Help With a TC .50 cal Rifle

[Watcher]

A Question for "Watcher."
When you flushed out the chamber area after soaking.
Was the Black Stuff coming OUT the Muzzle , or back out thru the Nipple Hole ?

It was coming out from the nipple behind the ball or whatever is in there. I am assuming a ball. Because when I tried the worm to pull the ball bits of lead came out on the screw thread.

[bedbugbilly]

If the bore is plugged - and given the history of the firearms, who knows what someone put down it . . . when you get the bore cleared, if you don't remove the breech plug to inspect - use an oiled patch on a jag and carefully run it up and own in the area where you think the obstruction was - no idea of how long it was in there and there may be a nice pitted "ring" where it was - by "feel" you should be able to tell and be careful when you load it so that your ball doesn't get hung up in the same spot. Don't get discouraged on it - you'll get it cleared out and working. Good luck and let us know how its going please.

[Buzzard II]

See post #38. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...=1#post4583771

Already addressed & explained. You must have missed it...

Yeah, you're right. I missed post #38. I feel that to get this problem fixed is to pull the breech plug and clean the obstruction. Done. Finished. Anything else is a waste of time and very frustrating. Good luck.
Bob

[LAGS]

@ Watcher.
Then the fluid coming out the nipple hole is a Good Sign.
That gives a better indication that there is not a hole all the way thru the ball.
That means that the grease gun should work.
Air might be able to pass thru the patch and ball out to the muzzle, but if it was holding fluid, then the grease gun should work.
There are several inexpensive ways to see into the bore.
" Traditions" makes a LED battery set up you drop down the barrel that you can see the boar really good from the end of the LED to the Muzzle.
I also have taken small LED lights from things "like lit up greeting cards" and attached them to a Speaker wire and attached a button Cell to them for a Back Lit Bore Light..
Once you get the obstruction out, then that can give you a View down at the chamber area where the obstruction was.
Something like that could light up the bore enough for you to get an idea if it is just a ball or a Worm stuck on the ball.

[waksupi]

I call those muzzle loader bullet pullers a, "worm". There are spring looking "worms" for patches too.


And "worm" is easier to type, or say, than, "bullet puller".

Just sayin'...

The one on the right is not a ball puller, it is for retrieving lost patches in a bore.

[OverMax]

I really do not want to remove breech plug.

Good idea. You'll seldom get the barrel flats to line up with those on the breech plug if/when you do. {Given some thought and extra reading of following comments.} My suggestion: Mount a SAE Zerk grease fitting for a nipple than grease pump the ball out its muzzle. Tip: do in the cold if possible as cold thickens grease which will help Hydraulic pressure.

[JBinMN]

The one on the right is not a ball puller, it is for retrieving lost patches in a bore.

Well, that is true, and I said so in the post, but the one on the left in the pic shown before, looks pretty doggone close to the one I have in my bag, a "T/C Ball & Bullet Puller" which looks like this on below in the pic:


The one on the right is one of the "spring looking ones for patches, as I said in the post you are quoting in your post. I even said there were ones for patches in that post:

There are spring looking "worms" for patches too.

I guess I could have included one for each instead, like this patch "worm" for patches:


So I just chose a pic with the one worm that looked similar to mine & the "spring like" one that can be used for patches. Not necessarily a pic of each separately just to make the point...

Either way, I still call them a "worm".
LOL

[Watcher]

Well I greased its *** till it was coming out the bore. Looked like Rin Tin Tin taking a ****. Took awhile to find a zerk that would fit around here, because the ones for the tractor are metric. But I found one on the grass spreader that fit. I am not saying this would never work, file it away, in my case it did not maybe a hole right through the ball. I am glad my old neighbor Mr. Verlin did not come along and see me pouring the grease to that TC .50 Cal. So the way I see it I am down to 2 options now. Number 1 make my own puller, I been revising my idea in my head as I was working. weld a lag bolt to a piece of all thread put a nut on the other end with a washer screw down the nut and washer a ways and weld a tee handle. Crank and tap and get that lag bold cinched in good, then tighten the nut against the washer over the ned of the barrel and hopefully it comes. If that fails then I will remove breech plug. Now if that happens I need some more advice. Does anyone have a drawing of a TC breech plug out of a Renegade. Has anyone here done it before. Can I heat the breech area with a propane torch, etc. Can any of you give me a proper procedure is what I am saying. Thanks to you all for sticking with me on this problem.

[Watcher]

What would Lew Wetzel or Daniel Boone have done? I guess they never would have bought a TC 50 at an estate sale.

[LAGS]

If you want to know what your breech plug looks like, then look up breech plugs on track of the wolf.
Sorry my suggestion about using the Grease gun did not work for you.
But now you know any powder Behind the obstruction is Dead.
Make up your ball Puller and let us know how it works.
But wrap the all thread with electrical tape at the end to center the lag bolt in the center of the bore to keep it off the rifling.
I have had to do that before.
Heat might work, but you have to have something attached to the obstruction to Pull it out the muzzle.
Did You check the barrel with a cleaning rod to see if By Chance the obstruction moved forward at all.
If it did, then freeze the barrel with the grease behind the ball, and give it another shot with the grease gun.

[Watcher]

If you want to know what your breech plug looks like, then look up breech plugs on track of the wolf.
Sorry my suggestion about using the Grease gun did not work for you.
But now you know any powder Behind the obstruction is Dead.
Make up your ball Puller and let us know how it works.
But wrap the all thread with electrical tape at the end to center the lag bolt in the center of the bore to keep it off the rifling.
I have had to do that before.
Heat might work, but you have to have something attached to the obstruction to Pull it out the muzzle.
Did You check the barrel with a cleaning rod to see if By Chance the obstruction moved forward at all.
If it did, then freeze the barrel with the grease behind the ball, and give it another shot with the grease gun.

Hey don't be sorry, it is still a good idea to keep on file. The pressure you can build with a grease gun is incredible. I worked as a Millwright for 43 years and on those big 24 inch bore bearings that is how we expanded the inner race to remove the bearings. Incredible pressure. I like your idea of the tape, that is crafty.

[LAGS]

My wife says, " You are Not McGyver "
"You are the guy that McGyver Wants to be"

[Mr_Sheesh]

BTW you can still buy Mercury metal, it's just $145+ and shipping for a half pound, and ships ground only, and if you used that you'd have to safely dispose of it etc.; A breech wrench seems a better answer to me?

[wildwilly501]

You don't know any one who has one of the grease fitting tools you hit with a hammer?We use them at work for a fitting that won't take grease a grease gun has lots of force but its slow the tool does it instantly might move a stuck ball.Won't hurt the gun it goes on the zerk.

[Eddie2002]

I wold of lost patience with the barrel by now, sounds like you've tried just about everything except a judicial application of heat to melt the stuck ball out of the bore. At this point a little heat would be my next move instead of pulling the breach plug or working with mercury. It would be an easy way to clean out all the grease in the bore also

[tomme boy]

Watcher, where are you located? Maybe someone is close by that can help you with this. I could have it out in 20 min if you were close to me.

[tomme boy]

That is why it helps if you fill out your full profile

[725]

Might be time to send it to Bobby Hoyt and have him make it a .54.

[Buzzard II]

Might be time to send it to Bobby Hoyt and have him make it a .54.

How about a .58 cal.? I'll be having Bob make my .50 into one with a round ball twist. It's a cap lock.

[Watcher]

Good idea. You'll seldom get the barrel flats to line up with those on the breech plug if/when you do. {Given some thought and extra reading of following comments.} My suggestion: Mount a SAE Zerk grease fitting for a nipple than grease pump the ball out its muzzle. Tip: do in the cold if possible as cold thickens grease which will help Hydraulic pressure.

Thanks