24hourcampfire.com
24hourcampfire.com
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Hop To
Page 1 of 2 1 2
Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 177
E
Campfire Member
OP Offline
Campfire Member
E
Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 177
I have a TC Omega Muzzleloader. It shoots fine but the breech plug is seized. I busted some time ago I busted a breech plug wrench trying to remove it. So I figured I'd wait until after the season. Here I am, the barrel removed from the stock, the scope and wrings removed. At the moment it is upright with kroil soaking around the outside of the plug. Not sure if should squirt some down the barrel to get at it from the inside of the barrel, I guess I could swab a patch up against the plug and hope some soaks in around it.

I don't have a barrel vise. I have a regular vise and wrapping the barrel in a towel it just spins in the vise. I'm hoping to get it loose enough so that I can get it out with this set up.

Anything else I can do? Heat it up with a blow drier?
Thanks

BP-B2

Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 614
K
Campfire Regular
Offline
Campfire Regular
K
Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 614
Yes, put some Kroil down the barrel as well as external and wait. Probably need more heat than a blow dryer will supply. Propane torch used carefully will help. A true barrel vise is ideal but a heavy bench vise may do with fitted hard wood, preferably oak, jaw inserts. Powdered rosin on the wood blocks helps also.

Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 8,096
T
Campfire Outfitter
Offline
Campfire Outfitter
T
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 8,096
A few cycles of heating with a propane torch followed by a spoonful of penetrating oil will probably loosen it up. I prefer acetone and ATF mixed 50/50 but Kroil might do it too. Might smack the end of the wrench with a mallet a few times while it’s hot to help shock it loose.

Not need to get anything overly hot, you don’t want to change any heat treat or get anything red hot. Hot enough the oil is smoking off but no more than that.

You might soak it from the back end for a day or two, then turn it over and put some down the barrel from the muzzle and let it soak into that side for a while. Get it from both directions that way.

Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 4,270
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 4,270
After a soak of kroil from both sides of breech plug, use an impact gun with a stout socket and extension. The hammering action can loosen up a stuck bolt far better than twisting torque.

Joined: Jun 2019
Posts: 9,687
H
Campfire Outfitter
Online Content
Campfire Outfitter
H
Joined: Jun 2019
Posts: 9,687
Set the barrel up in a drill press or a Bridgeport mill. Drill and tap the seized plug out and buy a replacement plug. If it's got an oddball thread on the plug, Victor Machinery Co. (www.victornet.com) probably has the right size tap. If you're dealing with a stainless steel barrel and/or plug, the threads are probably galled and the plug can't be removed by any normal methods.


Ignorance can be fixed. Stupid is forever!
IC B2

Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 177
E
Campfire Member
OP Offline
Campfire Member
E
Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 177
Thanks for the feedback. I was able to get it out. I had been treating the outside of the plug a bit at a time with Kroil over the last couple of weeks, but a healthy shot down the barrel and then swabbed up against the breech plug seems to have helped.

Also, I don't have a barrel vise, but I do have a tipton vise. I put the barrel back in the stock and secured it in the tipton. Then with a socket wrench I was able to get enough grip to budge. That first little bit made a terrible sound and didn't budge much. But from there it got better and came wright out. Relieved.

Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 453
A
Campfire Member
Offline
Campfire Member
A
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 453
Don’t forget to put some kind of anti-seize on it when it goes back together

Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,765
D
Campfire Regular
Offline
Campfire Regular
D
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,765
Find a can of Break Away, I have always been a faithful devotee of Kroil, but a seized Browning Auto-5 20ga choke made me a believer in Break Away.

Long story short, friend told me that he used Break Away on plow point bolts, almost guaranteed it to work. I ordered a can, 24hrs after I inverted the barrel into the Break Away filled pvc pipe I use to soak seized tubes, it screwed out with very little effort. Not much more effort than a well snugged tube.

It is the only thing I have found that works as good or slightly better than Kroil.

Stinks to me though.


NRA Endowed Patron Life Benefactor
GOA Life Member
TSRA Life Member
NSCA Life Member
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 4,341
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 4,341
A friend of mine last summer dropped off a cva apollo he got at a yard sale for $20 and there was nothing that would help to remove the rusted in breach plug. I removed the trigger group and busted out the heavy torch and heated till red, came out then. Then just reblued the heated area, gun
shot good. Had to pull the bullet out first, good thing I checked before the torching.

Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 8,096
T
Campfire Outfitter
Offline
Campfire Outfitter
T
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 8,096
^^^^^ Don’t do this^^^^^

Heating to red heat with a torch does God knows what to the heat treat. I wouldn’t shoot the above mentioned rifle for love nor money.

IC B3

Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 4,341
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 4,341
Originally Posted by TheKid
^^^^^ Don’t do this^^^^^

Heating to red heat with a torch does God knows what to the heat treat. I wouldn’t shoot the above mentioned rifle for love nor money.


But yet it's ok to have a mechanic heat up steering and linkage bolts in the front of a vehicle.

Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 8,096
T
Campfire Outfitter
Offline
Campfire Outfitter
T
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 8,096
I don’t know if it is or not, I don’t know what the heat treat specs are for tie rod ends. Do know that I don’t want any annealing or embrittlement with a piece of pipe that’s engineered and heat treated to contain multi thousand PSI explosions beside my face.

Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 177
E
Campfire Member
OP Offline
Campfire Member
E
Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 177

In the chance that this might help somebody in the future:

Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 9,180
Campfire Outfitter
Offline
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 9,180
In a pinch, drill a hole in a wood block as close to thebarrel diameteras possible, hardwood preferably. Cut in half to create two halves of the hole to create a clamp. Clamp the block in the vice or a hydraulic press and its as close to a barrel vise as it gets.


Originally Posted by BrentD

I would not buy something that runs on any kind of primer given the possibility of primer shortages and even regulations. In fact, why not buy a flintlock? Really. Rocks aren't going away anytime soon.
Joined: Mar 2019
Posts: 584
Campfire Regular
Offline
Campfire Regular
Joined: Mar 2019
Posts: 584
In 50 years I've owned and shot muzzle loaders I've never once needed to remove a breech plug.


""Mute the Greeniacs. Open the pipeline. Bury the Russians." - JPR - 2022
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 11,302
P
Campfire Outfitter
Offline
Campfire Outfitter
P
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 11,302
asking this for my knowledge, is the breach plug heat treated? I would see no reason for it to be, but I don't know.
If it is, yes heating it red hot will affect it, but if it is just 1018 or something else in mild steel, don't see it does much to it.


I may not be smart but I can lift heavy objects

I have a shotgun so I have no need for a 30-06.....
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 4,181
R
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
R
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 4,181
The penetrating oil from both sides and sitting a few days. Did you put antiseize on the threads before reinstalling? Be Well, RZ.


Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy. Its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. Winston Churchill.
Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 177
E
Campfire Member
OP Offline
Campfire Member
E
Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 177
Originally Posted by Rustyzipper
The penetrating oil from both sides and sitting a few days. Did you put antiseize on the threads before reinstalling? Be Well, RZ.


I have not applied it, but also not ruled it out. I think it should be OK without as long as properly cleaned periodically.

Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 29,383
O
Campfire Ranger
Offline
Campfire Ranger
O
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 29,383
Originally Posted by TheKid
^^^^^ Don’t do this^^^^^

Heating to red heat with a torch does God knows what to the heat treat. I wouldn’t shoot the above mentioned rifle for love nor money.


Especially with any earlier CVA model.

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 371
A
Campfire Member
Offline
Campfire Member
A
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 371
I know nobody here would heat one without checking BUT, some years ago a local 'smith sent a load through his shop wall doing just that. Apparently never checked to see if it was even loaded before he headed for the torch. He's long gone now. It wasn't a story he liked to have get around. Don't be that guy...


Keep your plowshare and your sword, know when and how to use them.
Page 1 of 2 1 2

Moderated by  RickBin 

Link Copied to Clipboard
YB23

Who's Online Now
208 members (32_20fan, 257_X_50, 1minute, 300_savage, 204guy, 10gaugemag, 30 invisible), 2,125 guests, and 973 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Forum Statistics
Forums81
Topics1,187,726
Posts18,400,645
Members73,822
Most Online11,491
Jul 7th, 2023


 







Fish & Game Departments | Solunar Tables | Mission Statement | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | DMCA
Hunting | Fishing | Camping | Backpacking | Reloading | Campfire Forums | Gear Shop
Copyright © 2000-2024 24hourcampfire.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5
(Release build 20201027)
Responsive Width:

PHP: 7.3.33 Page Time: 0.087s Queries: 15 (0.004s) Memory: 0.8945 MB (Peak: 1.0449 MB) Data Comp: Zlib Server Time: 2024-03-29 06:01:13 UTC
Valid HTML 5 and Valid CSS