50cal.cliff
58 Cal.
If you have read the Extreme Dryball Problem you pretty well know what happened. It can be found in previous posts. To make a long story short. While shooting my 50 cal. Traditions, St. Louis Hawken, percussion, I had a dryball. While trying to pull it in the field I literally ripped the center out of the ball. Unable to discharge the ball in the field I returned home and made a ball puller with a larger diameter puller, which ripped apart in the ball. Having the new puller threaded into the ball I attempted to pump the ball out with grease only to have the grease find a way around the ball and not move the ball. After clenaing barrel of grease I decided I was down to last resort. Unsure of eaxctly what was going on I decided to pull drum and breech plug. :youcrazy: The dryball had been expanded by the second puller so tight I had to drive it out with a wooden dowel.
Now I know you are not supposed to pull the drum or breech plug on a Traditions rifle, and I consider this a last resort as all ready stated!!! I was one of those that erroneously reported that it would destroy the threads, (this is what I had been told)! It does not destroy the threads if done properly. Removal of the drum and breech plug will Void you warranty.
I will however share the benefit of my knowledge on this subject. If I had know what I was doing the removal would have been no problem. As it was I damaged the drum and had to replace it. Since I couldn't go to Traditions for a replacement this is what I did. In the earlier post I mentioned taking the time to make a spanner wrench. This is the prototype.
It is a piece of 1/2" ID steel pipe welded to an old heavy duty steel skillsaw blade wrench it has been drilled and threaded with a 6mmx1 thread this will work for a Traditions threaded nipple.
Quite simply I used a 6mmx1 threaded SS bolt which threads through it and into the drum itself. You may have to play with the threading to get the bolt to thread continuously from the spanner wrench and into the drum,but this will offer the support needed to remove the drum without damage!
The replacement drum I decided to use was a CVA. It has same demensions as the Traditions except it has a reduced area on the drum for a wrench. I incorporated this into the other side of the wrench I built.
It works well as I kept it tight to the drum size, welded it to the pipe and refiled for fit after it cooled.
Now the main problem with the CVA drum is that is comes predrilled for the nipple. This creates a problem in torqueing the drum and having the mipple properly indexed for the nipple and hammer alignment. This problem was solved with a brass washer under the nipple. This is the CVA nipple with the washer.
The washer was fitted to the barrel by screwing in the nipple and the top and bottom of the washer was peened down to the barrel. Then marked out where it contacted lock. I then removed drum and removed enough material at bottom of the washer too allow for assembly of barrel to gun and allowing for the washer under drum to not contact the backside of lock.
Now all you have to do is simply thin washer to right thickness to allow for torque and proper allignment of nipple and hammer. I won't lie I bought six washers and I was on number for when I finally got it right. I bought the drum through TOW, now if they offerd one in metric that had not been predrilled that would have been the route to go but, since they don't you are forced to align torque and the nipple by thinning the washer.
The breech plug, drum, and nipple are all installed in this pic. The guns barrel was rebrowned and has been reassembled and is ready for a test run. Which I have no doubt will go well but will post results of first range session.
Now I know you are not supposed to pull the drum or breech plug on a Traditions rifle, and I consider this a last resort as all ready stated!!! I was one of those that erroneously reported that it would destroy the threads, (this is what I had been told)! It does not destroy the threads if done properly. Removal of the drum and breech plug will Void you warranty.
I will however share the benefit of my knowledge on this subject. If I had know what I was doing the removal would have been no problem. As it was I damaged the drum and had to replace it. Since I couldn't go to Traditions for a replacement this is what I did. In the earlier post I mentioned taking the time to make a spanner wrench. This is the prototype.
It is a piece of 1/2" ID steel pipe welded to an old heavy duty steel skillsaw blade wrench it has been drilled and threaded with a 6mmx1 thread this will work for a Traditions threaded nipple.
Quite simply I used a 6mmx1 threaded SS bolt which threads through it and into the drum itself. You may have to play with the threading to get the bolt to thread continuously from the spanner wrench and into the drum,but this will offer the support needed to remove the drum without damage!
The replacement drum I decided to use was a CVA. It has same demensions as the Traditions except it has a reduced area on the drum for a wrench. I incorporated this into the other side of the wrench I built.
It works well as I kept it tight to the drum size, welded it to the pipe and refiled for fit after it cooled.
Now the main problem with the CVA drum is that is comes predrilled for the nipple. This creates a problem in torqueing the drum and having the mipple properly indexed for the nipple and hammer alignment. This problem was solved with a brass washer under the nipple. This is the CVA nipple with the washer.
The washer was fitted to the barrel by screwing in the nipple and the top and bottom of the washer was peened down to the barrel. Then marked out where it contacted lock. I then removed drum and removed enough material at bottom of the washer too allow for assembly of barrel to gun and allowing for the washer under drum to not contact the backside of lock.
Now all you have to do is simply thin washer to right thickness to allow for torque and proper allignment of nipple and hammer. I won't lie I bought six washers and I was on number for when I finally got it right. I bought the drum through TOW, now if they offerd one in metric that had not been predrilled that would have been the route to go but, since they don't you are forced to align torque and the nipple by thinning the washer.
The breech plug, drum, and nipple are all installed in this pic. The guns barrel was rebrowned and has been reassembled and is ready for a test run. Which I have no doubt will go well but will post results of first range session.
