Rifle plug removal, field removal

Larry (Omaha) said:

Good idea! If it were on the hoist ya wouldn't have to crawl under to take the plug out.
Larry

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Seems to me I recall Red Green changing engine oil that way. When he was done, he put the oil back in.
If they don’t find you handsome, they’ll find you handy.

Red Green and Patrick McManus are my role models!

Phil Coffins said:

Red Green and Patrick McManus are my role models!

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Bow your head and repeat:
I’m a man, but I can change, if I have to, I guess.

Quando omnes flunkus moritate:
“When all else fails, play dead.”
—Possum Lodge Moto—

Even Harold wouldn’t remove a breech plug in the field.

Rea

Snooterpup said:

Bow your head and repeat:
I’m a man, but I can change, if I have to, I guess.

Quando omnes flunkus moritate:
“When all else fails, play dead.”
—Possum Lodge Moto—

Even Harold wouldn’t remove a breech plug in the field.

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Really used to like all the uses for duct tape

Phil Coffins said:

Red Green and Patrick McManus are my role models!

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Rancid Cradtree was another one of my heroes

flconch53 said:

Rancid Cradtree was another one of my heroes

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And he is the one that learned me to be heathy by maintaining my protective crust!

I'll pull the breech plug after I knock out the front and rear sights to oil underneath them each time I clean.

An interesting thread ... Way too much to it to type on this tiny phone out in the boonies , reception is hit or miss , LOL .... Reading old books , ledgers , manuscripts , they regularly pulled the breach plug for maintenance etc. Ive messed with originals 18 and early 19 th century and not only did they have loose tolerances from their age , obviously ,but they didnt have fine threads ... Johnathan Alder pulled the breech plug in his gun because he missed a wolf , a native superstition , and scrubbed the bore ....seemed strange but he did it out in the woods . Obviously back a couple hundred years ago they didnt want their guns blowing up but they sure didnt have to worry about liability law suits either ... The fine threads and tight fit on barrels today are pretty tough . I can unbreech some barrels in the field but the majority of them , even flat breech faced plugs , no ...they are just too tight . Nothing wrong with that from a safety perspective but a pain when unbreeching a barrel is needed. Many rendezvous there was a gunsmith present with bench , vice and tools but not all of them unfortunately . Even in my shop it can be quite a chore unbreeching a barrel ....and some ....just impossible . Pick your firearm wisely . I love my flat breech faced flintlock trade guns ...to each their own though .

What @Rob M. said is true. The threads on the historic breech plugs were coarsely threaded and were easy to remove for maintenance. The original rifles I have seen can be observed to have coarse breech threads. They also have not been removed as it takes a solid bench vise and a long wrench to remove them. A few show signs of barrel shortening at the breech as the breech became very corroded and needed to be cut off to restore accuracy. None showed signs of regular breech removal.

Today we can make our threaded breeches more precise and thus less likely to leak high pressure gas and are far safer than the breech plugs that can be hand tightened. It is far easier to carry a CO2 discharging device to accomplish the same purpose as removing the breech plug to push out a stuck ball or to prepare for a thorough cleaning. I don't want my breech plugs to be easily removed in the field. In the purpose of full disclosure, I did run a dryball to about 6" from the breech of a flint lock rifle that I built. I didn't want to take the chance of bulging the barrel and my efforts with my ball puller resulted in a hole through the ball. I decided to remove the breech plug (that I had installed about a month prior) and remove the stuck ball and patch. I did document it on the Forum. I got several pages of the standard methods for removing a stuck ball. CO2 dischargers with touch hole adapters were not readily available at the time. So, I am not totally against the removal of a breech plug, but only as the last resort and definitely not for field maintenance.

Phil Coffins said:

And he is the one that learned me to be heathy by maintaining my protective crust!

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Some old buddies of mine understand the running joke about the “protective crust”. After a certain point you’re almost scared to wash it off…

Larry (Omaha) said:

Bad idea! Please just learn how to pull a ball and be prepared to do so. Your shooting experiece will be much happier!! Plugs are made to stay unless there is a gunsmithing issue. A stuck ball is a shooting issue.
Larry
Larry

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So obviously I won't be removing the plug.
I didn't attempt it, I was looking for some information first and now I found it, that's why I am on this form is to learn some things

I was asked by a friend of mine to clean some firearms he found at a garage sale. On closer inspection, it appeared to have a load in the barrel. I tried the ball puller, but as only 2" of the ramrod protruded from the muzzle, I used vise grips which pulled apart the apparently dry-rotted ramrod inside the barrel.
My next thought was to remove the nipple and work in some powder to shoot out the old load, but because the barrel was heavily rusted, tried the grease gun idea. I unscrewed the nipple and replaced it with a same thread grease fitting. A few pumps seemed to budge the old load, but then it jammed tighter and the only thing I got is a stuck load with a ball puller and broken ramrod inside a rusted barrel, now full of grease. My next try is a 6' breaker bar on a smooth jawed pipe wrench to try and remove the breech. I feel like a nitwit already.

@treetophunter, before you try to remove the breech plug, tell us the make and model of the rifle with the stuck ball. Some rifles with a drum and nipple have the drum screwed into the breech plug. We need more information.

In my opinion removing the breech plug for any reason is an actual last resort. Recently worked on a Cabela's Hawken with a load in the barrel that the shooter couldn't get to go off. The flash channel was packed full of brass bristles from a bore brush and fouling so that no fire was getting to the charge. Air would not move the charge and I really didn't want the mess of grease to clean up. Got out my ball puller set up, pictured below and had the ball out in 5 Minutes. Last fall when sighting in a new rifle the better half came out with the dogs and disrupted everything and I dry balled a flintlock for the first time. I just worked a couple pans of 4f through the touch hole and the ball zipped right out when I fired it. Just don't see any reason to remove a breech plug.

Reason to remove the breech plug is for maintenance ,
it would be to clean the gun,
And in some cases to remove a stuck ball

Grenadier1758 said:

@treetophunter, before you try to remove the breech plug, tell us the make and model of the rifle with the stuck ball. Some rifles with a drum and nipple have the drum screwed into the breech plug. We need more information.

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If the drum if through the barrel and into the breach plug you can't just pull the breach plug

That rifle does not have a PLUG....it has an entire chambered/patent breech!! You need a special 15/16" socket that clears the bolster! If you try to remove the hook like a breech plug you will twist it off!

Grenadier1758 said:

@treetophunter, before you try to remove the breech plug, tell us the make and model of the rifle with the stuck ball. Some rifles with a drum and nipple have the drum screwed into the breech plug. We need more information.

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Granadier, The rifle is a Thompson Center 'White Mountain Carbine'. I'm not at home, but I think it is a 22" long barrel. I don't see a seam where the breech and barrel come together like I have seen on other T/C's.