period vent repair

A current thread about vent hole liners reminded me of a barrel I have. It’s an old one, hammer-forged in late 18th century. At some time in the past the original touchhole became burned out and was repaired. They drilled it out larger and tapped it, made a threaded plug to fit, then simply drilled a new touchhole in the original spot. That one is now pretty well burned, but still works well. The plug was 3/16-inch.

Has anyone seen a barrel done this way?



Spence

Interesting. Thanks Spence.

The finest ones had silver, gold and platinum. I’ve oft wondered how well they lasted.

Spence,

I have not noticed a barrel done that way, but I have to admit I never looked for it much in the past. I do appreciate the pics you have shown in the past of these kinds of threaded plug repairs for worn out vent holes.

Not sure how many times a gun would have to be fired for it to wear out the vent hole and require a vent hole repair of that sort on an Original Iron barrel, but it sure would be interesting to know.

In the book "Colonial Frontier Guns," by Hamilton, he shows a pic of an excavated lock plate that the bottom of the pan had burned through and repaired by filling the hole with brass braze. But the lock plate had been used so much, it had burned through the brass braze repair as well. It is hard to imagine how many times that lock was fired to have done that.

Gus

Tenngun,
I saw a video of one lined with gold...

Spence, your method seems like a pretty straight forward fix.....The same method is used to fix stripped wood screw holes, and other things.

I’ve seen a half dozen pictured like that. When the liners were that small, would not be possible to cone them.

Rich Pierce said:

I’ve seen a half dozen pictured like that. When the liners were that small, would not be possible to cone them.

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The liners, no, at least not as we cone liners today. If the barrel was already coned internally (which I have always believed was the norm for originals), it seems like it would be possible to ream out the hole and install a small-diameter liner on just the outer portion of the touch hole. As long as the geometry worked out well enough that you could get a decent length of threads, I don't see why the liner necessarily has to be the full depth of the barrel wall.

Incidentally, I believe that a lot, if not all, those original gold and platinum vents are not liners, but inlays on the outside of the barrel. The gold would resist corrosion, but wouldn't do much against gas erosion.

Edited to add: Spence, is the vent coned inside, or is it a straight hole? How thick are the barrel walls?

The vent is 1/8-inch on the barrel flat, 1/10-inch at the bore. Barrel thickness at the touchhole is .28-inch.

Spence

Artificer said:

Not sure how many times a gun would have to be fired for it to wear out the vent hole and require a vent hole repair of that sort on an Original Iron barrel, but it sure would be interesting to know.

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Herschel House had a good look at this gun and had some interesting things to say. There are two grooves filed on the bottom flat, one about 1/8" from the end of the barrel, the other about 1" in front of that. They are for the front lock bolt. Herschel pointed out that the barrel had been cut off 1", most likely because the touchhole was so burnt it couldn't be repaired. That makes you wonder how many times it was plugged before they gave up and cut the barrel. Also, the stock on it now has to be a second replacement, because the lock bolt on this one does not interfere with the barrel, the lock bolt is entirely in the wood. So, third stock, probably second lock, who knows how many plugs in the touchhole from being burned out.

Spence

Wow, that gun (or perhaps the barrel) sure has a very interesting history - considering the changes made while it was in use. Very interesting information. Thank You.

Gus

Several things are unusual about it.



Spence

Is that an Iron Staple peined onto a dovetail base?

Gus

Yes. Neat, isn't it? :haha:

Spence

i've used allen head set screws drilled through in the distant past.
also used them as "heli-coils" (set, drilled, and tapped) for percussion rifle nipples.

this was all pre-internet instant ordering & receiving the same week availability.

i've used allen head set screws drilled through in the distant past

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A good fix and one that does not necessarily require expert-expertise to do.

Gold was mentioned. That it would be used in a touchhole or flash pan is a puzzlement to me. Doesn't gold melt at low temps? Methinks it might have been used only for show of opulance. Platinum, on the other hand, I understand, has a very high temp resistance.

Rifleman1776 said:

Gold was mentioned. That it would be used in a touchhole or flash pan is a puzzlement to me. Doesn't gold melt at low temps? Methinks it might have been used only for show of opulance.

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Melting of the gold on the pan was apparently not a problem, but there were other problems associated with its use. Cleator, 1789:

"Gold pans are of very little advantage; for as the iron must be softened before they can be applied, it is very liable to rust, and thus destroy its connection with the gold; the tin, also, by means of which the gold lining is fixed, is frequently melted by the fire of the fuse being directed upon the bottom of the pan, and the gold thereby detached from its hold; this will happen more readily when the touch-hole is placed very low, and when, from its form or width, the fire of the fuse is considerable. A great improvement, however, has lately been made in the manner of putting in the gold pans; they are now “DOVETAILED” in, before the lock-plate is hardened, by which means they seldom or ever “BLOW” out; and it is now found that they will stand better than any other species of pan, provided that the lock is eased from the touch-hole, or taken off when the barrel is taken out of the stock. Still we are of the opinion that the steel pan will be found, with common care in cleaning it, to last as long, and to answer every purpose as well, as when lined with gold."

I have a few references to "gold touch holes".

Spence

Just was flipping through a gun history book and came across a price list from the Restoration listing the price of repairing a touch hole at at 4d.

tenngun said:

Just was flipping through a gun history book and came across a price list from the Restoration listing the price of repairing a touch hole at at 4d.

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FOUR DOLLARS! That's outrageous! :wink:

I had the same type of repair done to a rifle that I once had. It was a .32 cal. Pedersoli. There was a factory defect in that the "clean out" hole had been tapped oversize and as a result, the screw had very little thread engagement. The consequence of this was that after a few shots, the cleanout plug blew out. Fortunately, no one was sitting directly to my right. I have no idea where the screw went. I took it to a gunsmith to see if it could be repaired and he made the same type of repair that was done to your rifle. It worked very well for the several years that I owned that rifle. I no longer have that rifle but I suspect that the repair is still holding up quite well.

To those who say that I should have sent it back to Pedersoli, the bill from the gunsmith was less than the postage to ship the rifle back to Pedersoli.

"4d" would be 4 pennies. :wink: