is it ok to remove a breech plug ?

[leserz]

is it ok to remove a breech plug ? i had a CVA bobcat or deer hunter some years back . it said with the paper work i got with it said do not remove the breech plug. i sold it and the guy that bought it said he removed the plug to do a better job cleaning it than i did . it had some surfer residue in the breech. i have an inline now but want to get a side lock again. most likely i will need to buy a used rifle. they sell them lights that slide down the barrel but what about what you can not see behind the light ? whats a good way to check out a bore. as you can tell i do not know much about ML's.
this is my first post also.

 

[shortstring]

Some breechplugs can be a real bear to remove. Last night I made a new plug for a A & H that the guy decided to take out just to check the bore. By the time they got done with it the plug was destroyed. Unless you have the tools & knowledge to take some of these wierd ones out you could have your work cut out for you.

Paul

 

[mykeal]

Is it OK?

In one word, yes, but like so many other times, one word is very misleading.

It's OK but very difficult. If you do not have the tools and experience it is not likely to end happily. There are exceptions, of course, but in the vast majority of cases where amateurs have tried it they have either damaged the plug and/or the barrel or found that they could not get it back on in the same orientation that it was originally.

But you don't really want to remove the breech plug, you just want to be able to see what condition the breech is in. Unfortunately, that's very hard to do without a borescope. So, you compromise: you inspect what portions of the bore you can see with a bore light and presume that, if the indications are the previous owner took good care of the gun, the breech is going to be OK also. Big assumption, I know, but...

If you're really worried about the breech, or if the bore inspection is inconclusive, you might do this: take a wood dowel slightly smaller in diameter than the bore, round off one end to a hemispherical shape, cut a slot in that end and put a clean patch in the slot. Run the dowel down the bore to the breech and twist it around; remove the dowel and inspect the patch for crud.

If the gun has a patent breech the rounded end of the dowel should be sized to fit into that area, about .30" or a bit smaller.

 

[Little Wattsy]

I am new-ish and have acquired a couple T/c's, a Hawken, a Renegade, and a New Englander. I called and asked the company the same question and thier response was ABSOLUTELY NO!

 

[MikeChapin]

You can remove the breechplug on traditional muzzleloader. That's not to say that you should. There is very few reasons to remove one. They are difficult to remove and, if you don't know what you are doing, they can be bunged up beyond repair. Shortstring is right about what could, and usually does, happen.

In thirty plus years in this sport I have had to remove the breechplug on only one rifle. The one had a cleaning jag that had broken off right on the breechplug face. There was no way to get powder behind it and no way to get ahold of it to pull it out. On that rifle I had to pull the breechplug and push out the jag. Other than that there is no reason to pull the plug.

For cleaning do what Mykeal said. Use something smaller to get down into the patent breech and clean it out. On my rifles that have a patent breech, I use a .22 brush with a patch wrapped around it to clean it out.

For looking down the bore, there have been a couple of thread on this. Do a search for "bore light" and you should get all sorts of stuff on what to use.

 

[CoyoteJoe]

There is no need to remove the plug for routine cleaning. They are removable but it is not recommended unless absolutely necessary. You need to know how the breech is set up. Some CVA and Pedersoli rifles have the nipple drum threaded into the breech plug and that must be removed before the plug. T/C plugs are turned in impossibly tight and are a real bear to remove. Most inline MLs do have easily removable breechplugs but the plugs of sidelocks are not meant to be removed routinely.

 

[boar]

I have only remove one plug in 26 yrs. It was my buddys TC and we had the part that fits over the breechplug to put a wrench on. If you think you don't have one clean enought,pour a little MAP in it. MAP-Equal parts of murphy's oil soap,alcohol,peroxide. Plug barrel and put in a little,this will clean it to bare metal,rinse out good and oil good as the metal will rust as it removes everthing. Only have to use it once in awhile. Dilly

 

[paulvallandigham]

Wattsy: NO Company wants a breechplug removed from any of its guns, unless its done at the factory. T/C used to ( many, Many years ago) sell a special spanner tool that fit its breechplugs so that gunsmiths could remove the plugs. It stopped selling the tool a long time ago. I suspect the company found all kinds of screw-ups that were not made by the company, but the company was being asked to repair or replace under its " life-time " warranty.

That warranty put the T/C company at the lead of the pack, and has allowed it to survive over the years, selling guns that really are not historically correct replicas of any gun. The public just happens to like buying a gun from a company that stands by its product fully. ( How about that! :thumbsup: )

 

[Jerry Coffee]

As you can see by the responses, they say NEVER remove a breech plug for a routine cleaning or inspection. Use a bore light for inspection.

Cleaning the breech plug face is another matter. I purchased a square head breech plug scraper attachment for my P53 Enfield rifle musket in order to clean the breech plug face. After some research, I determined the breech plug face on a ArmiSport P53 Enfield is flat and the square-head brass breech plug scraper attachment will do a decent job of cleaning it. If your breech plug face is concave, the squared-end of the brass scraper attachment will not work. In that case, you must use a wooden dowel with the end rounded off and prepared as suggested in an earlier response to this question. I have seen a brass breech plug scraper attachment in an on-line catalog with a rounded head but I cannot recall which catalog it was. I did not need the breech plug scraper with a round head so I was unconcerned about finding one. Howev er, it would be easy enough to file down a square head scraper and make it a round head scraper.

 

[leserz]

ok then i will not fool with it then. thank you for all your help. :thumbsup:

 

[rabbit03]

I am not sure if your gun has a recessed plug (pattent breech) or not. However for what it is worth, Thompson Center sells a round scraper for their rifles with a pattent breech plug if you need one.

I would suggest unless you are concerned about the condition of the breech area that you simply leave it alone and clean and scrape the area inside after having left some Black Solve sit in the breech area for a while. The Black Solve (sold at Dixie and other places I believe) will disolve the powder but may take a while if there is a buildup of crud.

We take the plugs in and out of the bench guns after each shooting event and clean them thouroughly right down to the threads of the plug. Sometime the plug is removed for cleaning each day and these rifles with their plugs have been in service for many years. These plugs though have been machined square on opposing sides so that you can affix a cresent wrench on them for easy removal. These are the same guys who shoot lots of 10X's all the time, year after year, by the way.

You could run into some problem on some of the rifle models out there if you try and remove the plug without first removing the nipple, as the nipples sometime are drilled through the plug! :shocked2:

And like someone also stated above, the manufacturers do NOT want you to be messing with their stuff and have it blow up and sue them. But yes, if you know what you are doing then yes it is perfectly safe and if not, then I would highly recomend that you do not.

rabbit03

 

[Maynerd62411]

ok then i will not fool with it then. thank you for all your help. :thumbsup:

Coming from someone that made that mistake , starting out, you have made the right choice. :surrender:

 

[crockett]

I had the same question and was told CVA breech plugs shouldn't be removed, why I forget. It could be the drum into the threads, etc. Deer Creek is an authorized shop to do this work- they may have the answer.

 

[50cal.cliff]

Removing a breech plug can be done. Some companies will void your warranty if it's been tampered with! It's there way of trying to avoid a lawsuit! :bull:
I removed one from a Traditions, which voided the warranty but, I had a dryball that refused to move. :shocked2:
My puller had bored center out of RB and still hadn't moved it. This made it impossible to shoot out. I made another puller with larger diameter screw and broke it off in the ball, still no movement. Tried pumping it out with grease gun, a barrel full of grease later and still no movement. Tried a Co2 discharger and still no movement. :redface:
I pulled the drum and unscrewed breech plug, and drove it out with a wooden dowel!
My problem came in the fact that the Traditions drum is round and nothing to get hold of. I filed the end to allow for a wrench to get a hold on it. I later made a wrench for removing and installing Traditions and CVA drums without damage. The replacement drum was a CVA as you can not buy a Traditions drum and the CVA will interchange!
Removing a breech can be done however it's not something I would recommend on a regular basis and you need to know your rifle as not all are assembled exactly alike.
If you would like to read about removing a breech plug and the trials and tribulations. Do a search for Extreme Dryball Problem and Extreme Dryball Problem PartII.