Crockett rifle breach-fix-

[CoyoteJoe]

I finally pulled the plug on my Crocket, and while I admit to being no fan of patent breeches, this one is plumb ridiculous! The threaded portion is .729" long, foolish on a thread diameter of .585" OD. The powder chamber is 1.3" deep! The ID is .32" for about half that depth, then steps down to about .20" for the remainder.
Hang on, it gets even dumber! While the front of the plug is flat faced, the shoulder at the front of the barrel thread is not. It is a taper or cone like a 30% countersink, thus no way the flat face of the plug can seat tight to the countersunk shoulder! Not satisfied with dumb enough they also recessed the rear of the bore, rather like the forcing cone of a revolver.
No wonder it snags patches. The .32" front of the powder chamber will admit the jag and patch but when you pull it back the patch spreads into the cone and balls up so that it will not return to bore diameter and I can see no easy fix.
One would need to deepen the barrel thread about 3/8" to a flat shoulder and face off the rear of the barrel enough to allow the plug to meet the new shoulder. That would be a machine shop job and would shorten the barrel enough to upset the fit of barrel key and under rib. A rather expensive fix for a cheap gun, just to fix something which should never have been broken!
How can a gun manufacturer be so stupid??!!! :cursing:

 

[HomeinDixie]

If I had it to do over again, I would buy something else!

Probably a Dixie Cub in .40! O well, live and learn!

 

[CoyoteJoe]

Well, I believe I have come up with a simple and inexpensive fix, though I doubt it would be inexpensive if I'd paid a gunsmith to do the work.
I found a steel bushing 5/16 OD and 1/4 ID. Drilled the plug chamber 5/16" full depth, seated the bushing to the bottom and silver soldered it in. Drilled the flash channel from the clean out screw on the left through to the nipple bolster.
I cut the bushing about 1/4" longer than the breech plug so that it extends into the bore past the recess Traditions had cut into the rear of the bore.
Then new powder chamber holds 18 grains of 3f so I can run loads of 20 grains with no air space under the ball. A .32 jag and patch will not enter the bushing so no problem of it getting stuck. I still will have to clean the powder chamber separately with a .25 caliber brush but that is just a fact of life with any patent breech.
So far as I am concerned it is now FIXED! And cost only a couple of hours and a buck or so for the bushing.
I again like my Crocket and this winter may rework the stock to make it a bit more graceful. :grin:

 

[HomeinDixie]

You didn't happen to take any pictures of the operation, did you?

I think I follow what you are saying though. I may have to give that a try? :hmm: