Thompson barrels 1 piece?

Saturday I got out in the sun to do a little shooting. When I brought it home I went to run a new brush through it with a standard old aluminum cleaning rod... BIG MISTAKE! It pushed in nice and easy but when I went to pull it back out the rod broke at the threaded joint.
No problem I figure I'll just unscrew the back and push it through....The barrel has a definite line just ahead of the flash hole and the steel is just a little different color. But there was no way it was coming apart. I muscled, swore, heated, swore, cooled,swore, tapped, swore some more and no matter what nothing moved even a little bit. Except for the fact that the joining line is dead straight I would swear it was a weld joint.
I finally took a 3/8 piece of rod stock and drilled & tapped the end just big enough to capture the rod and pull it out.
Has anyone else come up with this problem? Is the joint just that solid or is it actually one piece?

The breech plug is set quite hard, and requires some burly tools to remove it. It is not a recommended procedure.

In your situation a piece of metal rod would work. You want it as close to bore size as possible and still be able to run it down the barrel. the rod will go over the brush bristles causing them to let go of the grip on the bore and then the rod will pull it out. As I am sure you know now, a one piece cleaning rod is best for MLs. Many people don't like brushes but done right they work. I use a well worn brush that doesn't grip so hard and when you get to the breech twist the rod clock wise so the brush bristles change direction before you attempt to pull out.

Thompson/Center used a chambered breech construction. The breech pug, with a chambered breech and touch hole or snail for the percussion nipple, are threaded into the barrel. That line you see is the line where the chambered breech and the barrel mate up. T/C does set the breech plug very tightly in place. The breech plug can be very difficult to remove.

Yes, these instances have happened to us. This is one reason we don't recommend a jointed aluminum cleaning rod, especially with a new bore brush. More than a few topics on this Forum have dealt with the removal of stuck brushes or broken ramrods or jags separating from the ramrod. You are not alone.

I you feel you MUST use a brush, use a nylon one. If it gets stuck twist to the right tightening the connection and flattening the bristles. Pull as you turn.

VADSLRAM said:

When I brought it home I went to run a new brush through it with a standard old aluminum cleaning rod... BIG MISTAKE!

Click to expand...

WORRY NOT

IF you used a copper bore brush...,

Buy a bottle of this stuff. Hunter's Extreme CopperMelt Plug the touch hole, and pour enough of the stuff down the barrel to fully submerge that brush down at the breech. Give it about 48 hours, and then use a worm to remove what's left, IF the wire shaft that holds the copper "hairs" isn't all that's left and pours right out of the barrel. It's advertised that it won't etch steel so you will be fine.

LD

This brings up a good point, taking the breech out of the barrel of muzzle loader is akin to removing the barrel from a bolt action rifle, not a task to be done without proper tools and knowledge.

Phil Coffins said:

This brings up a good point, taking the breech out of the barrel of muzzle loader is akin to removing the barrel from a bolt action rifle, not a task to be done without proper tools and knowledge.

Click to expand...

Aye.... AND muscle. I've done it about three times. You need a special tool called a barrel vice, and a proper wrench. Thompson Center, decades ago, made special steel pieces that fit snug over their breech sections so a very large wrench could grip the breech plug without marring the plug. Bess breech plugs on repro Bess needed a different adapter as the external portion of the breech plug on them is shaped like a V.

LD

Thanks. Glad to know I'm not alone. I normally use a 3/8 solid aluminum rod and I do usually give a twist when it bottoms out to "unset" the bristles. But I got lazy since it had been a couple of months since I was able to get out. I had a lot of stale ammunition that needed to be used So I was cleaning 3 9mm pistols, a 22 pistol, an M1 carbine, and 2 MP5s, besides the flinter. we shot for almost 3 hours and all the units were pretty dirty. I just picked up the standard little rod without much thought.
THAT is not happening again.
I have found that the 9mm brush with the end nipped so the bristles go all the way to the end will clean out the breech plug powder chamber. Something I didn't know I had in the barrel. The barrel goes from .50 down to about .34 right by the flash hole. Since the round balls and minis stop at the breech plug there is still some carbon fouling in there after 30 or 40 shots.