Bore Diameter

[kenmen1]

Hi. New member here.

Has anyone ever slugged a muzzleloader barrel? How does one retreive the "slug" from the muzzle end?

I have a Traditions caplock Trapper Pistol. I purchased it new as a companion for my TC Hawken. Both are .50.

So far, I have been unable to remove the breech plug, but I would like to slug the barrel.

Anyone have any advice?

Thanks

[yotatrd4x4]

Well if you cant get the breech plug out it probably doesnt have any anti seize on it. You really should try and geet it out and grease it with antiseize well then you will be able to always get it out with no issues. As for older stlye rifles you can go to walmart and buy the muzzle loader tool kit that has the little bullet puller that looks like a screw in a brass rod. use it carefully to screw into the boolit or slug and then pull it back out the muzzle. As long as you screw it in easy and they pull her out you will have no issues measuring the outside to get a bore diameter.

[saz]

I suggest you go to beartoothbullets.com and order Marshall Stanton's book for $15. Very good info in there.

[R.M.]

I wouldn't remove that plug. Some manufacturers will void any warranty if the plug is removed. They must have a reason for it. If you go to any of the traditional type muzzleloader forums, they all recommend not removing the plug.
If you can get a piece of brass that'll fit in the bore, a bout half the length of the barrel, insert it in the bore, push in an oversize bullet just flush, then shake the barrel up and down to have the rod act as a slide-hammer, knocking the bullet out.

[masscaster]

You should be able to completely dismantle your firearm, and reassemble it IN ANY CASE, especially since it's a Blackpowder Firearm. If you do not you'll suffer greatly in the end with corrosion and malfunctions.
Once apart it should be easy to remove the slug, I've always use wooden dowels and a small deadblow hammer to drive it out. Personally I only ever use a parafin slugging method, same as the old timer's. Hope all goes well with it.

Jeff @ Forefather's Casting

[piwo]

+1 on the paraffin method. Done it both ways, now only use paraffin. Can't find a 1 thousandth difference, but maybe somebody has a a better pair of shiny Jap calipers then I and can attest to the difference!:)

[405]

Yep same way as with any gun just have to go in then reverse course:). Use a srew type ball extractor in a stout rod to pull the slug back out. Use a soft lead slug and plenty of lube. Ditto on discouraging removing the breech plug. Most mls were never designed for removal of the breech plug. Can it be done... sure. Many or most good ones are very tight and swage fitted then filed and finished. If the plug is removed then re-mated, the plug to barrel fit will likely leave a cruddy seam and will never be as secure as was done when the plug was first installed. To each his own, though.

OOPS almost forgot
In the age of "modern" muzzleloaders many speak freely and as a normal way of doing things with a "muzzleloader".... simply remove the breech plug and clean or whatever. Of course most if not all modern inlines are designed to have removable breech plugs for normal cleaning and maintenance. Not so with the "traditional" types. New vs old semantics I guess.

[Marvin S]

Don't the trappers use a drum for the nipple, if so these usually screw into the side of the breech plug and must be removed before the plug. But in any case it is not a modern in-line type gun and is not ment to be removed except if very necessary. The brass rod method mentioned before works good. Just curious why do you want to slug the bore?

[mooman76]

If you don't mind me asking. Why do you want to or think you need to slug your ML? I don't worry about them since they are so different from a normal gun. You just try verious patches with the ball to find what works. If it's because you have a stuck ball you just put a couple grains of powder in the drum and fire it.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

As far As I know it is only the "Traditions" guns that have the manufacturer's prohibition on removing the breech plug. It has something to do with their foreign breech design and construction. We shooters of most American guns, on unusual occasions, can, and do remove the breech plugs and/or the drum or flashhole liner as required, especially the military guns or the customs.

I have in the past taught many new muzzle loader shooters. Among my teaching was how to remove a stuck ball at any place in the barrel, whether over a charge or not. It is easier now that CO2 ball dischargers are available for flint or percussion, but the good steel rod and ball screw is still a fine method if caution is used on loaded arms. It is the best way to slug the bore too in an assembled gun. On a custom, have it slugged in the building before the breech plug is fitted.

Use a fiber wad or felt wad with the ball screw through it centered in consideration of the bore size and rod size and a tapered muzzleguard on the rod at the handle end. This keeps things centered up well. Use plenty of lube, before and after driving the ball down gently to its seat. Screw the ball screw in enough so it will not pull out of the RB. Pull firmly and smoothly till the ball exits the muzzle. I like to hook the rod (non swivelling) handle in a tree limb, or the like to catch it well. The ball tightens on the pull out due to the right hand thread, you can feel loose or tight spots too. You can clamp vice grips on a rod with a swivelling handle to pull against. Borrow a discharger if you want, too.

In owning and shooting a good number of muzzleloaders over the years it has only been neccessary to unbreech one. BvT

[frontier gander]

just use a ball worm. Its bascially a threaded screw that attches to your ramrod. Give it a little tap with a hammer to start it then start turning the ramrod to screw it into the lead bullet. Slowly pull up. I suggest using a 385gr hornady great plains conical as they come back out very easily. No need to remove your breech plug.

[Marvin S]

He didn't say he had a stuck ball but just wanted to slug it for some odd reason. Just use a brass or copper rod about four inches long and a soft lubed ball. Or just remove the nipple and blow it out with a air compressor with a rubber tip blow gun. Just don't look down the shootin end when blowing it out.

[longbow]

A bit of a correction required. I own an old (25 or 30 years) CVA Hawken .50 cal. and it has a "patented non-removable" breech plug.

I am not sure of the mechanism but I think the nipple drum is swaged into the breech plug ~ no thread and no wrench flats.

I was wanting to convert from caplock to flintlock but Track of the Wolf said it can't be done becasue of the silly breech plug system.

Traditions may have a similar system.

What type of "slug" are you thinking for slugging the bore?

An oversize ball could be driven in fairly easily then removed with ball puller or the brass slide hammer idea or maybe more dependably drill a hole through an over size ball and run a brass screw through it with nut and two washers (at least 1/4" screw by 1 1/2" to 2" long), place the ball over the muzzle with extending screw out and tap the screw to drive the ball into the muzzle, once engraved pull it out by the screw.

Longbow

[Flinchrock]

I wouldn't remove that plug. Some manufacturers will void any warranty if the plug is removed. They must have a reason for it. If you go to any of the traditional type muzzleloader forums, they all recommend not removing the plug.
If you can get a piece of brass that'll fit in the bore, a bout half the length of the barrel, insert it in the bore, push in an oversize bullet just flush, then shake the barrel up and down to have the rod act as a slide-hammer, knocking the bullet out.

That's the way I do it!

[44man]

You do NOT slug a muzzle loader. You use a ball gage and measure land to land size, then get a ball .005" smaller.
Remove the nipple, dribble in some FFFFG, replace the nipple, drive the ball in until you can push it with the rod and get it ALL THE WAY DOWN and shoot the ball out. DO NOT POUND ON POWDER WITH THE BALL.
Air pressure or the CO2 things should work.
Screwing a screw in the slug will expand it more and make it tighter.

[twotoescharlie]

removing the breechplug on Thompson-center M/L voids the warranty.

TTC

[44man]

removing the breechplug on Thompson-center M/L voids the warranty.

TTC
I bought the TC breech plug wrench and you will wind up the barrel before the plug comes loose. It just never, ever came out. A good way to change the twist rate.

[GabbyM]

I bought the TC breech plug wrench and you will wind up the barrel before the plug comes loose. It just never, ever came out. A good way to change the twist rate.

Years ago I tried to remove the breach plug on my TC 45 caliber Hawken. It did not come loose.

It always shot great. I even picked up an original 220 grain maxi off ebay a couple days ago. Since I lost mine in an after divorce move.

[Marvin S]

Here is a T/C plug I removed from a 54 renegade. I bought this gun from a pawn shop and it was fired and reloaded and left that way. It now has a green mountain 62cal smoothbore barrel on it. The second is a CVA squirrel rifle you can see how far the drum goes in through the plug. The third is waiting for me to thread the bbl and time the new breech plug. There have been plugs that where removed from original guns that where well over 100 years that used pine tar as anti seize. Just warm it up a little when using it for installation and removal.