Nock Breech

[George91946]

Hello:
I've got a pistol with a Nock Breech. The vent goes into a chamber that connects to the powder load with a small 2 mm diameter channel about 4 to 5 mm in length. The pistol works ok for 10 to 15 shots, and then begins to hang fire, and get incomplete ignitions. I have to remove the vent plug and clean the chamber and the channel in order to get the pistol to fire well. Have you any suggestions on how to fix this ?

thanks

Lisle George

 

[mykeal]

I'm surprised you're getting that many shots before it starts to act up.

You didn't mention swabbing the bore between shots. Here's what works on my rifles: after each shot, every 2 shots or every 3 shots, whatever you find works, run a wet (as in damp, not soaking wet) patch down to about an inch short of bottoming out, then follow that with a dry patch all the way down. Then one more dry patch all the way. That should clean out most of the fouling that collects in the Nock's Breech between shots.

 

[Bob Riegl]

Mykeal could you elaborate on a "Nock's Breech" just clear away the fog of ignorance. Thanks...."Doc"

 

[CoyoteJoe]

I would bore that 2mm aperture to at least 1/4" if not larger.

 

[George91946]

Hi

I've been cleaning with a damp patch between shots. Haven't done the dry yet. Will try that today at the range. The barrel is Stainless. What type of drill would work best here?

Thanks

 

[Zonie]

Nock's breech is usually called a Patent Breech because Nock had a Patent for its design.

He developed the breech for use in the Fowling pieces his famous company sold and he would not allow its use by other makers.

The breech looked like this

The small chambers "self loaded" when the wads and load were rammed down the bore.
The purpose of the small chambers was to direct the jet of fire from the powder in them into the main powder charge thereby doing a better job of igniting the main powder charge.

Other gunmakers of the time modified his idea and use a concentric, smaller than bore sized powder chamber to do the same thing.
These "Chambered Breeches" are what are found on many of the modern Italian and Spanish muzzleloaders. Many people erroneously call these Chambered Breeches "Patent Breeches".

Oddly, CVA designed a breech that is basically a Chambered Breech but the drum for the nipple or vent actually screws thru the side of the true breech plug. They Patented this design so theirs is truly a second style of Patent Breech.
Nock's was the first and most widely known.

 

[rafterob]

What kind of pistol are we talking about here? Nock breech,flint, stainless barrel? It sounds like the real issue may be the swabbing of the barrel after every shot with a damp patch and not following up with a dry patch. The topic of fouling in a patent or chambered breech as a result of incorrect swabbing after every shot has been discussed here many times. Zonie typically gives the best advice on dealing with this.

 

[George91946]

Nocks breech, stainless barrel, flintlock, .45 cal, 9 inch barrel, Swabbed with a slightly dampened patch after each shot. 3F powder,20 grains. Powder is poured in and then barrel is placed vertical and tapped in order to distribute powder.

Can you lead me to the previous posts on correct swabbing?

Thank you

 

[mykeal]

Second post in this thread.
Or, perhaps: Link

 

[rafterob]

I think you'll get it figured out. Sounds like an interesting pistol if you could post pictures we all love to see pictures.

 

[George91946]

I went to the range today, and swabbed as you suggested, and it worked after 20 shots- and then I dry balled it. Worked well until then.

Thanks for the information.

Lisle George