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Tapping Barrel For Breech Plug
- Thread starter Zoar
- Start date
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Okay I've cut the barrel to length and end-milled both ends flat. I'm going out to pick up both the taps now. I may just start with that 9/16 first and if I need to open the hole up a bit more I'll go to the 37/64 drill bit. Since this is a 50 caliber I like having MORE thread engagement and not less. I know the charts say 37/64 for a 5/8 breech plug but as pointed out --- you can always take more away, it sure is tough to put any back! hahaha
If you can feel resistance but are still able to tun it in by hand it is most likely a Class 2A fit. If a tool must be used to run it in then it is a Class 3 fit. Class 3 fits normally require single point cut threads cut on a lathe and measured over wire gages because tolerances are extremely tight.
I used the 9/16 drill bit in a vertical milling machine to cut the hole and then used the same setup to start the 5/8" tap. It worked beautifully. Now I have to wait for the bottom tap since it did not arrive today as planned.
I checked the breech plug on the threads I did cut with the tap (to about 1/2 the .600 depth) and it threads nicely. This then will give me more meat on the threads than the 37/64 drill bit would have given me. And I had no issues cutting the threads with the 5/8" tap.
Looks good so far. This is FuN!
I checked the breech plug on the threads I did cut with the tap (to about 1/2 the .600 depth) and it threads nicely. This then will give me more meat on the threads than the 37/64 drill bit would have given me. And I had no issues cutting the threads with the 5/8" tap.
Looks good so far. This is FuN!
It wasn't too difficult. Just went very slowly and cautiously with the bottom tap and got it down to just where the breech plug tightened down hard against the outside of the barrel AND the inside shoulder in the barrel simultaneously----
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zimmerstutzen
70 Cal.
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And all them folks who think only rocket scientists can do that task, now are required to think of you as a profesional.
For those of us who "do" these horribly difficult mystical tasks, we ought to form a guild, with secret handshake and code words. Keep everybody thinking that 3 PhD's and a Professional Engineering license are reguired.
Installing a breech plug is perhaps the second or third most difficult task in gun building. Congrats. And Salutations for not letting folks talk you out of it.
My granddad impressed upon me that a day is wasted if you don't learn something new. You had a stellar day.
For those of us who "do" these horribly difficult mystical tasks, we ought to form a guild, with secret handshake and code words. Keep everybody thinking that 3 PhD's and a Professional Engineering license are reguired.
Installing a breech plug is perhaps the second or third most difficult task in gun building. Congrats. And Salutations for not letting folks talk you out of it.
My granddad impressed upon me that a day is wasted if you don't learn something new. You had a stellar day.
Zimmer---Thanks. I really enjoyed the process too. The bottom tap didn't actually tap all the way to the shoulder inside the barrel, yet the threads on the breech plug go from zero too, so it was maximizing on the amount of pressure exerted on that bottom tap to get it to cut to its absolute utter end. I nearly gave up, not wanting to break the bottom tap, but that last 1/40th of a turn cut just enough needed thread at the bottom of the threads to allow me to get the threaded end of the breech plug to seat at the BOTTOM of the threaded hole and to get the front of the tang to very precisely lay flat and utterly secure at the breech of the barrel. And there was no mistaking that it was there. The line is virtually indistinguishable where the barrel breech meets the tang on the breech plug.
Counting the cost for the taps I probably have more or an equal amount of $ into this barrel than if I bought a longer 50 cal octagon barrel from someone like TOW, with breech plug installed, and simply cut the barrel length and rounded the muzzle, but I really want to build some of my own guns and this first breech plug and making an octagon barrel from a larger round barrel was very satisfying indeed. And yes the other parts should be in today or tomorrow and I have alot of cutting and shaping to do--along with some designing--to get this project gun to come out functionally and aesthetically to my liking. I must say---aside from the breech plug accomplishment---it was the hand work, the draw filing along the faces of the octagon, removing all the machine marks and making the steel look "prefect" and rounding the edges that I really enjoyed! I can't wait for the other parts to come in and I can get back to work on this "thing"! hahaha
Counting the cost for the taps I probably have more or an equal amount of $ into this barrel than if I bought a longer 50 cal octagon barrel from someone like TOW, with breech plug installed, and simply cut the barrel length and rounded the muzzle, but I really want to build some of my own guns and this first breech plug and making an octagon barrel from a larger round barrel was very satisfying indeed. And yes the other parts should be in today or tomorrow and I have alot of cutting and shaping to do--along with some designing--to get this project gun to come out functionally and aesthetically to my liking. I must say---aside from the breech plug accomplishment---it was the hand work, the draw filing along the faces of the octagon, removing all the machine marks and making the steel look "prefect" and rounding the edges that I really enjoyed! I can't wait for the other parts to come in and I can get back to work on this "thing"! hahaha
