Kibler Breach Plug

[Codger Craig Wilcox]

I'm with Flinter Nick and always put anti-seize on plug threads.

 

[B P Maniac Shooter]

I would shoot it out....
It will be removed in 5 minutes or less:

 

[Uncle Miltie]

not when you use the PROPER tools. a large vise and a pipe wrench are not the proper tools.

Even with proper tools there will be marks.

 

[wiscoaster]

“You might need a hammer”

Sorry, I meant a mallet.

 

[wiscoaster]

.....

Lastly… YOU obviously can’t unbreech a barrel .....

..... I’ve unbreeched. 250 old guns

I've never had need to do it, so never having done it, I think I can relate better to someone else who's also never done it; relate better than someone who's done it 250 times.

 

[Flintandsteel]

Breach plugs are made to be removable. Hence the threads. I’ve done it hundreds of times, with zero damage to either the barrel or plug.
This is NOT rocket science, just simple mechanics.
If it scares you, find someone competent to do it for you.
OR, just shoot it out.

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

Why not? Removing a breech plug is rather simple.

Piece of chocolate cake. The main issue is the right clamping vice, and correct wrench. Doing a MacGyver style will get you in trouble every time.
Larry

 

[FlinterNick]

I've never had need to do it, so never having done it, I think I can relate better to someone else who's also never done it; relate better than someone who's done it 250 times.

That was a typo. 250 year old guns not 250 guns

 

[Nav]

I didn't dry ball my Kibler .32 but I was trying to see how little powder I could shoot with and I swabbed the bore with a wet patch, forgot to run a dry patch down and loaded @10 gr 3f - must have been too wet as I could not get it to ignite. Didn't have a .32 ball puller so I put a screw down without a proper sized collar to keep it centered and proceeded to tear off one side of the ball. Took it home and pulled the breech plug. I have a wrench set from Rice that includes a set of aluminum vise blocks and a tapered wrench - the plug came right out, I pushed the remaining chucnk of lead out the back along with a goopy mess of wet powder, put it back in and it's been fine since! As @olskool stated above, just be certain to align the witness marks. (I also bought proper .32 ball puller with the collar)

I can send you the wrench set to use if you will ship it back when you are finished.

I tried about five times getting some 4F in there. I have thought about maybe some ether/starting fluid...

I have a big vice, but as was said, it is tapered and I haven't found a wrench that really fits well enough to put force on it.

That's very kind of you. I may take you up on it after messing with it a little more.

 

[FlinterNick]

I tried about five times getting some 4F in there. I have thought about maybe some ether/starting fluid...

I have a big vice, but as was said, it is tapered and I haven't found a wrench that really fits well enough to put force on it.

That's very kind of you. I may take you up on it after messing with it a little more.

This is all you need.

 

[2 shots]

i recently got a cva pa.rifle with a blockage 4 inches down the bore. got out my track s/s rod and one of their collared very pointy pullers and got it screwed into the ball in the barrel. after some lube and a lot of tugging it started to move, i was very surprised to find 1/2 of one of those cheap non collared pullers already stuck in the ball luckily to one side..

 

[Nav]

It's not goofy threaded is it? righty tighty, lefty loosey?

 

[French Colonial]

The only time I have needed to "get something out of there" was when I have dry balled which I admit is most usually when I am visiting at the loading bench instead of paying attention to what I am doing. I have never got a brush stuck or the other unique things some have done.

We don't have a vise at the range I shoot at but we do have a piece of angle iron mounted in the rafters with a slot in it that you can hook your range rod into if you need to pull a dry ball.

I usually just shoot it out because I am not leaving to drive home to find a vise when I still have shooting to do, I did buy one of those CO2 things about two years ago but have not had a chance to use it yet.

 

[Kansas Kid]

It's not goofy threaded is it? righty tighty, lefty loosey?

Correct, right hand thread.

 

[duca]

I find tapping the rod with a “T” handle first with a hammer or mallet to start the stuck ball moving works good. Then you can pull it

 

[Eric Krewson]

WOW! I can't believe so many people are afraid of pulling a breech plug. My first build was a scratch build and I didn't know anything about breechplugs or timing one to a barrel, I screwed up the fit so bad I had to have material tig welded to the tang twice to start over. By the time I got the breech face fit right I had probably had the breechplug in and out 30 times. I didn't mar the barrel or the tang pulling the breechplug as many times as I did, I padded everything with leather, even the jaws of my Crescent wrench.

I can take a breechplug out in less than a couple minutes, pop the pins, take out the tang bolt, wrap leather around the barrel and put in my padded vise and out it comes with a crescent wrench. You are not supposed to fit one where it takes a Crescent wrench and a 3' cheater pipe to get it loose. Rice breechplugs are often a very tight fit but with the right tools it is a piece of cake and no more difficult to remove than any other.

I have never removed a TC plug but have 15/16 TC plug wrench in case I have to.

I was at the Alabama Kentucky Longrifle show a few years ago, Jason Rice was there, I bought his plug removing tools which greatly simplify the process of plug removal. I put a couple strips of leather over the Rice vise jaws before I clamped the barrel in them.

 

[waksupi]

The fewer guns a person has built, the more difficult they try to make a fix.
Put some powder behind the ball and shoot it out. The puller is already broke, so no need to try to save it. You're not going to damage the bore.
I've dry balled a few times over the past 50+ years of shooting these guns. I've built guns for 42+ years, fixed my own guns, and guns for many others. I have never had a case where it was necessary to remove a breech plug to remove a ball.
The most common damage I have seen from amateurs taking a gun apart is damage to the wood.

 

[Rebel bull]

the one thing that every one is forgetting if you have a vise that's appropriately sized most people fail to make sure that the bench is solid and anchored the first one i did was on a bench on wheels and damn near tipped it on my self

 

[Sagebrush]

My Kibler is still a gcode file in Jim's CNCs–so I have never owned a flinter. But I have several cappers that I've owned for the last fifty years and have "shot out" a few uncharged balls. I assume the ball isn't sitting on the breach. It doesn't take much power to blow one out.

 

[AwwNaww]

I was so paranoid that this cheap old man bought the Rice tools. They work very well. I do not see a problem with pulling breech plugs. ymmv