Removing rusted nipple

Guess I'm dumb. Bought a GPH with a rusted in nipple off Gunbroker and can't seem to find this topic using search. I'll take a link if anyone's got one.

The GPH looks real nice, has some surface rust in the barrel, has a peened nipple and also has an oddly bent hammer. Think I've got most everything covered, but can't get the nipple out. Cleanout screw came out fine.

I've soaked it with WD40 and tried my various nipple wrenches combined with vise grips and have only succeeded in boogering up the nipple (and putting a scratch on the breechblock :cursing: ). None of the danged nipple wrenches fit tight.

I plan to keep soaking and trying over the next few days, then maybe try drilling it out. Anyone got any sure fire ideas? What about heat? Don't want to hold a torch on the breech block, but how about putting put it a few inches above the burner on an electric range?

Thanks in advance.
Bob

OOPS! Maybe this belongs in the builder's forum. My day to do dumb stuff. :shake:

try dumping alot of wd-40 down the barrel, plug the nipple with a tooth pick and try leaving it over night muzzle up to losen up the rust also try tapping the nipple with a hammer to losen up the rust. if that doesnt work i dont know what to tell ya... take it to a gunsmith

Pour some liquid wrench down the barrel and let it set a day or two. Then tap the area around the nipple with a piece of hardwood(like a hammer handle). If a nipple wrench still won't work a Small pair of visegrips should remove it.

Use a good Creeping oil, like Kano Kroil Oil.I have used it in the past, and so far has always worked for me.Also does a great job on getting the lead out :thumbsup: Most good gun shops carry it.Bench shooters swear by it!

I have used a product made by walter(welding supply stuff,abrasives, anti spatter, etc) called cold shot, I used it on my truck exhaust bolts when the truck was 5 years old to replace exhaust, they came out like they were new.

The worst one I have ever had was in a Italy made Kentucky rifle with a patented breach. I had barrel out, in padded vise,made sure it was not loaded, put Rustblaster to it, heated it some to drive in the blaster, had a chisel that was grounded so there was only a small part left on the one side. I started a cut in nipple and tapped and heated and tapped somemore. Now I didn't tap it so hard that I would break it off, just kept working on it till it started to move. I got it out and got a new one from Log Cabin Supply as it was a metric. No harm done. I only heated it lighty , then would spray it with the blaster. Dilly

The chisel I used was my granddad's as he was a Chev mechanic and he had grounded it that way. The millwrights at shop made a driving pick out of a straight allen wrench to start a broken bolt in my machine. You could do this for the nipple, just grind it slow till you get it to a point. Dilly

You are not doing much with WD40. Use PB Blaster or Kroil. Spray it, cover it with a rag and spray the rag. Leave it for a while and then work on it. Spray it down the bore too. You may damage the bluing on the barrel with PB, but it should allow that nipple to ease right out.

Tape the barrel around the nipple to save the finish on the barrel. Get a good penetrating oil, like Liquid wrench. WD 40 is not going to touch your problem nipple. Let the penetrating oil work( Kroil is also good, as is PB BLaster, or Break Free) then wipe it off, and out. With the barrel removed from the wood stock, use a torch to heat the drum or snail around the nipple base, and then give the nipple a tap witha good hammer. to see if you can break it free. Then put a small set of vise grips on it and turn it out.The nipple is already done, so don't worry about what it looks like.

If you still can't remove it, then you probably will need to drill it out. Use a drill just big enough to drill a hole down through the nipple. Then see if you can find a reverse thread bit to jam into the remainder of the nipple to back it out. My experience with the toughest of stuck screw is that the vibration of a drill cutting the center core out of the screw will loosen the rust on the outside so that the screw turns out easily. Every time it happens, I am always amazed, because I am usually exhausted and angry from trying to do everything else but get near those threads with a drill bit.

Once you remove the remants of the nipple. you will want to clean up the thread with a tap. Make sure you have a tap the right size and pitch. Call T/C if you are not absolutely sure. The tap will remove any rust remaining in the tread. Use a pipe cleaner to remove chips and debris, and then oil it with WD 40 or some other machine oil. A new nipple will not break the bank. Buy a couple. Its always good to have a spare around.

You have a whole host of ideas here all of which sound pretty good. I am going too address this a slightly different way. In your post you said it had a peened nipple and a oddly bent hammer. Sounds like this sucker may have been dropped and bent the hammer and it's stricking the nipple oddly enough to peen the nipple. :hmm:
Anyway it sounds like the nipple is screwed up anyway and nipples arent that expensive. Cock it at halfcock, remove the hammmer and or barrel if its a hooked breech to give you good access.Clamp it in a padded vice tightly. Set your vice grips so they won't absolutely won't slip off the nippple, heat that sucker up and clamp on to it and turn it out. The main thing is make sure it's turning and not ripping a part. If you break it off it's easy out time. :shake:
Once you get it out clean the treads going into the drum with a small oarfice brush and reinstall with a new nipple with a good automotive antiseize oon the threads. Once you can put on a new nipple you can realign the hammer. Sounds like it may need to be rebent! If you'll tell the make of the rifle someone can tell you the size on the nipple. If it's CVA or Traditions it's 6x1mm. Some others use that metric thread but not sure which!

I usually just spit it out. Oops! Wrong nipple!

You might want to try some Coke as in Cola, it will eat through rust

Naval Jelly may clean the rust out of the threads in the nipple seat after ya get that old nipple out a there. A little on a q tip may just be what ya need to do.

If you try heat make sure the thing wasn't left loaded, life is full of suprises and most of them are bad

try pulling the barrel and set it in a corner breech down in a can of kerosene or penetrating oil for a couple days. Pour a little down the bore too. This can also work for stuck breech plugs .

does it appear to be cross threaded, as in does it look like the shoulder of the nipple isn't square with the seat? if that's the case you'll need to do something different

Try the penetrating oil/heat process. Try to loosen the nipple, and if it is still stuck, repeat the process. Let the oil soak over night or even for a couple of days with heat occasionally. If it won't move after several days, then you may have to resort to the drilling. Emery

It's a Lyman Great Plains Hunter (GPH) .54, fast twist version of the GPR. Nipple size is 6mm x .75 and I have a few on hand for my GPR, so a new nipple is no problem. The one that's in there is toast anyway. Right now it's soaking in Liquid Wrench.

The hammer thing is odd. It's clearly hitting the nipple cockeyed with the spur end definitely bent toward the centerline of the gun. Yet, there's not a mark on the hammer. No signs of heating, impact, being gripped in a vise or anything else. I found that a TC hammer I had lying around appeared to fit pretty good. Touched it a few times with a file to get it on the tumbler and it looks like it'll be OK; doesn't hit the wood or anything, but riding a bit to the outside of being perfectly centered on the nipple. Putting a new nipple in and trying it on a cap will be proof of the pudding. Might be better to get another Lyman hammer, but it may not fit any better.

Anxious to see how this thing shoots. I can see a fair amount of surface rust in the bore near the muzzle, but when I put the bore light in, the bore looks shiny from end to end. The bore feels smooth on a patched jag too. May just need a little scrubbing with Scotchbrite. Bluing on the outside is perfect.

Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions. If the Liquid Wrench and the small vise grips I bought today don't work, I'll be trying some of the others.
Bob

Heating it up should free it!

Let us know if it works, I have a similar problem that has been in
and out of Kroil for over three weeks now.

Good luck.


Tinker2

After you remove the nipple do not chase the threads. Take your new nipple and see how it fits. Do this with plenty of oil. I have seen more buggered up threads by well meaners chasing threads. Most of the time you enlarge or unevenly open the threads. Once you enlarge or off center the threads your screwed. If the new nipple gets to tight on you before fully seated, only then chase the threads but only 1/2 revolution at a time then try again. If still needs more than 1/2 revolution more. Easy does it and you'll be fine. Uncrichie.

Well it's out. Thanks to all for the help.

The Liquid Wrench, Vise Grips and tapping with a drift didn't touch it. True to my characteristic lack of patience, I drilled it out. Started with a 1/16" drill and carefully worked my way up to 3/16". Was surprised at how easily it drilled; thought it would be very hard. Went slow and inspected the hole often with a bright light. Took pains to avoid drilling into the snail.

Once I got to the 1/8" drill, I tried unscrewing the nipple using a nipple wrench after each drilling. Thankfully, there was still enough of a nub on the top for the wrench. After the 3/16" drill, out it came. One side of the threaded barrel of the nipple had been drilled away, but the snail threads appear undamaged. Lots of dry rust in the threads, so I guess the Liquid Wrench hadn't penetrated yet.

Didn't have a 6mm x.75 tap to chase threads with, uncrichie, and it's probably a good thing as I hadn't yet read your post and would've tried it. Instead, I doused the area with Rem Oil and tried threading a new nipple in. Threaded it in a half turn and backed out a quarter turn, then another half turn in, etc. Halfway in I unscrewed it all the way, wiped off the threads, doused everything with Rem Oil again, and then finished threading it in. Now it starts and threads in quite easily and doesn't seem to wobble any so the threads must still be fairly tight.

With new nipple in place, I tried hammer nipple alignment with the makeshift T/C hammer. Not so good. With cap on nipple, the hammer face skirt will contact the cap when it falls; the hammer rides a little too far to the outside to center properly. Think that could be corrected with a little Dremel work, but have ordered a new Lyman hammer instead.

Heat might've popped the nipple free, but I was afraid I'd overdo it and destroy the temper of something. Even if I didn't I'd be thinking about it everytime I shot the gun.

Thanks again for the support and the interest.
Bob