The weather had turned and fly fishing proved to be fruitless, so I decided to replace a flash liner, something I’ve been putting off, but turkey season is closing in.
After acquiring the a White Lighting 5/16 flash liner, drill, tap, and counter sink recommended in the TOTF catalog, I finally built up the confidence to attack the job, and replace the original 1/4” flash liner in my 20ga Fowler. I anticipated this to be a relatively easy task for an amateur with limited tools ....wrong. The problem with the original liner was that the screw driver slot eventually broke through to the interior cone, enlarging the flash hole area. While the rifle continued to be functional, the safety aspect, as well as the inability to fully plug the flash hole(leaking) when cleaning called for a replacement. The defective screw slot in the liner proved to be ineffective for removal, so I reverted to drilling out the center and attempting removal with an extractor. The original liner was totally frozen and this also proved to be fruitless. I decided to just drill out the old liner in a couple of drill size steps to the 1/4” taking great care with my hand drill to stay perpendicular. I did read through several posts describing the proper procedure for installation...called for removal of the breach plug. Because access for my breach plug was not possible due to the permanently welded tang which inhibited this step, I “surgically” through the smaller 1/4” hole, used a small Dremel carbide cutter to remove a bit of the breach plug to allow free entry of the new flash liner tap. After drilling and tapping the new threads for the larger 5/16” liner, I measured the length of the liner, and trimmed it to be flush with the barrel interior. Once fitted, I then used the the Dremel with a small ball cutter, and polishing stone to carefully remove any burr on the interior of the barrel...without disrupting the new threads. Finally, I cleaned all the fillings out of the barrel, screwed in the White Lighting liner, cut the stud off, filed flush with the barrel, and drilled a 5/64” flash hole. The whole process took about 2 1/2 hours. The new liner works great! Ignition is instantaneous, and cleaning is a breeze. Shown: New liner
After acquiring the a White Lighting 5/16 flash liner, drill, tap, and counter sink recommended in the TOTF catalog, I finally built up the confidence to attack the job, and replace the original 1/4” flash liner in my 20ga Fowler. I anticipated this to be a relatively easy task for an amateur with limited tools ....wrong. The problem with the original liner was that the screw driver slot eventually broke through to the interior cone, enlarging the flash hole area. While the rifle continued to be functional, the safety aspect, as well as the inability to fully plug the flash hole(leaking) when cleaning called for a replacement. The defective screw slot in the liner proved to be ineffective for removal, so I reverted to drilling out the center and attempting removal with an extractor. The original liner was totally frozen and this also proved to be fruitless. I decided to just drill out the old liner in a couple of drill size steps to the 1/4” taking great care with my hand drill to stay perpendicular. I did read through several posts describing the proper procedure for installation...called for removal of the breach plug. Because access for my breach plug was not possible due to the permanently welded tang which inhibited this step, I “surgically” through the smaller 1/4” hole, used a small Dremel carbide cutter to remove a bit of the breach plug to allow free entry of the new flash liner tap. After drilling and tapping the new threads for the larger 5/16” liner, I measured the length of the liner, and trimmed it to be flush with the barrel interior. Once fitted, I then used the the Dremel with a small ball cutter, and polishing stone to carefully remove any burr on the interior of the barrel...without disrupting the new threads. Finally, I cleaned all the fillings out of the barrel, screwed in the White Lighting liner, cut the stud off, filed flush with the barrel, and drilled a 5/64” flash hole. The whole process took about 2 1/2 hours. The new liner works great! Ignition is instantaneous, and cleaning is a breeze. Shown: New liner
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