barrel pins in blind holes, removal?

[feamir]

I have a musket which has the barrel pinned in place. The pins do not extend through both sides of the stock, and they are sub flush on the right side. The piece shows signs of corrosion, I feel it necessary to do a total tear down to check for pitting under the wood. Safety first. Any ideas on how to remove the pins other than driving them out the other side? I have read previous posts which generally stated " don't remove barrel". I'm a coward and don't want to lose part of my face by just hoping everything will be ok. If damaging the stock is the only way, well I can fix that. I don't care if a repair is visible, I want to shoot safely. thanks Feamir

 

[Black Hand]

I have a musket which has the barrel pinned in place. The pins do not extend through both sides of the stock, and they are sub flush on the right side. The piece shows signs of corrosion, I feel it necessary to do a total tear down to check for pitting under the wood. Safety first. Any ideas on how to remove the pins other than driving them out the other side? I have read previous posts which generally stated " don't remove barrel". I'm a coward and don't want to lose part of my face by just hoping everything will be ok. If damaging the stock is the only way, well I can fix that. I don't care if a repair is visible, I want to shoot safely. thanks Feamir

I'm not certain where you got the gun, but a blind hole for pins? Idiotic in my opinion...
I'd do some careful measuring and drill a small-diameter hole from the blind side that intersects with the end of the pin, push the pin out with a thin wire, drill through with the proper size bit and install a full-width pin.

 

[feamir]

I'm not certain where you got the gun, but a blind hole for pins? Idiotic in my opinion...
I'd do some careful measuring and drill a small-diameter hole from the blind side that intersects with the end of the pin, push the pin out with a thin wire, drill through with the proper size bit and install a full-width pin.

Thanks for the idea. Gun broker auction. I hope the original builder knew something about perpendicularity! As for blind holes idiotic is right! Once I have it apart I will look into a wedge retrofit.

 

[Carbon 6]

Super glue another pin to the existing pin and pull it out. Be clean and neat.
You may need to depress the barrel when removing, to alleviate any tension.
Probably make a jig to hold the pin while the glue sets. would probably tape off the surrounding area.

That's what I'd try, but it's hard to tell without seeing it.

 

[Black Hand]

As for blind holes idiotic is right! Once I have it apart I will look into a wedge retrofit.

Forget the wedges, just make new pins and forget it. I've never seen a musket with wedges...

 

[feamir]

Super glue another pin to the existing pin and pull it out. Be clean and neat.
You may need to depress the barrel when removing, to alleviate any tension.
Probably make a jig to hold the pin while the glue sets. would probably tape off the surrounding area.

That's what I'd try, but it's hard to tell without seeing it.

How would you keep the super glue from sticking to the wooden counter bore? Interesting idea, have you done this?
Thanks Feamir

 

[feamir]

Forget the wedges, just make new pins and forget it. I've never seen a musket with wedges...

I have never seen seen wedges on a musket either. I think I would rather drill thru entire stock and make new pins, it would look better, and would be easy to disassemble.
thanks Feamir

 

[Carbon 6]

Nope haven't done it, like I said hard to say without seeing it but that's the first thing that comes to mind. . I'd put the glue on the pin only, maybe invert the gun so any excess flows away from the hole. be neat. clean out the hole.
I might also look for a thin sleeve to fit over the end of the pin.

 

[Carbon 6]

Once the pins are out dill a though hole and make longer pins.

 

[feamir]

Once the pins are out dill a though hole and make longer pins.

I have tried to remove SS pins in ultem (high temp plastic), press fit, with the superglue method. I'm a machinist, our attempts failed, part scraped out. Two reasons why we think it failed. 1) superglue is brittle and any side load causes it to break. 2) The superglue needs something rough to stick to, these pins (on the musket) were filled smooth then pushed sub flush (guess on my part, through observation). I tried to use an electromagnet no success. Thanks for the idea, Feamir

 

[EC121]

I would carefully measure and see if a small bit or even a straight pin would hit the other end of the barrel pin. Once sure of the location you could drill out the blind side enough to get a small punch in the hole to knock out the pin.

 

[Flintandsteel]

No idea why they wouldn't drill all the way thru? It's actually harder not to.
Here's an idea..... could the underlugs be slotted, so,they slide into place on a permanent pin? If so, removing a couple of screws, and a light tap with a mallet, just might get that barrel out.
Other than that, you're not damaging a high end firearm. The appropriate size punch, and drive them out.

 

[Black Hand]

How would you keep the super glue from sticking to the wooden counter bore? Interesting idea, have you done this?
Thanks Feamir

If the pins are large enough, you could also try center-drilling with a small bit and using an

No idea why they wouldn't drill all the way thru? It's actually harder not to.
Here's an idea..... could the underlugs be slotted, so,they slide into place on a permanent pin? If so, removing a couple of screws, and a light tap with a mallet, just might get that barrel out.

Good thought. Removing the tang screw should do the trick - worth a try.

 

[Carbon 6]

I have tried to remove SS pins in ultem (high temp plastic), press fit, with the superglue method. I'm a machinist, our attempts failed, part scraped out. Two reasons why we think it failed. 1) superglue is brittle and any side load causes it to break. 2) The superglue needs something rough to stick to, these pins (on the musket) were filled smooth then pushed sub flush (guess on my part, through observation). I tried to use an electromagnet no success. Thanks for the idea, Feamir

Talked yourself right out of it didn't you?
Magnet wont work, do the math. different glues have different strengths. it's all about choosing the right one. Jb weld?, epoxy? I guarantee 2 part urethane will work.
Sleeve it.
I'll bet your dentist could get those pins out.
Your a machinist? What size are the pins and how deep are they?
Seems like a really easy problem to solve for a machinist, treat it like broken screw.
Just make sure you formulate your repair plan before you choose a method.
Good luck.

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Dane may be on the right track. The barrel lugs may actually be hooks open toward the breech. Once the tang bolt is removed, the barrel may slide forward and unhook. You say musket. Is your gun really a military model or just a smooth bore? If a military gun, do you know what it is. I cannot think of any military musket with barrel hooks but there may have been some countries that used that system.

dave

 

[LRB]

Had a Jap Tower pistol done the same way. I just drove them on through then glued the splinters back in place, let dry, then drilled the hole on through. Did not splinter bad, but I don't know what wood they used. Cheapo gun, so I had little to lose.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I have a gun that the builder used finishing nails for barrel pins but left the heads on them. I knocked out a couple of them to get the trigger guard off when the triggers stopped working. Needless to say I had some chips to glue back in.

I wanted to pull the barrel but found one pin entrance hole and sometimes two exit holes ar sharp angles to the entrance holes. I decided the barrel was just fine where it was.

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

This is

Hi,
Dane may be on the right track. The barrel lugs may actually be hooks open toward the breech. Once the tang bolt is removed, the barrel may slide forward and unhook. You say musket. Is your gun really a military model or just a smooth bore? If a military gun, do you know what it is. I cannot think of any military musket with barrel hooks but there may have been some countries that used that system.

dave

my bet as well. I've seen a lot of antique rifles done this way. I won't assume this is an actual musket, a lot of people on this forum call all muzzleloaders "muskets".

 

[S.Kenton]

If the pins are tight into the wood, as they should be, and are rusty... super glue will not work. Super glue needs a clean but rough surface to adhere to metal. Drive em through and use the super glue for the splinters.. as the others have stated. Although if it is hooked or slotted as you suspect you wouldnt have to go through the trouble. Let us know.

 

[Billy Boy]

I would tape or heavy rubber band wooden blocks to the stock on the off side as close to the probable exit wound as possible. The tape/blocks will stop any major splitting. If you tap the visible end of the pin carefully you should see a wood pimple start to appear where the pin will exit. Mark it, drill it, make new, longer pins.