyone have a suggestion BESIDES what we're already trying, which is soaking it good with penetrating oil? I figure 24 hours standing on the stock, and 24 hours standing 180 degrees on the barrel and it might budge.

Anything else? Which penetrating oil is best?

Will applying heat from a Mapp gas torch affect my rifle's heat treatment? What about a lesser flame like a lighter?

I cannot in good conscious sell or trade it to an unknowing buyer until I get it out to verify that it's not stuck forever, and my buddy doesn't want it either unless he can get it out, obviously.

If you're wondering, I'm trading or selling it because I want to later buy another one with a different stock - I'm wanting the lam. wood thumbhole instead of this plastic one.

 

[Chawbaccer]

Try PB Blaster, and a heat gun instead of flame. Use patience, try a little today, soak and try again tomorrow, soak and try a couple days from now, repeat as necessary.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Thanks, Chewy!

 

[atblis]

Acetone mixed with ATF (50/50). Supposedly good, haven't tried it yet.

Remove barrel/action from the stock. Clamp it in a good sold bench vise. Use leather for padding to keep from marring the metal. Having the object your wrenching on solidly held makes a huge difference.

Heat cycles in conjunction with the penetrating oil seems to work pretty good for me.

 

[arcticap]

Try submerging the action in a pot of transmission oil and then putting it on a hotplate and cooking it for as long as neccesary.
An alternative would be to place it in a pot of boiling water.

 

[qajaq59]

We used to use Marvel Mystery oil on stuck pistons. Maybe that might do it. However, when we soaked them, we did it for something like a week.

 

[Wildfire]

Mint oil .

Hey :
Not sure where , But there is something about Mint Oil .
It is on the THR.....

 

[Pancho]

I've seen a comparison of the home-made penetrating oil made of a 50/50 mix of Acetone and atf. This engineering trade magazine compared the home-made against time honored brews such as Kroil, PB Blaster, wd-forty and the home brew won hands down. gentle heat could give better resluts but care must be taken. Acetone is a highly flammable volitle solvent.

 

[TasteLikeChicken]

I build custom ML and also do some complete restorations. Often I get barrels and breechplugs that are "welded" after 100 plus years of corrosion and sitting. Just put several ounces of kroil in them and let them sit upright for several weeks. In the meantime....cast yourself up a lead block to use as a vice pad. It should be the same width as your vice jaws and at least 1/2" thickness over the entire barrel.

I cast mine around scrap barrels that are the same diameter. Then cut them off with a seam that runs the length of the barrel. Enlarge this seam by about 1/8". Now make yourself up a good breechplug wrench or find the biggest QUALITY crescent wrench you can get. It must fit firmly or you will suffer marring.

Clamp the barrel into a good vice in the lead block. Squash it down on the lead so it really bites into the lead. Now get that LONG wrench and/or extension on it and put in some muscle. It should come loose this way.

Heating a barrel with a torch could cause any soft solders to run. IMO....avoid heating.

 

[Macgille]

I doubt that your rifle is heat treated at all. Heating the breech area to 700 degrees wouldn't hurt even a heat treated barrel. Carbon steel is heated to 1740 degrees then oil quenched to heat treat. It is then heated to 800 degrees to temper. Then it is air cooled. As long as you keep the heat to 700 +- you will be ok. You can buy heat sticks to measure the temp from a machine shop.

After you heat it the plug should come out easily. There is an oil called eelskid that will get into the tightest joint if you let it sit. It is made in sweden and is expensive and hard to find. But if you can find it it is guaranteed to loosen any joint. We used it on the space shuttle.

 

[tango2echo]

I've seen this a few times before. I usually soak with oil for a few days, then find a tight fitting socket, and the 1/4" drive battery powered 18v impact driver. Just "bump" it a few times, soak with oil another night, and the next day it will come right out.

I would shy away from using heat unless you are very experienced in this, as it is easy to use too much.

 

[CoRoMo]

I'd go the soaking route, but I'd imagine that heat would help too.

Surely by now you've got that sucker out. What did you find to be succesful?

 

[Jim K]

On repros, I have had to drill them out and replace them. On old guns, I prefer to leave them alone.

Jim

 

[armyof1]

Try putting some Diesel down the barrel, let it soak a couple of days , then when you come to undo it try tightening it a bit first then try and undo it you might have to do this a few times as it comes out i.e. tighten / undo / tighten / undo a bit more .

 

[jessy]

I think the mint oil is oil of wintergreen.You can get it at the drug store.

 

[BHP FAN]

I like Liquid Wrench,that stuff's great!

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Here's what worked:

1. PB Blaster soaking in about 3 days from each end.

2. Placed action into vice

3. Applied heat with a heat gun gently on the 750 deg F setting, around the outside

4. Good quality ratchet & extension socket

I could NOT get it without step #3, which is why I felt I had to.

Any chance that step #3 might have actually affected the heat treat on the rifle? I held about 2 inches away moving around and back and forth, for several minutes before it loosened up, and it was behind the 'chamber' area, where the breech plug is located. Like I say, heat gun, not a torch or flame. Thanks.

P.S. The breech plug threads and rifle threads were not corroded at all, so I can only imagine how bad it gets when things are corroded.

 

[arcticap]

Not according to post #10. I doubt that you even heated it up as hot as the 750 degree setting on the heat gun.

 

[qajaq59]

I seriously doubt you effected the steel with a heat gun. It has a wide area and a lot of the heat would run out of that one area anyway. I'm sure glad you got it out too.

 

[scrat]

When all else fails. make sure you have plenty of lube. wrap the barrel and put it in a vise then i took my 1/2 breaker bar. If that wasnt good enough i slid a 5' pipe over the breaker bar then in as little as 5 seconds the breach plug was out.

 

[scythefwd]

If you didn't get that barrel red hot, you didn't ruin the heat treat. When heat treating, a barrel is heated very hot and then quenched. The quenching keeps the metal in the same lattice work it was at when it was quenched. It changes a bit when you are heating it. The second heat is to remove stress from the barrel. It is allowed to cool down slowly, which causes the metal to return back to the back to the molecular structure it was before. If it starts glowing red, you are burning off carbon as well as oxygen in the steel, and changing the molecular structure again and causing it to become harder but more brittle. Your barrel should be fine.