Breech plug removal. Jag and cloth stuck in barrel

[pjckm]

I have a jag, cleaning cloth and ramrod stuck in my barrel. Has anyone on this forum ever removed their breech plug from their barrel successfully? If so, what process and tools were used? I believe if the breech plug is removed from barrel I would be able to push the jag and cloth all the way thru and out the back end. The rifle is t/c Hawken.

 

[waarp8nt]

I've removed and replaced a few on the T/C Hawken and Renegade models. T/C made a tool for the breech plug, they can be found on eBay and Rice makes vice jaws so the barrel doesn't get messed up.

Have you tried to shoot it out by removing the nipple and trickling in a little powder? Install the nipple and a cap, it may just shoot out. I've done that on a Jukar many years ago, much easier than removing the breech plug.

 

[oldwood]

Some TC breaches can't be removed. You might do well to try and work some black powder into the breach , and shooting the jag out. Wait and see what some others advise.

 

[awreis]

Shooting it out was ny first thiught. If you do shoot it out, make sure it's all the way down so it's not a barrel obstruction.

 

[Tasbay]

Don`t know how many times I have done this with different guns. Remove the nipple dribble some powder (3-4 grains) in replace the nipple. Point barrel up and slap the gun to get the powder close to the nipple. Cap and shoot in a safe direction.

 

[satwel]

I had a jag and patch stuck at the top of the powder chamber of my flintlock TC Hawken last year. After a lot of deliberation, I decided to shoot it out. I took the barrel out of the stock and lashed it to a 2 x 4. Then I clamped the 2 x 4 to the back side of my stepladder with the muzzle pointed down, a foot off the ground. I unscrewed the vent liner and dribbled about 8 to 10 grains of 3F into the power chamber and replaced the vent. I put a small pile of powder on the end of the 2 x 4 just below the vent and set it off with a length of fuse. The flash of the powder pile set off the charge in the barrel. I had a paper target on the grass under the muzzle. Sure enough, there was a .45 caliber hole in the target. The jag went about two inches into the ground. The whole process took about 20 minutes start to finish.

 

[Adk Mike]

I have a jag, cleaning cloth and ramrod stuck in my barrel. Has anyone on this forum ever removed their breech plug from their barrel successfully? If so, what process and tools were used? I believe if the breech plug is removed from barrel I would be able to push the jag and cloth all the way thru and out the back end. The rifle is t/c Hawken.

I had the same thing last week. In my case I put JB weld on the end of the rod . Stuck into the jag stuck in the bottom of the barrel. I let it sit over night and pulled it out in the morning

 

[2 shots]

popped corn anyone

 

[TDM]

Like @waarp8nt said, you need the TC breech removal tool, it’s a square jig that securely fits the breech. And of course a heavy padded vise. I use aluminum angle. But as others have posted, I’d try shooting it out first.

 

[2 shots]

did you wet the cloth??

 

[The Crisco Kid]

Pour some water or ballistol or WD-40 down the barrel first to see if that loosens it up enough to pull it out.

 

[morehops52]

Pour some water or ballistol or WD-40 down the barrel first to see if that loosens it up enough to pull it out.

That usually works for me. If not the shoot 'em out method works too. Forget about taking off the breech plug.

 

[pjckm]

Thanks for info waatp8nt. And you other guys too>

 

[deerstalkert]

water with some dish soap down the bore for a few minutes.
if you have a vise lock the ramrod in the vise, and pull on the stock. works most of the time.
if this don't work, shoot it out per above.

 

[morehops52]

There's another way I unstick a rod too. I always have a multi-tool and a couple of small leather pieces. I wrap leather around the rod and put a piece on the muzzle to protect it. Put the tool against the muzzle and grab the rod with the jaws and then lever the rod up. You won't get much movement but you only need a little at a time. All you have to do is move the rod enough to turn the patch around a little. Always put some liquid down the barrel first whether its water, oil, cleaner etc. Even if the patch was wet it will help soften the crud or saturate the patch.

 

[B P Maniac Shooter]

Shoot it out.
You'll have it out in less than 5 minutes:

 

[ETipp]

If you don’t want to shoot it out there is another way. If you do a search on Idaho Ron he has a video showing how to use a grease gun to remove something stuck in the barrel. It’s so effective that in his demonstration he took an old, very rusted up barrel and then pounded an oversized (I believe it was) conical down the bore. He used a proper size grease fitting to screw down into the flash hole. The grease gun he used was a small size grease gun and it pushed that overly tight conical out the barrel as easy as pie.

The clean up was nowhere near as bad as some people may think.

However, if it were me, I’d try shooting it out first.

Something to keep in mind anyway.

Good luck and please let us know how it turned out.

 

[Rum River]

First I would try holding the ramrod in a vise and pulling on the rifle.
I read somewhere that back in the actual era some shooters would tie a leather thong to the ramrod with the other end anchored to a tree for the same approach.

Second I would unscrew the ramrod from the jag and shoot it out as described in previous posts.

Third would do the grease gun method.

Good luck, hope this helps.

 

[Eric Krewson]

Not all CVA breech plugs can be pulled but you can pull every TC breech plug if you have the right tools and a long enough pipe to put on your plug wrench to break it loose. That said, I have never needed to pull a TC plug but know how to if the need ever arises.

Here is what a TC plug wrench looks like, it is supposed to be used with a pipe wrench.

 

[waarp8nt]

Not all CVA breech plugs can be pulled but you can pull every TC breech plug if you have the right tools and a long enough pipe to put on your plug wrench to break it loose. That said, I have never needed to pull a TC plug but know how to if the need ever arises.

Here is what a TC plug wrench looks like, it is supposed to be used with a pipe wrench.

View attachment 295377

If you ever remove one. I don't remember who told me, but their idea works well; strip out and use an aluminum can as a shim in the corners of the T/C tool. It will prevent damage to the breechplug as the aluminum takes the bulk of the force leaving the breechplug pristine.