This is something i Recently learned and feel it to be VERY important and VERY overlooked! When Idahoron was here on his Whitetail hunt he explained to me that TC Sidelocks have whats called a Patented breech, for folks that dont know what this is, what i am talking about, ever notice when you pull your bore brush out that your brush is pinched down in the front end? You can't help but feel it when you bottom your bore brush out against the breech, the tip of your bore brush is actually going down in the Patented breech/Ante chamber a bit. When cleaning your barrel, your patched jag stops at the breech face/breech shoulders and does nothing to the PB/AC, This chamber is different (a lot bigger) in barrels such as Green Mountain, but its stil there. My point is this area seldom if ever gets cleaned, or cleaned properly.
I will not go into detail on my cleaning process as each has his own way/method, i will say that i clean my barrels DOWN TO BARE STEEL, I shoot Paper Patched and sized bullets in my Rifles therefore i don't use Lube, my barrels are easy to clean after a shooting session thanks to PP Bullets. When i get my barrels clean and thoroughly DRY i use a good quality gun oil internally and externally, i use a generous amount down the bore, and swab an oily patch back n forth a few times before i store my gun, i want to know the bore is coated and protected well! I always store my rifles barrel up against my wall, etc. Before i shoot i run several dry patches down my barrel to dry this oil out, after 3-4 dry patches i leave the last one seated against the Breech face/shoulders, and i pop 2 Caps, then check the patch for a brownish burn color to make sure i am getting good spark. I then proceed to load my gun.
My Stainless GM LRH .50 Cal would hangfire on the first shot out almost everytime, they were slight hangfires, (split half second type hangtime) Regardless they were HANGFIRES and would likely have costed me an animal in a hunting situation. This DROVE ME NUTS!! After the first shot, the rifle would NEVER do it again.
After learning about the Patented breech/Ante Chamber i got to thinking, i use a generous amount of oil down my barrel, i also use a piece of paper towel between my hammer and nipple to absorb any excess oil that drips out the nipple, i store my rifle barrel up/butt down. There is stil area in this Patented Breech/Ante chamber to collect excess oil, gunk, goo, rust, etc. I have ZERO DOUBT this was my hangfire problem.
To clean this you need a .30-37 Cal brush, i used a 37 and it worked great in my GM barrel, With a TC barrel you would be better off with a .30 Cal brush since the chamber is MUCH smaller. You can also use a Patented breech fouling scraper, i have one that TC makes it is slightly rounded to fit there Patented Breech, you could also use a 32 Cal fouling scraper, For a TC you will need a smaller diameter cleaning rod or the shoulders of the rod will likely hang up on the breech face/shoulders and not slip in to the Patented breech/Ante Chamber, if this has never been cleaned i HIGHLY advise the fouling scraper to cut through the gunk, rust, etc. then use the .30-37 Cal bore brush, and finally wrap a patch tightly around the bore brush leaving a 1/4 to 1/2 inch excess patch in front, push that in and you will feel it enter the Patented Breech/Ante Chamber, twist it, push pull, change patches etc. to get it clean and dry.
Now to those that say i use to much oil, YES I DO, and i will continue, it protects my bore, i would rather use a bit to much oil than not enough and have my bore rust. I dont pour oil down my barrel, but i use a generous amount, i use the New pump spray Rem oil, made from the original Rem oil, i feel it to be superior to the regular stuff, i use 3-4 pushes of the pump sprayer directly in the bore, then wet a patch with a little shot of it, and swab back n forth a few times, i put a piece of paper towel between the hammer and nipple and im done. My barrels are literally like mirrors inside, so i will continue my process! I will start storing my guns barrel down from now on.
Now when i Swab the oil out of my barrel before i shoot i will also be wrapping a patch or 2 around my small bore brush and drying out the Patented Breech/Ante chamber REALLY good as well, THEN pop my 2 Caps off against a dry clean patch on my Cal specific Jag and check for burn. Load up and go!
Idahoron has some good pictures of what the Patented breech looks like, and a video or 2 of his GM barrels, I hope he will share those here.
Forum member rfd is an ABSOLUTE wealth of knowledge in this area!! I hope he will join in with some photos as well, rfd had some pics on a recent thread here. With rfd having the correct tools to pull Breech plugs (which he does often) he has more knowledge than anyone i know in this area, he helped me out a bunch and is a super nice guy, thank you again rfd!
No one is telling ANYONE they need/or should be pulling their breech plugs. You can clean and maintain these Patented breeches/Anti chambers just as you normally clean your barrel, ABSOLUTELY no need to pull your breech plug! rfd has the proper tools for doing so WITHOUT damaging the plug, barrel, or both. If you are dumb enough to head out to your vise with your barrel and a Crescent Wrench you were warned