Buffalo Arms Platinum lined nipples WARNING!!!!!!

[idahoron]

I got a couple of nipples to try out. The first thing I found was the nipple hole is .026 vs .034 for a Hot Shot. I had a ton of hang fires. Then the deal breaker. I tightened the nipple in and went and shot. The gun shot well and no hang fire. I get home and I can't get the nipple out. So I work on it and finally get it out. I found that the threads are longer than a hot shot. What difference does that make?
Well the longer threads went down and hit the clean out screw. Once it hit the clean out screw the threads were messed up and as I backed out the nipple it goofed up the threads a little on the breech plug and the end of the nipple is really messed up. I can't get it to thread back in.
So I threaded in a Hot Shot and it went in tough but went in. I backed it out and back in a coulpe times. I think it will be fine. The Platinum nipple is maybe hosed. My plan is to get a 1/4-28 die and try to thread it on. Then shorten the nipple a little. Heck it is hosed so I might as well Frankenstein it.

The end of this story is if you have a Green Mountain barrel I would highly suggest to NOT buy these nipples.

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd294/idahoron/Muzzleloaders/Nipple%203_zpsltvsaeuk.jpg

[curator]

Idahoron,

Did the "clean-out screw" extend into the nipple area? If so, it was/is too long and created your problem. Those platinum lined nipples are designed to bottom out in the nipple mortise so there is no space between the breech plug nipple hole and the bottom of the nipple. The flash hole on the nipple is supposed to mate with the flash hole in the breech plug. That way, no pressure works on the nipple's base. They are made specifically for muzzle loading rifles that shoot heavy conical bullets and operate under much higher pressures than ones shooting patched round balls.

[idahoron]

I realize that they are supposed to be for conicals and higher pressure, kind of the reason I got it. The clean out screw is below the actual threads. Yes the clean out screw is the reason the nipple got screwed up. Kind of the reason I am mentioning it. I kind of already figured that out. I am mentioning it so others don't end up with the same problem.
So do you own and use a platinum nipple?

[Omnivore]

My Lyman rifle has always worked just like that, from the factory. I sort of figured all their clean-out screw breech plugs were meant to work that way.

If the clean-out screw doesn't tighten against the nipple, what's to hold it in place? It has no head, but it should tighten against something, right? You pull it out and it's a straight shot into the patent breech chamber, so unless it tightens against the nipple it's just free-wheeling in there so to speak. I wouldn't want that.

AND SO, for all the years I've used this rifle I've always loosened the clean-out screw before removing the nipple. Seems pretty simple to me. Yes, the nipple threads show a little booger where the clean-out screw impinges on it, but it hasn't been any sort of an issue. The nipple that's on the rifle is the one that came on it from the factory over ten years (and hundreds of rounds) ago. Never saw any reason to replace it.

That's part of the reason for installing a patch box. It stores ram rod tips, patches AND that teeny little Allen wrench for the clean-out screw. If for some reason I should need to remove the nipple while in the field, I'd need that clean-out screw wrench, so it lives as a permanent fixture in the patch box. It has occurred to me to install that size Allen tip into my nipple wrench, being as they are both needed to remove the nipple...

[idahoron]

If the clean-out screw doesn't tighten against the nipple, what's to hold it in place? It has no head, but it should tighten against something, right? You pull it out and it's a straight shot into the patent breech chamber, so unless it tightens against the nipple it's just free-wheeling in there so to speak. I wouldn't want that.



I don't know about Lyman or TC but the Green Mountain breech plug clean out screw is is threaded with an end tap. The clean out plug butts against the area that is not threaded. The clean out plug snugs down hard on the end of the threads, it is not threaded all the way through.

[idahoron]

I decided to look farther into the clean out screw. I pulled out one from a OLD green mountain barrel. The nose of the clean out screw was flat. I got to looking into the nipple hole at the clean out screw threads and they end just short of the nipple hole. As long as the nose of the screw is flat it CAN'T touch the nipple in any way.
I know my barrel was one of the "recalled" barrels that had the bad threads for the nipple. The preach plug was changed with a new one. I am wondering if the clean out plug was changed at that time.
All I know is as long as the nipple was short like on the Hot Shot's it didn't touch.

I was quick to point a finger at the longer threads of the Platinum nipples but I am thinking that it was the wrong clean out screw that caused the trouble.

[waksupi]

I always figured they were meant to be trimmed down to fit an individual rifle, like any other part.

[idahoron]

No they are not intended to be "trimmed ".

[Omnivore]

I did not know that. Thanks for the clarifier. My Lyman clean out screw bottoms out on the Lyman nipple in the Lyman rifle, so I figured they meant to do that, but maybe they made a mistake. I don't have another Lyman with which to compare it.