Hatfield 45....shouldered barrel?

[RC]

hey guys...friend of mine recently got a hatfield flinter..beauty of a gun,,after shooting this weekend an having a few problems we discovered what seems to be a shouldered,,tapered barrel...as in.if you put a bare ball in it it will not go down to touch hole,,stops just in front of touchhole,,,not a bad idea..lol stops ya from rammin ball down without powder but and a huge but! you cannot get a jag down to breech to clean or wipe,,is this intentional by the maker or jus a freak? we pulled liner to see if we could see ball or jag..nothing,,seems unlikely they'd want you to pull liner every time you clean...right? thanks!

 

[Grenadier1758]

You looking at what is often called a patent breech. The breech plug is designed to provide a small chamber for the powder in the fashion of Nock's Patent Breech. Now it's a way to simplify production. The result is the sub caliber chamber that has the touch hole in the breech plug. Yes, you can push fouling down into the breech plug chamber and block the touch hole if you wipe the bird between shots. Here you want a loose jag so the cleaning patch bunches up to draw fouling out as you withdraw the rod. Cleaning means a 22 or 38 caliber brush is needed to clean the chamber of a flushing tube arrangement to clean that chamber.

Yes, it was designed that way.

 

[BrownBear]

Easy fix. Just put a smaller brush (30-36 caliber) on your cleaning rod, drape a cleaning patch over it, and shove it down in there. The brush bristles grab the patch, so it comes right out again.

 

[mooman76]

Easy fix. Just put a smaller brush (30-36 caliber) on your cleaning rod, drape a cleaning patch over it, and shove it down in there. The brush bristles grab the patch, so it comes right out again.

This is basically what I do. Been doing it for years, even before I knew about Patient breeches. Not a big deal.

 

[RC]

knew this was the place to come fer answers an suggestions! thank you gents!! :thumbsup:

 

[slowballer]

is there a particular reason that this design is more troublesome in pinned guns than in others?

 

[Flintlock]

i for one don't like to remove the pins out of my longrifles any more than necessary, much easier and easier on the gun with a newfangled hooked breech gun to remove the barrel and flush with water or whatever cleaner you prefer.

 

[Semisane]

 

[Flintlock]

Looks like i'm going to cut a slit in a extra dowel, great help.

 

[Vaino]

Don't understand why a patent breech would be on a flint rifle.....troubles and no advantages?

Percussion yes....Fred

 

[fishmusic]

I use a .38 cal (?) mop with a patch. It usually all comes out but if the patch sticks just use a patch remover or a worm. If the barrel is well soaked and flushed you will get all of the fouling. It's good for applying you favorite rust preventative down there too.

 

[Scota4570]

I had such a Hatfield. The threaded plug part is really long, over an inch. The chamber diameter is small, about 1/4". The liner threads are large.

I speculate that you could screw a factory drum into the barrel/plug and make a cap gun. I believe the Italians did flint guns that way as a matter of simplifying production, not to make anyting work better or be safer.

On mine I opened up the chamber to a little over 5/16". I opened up the liner to 1/16. It became much more reliable and faster.

 

[Pete44ru]

The similar Austin & Halleck rocklock also had that patent breech / powder chamber.

I had N.P. cleaning it via flushing the innards from the muzzle, with water - no scraping/brushing needed.

While the water temp really doesn't make a difference for cleaning, hot water will heat the barrel enough to quickly evaporate any moisture - good for lubing before a between-seasons storage.