Stuck jag in my SM Flintlock Rifle

[JHB]

Find out what dissolves bore butter. Water,Vegetable oil ask the manufacturer then put a few ounces down the barrel with a plugged flash hole and let it sit for a few days. Then give it a shot of compressed air if that dosen't work pull the breech plug.
Loose the bore butter and stop storing your rifles like that a light coat of oil is enough.

 

[Woody Morgan]

Find out what dissolves bore butter. Water,Vegetable oil ask the manufacturer then put a few ounces down the barrel with a plugged flash hole and let it sit for a few days. Then give it a shot of compressed air if that dosen't work pull the breech plug.
Loose the bore butter and stop storing your rifles like that a light coat of oil is enough.

Whatever you do, don't aim it anywhere near SWMBO.

wm

 

[oldwood]

I've unscrewed breach plugs from 1800 on original military muskets. Penetrating oil , plugged touch hole . muzzle up and let the barrel soak a day or two. Dump the excess oil out , big vise w/ brass sheet metal padded jaws. 18" Crescent wrench. If the plug is still being stubborn , kiss the barrel with the torch. Never took more than a little heat to break any plug free...........oldwood

 

[flntlokr]

This has become a nightmare for me to say the least! No excuses, but I haven't shot my .45 cal Southern Mountain flintlock (42" barrel) in well over a year. That in itself shouldn't have been a problem except I left my range rod with jag and lubed patch in the bottom of the barrel sitting on top of the breech plug. I've always stored my guns this way with the patch impregnated with TC Bore Butter. Always cleaned it thoroughly and then swiped with Bore Butter leaving the patch, jag and range rod seated in the rifle.

When trying to pull the rod out of the bore, it was froze and wouldn't budge. Like someone who was too anxious, I began twisting the "T" handle on the rod and broke the jag's threaded screw off even on the range rod - now I have a stuck jag without any way of removing it unless someone knows something I don't? I built this rifle well over 20 years ago and it has won me a many of matches - I sure hate to mess it up more than I have already. I built this rifle with the intention of never having to remove the barrel or breech plug. I have successfully removed the barrel to my surprise and now looking at the breech plug. I know if I could get it out, then everything would most likely turn out okay, but I'm so afraid that it's probably welded itself to the barrel over the years and might be next to impossible to get out. Has anyone ever had experience with this problem before? Is there another alternative? Shooting the jag out doesn't appear to be an option since the flash hole is right at the jag's placement - no way to get powder behind it. Thanks for any replies...

This has become a nightmare for me to say the least! No excuses, but I haven't shot my .45 cal Southern Mountain flintlock (42" barrel) in well over a year. That in itself shouldn't have been a problem except I left my range rod with jag and lubed patch in the bottom of the barrel sitting on top of the breech plug. I've always stored my guns this way with the patch impregnated with TC Bore Butter. Always cleaned it thoroughly and then swiped with Bore Butter leaving the patch, jag and range rod seated in the rifle.

When trying to pull the rod out of the bore, it was froze and wouldn't budge. Like someone who was too anxious, I began twisting the "T" handle on the rod and broke the jag's threaded screw off even on the range rod - now I have a stuck jag without any way of removing it unless someone knows something I don't? I built this rifle well over 20 years ago and it has won me a many of matches - I sure hate to mess it up more than I have already. I built this rifle with the intention of never having to remove the barrel or breech plug. I have successfully removed the barrel to my surprise and now looking at the breech plug. I know if I could get it out, then everything would most likely turn out okay, but I'm so afraid that it's probably welded itself to the barrel over the years and might be next to impossible to get out. Has anyone ever had experience with this problem before? Is there another alternative? Shooting the jag out doesn't appear to be an option since the flash hole is right at the jag's placement - no way to get powder behind it. Thanks for any replies...

You have been getting lots of good, sage advise. What you should be getting out of it all is'Dont leave crap sitting in your barrels!' Sooner or later it willbite you; like when the bore butter hardens up anglues itself and your jag into the barrel. Wnen yer done shooting: clean. dry. oil. wipe it all down, anput the cleaning rod on the rack where it belongs. I hope you got the jag out with no harm to the barre.

 

[Grenadier1758]

Its been about 2 weeks since we had a stuck jag in the bore thread. I doubt that we will come up with any significant difference of instruction.

What @JHB said. Give the breech a good soak with a good penetrating solvent and let it soak for several days up to a week. Try the compressed air or CO2 discharger. If that doesn't work, then its time to pull the plug following @oldwood's instructions. If you, @kvistads, built the rifle, you should be able to pull the breech plug.

Once you get the jag removed, remove all the rods and jags you have stored in your rifle barrels and don't do it again. Use a wipe of the bore with Barricade and store the rifle muzzle down. And I will join the rousing chorus to tell you that Bore Butter is vastly overrated and not something to use for long term storage of muzzle loading firearms.

 

[Flintlock]

Easiest thing to do is get a Plews 05-045 type needle grease gun fitting, lube the barrel and with one person holding the tip to the flash hole liner and the other person pumping the grease gun it will walk any obstruction out. Did this many times on caplocks and flints.

 

[user 34300]

" I've always stored my guns this way with the patch impregnated with TC Bore Butter."

Let that be a lesson to everyone. Never store a gun with any type of patch in the bore. Eventually it will dry out, rust in place and your bore will be ruined. I recently bought three NOS barrels without careful examination. All three were ruined by leaving a patch in them. I bought scrap.

IF you have mud daubers use a plastic cork.

 

[ZUG]

Blow air in it first and if that don't do it remove the breach plug and be done with it. If you did this BEFORE you posted this question and have read all of the replies you could have had it fixed by now

 

[Eric Krewson]

Back during the TC rage of the 70s and 80s Thompson Center sold wonder lube as their brand, I think this got people turned on to this product as a fix all for TC guns, we all used it. Some habits die hard, I ditched the stuff years ago but many still think it is what you are supposed to use.

 

[lou puleff]

Don't think air is going to work. Not crazy about working enough 4-F in behind to blow it out. The rust in and around the jag/ plug threads is going to be the problem. Heat COULD be your friend if you are careful. It would be a very good idea to replace the BP when you get it out, so don't worry about saving the original. You could just seal the touch hole and dump KROIL down the bore and let it set for a week. Then you'd know if you have a REAL problem, or maybe not. Good luck.

I would take the vent liner out before the breech plug unless you have the correct tools to remove it without buggering it up ?

 

[user 34300]

Bore butter is Chapstick with a few extras, scent and colorant. That being the case, you have dried up wax and Vaseline. Remove the barrel from the stock. Heat the barrel to about 200*F. The dried wax will melt. Blow the obstruction out with your CO2 discharger.

 

[Ragged Edge]

When you solve this problem let us know how you made out.

 

[kvistads]

Fire off a bunch of caps to dry out then dump as much 4f as you can get past the nipple fire it may come out that way I hope !

Hmmm? Thanks for the advice, but that ain't gonna work...

 

[lou puleff]

Hmmm? Thanks for the advice, but that ain't gonna work...

My bad I have percussion on the brain !

 

[The Crisco Kid]

I would suggest using the old one part murphy's oil soap, one part alcohol, one part hydrogen peroxide to soak the patch/jag well and then try the air pressure before pulling the breech. pour it down the barrel and let it work.

I agree. Soak it well with anything like this or even dish soap and water to soften the patch and lube. Then maybe use ATF and acetone to penetrate the breach plug threads if you need to pull the breach, which seems to me to be the thing to do. The main thing to remember is DON'T PANIC!!

 

[kvistads]

Okay, okay my good friends - I got the message not to leave Bore Butter and patch down the breech! I have learned a lesson - okay? Please keep in mind that I haven't shot a match in over a year and a half. That's very unusual for me, but I got interested in other things.

I sprayed a liberal amount of "Deep Creep" down the barrel first day and let sit for almost a week. I don't think anything got past the jag, although I was able to clear out the vent to an extent. At least I can push a pick all the way to the other side of the bore, so that tells me there must be a little space between the jag and the plug. I then took some leather strips and sandwiched them between a vice and the barrel, tightened as tight as possible. Took a large adjustable wrench and snugged up to the breech plug then wacked it with my forging hammer - no go! It just rotated in the vice! I tried this at least two times and then decided to let it rest.

MY plan is to now spray the Deep Creep in the flash hole and stop it up with a tooth pick or something - maybe some tape of some sort. I'll let it sit for another 4 or 5 days and try it over again. I think I need to find a better way to grip the barrel besides using the leather. The jaws on my vice have a bit to be desired being they are a little narrow. I am leaning towards Eric Krewson's methods. I don't think it's impossible to remove the plug, I just ain't doing it right. I'm not sure what my Oxyacetylene torch will do, but I'm thinking this will help also. Thanks again for all your help guys. I will keep you informed.

 

[kvistads]

Back during the TC rage of the 70s and 80s Thompson Center sold wonder lube as their brand, I think this got people turned on to this product as a fix all for TC guns, we all used it. Some habits die hard, I ditched the stuff years ago but many still think it is what you are supposed to use.

Well not exactly. I really never used the stuff before, but Walmart seems to discount the smoke-pole stuff once the season is over. They had about 5 or 6 tubes of the Bore Butter reduced to almost nothing and I bought it. I didn't realize it would harden up the way it did, but I learned a valuable lesson. I usually clean my bore with a gadget I bought many years ago from Jim Chambers - I think? It clamps around the barrel where the vent hole is and then has a clear plastic/rubber tube you insert in a bottle of cleaning solution. I used the ole Murphy/Peroxide/Alcohol stuff for many years, but then a fellow club member showed me how he was mixing water and Simple Green to clean his with. I liked that concoction much better and so I began using it with never an issue. I would simply wet a patch with some 3 and 1 oil and swab the barrel. I would drip a few drops down the barrel to sit also until the next shoot. Never a problem until the now when I started using the Bore Butter. I had used it several times before, but never left a patch with it down the bore for so long. Lesson learned!

 

[bakerjw]

Easiest thing to do is get a Plews 05-045 type needle grease gun fitting, lube the barrel and with one person holding the tip to the flash hole liner and the other person pumping the grease gun it will walk any obstruction out. Did this many times on caplocks and flints.

I like this idea.
On many British cars that I've worked on through the years, the brake pistons would get really seized up so we made some adapters that would adapt a brake fitting to a grease gun. They always came free.

 

[Flintlock]

I like this idea.
On many British cars that I've worked on through the years, the brake pistons would get really seized up so we made some adapters that would adapt a brake fitting to a grease gun. They always came free.

I learned it from my grandpa that worked on everything from tractors to vehicles many years ago.

 

[Eric Krewson]

You can use two blocks of leather covered soft wood in your vise, really cranked down the soft wood will conform to your barrel somewhat. A piece of pipe to multiply your force is often necessary on stubborn plugs.

Before I had the Rice vice jaws I used these wood clamp pads for holding a barrel to remove the plug. I puled a Rice plug in this setup back when they torqued them down to a zillion ft pounds.