How Often Do You Remove the Touch Hole Liner

[Enfield58]

Only recently have I acquired flintlocks with touch hole liners. My other flintlocks just had touch holes - no liners.

My two Pedersoli Charles Moore flintlock pistols have hooked breeches. So this makes them easier to clean.

On the other hand, my Frontier rifle lacks the hooked breech but still isn't difficult to clean.

I use white lithium grease on the threads of the touch hole liners so they are easier to remove.

I decided to try the barrel flushing kit from TOW for the Frontier rifle. However, it's impossible to get a good seal with the o-ring if the touch hole liner is in place. The slots in the liner prevent a good seal.

So the only way to get a good seal with the barrel flush kit is to remove the touch hole liner. I find this difficult when the gun is fouled even with the lithium grease in place.

With all this said, I am thinking about going back to my traditional way of cleaning the barrel like I did with other muzzle loaders and leave the touch hole liner in place.

I would only remove it when it needs to be replaced.

Sorry for the long way around to asking the question.

How often does everyone here remove their touch hole liners in their flintlocks?

 

[Grenadier1758]

I don't remove my touch hole liners for cleaning. I only remove them when its time to replace one due to enlargement of the touch hole.

 

[Sidney Smith]

I used to remove the liner on my Lyman GPR for cleaning, but then I read somewhere that its not necessary. Now that I have a couple kit guns, I don't ever remove them. I don't shoot them enough to ever see one wearing out to the point where it would need replacement.

 

[Brokennock]

I remove it any time I'm having trouble getting the breach face really good and clean. I use the thread anti-seize sold for shotgun choke tubes on mine. Some people seem to think removing it for cleaning will wear out the threads, sorry, not buying it. Maybe if one were taking it in and out a few times a week, but, I still doubt it, especially if lubricated.

 

[biliff]

I remove them every time I clean. All of mine have hooked breeches, so I just remove the barrel(s) and let the breech soak for a few minutes in hot water before pulling the liner(s). The soaking makes them easier to unscrew. Once out, I go ahead and clean the barrel(s).

 

[EC121]

Some do and some don't. I never remove it unless it is damaged. No reason to. I can clean the rifle slick as a whistle without removing it. I use a breech face brush and patch to clean the bottom of the barrel and a pipe cleaner to clean the vent.

 

[rich pierce]

Never have, never will.

 

[Spikebuck]

Never. No reason to. None of mine have the slot or the hex key feature. They were meant to go in and just stay there permanently.

 

[Stumpkiller]

I had a Bess for 15 years treat had no liner (Kit Ravenshear stated liners were repair items). My rifle was made in 2005 and I have not, nor do I have any intention of removing the liner. My smoothbore is more recent but, again, I have no intention of removing the liner. Neither of mine have external slots or sockets (they are filed smooth to the barrel) and it would be a destructive act to remove them. So far they haven't worn out so there is no reason.

 

[Phil Coffins]

Never.

 

[M. De Land]

Never.

Each to his own but if you think a V thread in a flash hole liner will not eventually have some fouling compressed into the threads your kidding your self anti- sieze or not. The other thing is the voids left at the intersection of the flat plane of the liner face and the bore arch. These are nearly impossible to get perfectly clean and will eventually cause some corrosion if not cleaned out.
This is one of the reasons I feel the liner needs to be threaded proud into the bore and then the barrel reamed to just ahead of the liner threaded port. This leaves a perfectly flush liner with the same arch profile of the bore interior reamed to groove diameter.
No

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
I only use white lightning liners that are not removable. The extensive coning on the inside makes keeping them clean easy. Having a liner protruding into the bore is a recipe for trouble with a stuck cleaning rod. Moreover, I've never observed any corrosion forming where the liner meets the bore when I removed breech plugs for inspection. However, I always remove my barrels and pump them with water so my cleaning is thorough. I have seen corroded and loose threads in the holes for the smaller liners that the owners removed for cleaning. These were guys who did not remove their barrels for cleaning but did remove the liners. The threads when exposed to air began to rust and they did not clean the threads out very well with the barrel in the stock. Eventually, rust and wear from removal caused me to replace their smaller liners with white lightning liners.

dave

 

[Grimord]

White Lightning liners are not meant to be removed unless shot out which is highly unlikely in our lifetime
That is all I use in my flinters as they are the best.

 

[Alexander Efremenko]

Never. Unless its shot out. And I haven't had that happen yet

 

[Juice Jaws]

NEVER

 

[Dave Marsh]

I am in the never remove camp.

 

[AlanG]

Not really sure anyone actually read the Op- he was asking about an easily removable Pedersoli liner. Of course one doesn't remove a White Lightning or similar liner because they are not meant to be removed. Not removing a Pedersoli liner for cleaning is silly, it takes a minute to remove and replace, and keeping it well lubed makes it a lot easier if you run into a dry balled or other complication.

Dave P- I get your comments, but being incompetent at it ( obviously I don't mean you here!) is not a reason to not remove one designed to be removed.

Honestly, the "thread wear" is a little silly. I've owned 2 Pedersoli guns, one from the eighties and the other a Deluxe Frontier for twenty years- no problem whatsoever with thread wear/rusting, nor any problems removing percussion nipples either.

Einfield58- I'm not saying anything new, but proper anti-sieze, or choke tube lube is much better than any lithium grease here.

 

[RiverRat]

Out of the four long guns I have, I only replaced my target rifle once when the groups started to open up. I sent my rifle back to the builder for it's 50,000 mile tuneup.

 

[Ben Meyer]

The TOW flush thingie works with my gun, doesnt with my sons. We both have flash hole liners. I've removed it and lubed the threads 1 time. Going forth, I wont remove it again unless I dryball the gun and need to bloop out a ball. Itll be way easier than the one time I had to do that on a gun without a liner. I'm glad I have one.

 

[curator]

I do remove my touch hole liners at least occasionally when cleaning my gun barrels. I also recommend the use of an "anti-seize" compound on the threads when reinstalling it. That way if you actually HAVE TO remove it to deal with a dry-ball or other issue, it will come out without damage. Using a flushing tube that screws into the touch hole threads also allows me to clean guns with pinned barrels with no danger of getting water or solvents between the forearm wood and the barrel. A threaded touch hole liner that is removable is a real advantage for those of us who are less than HC.