Patent Breech

[TANSTAAFL]

That to which you reference is AKA a clean out screw and same configuration was also quite common on other patent breeches of the era.

 

[Donny]

Robin -



At least, with the touch hole liner it shows, there is no need for the plugged hole on the opposite side.

Wasn't the offside hole used to drill the touch hole from the offside??

 

[robinghewitt]

Methinks your preferred picture, not to knock it, is not Nock (is that a not Nock not Nock joke?)

I really must go out and buy a Nock shotty poste haste by Jingo :thumbsup:

I got my preferred picture from Andy Courtney's most excellent little book. Is it Nock or not Nock? It may not be the 1787 woodcut, but it is closer to what I find when I pull an antique breech apart :hmm:

 

[Mike Brooks]

The key to a Nock breech is the taper in the powder chamber. If it's parrallel sided it craps up in a hurry and stops working.
My antique Bilby Hyde & Co. double flint has a Nock styled breech, and it never fails me, it's 100% dependable and fast. :master:
That being said, I've built guns with powder chambers and put the vent liner through the back/side of the chamber, skipping the "anti chamber" all together. I find it's just as quick, shoots just as hard and is just as trouble free. :results: Off course it doesn't look any where near as cool in a diagram.
On the other hand, I shoot quite a bit of skeet with a 12 ga. single flint gun with a standard breech and 1/4" vent liner that's coned on the inside. I have just as fast ignition and reliability.......go figure.....
I'll adventually put in a 3/8" "white lightnin" liner in it. It will probably go off before the flint touches the frizzen.... :crackup:

 

[mmahlock]

Mike

It sounds to me like you know what your talking about. I've just had the most frustrating day at the range I've ever had. I took out my squiel gun a Traditions .36 cal Shenandoah and spent the day trying to get it to fire. And before you ask, no I did not dry ball. I've had it a couple of years and only shot it once or twice and had no problems. Today was cold and rainy. When I got home I discovered while cleaning it that it has a patent breach, or something that appears to match the basic drawings shown in this thread. My question is this am I doing something terribly wrong when I'm shooting it or do I need to build some kind of tool to open up the passage between the breach and the anti-chamber? I believe this passage was condensing moisture and cloging up with powder not alowing it to fill the anti-chamber.

 

[WRussell]

Well that's inch-arresting, Robin. I've never seen a Nock's breech, and we all know that patent drawings often bear little resemblence to what was produced. I guess the plug in the left side is just so you don't have to pull the touch hole liner to clean the antechamber? Does away with the requirement for a slot or other tool receptacle in the outside surface of the touch hole liner.