Gauging Interest in a .58 Cal Gardner Reproduction mold

[John Holland]

Southron, did you ever un-breech a Bill Large barrel, or an original H&P, Leman, etc? They are all chambered breeches and tighter than bark on a tree! Then, lining them back up again straight & proper after your annual cleaning is no piece of cake, either! Been There....Done That....Won't Do It Again!

[bobanderson]

did you ever un-breech an original H&P, Leman, etc? They are all chambered breeches and tighter than bark on a tree! Been There....Done That....Won't Do It Again!

I've tackled a few, as a hobbyist, not a gunsmith. In my experience, a good solid vise (I use a milling machine vise) and a good long handled wrench makes it an easy job.

[Kevin Tinny]

Hello:

Bothers me to pull plugs because they loosen.
Guess that happens because I was told of one that can now be removed with only fingers!

Couldn't find bore fitting, forward facing cup brushes with brass bristles that were, years back, readily available from sutlers. Found unthreaded shank DREMEL tool ones in a diameter that works in 54 and 58 bores.
They can be EPOXIED into rod adapters.

These get the corners, with and without patches.
If stuff remains, I tape a T- shaped bulletin board pin to a rod to gently get into the edge around the plug face.

These have been enough and I don't have to use a scraper on plug faces that are flat and and smooth.

Respectfully,
Kevin Tinny

[John Holland]

I agree with Kevin Tinny regarding the wisdom of removing breech plugs on a regular basis.

[Maillemaker]

I have found, via borescope, that you can get the breech face shiny metal clean with a scraper without having to remove the breech. I like the idea of wire cup brushes, too.

Steve

[Hal]

I like the cup brush idea too. I've been using a patch puller. I take a 3x3 patch, fold it in half and then in half again so I have a 3/4 x 3 patch four thicknesses thick. I wrap it around the patch puller to get the 'corners'. Seems the cup brush would be even better.

[John Holland]

The thread about the Gardner mould interest sure degenerated into an entirely unrelated topic!

[MR. GADGET]

And I thought this thread was about cleaning and removing the breech plug....
shame on me....

[Southron Sr.]

Dear John:

I have confined my rifle-musket barrels for the past 50 years to:

1. Weisz Barrels

2. Whitacre Barrels

3. Parker-Hale and Euroarms Enfield Barrels

All of these barrels have conventional breech plugs that can be pulled. My experience has been that bore scrapers, bronze bristle bushes, etc., cannot remove all the "cake" on the junction made by face of the breechplug and the wall of the bore.

For the very reasons you mentioned, I have always avoided those "exotic" barrels like barrels with patent breeches, etc.,

As for Gardner Bullets....surely there is someone in the N-SSA that has the ability to make a production "True" Gardner
bullet mould.

Question: Would not a .58 Caliber Gardner Bullet be legal for N-SSA use IF the case was made of aluminum foil rather than paper?

THANKS!

[Bob Lintner]

The thread about the Gardner mould interest sure degenerated into an entirely unrelated topic!

I was thinking the same thing. It was just getting real interesting too. Lets get back on track. If the mold was made once, someone, somewhere can do it again! Just saying...