Good day! I'm in need of some help and advice here. Feel free to skip to the end if you don't want the whole story.
I recently purchased a used Thompson Center Renegade Percussion .50 from one of the online auction sites. The gentleman selling it has a great feedback score, but was selling it as part of an estate so didn't know the particular history of the gun. So... mystery rifle. He was highly responsive to my questions and the bore looked good so I eventually bought it. These things tend to be tanks and parts are (mostly) available sot it was a risk I was willing to take. I paid too much for it, but I'm used to that in 2023. Pre-warning TC barrel with a SN in the 111xxx range puts it in the mid to late 70s if my forum archeology is correct. I wasn't looking for anything pretty, I was more looking for functional and something I could learn do a little wood and metal refinishing on, and this rifle seemed like a great candidate. The rifle arrived today.
and there is a problem.
I started by completely disassembling the rifle to see what I was working with. The lock, trigger group and trigger guard were absolutely welded in place and took quite a bit of force to remove. I suspect I'm the first person to have ever pulled them from the stock.
The first thing I noticed is that there was A TON of powder fouling just hanging out inside the stock. This wouldn't surprise me if it was a flinter, but this is a cap gun...
All the metal bits show some level of corrosion, and there is again, A TON of powder fouling on the backside of the lock and the trigger group. I sprayed them down with Kroil and let them sit, I'll deal with them tonight.
So where is all this fouling coming from?
I turned my attention to the barrel and went to remove the nipple and let me tell you, removing the nipple from the snail required a propane torch and an act of congress, and an excessive amount of Kroil. I'm pretty sure I was the first person to ever remove it. After some undignified language and 3 different nipple wrenches it reluctantly came loose. Good news, the threads are great. But wait...
What is that sliver of white in there?
A quick squirt of Kroil down the barrel and a couple patches on the rod confirmed my suspicion.
Pardon my language.
I spent some years as a machinist and looking at this I know exactly how this happened. The apprentice with the end mill doing the clearance hole for the nipple threads got the depth setting wrong and went too deep into the snail and just barely broke through the backside into the little channel for the lock cover. If I had to guess, this has been here since day 1. It might have gotten worse over the years, and the original owner of the rifle probably always wondered why they got a face full of smoke every time they fired it. Good news is that the barrel felt nice and smooth with the rod and patches.
I want to make it perfectly clear that I don't hold the seller responsible. I mean, I kinda sorta do, but the auction clearly stated that this thing came from an estate and they had no info on it, it was being sold 'as is' with no returns, and it should be inspected by a qualified gunsmith. This is most likely just bad QC on TCs part and a "learning experience" on my part. I'm not happy about it, but these things do happen.
So I'm trying to figure out what to do with this barrel. NOS breech plugs for TC barrels appear to have dried up some years ago so I'm not sure that's going to me an option. Even if I could get hands on one, I don't have the machinery to index it properly to match the barrel.
Replacement barrels are out there, for example thegunworks.com appears to have Oregon Barrel Co. drop in barrels for the Renegade, but they cost near as makes no difference what I paid for the rifle.
There are also some used Green Mountain drop ins around, along with stock, used TC barrels as well, but dang if these aren't all super expensive. I've got my eye on a couple on eBay at the moment.
My other option is to maybe weld it up. I have a MIG welder and a very good friend with a small mill. I believe I could close up the hole then clean up the slot with whatever size end mill is appropriate.
Oh, the lock plate is also bent
But that is a much easier fix.
Just curious if anyone has seen one of these types of failures before, and I'm happy to absorb any advice on how to dig myself out of this hole. Cheers!
I recently purchased a used Thompson Center Renegade Percussion .50 from one of the online auction sites. The gentleman selling it has a great feedback score, but was selling it as part of an estate so didn't know the particular history of the gun. So... mystery rifle. He was highly responsive to my questions and the bore looked good so I eventually bought it. These things tend to be tanks and parts are (mostly) available sot it was a risk I was willing to take. I paid too much for it, but I'm used to that in 2023. Pre-warning TC barrel with a SN in the 111xxx range puts it in the mid to late 70s if my forum archeology is correct. I wasn't looking for anything pretty, I was more looking for functional and something I could learn do a little wood and metal refinishing on, and this rifle seemed like a great candidate. The rifle arrived today.
and there is a problem.
I started by completely disassembling the rifle to see what I was working with. The lock, trigger group and trigger guard were absolutely welded in place and took quite a bit of force to remove. I suspect I'm the first person to have ever pulled them from the stock.
The first thing I noticed is that there was A TON of powder fouling just hanging out inside the stock. This wouldn't surprise me if it was a flinter, but this is a cap gun...
All the metal bits show some level of corrosion, and there is again, A TON of powder fouling on the backside of the lock and the trigger group. I sprayed them down with Kroil and let them sit, I'll deal with them tonight.
So where is all this fouling coming from?
I turned my attention to the barrel and went to remove the nipple and let me tell you, removing the nipple from the snail required a propane torch and an act of congress, and an excessive amount of Kroil. I'm pretty sure I was the first person to ever remove it. After some undignified language and 3 different nipple wrenches it reluctantly came loose. Good news, the threads are great. But wait...
What is that sliver of white in there?
A quick squirt of Kroil down the barrel and a couple patches on the rod confirmed my suspicion.
Pardon my language.
I spent some years as a machinist and looking at this I know exactly how this happened. The apprentice with the end mill doing the clearance hole for the nipple threads got the depth setting wrong and went too deep into the snail and just barely broke through the backside into the little channel for the lock cover. If I had to guess, this has been here since day 1. It might have gotten worse over the years, and the original owner of the rifle probably always wondered why they got a face full of smoke every time they fired it. Good news is that the barrel felt nice and smooth with the rod and patches.
I want to make it perfectly clear that I don't hold the seller responsible. I mean, I kinda sorta do, but the auction clearly stated that this thing came from an estate and they had no info on it, it was being sold 'as is' with no returns, and it should be inspected by a qualified gunsmith. This is most likely just bad QC on TCs part and a "learning experience" on my part. I'm not happy about it, but these things do happen.
So I'm trying to figure out what to do with this barrel. NOS breech plugs for TC barrels appear to have dried up some years ago so I'm not sure that's going to me an option. Even if I could get hands on one, I don't have the machinery to index it properly to match the barrel.
Replacement barrels are out there, for example thegunworks.com appears to have Oregon Barrel Co. drop in barrels for the Renegade, but they cost near as makes no difference what I paid for the rifle.
There are also some used Green Mountain drop ins around, along with stock, used TC barrels as well, but dang if these aren't all super expensive. I've got my eye on a couple on eBay at the moment.
My other option is to maybe weld it up. I have a MIG welder and a very good friend with a small mill. I believe I could close up the hole then clean up the slot with whatever size end mill is appropriate.
Oh, the lock plate is also bent
But that is a much easier fix.
Just curious if anyone has seen one of these types of failures before, and I'm happy to absorb any advice on how to dig myself out of this hole. Cheers!
Last edited:
