MAX Charge

[hobbles]

It always un screws easy after it is in water for bout 20 seconds,, and it did clean nice and easy that way,,

 

[Tahquamenon]

This rifle does not have the set up like a cva with the drum and clean out screw. It has a snail looking thing on the side of the breech plug that is threaded for the nipple. There is nothing to break unless you break the nipple off.It has a hooked breech not the button style breech. If I can figure out how to post a pic I will take some pics and put them on here so that you guys can see what I am talking about. I am thinking of proof testing it with a double charge and two balls. When I do this do I patch both balls? The manual states 90 gr. FFG max, should I double it or try 1 and a half times(135gr.)? As I have stated this rifle has been shot over 150 times with 80-85 gr. charges and I have carefully checked it after each sesion. The previous owner told me the breech plug was a booger to get out, it took a cheater pipe to get it out. I told him it was suposed to be very tight. When I put the shim material in I had it tight enough that I was lifting the corner of my work bench that is 6'x6' with a 4" thick oak top that is built on a steel frame. It is really tight.

Tx...we're all grownups and certainly can do as we wish...(yes, there's a 'but' coming)...BUT I really feel strongly that you're taking a lot of unnecessary risk with this thing.

Decades ago, TC used to sell a breechplug removal tool for their breechplugs until they realized the problems that started cropping up, and immediately stopped selling the tool.

AND...they won't even sell a breechplug to a customer...they view the mating and integrity of the breechplug/barrel relationship so critical that they reserve that action for themselves...I think that tells us something.

"Proof Testing"
An unfortunate reality of "back yard proof testing" is that we really have no idea what we're doing...or what happened during such a test.

I could "tie a rifle to a tire" and shoot a double load through it...but other than making an external visual inspection for an actual burst barrel, I'd know nothing... without magnfluxing equipment to look for internal stresses and disturbances within the metal, I could draw zero conclusions from a back yard test.

Indeed...the "proof test" itself could take a weak barrel right to the brink of failure just by itself, then the next time or two it's fired it could blow.

IMO, you're too close to this issue...step back for a few days and ask yourself if you'd like to be blind the rest of your life, or dead...get a replacement barrel...make a lamp out of this one

:m2c:

:agree: :agree: :agree:
Tx,
Not telling you your own beezwax, but I would make a tent stake from this barrel and get yourself a new one or this one repaired. The money will be well spent and will be much less than if an accident happens. Which could be permanent to you or someone near you if it happens.

:imo: eace:

 

[Rebel]

Yea, but if you decide to leave it in for an extended period of time after shootng a lot it may not. The Teflon tape will help, and also gives a little better seal to the threads.

 

[hobbles]

Rebel
Sounds like a good plan, and it can't hurt any,,,

 

[Rebel]

Yep, can't hurt, could nelp. ::

 

[canyonman]

Of course we all know that pipe thread tape adds nothing to the strength of the threads...right? If your breach plug is working loose at all, I would be very suspicious of it :imo: If it were me(which it isn't, I know) I would send it back to the manufacture to have it checked out.

But, hey thats just me.

Larry

 

[Rebel]

I never said it added strength, just that it would help seal the threads on the nipple better, and would make it easier to remove after a lot of shooting. My reply was to Hobbies, not to Tx50cal.

 

And this is the same bunch that was oooing and aaaing over a 4 bore made from seamless tubing just the other day!

Like it is OK to shot a 4 bore zipgun with 300 grains of powder and a 1/2 pound roundball but TX50 is committing an unpardonable sin by having a washer shimming up slack in his breechplug!

As if 99% of your rifles were not using barrels made from seamless tubing anyway!

I have seen sidelock slug gun shooters, on the line at the Friendship National shoots, unscrew their breechplugs with finger preasure!

And every inline shooter routinuely removes and replaces their breechplugs and uses RTV, spark plug antisieze and teflon tape as recomended habit!

How worn are the threads? No one knows because there are no barrel flats to use as a guage!

Would someone please decide what they actually think and stick too it.

:yakyak: :yakyak: :yakyak:

 

[canyonman]

Rebel,
Sorry if I implyed anything, nothing ment by it. Just didn't want anyone to get confused and think that thread tape would fill and fix everything that has worn threads.
After re-reading my post I can see that it did seems directed at your post, my applogies. :sorry:

Larry

 

[Stumpkiller]

Would someone please decide what they actually think and stick too it.

Whew! I was beginning to worry that Ghost had lost his spirit.

"Zip" gun was exactly what I called those 4-bores, as I remember. Spooky, but probably safe to shoot. I have a Zulu shotgun made from a Civil War musket with a Snider Breech that I am afraid to shoot. I have no doubt it was strong enough, but just have a nagging feeling that it may not now be strong enough.

I worry more about hidden corrosion building up in the gaps of a loose breech than the otherwise sound plug failing from sheer looseness. God made JB Weld for just such things. :crackup:

Brass shims have been used to fill breech gaps in firearms for a long time. We call them "cartridges" or "cases" now.

 

[peter]

O.K., time for my two cents. You have your face how many inchs from that breech ? Would you put your face that close to a common fire cracker ? I have an old flinter with a slightly bulged barrel that I no longer shoot, and I foolishly overloaded my first percusion gun and bulged that one too. The perc gun I had to save for a year and a half before I could buy a new barrel. (A lamp, mmmm, not a bad idea!) Think about having only one eye. You might think I'm being too dramatic, but just hang around a hospital emergency room 4th of July weekend. Please be safe, you owe it to yourself and to your family. P.S. engines are designed to have head gaskets, guns are not.

 

[robinghewitt]

And this is the same bunch that was oooing and aaaing over a 4 bore made from seamless tubing just the other day!

Nobody ever gets a bad response when they post pictures on this forum. You might get a tirade if linked to a web site showing the latest plastic supergun, but not if you'd bought it.

Claude obviously has us well trained :crackup: