Loose breech plug on Mle. 1822 T

Started by rolly, 10. April 2021 kl. 21:06:05

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rolly

hi, i have this french Mle. 1822 T which i am restoring.

after soaking the barrel in penetrating oil to remove the old chimney i found out the breech plug could be untreaded by hand. when it was installed the mark on the breech plug lined up with the mark on the barrel, but after wiping the dirt from the treads and re installing the breech plug it is very loose and can be turned further so the marks dont line up.

i inspected the threads in the barrel and on the breach plug, both are in excellent condition.
inside the barrel there is no face for the breech plug, the threads are the same diameter as the bore diameter.

i checked with a feeler gauge and with the breech plug installed to line up the marks on the breech plug and barrel there is 0.01mm play between the flat parts of the breech plug and the face of the barrel.

would it be safe to use a 0.01mm shim between the breech plug flats and barrel face so the breech plug can be tightened down to where the marks line up?



Cap'n Redneck

It would certainly be un-safe to fire this gun without shimming the gap between the barrel and the breech-plug. 
Personally I would consider using some kind of Lock-Tite in the threads, in addition to shimming.
Sålenge det er bly i lufta, er det fortsatt håp......

rolly

thank you for your reply.

i also consider it unsafe to fire the way it now.

loctite sounds ok, i guess the green loctite for threads would be most suitable?

i'm not that concerned the breech plug would come out, but ofcourse it has to be gas tight to prevent the hot gasses cutting the threads.