so i have this .62 smoothbore that i had commissioned jackie brown (gun maker of non-renown) to build for me in the fall of 2016 that arrived at me in the winter of 2017. a simple farmer's gun, nothing at all fancy. i received it in-the-white, and i stained and tru-oiled the stock. since i had to pull the barrel to do the finishing work, i also pulled the breech plug out and sure enuf, it wasn't anti-seize lubed as i had asked for. looking inside was what appeared to be a burr from drilling and tapping for the flush liner (which i asked to be a chambers white lightning but was a knock-off instead). i used a stone bit on a dremel to smooth down that "burr" but didn't get it flush. the gun shot reasonably well, however, and is very pleasing to hold and shoot, with a very crisp trigger.
running down a patched jag would always catch on that "burr". a few days ago i decided to fix it once and for all, pulled the barrel and breech plug, and after careful examination i realized it wasn't a burr, it was the touch hole liner protruding into the chamber. a big no-no. who made this gun? i needed to pull the liner and file it down, but it's a flush liner with no slot and no hex key socket. i oil up the liner and attack it with an EZ-out ... the liner starts to move and ever so slightly raises up - good. then the EZ-out snaps off flush to the liner. cr@p. i really never liked or trusted EZ-outs and i just *knew* it was a mistake.
spoke to my barrel smith in PA, bobby hoyt, and he said i've got real problem due to the hardness of that busted screw - which i knew, but was hoping bobby could throw me a hail mary pass that i could catch. we talked over several possible remedies but all were guesses.
i decided to drill a pair of 3/32" holes on either side of the busted screw and drop in some cut 3/32" music wire and use the leverage of a clamped vise grips to wiggle the sucker out. didn't work. what next?
i put a 1" carbide wheel in the dremel and ran it against the side of a grinding wheel that dropped its diameter to 3/8". i used the wheel to cut a slot between the edges of those 3/32" holes i had drilled, wedged in a gunsmith's appropriate sized screwdriver and twisted counter-clockwise with a bit of downward pressure to keep the blade in the slot. it worked. free at last. amen. a few 1/4x28 touch hole liners on order.
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new 1/4x28 slotted liners arrived from TOTW within a few days. as expected, the liners were far too long, so i took a piece of 3/32" mild steel and d/t'd it for 1/4x28, then threaded in a liner, vised it and cut it down with a dremel carbide wheel. filed it up a tad and was surprised to see such a good fit on the first try. used hi-temp nikal a/s grease and screwed in the liner, drilled out the touch hole with a .062" drill bit, then vised the barrel again and spun in the nikal greased breech plug. put the gun together, swabbed out the barrel, and i think she's gonna be good to go ... at last. will see this friday.
trivia kudos to anyone who knows where that 3/32" steel plate actually belongs (nope, nothing to do with firearms - electric guitar related).