Drum inside barrel?

[Minuteman]

I don't know the terminology yet but it seems that a portion of what I think is called the drum is protruding into the barrel of my Hatfield.
When I put the rod in all the way down to the breech I can make it stop then drop off to the breech plug. Should I remove it and take a little off? I don't wanna get crud behind it and end up with a problem.
Thanks folks :grin:

 

[Zonie]

If your willing to try to remove it, then I think you should.

Not only will crud build up behind the drum threads, if it is sticking out into the bore, it can make the rifle mis-fire.

Once, when building a rifle I got in a hurry to finish it and forgot to trim the drum threads back flush with the bore. When I tried firing it, it mis-fired several times before it actually fired.
This happened several times so I switched to other guns for the rest of the days shooting.
When I got home and ran the cleaning jag down the bore, clunk! It stopped about 3/4 inch from hitting the breech plug.

After I fixed this little oversight, the rifle shoots first time, every time! :grin:

When you remove the drum, leave the nipple in it and close an adjustable wrench down on the outside of the drum. When you try to unscrew it, the nipple will act as a stop for the wrench to push against.
Using this method, you won't mark up the drum (like vice grips would do).

zonie

 

[shortstring]

Another procedure is to take out the breechplug & reach in with a dremil tool & remove the excess steel. You might have to take out the drum first & then remove the plug & reinstall the drum if the two interfere with each other. The safe thing about this is that you won't take any more off than neccesary. After you get the excess removed you can take the drum out & cone the entry hole into the drum where the powder finds its way in. Sharp corners have a way of stopping the powder from getting over to the nipple.

 

[hobbles]

K guys, I'm tryin to learn now,, A Hatfield doesn't have a patent breech, Right??

 

[CoyoteJoe]

Just looking from the outside, it appears they do.

 

[Minuteman]

It has a straight pipe with a screw in the end that the nipple goes in.(EDIT) The nipple goes in the pipe not the screw, cut me some slack ....tired....board and batton all afternoon.