why not remove the breech plug?
- Thread starter faustopph
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Roswell 1847
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No need wearing out the threads if you don't have to.
With a Hooked breech its clocked in so the hook is oriented to the mortise in the tang.
If you wear the threads it might not clock in tight after a couple of removals.
About the only time a Breech plug would be removed would be if a gunsmith were going to lap or fresh out the rifling of a worn or pitted bore. Then he'd often fit a new breech plug.
With a Hooked breech its clocked in so the hook is oriented to the mortise in the tang.
If you wear the threads it might not clock in tight after a couple of removals.
About the only time a Breech plug would be removed would be if a gunsmith were going to lap or fresh out the rifling of a worn or pitted bore. Then he'd often fit a new breech plug.
Macmac
Member
A great deal of flinters if you wore threads on the plug and retightened would pass a drilled score on the face of the plug and so close off the vent, not to mention align correctly and still be tight. The threads on the barrel and the plug stretch into place when tight, and then the flats are filed/machined after this happens.
It might work once, maybe twice. In a hook breech the cost would be minimal at a good machine shop. On a long tang inlet in wood it would cost more.
There is a tapper on the plug to fit a taper as a seat also, and out of sight. The threads are not just square to the bore straight in. There is a name for this area and shape, but the term escapes me for the moment.
This positively seals the bore which is a good thing.
It might work once, maybe twice. In a hook breech the cost would be minimal at a good machine shop. On a long tang inlet in wood it would cost more.
There is a tapper on the plug to fit a taper as a seat also, and out of sight. The threads are not just square to the bore straight in. There is a name for this area and shape, but the term escapes me for the moment.
This positively seals the bore which is a good thing.
Way back when......I removed a breech on a hooked breech rifle (never want to do it again) Reason dry ball, unable to get out with puller or powder. Took a 24 inch pipe wrench and about a 6ft lever and when it broke loose it sounded like a shot.
Got the ball out, aligned the plug with sucess. Like i said would not look foward to doing that again.
Got the ball out, aligned the plug with sucess. Like i said would not look foward to doing that again.
Macmac
Member
That was tight huh? LOL
Pancho
Member
All of the above comments underscore why I don't use sabots in sidelocks. The common method of knowing if a sidelock is clean is by looking at the patch. I don't know if plastic build-up would be apparent unless one could remove the breechplug and see it. There my be a sidelock that has a readily removable breechplug but I've never seen it.
.44walkersabot
member
"THE POWDER GOES BEFORE THE BALL OR ELSE IT WILL NOT SHOOT A'TALL"...Okay...
The breech plug face has to have a bevel on the end because the shoulder it abutts against inside the barrel at the end of it's treads has a radius in that corner where the threads and the shoulder meet. Not many barrels have a completely square corner there at the end of the breech threads.
Anywhoooo......blackpowder fouling can work it's way into the area where the face of the breech plug meets the shoulder in the barrel. Even get back a ways into the threads. Lots of pressure. The "crush fit" where the breech plug meets the shoulder in the barrel is best but some guns can have a space between the breech face and the barrels shoulder. Mass produced rifles of a well known company can have anywhere from no space up to 1/8th inch space. I talked to a top dog in a company once about that. I was surprised. The outside shoulder where the breech plug meets the end of the barrel would be a tight crush fit so that would tighten the threads against each other and tighten the outside shoulder of the breech plug to the outside shoulder of the breech end of the barrel. It's a tedious job making the inside shoulder meet the inside face of the plug as the outside shoulder meets the end of the barrel "and" the plug lines up perfectly with the flats of the octagon rifle. I've spent plenty of time on that area when I'd build a rifle since I'd want all the surfaces to be a tight fit. Outside, inside,and the treads tight against each other when the breech plug lines up to the flats. After all that precision fitting I wouldn't remove the plug of a personel rifle too often. That wears those surfaces each time the plug goes in and out. One small amount of over tighten" when putting the plug back in screws it up.
Anywhooo.....I like to rinse my rifle barrels out with WD-40 to remove water. I let the barrel sit with the wd-40 in it with the penetrating oil above the shoulder inside the barrel so some oil can possibly seep into the threads. Never hurt anything and the rifles aways go bang. I rinse the barrels with alcohol after patches that wipe oil so I'm sure my gun doesn't have oil seeping into the powder at the breech end. CVA with that long bolster(the nipple screws into the end of it) that goes into the side and ends in the oposite barrel wall has that oil seep problem in the ole sidelock CVA's. Wipe and rinse with alcohol and they aways go bang. The alcohol swished inside the barrel disolves the oil behind that long bolster that transverses across the bore into the opposite barrel wall and rinses it out. It's a weird set up in those CVA sidelocks. The plug is screwed in. The bolster is screwed in. Then a long drill is put in the muzzle end and drills a hole that goes into the plug face and partially into the long bolster to make the flash channel. Makes for a 90 degree angle for the cap flash to go around unless powder gets back into the hole past the 90 degree turn. That's why I tell people with CVA's to use a pipe cleaner to work it all the way thru the flash channel into the bore or use a small caliber jag or mop to clean the hole they drilled from the muzzle end. Keep the flash channel clean.
Anywhoooo......blackpowder fouling can work it's way into the area where the face of the breech plug meets the shoulder in the barrel. Even get back a ways into the threads. Lots of pressure. The "crush fit" where the breech plug meets the shoulder in the barrel is best but some guns can have a space between the breech face and the barrels shoulder. Mass produced rifles of a well known company can have anywhere from no space up to 1/8th inch space. I talked to a top dog in a company once about that. I was surprised. The outside shoulder where the breech plug meets the end of the barrel would be a tight crush fit so that would tighten the threads against each other and tighten the outside shoulder of the breech plug to the outside shoulder of the breech end of the barrel. It's a tedious job making the inside shoulder meet the inside face of the plug as the outside shoulder meets the end of the barrel "and" the plug lines up perfectly with the flats of the octagon rifle. I've spent plenty of time on that area when I'd build a rifle since I'd want all the surfaces to be a tight fit. Outside, inside,and the treads tight against each other when the breech plug lines up to the flats. After all that precision fitting I wouldn't remove the plug of a personel rifle too often. That wears those surfaces each time the plug goes in and out. One small amount of over tighten" when putting the plug back in screws it up.
Anywhooo.....I like to rinse my rifle barrels out with WD-40 to remove water. I let the barrel sit with the wd-40 in it with the penetrating oil above the shoulder inside the barrel so some oil can possibly seep into the threads. Never hurt anything and the rifles aways go bang. I rinse the barrels with alcohol after patches that wipe oil so I'm sure my gun doesn't have oil seeping into the powder at the breech end. CVA with that long bolster(the nipple screws into the end of it) that goes into the side and ends in the oposite barrel wall has that oil seep problem in the ole sidelock CVA's. Wipe and rinse with alcohol and they aways go bang. The alcohol swished inside the barrel disolves the oil behind that long bolster that transverses across the bore into the opposite barrel wall and rinses it out. It's a weird set up in those CVA sidelocks. The plug is screwed in. The bolster is screwed in. Then a long drill is put in the muzzle end and drills a hole that goes into the plug face and partially into the long bolster to make the flash channel. Makes for a 90 degree angle for the cap flash to go around unless powder gets back into the hole past the 90 degree turn. That's why I tell people with CVA's to use a pipe cleaner to work it all the way thru the flash channel into the bore or use a small caliber jag or mop to clean the hole they drilled from the muzzle end. Keep the flash channel clean.
Macmac
Member
Rifle, Exactly, and this is one reason commercial guns are breeched before the flats on the outside are machined flat.
It is a heck of a lot easier.
It is a heck of a lot easier.
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