I like to clean my guns with hot water. That's not a problem with a hooked breech rifle, just drift out the wedge and stick the breech end of the barrel into the bucket of hot water and clean. But if you have a pinned barrel gun there's no way to put the breech into the water so you need to run a hose from the nipple or vent hole into the water. Most places sell a deal with a 1/4x28 tube and a length of plastic hose that you can screw into your vent or where the nipple goes to get the job done but then normally want about $5 bucks for the deal. I found an inexpensive alternative, just pick up a 1/4x28 Zerk fitting(some people call em' grease fittings) and drill out the check ball and spring the attach a piece of 1/4" plastic hose to it and there ya' go, a vent/nipple adapter hose that'll let you clean your pinned barrel gun in a bucket of hot water.
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Inexpensive 1/4x28 hose adapter.
- Thread starter TN.Frank
- Start date
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jtmattison
70 Cal.
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Swampman said:
Then why are they removeable?
I remove mine every time I clean and re-install with anti-sieze on the threads.
Since it's removeable, I'm going to keep it that way.
HD
IF vents should never be removed then nipples should never be removed either, right? Of course we all know that all cap lock shooters remove their nipple when they clean so I don't see the big deal in taking the vent out either. As long as you're careful and use the proper screw driver I can't see there being any problems with it, no more then taking out a nipple.
A good builder will not make one that is removeable. You will find removeable liners on cheap guns. It's dangerous and unnecessary. A nipple is very unlikely to blow out, and if it does, it's going up and not through your neighbors head.
The cool thing about the Zerk fitting is that it has a smaller area behind the larger area so you can push the hose on and use a small piece of wire as a clamp to lock it on. I've never had the money to buy all that store bought stuff, I've always had to make due, I'm sure a lot of others out there are in the same boat.
Rebel
Cannon
If a nipple blows there is a good chance it will go through Your head. As for ONLY cheap guns having removable liners, i don't think so. And there are more than a few custom builders that use them. And i have been doing this for more than 30 YEARS, and i always remove the nipple or vent and have never had one blow out. In fact, i have never seen, or heard of anyone i know having one blow out either, so it must not be that dangerous. As long as you don't overtighten them or cross thread them there is no reason for them to blow out.
The threads wear. Sooner or later they will blow out. There's no reason to remove them. The screw slots should be filed away, and they should be installed with red Loctite. Replacement should be accomplished with a drill and an eazeout
Rebel
Cannon
Well, opinions are like a certain body orifice, everybody has one. You are intitled to yours, i just think you shouldn't try to make everyone else think the same way. And just because you or me or anyone else believes it and says it doesn't make it so. Until there is some kind of REAL proof one way or the other, it is still just an opinion.
So do you remove your lock to clean it. Seems like the threads would ware on it too and pretty soon the flash in the pan would blow the lock off. If the threads are cut right and you're using the right vent then removing it is pretty much a moot point as far as thread ware goes. I'd bet the barrel would ware out and need replacing before the threads in the vent ware to the point of blowing out. Like I said before, the same could be said for nipples on a percussion gun and I've never heard of a nipple blowing off. Besides, part of the pan covers the vent so it'd have to blow the lock off of the gun for the vent to blow out.
mike alexandre
45 Cal.
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I agree. Each time a thread surface is moved it wears a little bit and therefore eventualy creats a potentional weak area. The problem with the "flush out screw is that its in direct line with the explosion in the barrel whereas the explosion has to go around a 90 deg bend before it acts on the bottom of the nipple and therefore its force is lessened somewhat.
Rebel, one of the guys at my club shoots a traditions "Ky rifle" or whatever they call that full stock, divided by a brass plate thing...he has faithfully taken out his nipple at every cleaning...at a shoot last summer, the nipple blew out...no one hurt...when we found the nipple and looked at its threads, they were OK, but the threads in the bolster were just about all gone..I've stopped pulling nipples every time I clean...Hank
Since nipples and vents need cleaned also, I just do it while they are installed in the gun. I never remove these items. They clean just fine, right where they are installed. As a matter of fact, I am not saying it is right, but I have several old 140+yr. old guns that I have NO IDEA, when the nipples were last out, until I replaced them for safety reasons. I don't take them out either.
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upon reflection, ToW has a gadget which clamps to the side of the rifle and forms a seal against the flash hole. i bought one of these for a rifle i made my wife which had a white litnin' touch hole liner installed (without s slot, there is no way to remove it and then reinstall it). This gadget cost about $15 and is money well spent.
Go fetch onre- they work well on all different sizes and styles.
good luck
MSW
Go fetch onre- they work well on all different sizes and styles.
good luck
MSW
The only way I could get my vent out is destructively with a screw-extractor. It is filed flush with the barrel. Two prior flintlocks didn't even have vent liners - just vent holes drilled in the barrel. Removing the vent liner is just not something I do. It would be like removing the hammer every time I cleaned the rifle.
I think of them as spark plugs,, and just like with the lawnmower, if I need to take 'em out it's to replace them.
And if you'll chuck them in a drill and file the tapered part round below where the cap sits, it'll hold the hose on just nicely.
And if you'll chuck them in a drill and file the tapered part round below where the cap sits, it'll hold the hose on just nicely.
