Help !!! Removing barrel pins

[Bigdaddy61]

Hi all, I have a Tenn Perc mountain rifle and i want to clean it . how do i remove the barrel , i see that there are pins on the stock do i have to knock them out with a punch?
Thanks, John

 

[troy2000]

You don't need to remove the barrel to clean it, and making a habit of removing and reinstalling the pins won't be good for the rifle.

 

[Bob McBride]

I pull the barrel out once or twice a year or if it gets really wet on a hunt. Use a punch smaller than the pins by just a tad. Make sure the end of the punch is flat, not rounded, or you’ll slip and mar the wood. Punch the pins just enough that you can grab them from the other side and pull them out, even if you have to use pliers. Pop the breech end out first being VERY careful working the rest out if it’s tight and your stock is slim. Clean up under the barrel, dry it, wax, and reinstall, carefully. Oil the pins lightly before you put them back in. Treat it like it’s a gold pocket watch and not a fence post and you’ll be fine.

 

[troy2000]

I pull the barrel out once or twice a year or if it gets really wet on a hunt. Use a punch smaller than the pins by just a tad. Make sure the punch is flat, not rounded, or you’ll slip and mar the wood. Punch the pins just enough that you can grab them from the other side and pull them out, even if you have to use pliers. Pop the breech end out first being VERY careful working the rest out if it’s tight and your stock is slim. Clean up under the barrel, dry it, wax, and reinstall, carefully. Oil the pins lightly before you put them back in. Treat it like it’s a gold pocket watch and not a fence post and you’ll be fine.

Once or twice a year or under special circumstances makes sense. I may have misunderstood; I assumed he wanted to pull the barrel for routine cleaning.

 

[Kansas Kid]

If it’s the one I just sold to you I have already done that. Just go shoot it , 60 gr 3f and go from there.
When done shooting you can use one of them flush nipples with the tube attached or just plug the nipple that’s on it with a wood tooth pick.

 

[Kansas Kid]

Here is the few notes I have for the Dixie Tennessee 50 rifle. I only shot it one outing 30 to 40 shots.
.502 bore
.516 to the groove
I used .018 patch with hoppes 9plus
.490 ball and 60 grn of 2f Goex
It shot well with that but by no means is the best load for it. If you’re just shooting close range 50gr of powder is good enough.

The other guys covered removing the barrel but I already done that and cleaned and oiled those areas.

 

[Bigdaddy61]

Thanks guys

 

[SDSmlf]

I pull the barrel out once or twice a year or if it gets really wet on a hunt. Use a punch smaller than the pins by just a tad. Make sure the end of the punch is flat, not rounded, or you’ll slip and mar the wood. Punch the pins just enough that you can grab them from the other side and pull them out, even if you have to use pliers. Pop the breech end out first being VERY careful working the rest out if it’s tight and your stock is slim. Clean up under the barrel, dry it, wax, and reinstall, carefully. Oil the pins lightly before you put them back in. Treat it like it’s a gold pocket watch and not a fence post and you’ll be fine.

I would add that you should also break the edges of the pins before putting them back in. If left sharp they tend to grab wood a bit and could cause splinters when installing and removing.

 

[kansas_volunteer]

One thing I've done in the pasf is to make pins using flat head 10-penny nails. I chuck them in a drill and use a file to turn down the heads until they are just a little larger in diameter than the shank of the nail. There is often a burr on the under head so i use a file with a safe edge to clean up the underside of the head without cutting into the shank. I next cut the nail to be just a tiny bit longer than the stock is wide and round off the end. When nail pins are in place, and you want to remove them, a tap on the tip will pop the little head up enough to get a knife edge or something under it to pull the pin all the way out. You don't need a punch, and don't have to worry about chiping the wood.

The hard assed cusses who say this ain't HC/PC have problems with my method, but I say the oldtimers were pretty inventive and could easily have done it more or less the same way. Certainly for a moderntimer who feels a need to occasionally pull a barrel my way is more advantageous.

 

[Art Caputo]

I will rarely if ever remove the pins from my pinned barrels, I do have one rifle that I have two matched barrels which I can interchange , a 50 and 58 cal, and will interchange them only once or twice a year at most. If pin removal is performed carefully, I see no issues. I use a 3” piece of the same pin-stock that is used on the rifle that is polished with a slightly narrower squared tip, remove/replace tips from the same direction, leaving the original pin in the stock just enough so the barrel can be lifted. Very light tapping is all that is required for pin removal/relocating. After the barrel is re-pinned, I will rub in a very small dab of my oil finish over the pinned hole. Appearance and integrity of the pinned barrel is unchanged using this method and takes less the 5-10 minutes to switch the barrel.
I have generally not seen any issues even after 20+years with my well used hunting rifles which I have removed the pinned barrels. At worst there has been slight surface rust that was easily removed with a bit of oil rubbed with very fine steel wool, and un-noticeable from the rest of the barrel when done. I’m more interested that the barrel channel and interior wood surfaces are sealed to prevent swelling or rot due to moisture being absorbed.

 

[Bigdaddy61]

Thanks everyone for the help.
John

 

[toot]

just use the time and trued methods of inserting a round toothpick in the vent / flash hole, with a cleaning patch on top of if then put the frzzen back on top of it and clean then take it out, then remove the lock and clean it. that is what I do. and as stated the use of a punch. when I use a punch to push out the pins, looking down the barrel if you remove them rite to left reinsert back left to rite, and you will not chip the wood around the pin holes. that is what I DO.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I find a small green twig is much less likely to leak water during cleaning than a toothpick. I have a small dogwood tree outside my shop that has supplied its little branches for my homemade toothpicks for years.

 

[Sidney Smith]

This is why I installed brass buttons on the stock at the pin holes. This way if I do ever need to remove the pins, I've got much less chance of damaging anything with the pin punch.

 

[Art Caputo]

I find a small green twig is much less likely to leak water during cleaning than a toothpick. I have a small dogwood tree outside my shop that has supplied its little branches for my homemade toothpicks for years.

I have found that cutting off the sharp point of the toothpick, and draping a small piece of double layer of Saran Wrap iver the tip provides an excellent seal as well.

 

[Mulebrain]

I pull my barrels after every shoot, just to make cleaning easier. I use a very fine tipped punch and just push them out. You won't damage the rifle, as long as your careful. I pull the barrels and set them in warm water and thoroughly clean them. Not saying the way I do it is best, just the way I do it. I like to pump water through the touch holes back and forth.

 

[Sidney Smith]

If you do as I do to clean the gun you don't have to remove the barrel. Use one of those clamp like affairs over the touch hole that has tje surgical rubber hose. Place the gun upside down horizontally, with the barrel lower than the breech. Put a small container of cleaner nearby with the hose from the clamp in the cleaner, then clean away. Any water that does come out will drain away from the stock and fall onto the table or bench and not get down into the stock area.

 

[Mulebrain]

Just be aware that contaminates will get into the barrel channel and tang area. I bought a rifle from a guy who shot it a few times, and cleaned the bore. The rifle sat on a shelf unfired for many years. It was very hard to pull that barrel, as rust was forming in many areas.

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

Some good advice has already been posted. With respect to removing the barrel after the pins are removed: I always invert my guns over a heavy pad with the barrel laying on the pad. The pad needs to be thick enough to compensate for the sights sticking up, so the barrel don't roll. I remove the stock, breech end first with the barrel's weight keeping it firmly on the pad. Like it was said earlier, it the stock is thin, and the barrel moves outside of parallel to the barrel channel, wood can break.
Flintlocklar

 

[rp77469]

Keep in mind that some pins are tapered. I have a Chris Hirsch poor boy with tapered pins. Look very closely before you start trying to back them out the wrong direction. And make sure each pin goes back in the hole it came from.