TC Arms breech plug

[bigmike]

Does anybody know what kind of breech plugs T/C Arms used on the Greyhawk and the Renegade? I hear the terms patent breech and do not know what these are.

 

[jerem0621]

I need to know as well. I have a New Englander and all I have ever used is hot soapy water.

 

[necchi]

It's not a true Patent Breech.
What it is/has is the open end of the breech plug that faces the barrel has a hole drilled back from the face and progressively smaller holes drilled at an angle finishing directly under the nipple.
Anther common type used by CVA, some Pedresoli is the Drum Breech, where a drum is bored into the barrel or breech plug to allow the caps discharge to reach the main charge of powder. Some of these Drum are directed at the side of the main charge and others have a channel/port drilled into the drum threaded section inside the barrel.

Here's an old thread that has pictures and discussion of a true Paten Breech. http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/244698/

Here's a CVA Drum Breech, it does not connect to the side of the main charge but the bottom of it,,

It's just one of the problems we have in that terminology isn't the same across the country or world wide. You'll see a Drum called drum or bolster, then there's Paten, Patent and Snail,,,
The game changes again when it's a Flint lock or Percussion

 

[stinkyfeet]

If your looking to buy one they are offered at TOTW for around 30 bucks. Just search for TC Breach Plug. The renegade is a 1" breach and threaded 3/4 x 16. The other rifle not sure about.

 

[Pete44ru]

It's not a true Patent Breech.
What it is/has is the open end of the breech plug that faces the barrel has a hole drilled back from the face and progressively smaller holes drilled at an angle finishing directly under the nipple.

It's just one of the problems we have in that terminology isn't the same across the country or world wide. You'll see a Drum called drum or bolster, then there's Paten, Patent and Snail,,,

AFAIK, T/C described their rifles as having a Patent Breech because they featured/referred to the hooked breechplug that acted as a QD for the bbl(s) from the rear tang/receptacle, and not in regards to the smaller diameter powder chamber in the breechplug (which was espoused by T/C as an additional feature/benefit).



.

 

[necchi]

I hear ya,
I think the play on words is "Patent" vrs "Patented".
I mean Henry Nock isn't the only feller in history to apply for and get a Patent on an idea or design.
That's kinda why there's some amount of confusion every time a topic like this comes up.
TC's patented breech and Henry Nocks patented breech and CVA's patented breech are all different enough from each other as to not infringe on the other's "Patent".
Around here we call it a Snail breech because the fire channel winds down to the flash hole like a snail's shape, but when you say that someone comes along and say's No, the Snail breech is called that because the outside of the breech plug looks like a snail,,
:idunno:

 

[fearless51]

Amongst most of the seasoned shooters I hang out with a patent breech is anything other than a drum type breech. The general line of thinking is the drum was added in place of the touch hole on a flintlock and in fact can be changed from one to the other by changing the lock in some applications with very little effort, merely removing the drum and inserting the touchhole, changing out the lock and away you go. The many different types of patented breeches that came along are all lumped into one basic catagory and with exception to few most have a rather constricted fire channel as opposed to the drum type which runs horizontally into the breech. I mentioned in another thread the fact that the "patent" breech on my custom rifle was drilled from the breech plug, down through the cone shaped breech and into the nipple cavity at a fairly severe angle, it was a 1/8" diameter hole that was barely visible through the nipple channel and when a 1/8" drill bit was positioned in the hole was only barely visible from the nipple channel, a very poor ignition souce with obvious mis-fire problems. A few of the guys in the club have successfully built rifles from lock, stock and barrel and one builds very nice custom barrels, they all mention the inherent problem with this type of design, which can be fixed and worked out to become a reliable system but like anything takes experimentation and bit of thinking. The builder of my rifle did not take this into consideration and merely took it for granted that the manufacturer knew what they were doing and didn't take the time to clean up and polish the area in question. In the same manner that a good gunsmith will a lock made by one of the many companys apart and in many cases have to spend a couple hours tuning it to suite their attention to detail the lock maker does not...I was told that some of the current locks are coming assembled "as cast" with quite a bit of work required to get them working "properly".
Another side note that I find interesting. Why do most of the rifles with a "patent" type or hooked breech require the use of FFF powder, its fairly common among many shooters of rifles with bores larger than .50 caliber to be using FFF powder. I believe that part of the reason is because they have mis-fire problems with FF due to its larger grains not making it down into the often tiny channels. There is no other reason I can think of why a .54 caliber rifle should need to use FFF, unless in conjunction with the channel problem there is also a problem with fouling from previous shots being shoved ahead of the cleaning jag/patch and essentially plugging that small fire channel before the powder is thrown down the barrel.

 

[Rat Trapper]

Not sure what you are talking about. I have never had a problem with any of my TC snail locks. I can use any of the subs as well as 2F with no problems. Cleaning is nothing more than soap and water. Then some light oil in the bore which gets removed prior to the next use. All my locks are sure fire, each and every time.

 

[Richard Kemp]

Get an underhammer. Problems solved!