TC Patented Breech/Fire Channel Close up

[Idaholewis1]

I decided to use this old Roached out .50 Cal Renegade barrel for educational purposes, I thought of sending it to Hoyt for a Rebore, Maybe Relined? But decided against it, This Barrel actually shot well, But had to many things going against it, it was drilled and Tapped for See Through scope mounts, 3-4” of the Bore down at the Breech end was in HORRIBLE condition. I completely stripped the barrel of it’s parts and used them on a REALLY nice old .54 Cal Renegade barrel i had tucked under the Bed  

 I didn’t buy this Rifle for the barrel (I suspected it would be junk) i bought it for the Stock and accessories for a Brand New Green Mountain LRH Barrel in .54 Cal (Affectionately known as my “White Wale” Barrel  

 ) Which i now have fitted in this Stock and ready for a test Run :yeah: 

The Reason this old .50 Cal barrel shot decent is the riflings were good from the Crown, down about 20” or so, In other words The bullet had a NASTY 3-4” To get through upon Take off, and then the Riflings were good to the Crown. Cleaning this thing would have continued to be a Nightmare, Just not worth the Hassle
 Enough of the Explanations as to why i did this


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Another view, This Particular Breech plug had the Clean out screw on the Side as you can see, and you can See through the nipple Hole here, The Fire Channel leads directly to, and under the Nipple

Now here is a View of my .50 Cal Cleaning Jag, as you can clearly see the Jag Stops on The Shoulders of the Breech plug, it can NOT get in the Patented breech just behind it.

TC makes a “Scraper” Tool for their Barrels, Here it is, as you can see it is Rounded and designed to fit in their Patented Breech

Here is the TC Tool inside the Patented Breech, again this is designed as a “Scraping” Tool, I rarely use mine, when you clean Properly it really isn’t necessary, But DEFINITELY doesn’t hurt to use it! After all TC designed it for their Rifles

 

[Idaholewis1]

By the pics above you can CLEARLY see what you are working with, It is ABSOLUTELY Vital that you Clean, and properly Care for this Critical Breech end! Here is where 99% of Hangfires occur in a Sidelock Muzzleloader! After i clean my Rifles, and oil them liberally, Oil gets in the Patented Breech and Fire Channel, All is Good, i want that oil in there when my Rifle is Sitting with a Folded Patch Between the Hammer and Nipple to Catch excess oil. When i get ready to Load a Rifle, i Pull the Nipple, Run a Few Dry patches down the Bore to Absorb Excess Oil, I then Point the Nozzle of my Air Compressor attachment Inside the Nipple hole with barrel pointed straight Down And i BLAST Compressed air through the Nipple Hole, As you can see by my photos above this Compressed Air is FORCING excess oil OUT of the Fire channel, I also Blow The nipple out really good as well. I then Run a Few more Dry patches, Then i Pop 1-2 Caps straight through with the Muzzle pointed down, i Run 1 more Dry Patch, And i am ready to Load my Rifle. Since i started the above method i have yet to have a Cold bore Hangfire, My rifles go off IMMEDIATELY  :ttups:

 

[Hylander]

Thanks for the illustrations, I am going to save the images for future reference.

 

[Buck Conner1]

Per your pictures one can see how massive the breech plug.  

Back when John Baird (editor/owner of The Buckskin Report) started his campaign promise to bury TC it was all about this breech system. We will never know why he got this in his mind, he took that reasoning to the grave. In 1980 at LaVete Pass (National Rendezvous) John asked around if anyone had an old TC breech plug, I raised my hand as we had several laying around in the shop. Then he asked if I could cut the breech much like you have done for his campaign. At the time I had a used hooked breech plug for a flinter (this one was useless, poor design) gotten from TOTW (cut in half too). Once he shut-up for a moment when looking at the TOTW plug compared to the TC he knew he was in trouble. End of story - TC sued him causing several of his operations to close (Buckskin Report) along with another magazine venture to cover the law suit costs.  Sad deal for the readers as his publications were the best in the industry at the time.

 

[Sparkitoff1]

Excellent tutorial!

 

[burlesontom]

Great post and I learned a lot from it. And I thought I was the only one who blew out their guns with an air compressor. Silly me.

I don't understand someone bad mouthing the TC design? I thought the TC guns were hell for stout and have recommended them to any who would listen. I still do. No they are not very good reproductions. They are just good, well designed guns made for those who want a reliable BP rifle without buying a $1000+ dollar gun. Not a damn thing wrong with that.

 

[Buck Conner1]

I agreed with you, for an inexpensive gun they couldn't be beat.  

Several of us told John to drop the bad mouthing or it could turn into a bad deal for him. I sent him the cut in half TC breech plug in hopes that would end his personal disagreement once he saw how beefy it was (waist of time). The whole problem went down hill with the TC attorney involved.

 

[Idaholewis1]

The Old TC Hawken’s and Renegades are my ABSOLUTE favorite Sidelocks, They are BEEFY, well built guns! I bought most of mine to use the Stocks for Green Mountain LRH Drop in Barrels. I have at least 2 Stock TC Barrels that shoot EXTREMELY well. The only TC Barrels that i have no use for are the ones with their QLA Muzzle, I Despise their QLA Muzzle! But the Rifles themselves are VERY well built