Pinned barrel problem

[Sunkmanitu Tanka]

I have a gun with pinned barrel. I always leave the barrel in place when I clean the gun. After 2 years I want to remove the barrel to check the underside of the barrel for rust. The largest pin came out easy. the middle pin was bent a little but came out fine. I guess the holes in barrel and under lug weren't perfectly lined. Problem is with the pin closest to the front. It won't come out and I am afraid it went in on one side, got through the under lug and then went astray somewhere into the wood of the fore stock. So I am afraid it is pinned permanently. Any suggestions on how to remove it? I am afraid to break or bugger up the stock (which is rather nice) - On the other hand I want to check the underside of the barrel since the gun really got wet ... Should I leave it like that? I would appreciate yours ideas and thoughts ...

 

[Artificer]

Have you attempted to start the pin moving from both sides with a short starter punch?

Are the pins filed flush with the side of the stock so they are rounded and that is the problem you are having with removing the pins?

Gus

 

[Sunkmanitu Tanka]

I first tried to remove the pins from the side where they are a bit 'inside' the stock... the right hand side of the stock shows the pins and they are indeed a bit rounded - so a punch slides of if you want to try to drive them out ...
All three pins seem to be a bit short on one side and flush with the stock on the other side...

 

[Artificer]

Many original Brown Bess muskets show all kinds of damage to the stocks in the areas around the barrel pins, because the rounded pins were so difficult to drive out.

I found the best way to remove the rounded pins from Brown Bess muskets and other arms was to carefully use a carbide Dental Burr in a Dremel Tool to grind into the center of one side of the pin and give me a surface that a short starter pin punch would not slip off. That allowed me to get the pin moving with a short starter punch, then I drove it out with a longer drive pin punch.

BTW, many Dentists will give you their used dental burrs when they are worn, because they just throw them away. They are still good for grinding into brass or Iron pins.

Then I would make replacement pins out of Drill Rod. I kept the ends perpendicular to the length of the pin and just chamfered the edge so they would go through the wood and barrel lugs with no problems. These pins are a bit shorter, but much easier to remove later.

Gus

 

[Vaino]

I use a starter punch which "bites" into the end of the pin to get the pins moving and then go to a straight drift. Have never sold MLers w/ pins that are flush w/ the stock.....n fact they're at least 1/16" below the surface on both sides. My hunting guns all have keys which are much easier to pull out.

When you finaly get the bbl out, check to see if the holes in the bbl lugs are elongated.....any expansion or contraction of the stock can bind up the pins if the holes aren't elongated.....Fred

 

[MSW]

I use a starter punch which "bites" into the end of the pin to get the pins moving and then go to a straight drift. Have never sold MLers w/ pins that are flush w/ the stock.....n fact they're at least 1/16" below the surface on both sides. My hunting guns all have keys which are much easier to pull out.

When you finaly get the bbl out, check to see if the holes in the bbl lugs are elongated.....any expansion or contraction of the stock can bind up the pins if the holes aren't elongated.....Fred

emphasis added

+1 (and please, don't ask me how I know
:cursing: :redface: :redface: :cursing:

 

[Sunkmanitu Tanka]

Thank you all for chiming in ... and finally I managed to pull that stuck pin - although I had afterwards a chip out of the stock :cursing: ... And I think the problem was like you stated: very small holes in the under lugs which were also very rough on the edges. that made the pins bend... So I smoothed out the under lug holes and made them a bit larger. Then I restored the chip in the stock ... Lucky for me there was no rust under the barrel. I thoroughly coated the underside of the barrel and put the gun together again... I now can more easily remove the pins if I want, but will only do so every few years or just when the gun was very wet.

 

[hanshi]

I think it might be a good idea to put a piece of masking tape over the hole in the stock and then punch out the pin. I remove the barrels when the gun is new to both seal the barrel channel/wax the underside of the barrel AND make sure the lug pin holes are oblong.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Many original Brown Bess muskets show all kinds of damage to the stocks in the areas around the barrel pins, because the rounded pins were so difficult to drive out.

Amen, Bro.
When I built my BB kit I ground brazing rod to a taper and inserted the pins from the right side. A 'gunsmith' (I use the term very loosely) friend borrowed it to study. He disassembled, without permission and drove the pins out from right to left. Meaning he forced the fat ends through the lugs and small holes on the left side of the stock doing damage. :cursing:

 

[Vaino]

That's a good reason to use straight pins. A fairly well known builder of LRs used tapered pins and wrote instructions to the buyer...but what about the 2nd and sometimes 3rd buyer? Don't see any logical reason to use tapered pins to hold the bbl when straight pins do the job w/o any complications.....Fred

 

[kansas_volunteer]

I've pinned barrels with a method that definitely is not PC/HC but works great for me. I make the pins with 10d nails with small heads. They get chucked into a drill and spun against a needle file and the heads are reduced in diameter some and trued. There is usually a little bit of burr under the head where it joins the shank. This gets turned off and the shoulder squared. Finally the outside edge of the head is rounded off.

The pins are then temporarily installed with the nail head against the wood. The length of nail projecting from the opposite side is marked just a hair or two long so when reinstalled it projects just a tiny, tiny bit, and cut off. Before putting the headed pin back in the tip of the remaining shank is rounded in a cup stone on a Dremel. When it is desired to take the pins out a tap on that projecting end with a small plastic mallet budgets the pin just enough so that a dull knife or similar can be slipped under the old nail head and pull the pin all the way out without damage to the wood.

Yes it is all wrong, but it is all right by me.

 

[Vaino]

However one pins the bbls and the pin mat'l used is up to the individual....but I use 1/16 dia music wire because it's moderately hard, of uniform dia and doesn't entail a whole lot of work...just cut to length, chamfer and install.

Although the pins are 1/16" below the wood surface when done, initially so as to not damage the wood, a very stiff, small tipped punch is used that "bites" into the end of the pin......Fred

 

[hanshi]

Quite sometime back, I picked up several stainless 1/16" and if I need a new pin this stuff works great; just cut a piece off and go. I also use it to pin tips on rods and several other tasks. Being uniformly straight, there's no "fat" end to cause problems.