T/C Hawken breach plug

[Richard Dittman]

Can anybody tell me what the bottom of the breach plug looks like. I have a 50 cal Hawken percussion rifle. Is it flat or rounded. I don’t have a bore scope and don’t want to spend a couple hundred just to look down the barrel to find out.

 

[SDSmlf]

Will look something like this.

 

[Carbon 6]

Much better than my picture.

 

[Richard Dittman]

Well it looks like the bottom is rounded. Also it looks like the diameter of the breach plug is a little smaller than the barrel. If this is right then the 50 cal cleaning jag with a patch won’t reach all the way to the bottom. If this is correct, what is the best way to clean and oil the breach plug.

 

[Grenadier1758]

About a 32 caliber brush with a cloth patch.

 

[SDSmlf]

The diameter on this breech plug (which came off Renegade barrel) is about .35” diameter x .38” deep and the bottom is rounded. As these barrels come off the stock found it best to just put the breech in water/soap and pump the water through it. This particular breech plug came off a sewer pipe bore that the rifling wasn’t visible, yet the breech area is pretty clean.

If you feel it’s necessary to clean it, some use an undersized bore brush with a patch wrapped around, just use a good brush. Others use a scrapper like the one in the photograph. You have to fit it to your breech. Would suggest you get one with steel threaded stud on it. Saw someone break the brass stud off of one - wasn’t pretty with the scrapper stuck in the breech.

 

[waarp8nt]

Here is another picture to support the reasoning behind proper cleaning. The breech plug on the left is new, center breech plug came from a relatively clean barrel and the breech plug on the right is from a barrel with some pitting. The breech plug on the right was soaked in kroil for a couple days by plugging the nipple with a tooth pick, poring the kroil down the barrel and propping the barrel up in a corner. The plug removed reasonably well, but I was surprised at all the crud found.

 

[Don Steele]

Thanks for the excellent pictures of a T/C breechplug. T/C used to offer a cleaning jag that was tapered on the end to allow a patch to get down into that area more effectively than you can reach it with a standard cleaning jag. Many folks use an undersized brush with a patch wrapped over it to get in there. In my experience, shooting T/C's for over 40 yrs...flat breechface scrapers are worse than worthless in a T/C.

 

[Grimord]

I have used a 3/8 round headed 10X32 brass screw in my cleaning rod with a patch to clean the breech plugs on my t/C rifles. A good flushing after shooting with a slotted rod tip and a solvent soaked patch will also do a good job of cleaning the breech plug.

 

[Richard Dittman]

Thanks for all the response’s and pictures.

 

[renegadehunter]

There is a rounded breech scraper that TC sells that will get in there and can be twisted a'round to scrape the bottom and sides. After I have cleaned the bore in a bucket of water with a couple drops of dish soap I then use the scraper before I do a rinsing flush. I don't use it every time in all honesty, as I rarely see it knock any more crud out of there after I have done my initial soapy water cleaning.

 

[Bledfor Days]

From the borescope.

 

[Big Mountain]

About a 32 caliber brush with a cloth patch.

Either that or a .45 caliber brass brush with a patch or two wrapped around to get the breech good and clean.

 

[bore_butter]

all I've ever used on the breach plug area is a cloth attached to the jag and for most of the years it had been ivory soap and hot water. this barrel is the replacement one from the factory back in 1985 .50 hawken. my .36 Seneca looks just as clean and I use that same method of cleaning on that one also

 

[stude 283]

all I've ever used on the breach plug area is a cloth attached to the jag and for most of the years it had been ivory soap and hot water. this barrel is the replacement one from the factory back in 1985 .50 hawken. my .36 Seneca looks just as clean and I use that same method of cleaning on that one also
View attachment 25712

With bore butter as the bore protectant?

 

[bore_butter]

I know nobody wants to hear this but since 1975 I used 3in1 oil inside and outside both my TC rifles and the pos Italian revolver I used to have when I finished cleaning. I joined this group and started using Baracade both inside and out. also started using dawn dish detergent mainly because they said it worked and it was a pain in then axx dissolving the ivory soap in the cleaning water.

 

[fourbore]

I never though about this. So; that is how things look!

 

[SDSmlf]

Either that or a .45 caliber brass brush with a patch or two wrapped around to get the breech good and clean.

Not sure why you would use a .45 caliber brush to clean a .38” diameter breech area unless you were looking explore the process of removing a stuck brush. Grenadier1758’s suggestion of a 32 caliber brush is spot on. Yes, you can deform the end of the 45 caliber brush as you jam it there and hope for the best, but why? Plenty of stuck brush threads already on this forum.

 

[Critter Getter]

Why is it that TC ( along with many other factory rifles) use a patent breech like this but all the custom rifles don’t? What is the advantage?? Seems like it would be an added expense so that doesn’t makes sense that TC, CVA, Investarms, etc would use them. Greg

 

[DAKurth1]

I use a .50 cal brass brush with a 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 cleaning patch, I cut from old cotton t-shirt material, wrapped around the brush.
I have my T/C .50 cal barrel in hot water that has a bit of Dawn dish soap added.
I thoroughly wet the cotton patch on the brush and work the brush up and down inside the barrel.
The bristles on the end of the brush deform, allowing the end of the brush & patch to get into the patented breech area, while the rest of the bristles poke through the thin patch to scrub the lands and grooves of the barrel.
Using this method, I have never had any fouling build up in the breech!