This is my 4th or 5th Thompson Center sidelock since the early 80s and I've followed the same procedures for cleaning and pre-shooting prep for this one as on all the others. I'd never had one that gave me such issues with misfires before, but the beautifully-stocked TC Cougar .50 I'd acquired recently (bought used) can't make it past 7 or 10 shots before the caps won't ignite the powder charge...
Even after pulling out the nipple, using a nipple pick and putting in a small charge of fresh powder -- she still won't go off. On one of my images, you can see some wrench marks on the barrel -- and I suspect the prior owner had the very same issues I'm having, and had tried to remove the breech plug. My guess now is that he wasn't successful -- and sold it off instead!
Anyway, Kudos' go to Idaholewis for this image of his cut-down TC breech which he'd posted back in 2019, as it clearly shows the patent breech and the flash channel.
I suspect there's a burr on the corner of the flash channel in mine, so I set about to clear and clean that -- and here's how I did it. I ran a piece of heavy 30# test mono down the nipple hole, up the flash channel and out the end of the barrel. Then I tied a 9" length of string (from a cellar overhead light pull cord) in the middle with one overhand knot in the mono and started pulling it into the flash channel.
Towards the end of the string I tied another knot to secure it, and I had applied some lapping compound to the string -- and then I pulled it back and forth through the flash channel maybe 200 times, stopping several times to applied more compound. By the end, it was noticeably smoother when pulling through.
After that, to clear out the compound, I tied on one of the smallest pipe cleaners I had available (you can typically see a variety of sizes or "fluff" in cleaners from the same package) and started that pulling that up into the channel flooded with Naptha (lighter fluid, it dries quickly, with no residue). It took some additional "liquid lubricant" (swearing!) and a little effort to get it started, but before I'd done the lapping compound step -- I couldn't get a pipe cleaner to go in at all...
The pipe cleaner was re-wet with the lighter fluid several times and pulled out from the muzzle several times, wiping if off each time.
If you've used those pipe cleaners before, you'll know they can drop some fibers and I didn't want them being stuck in there. I'd previously tied a large loop on the breech end of my pull-through mono line, so I just pulled the knot through the channel and you could seem some fibers come out with it at the muzzle end.
I didn't do it yet, but I'll also apply some high-pressure air to the nipple end to ensure there are no fibers left in the channel.
One other change I'll make to my shooting routine is that after each shot, I'll use a short length of tubing put onto the nipple and blow air UP the barrel to ensure the flash channel is clear (as yes, I know that the NMLRA and many ranges discourage shooters from blowing air "down the barrel" -- with your head positioned right over the bore).
I haven't gotten it back out to the range yet, but I will try to get back out very soon and she how it goes.
Old No7
Even after pulling out the nipple, using a nipple pick and putting in a small charge of fresh powder -- she still won't go off. On one of my images, you can see some wrench marks on the barrel -- and I suspect the prior owner had the very same issues I'm having, and had tried to remove the breech plug. My guess now is that he wasn't successful -- and sold it off instead!
Anyway, Kudos' go to Idaholewis for this image of his cut-down TC breech which he'd posted back in 2019, as it clearly shows the patent breech and the flash channel.
I suspect there's a burr on the corner of the flash channel in mine, so I set about to clear and clean that -- and here's how I did it. I ran a piece of heavy 30# test mono down the nipple hole, up the flash channel and out the end of the barrel. Then I tied a 9" length of string (from a cellar overhead light pull cord) in the middle with one overhand knot in the mono and started pulling it into the flash channel.
Towards the end of the string I tied another knot to secure it, and I had applied some lapping compound to the string -- and then I pulled it back and forth through the flash channel maybe 200 times, stopping several times to applied more compound. By the end, it was noticeably smoother when pulling through.
After that, to clear out the compound, I tied on one of the smallest pipe cleaners I had available (you can typically see a variety of sizes or "fluff" in cleaners from the same package) and started that pulling that up into the channel flooded with Naptha (lighter fluid, it dries quickly, with no residue). It took some additional "liquid lubricant" (swearing!) and a little effort to get it started, but before I'd done the lapping compound step -- I couldn't get a pipe cleaner to go in at all...
The pipe cleaner was re-wet with the lighter fluid several times and pulled out from the muzzle several times, wiping if off each time.
If you've used those pipe cleaners before, you'll know they can drop some fibers and I didn't want them being stuck in there. I'd previously tied a large loop on the breech end of my pull-through mono line, so I just pulled the knot through the channel and you could seem some fibers come out with it at the muzzle end.
I didn't do it yet, but I'll also apply some high-pressure air to the nipple end to ensure there are no fibers left in the channel.
One other change I'll make to my shooting routine is that after each shot, I'll use a short length of tubing put onto the nipple and blow air UP the barrel to ensure the flash channel is clear (as yes, I know that the NMLRA and many ranges discourage shooters from blowing air "down the barrel" -- with your head positioned right over the bore).
I haven't gotten it back out to the range yet, but I will try to get back out very soon and she how it goes.
Old No7
