taking a drill to the breech plug?

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horsefly

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i read in other posts about guys doin that? how and what and why are they/you doing this? man there is so much to learn on this stuff and so much to keep me interested in it. was a bow hunter/shooter but it just wasnt the same as gun hunting/shooting to me and this is way more involved that just reloading and shooting or buying and shooting a cartridge rifle and i'm rerally glad to have found this place.
 
The why is because of the nasty carbon buildup that can completely close off the channel of your breech plug and is a bear to clean. Trust me, you don't want to neglect cleaning it out. Before I realized that I needed to get that out I developed an incredible amount of carbon and only had a tiny channel for the spark to go through. It took me an awful lot of time and two broken drill bits to get it clean again. I think this is mostly an issue with the standard or magnum 209 primers that need to be used with BH209. As for the how, better to get someone who managed to do it without breaking their drill bits to answer that. I broke mine using the bits and a pair of pliers to turn it.
 
You shouldnt be breaking drill bits cleaning your breech plug. Take a 1/8 drill bit put it in a pair of vise grips. PUT THE DRILL BIT WHERE YOU WOULD PUT YOUR PRIMER IN THE BREECH PLUG. slowly turn clockwise and you will begin to feel the carbon you are breaking up. you do not have to do it fast. make sure you have a sharp drill bit as well. After some turns you will be able to notice what is metal and what is carbon. If im hunting and dont want to soak the breech plug ( i only have one at the moment) i just take a trash bag tie , strip the plastic and run it up and down the flash hole to break up carbon , works like a champ for the next day.
 
The only thing I do different than funman is I put the bit in a vice. That way only have one hand to worry about :?
 
Funny thing is, that is how I was doing it (as Funman described). Drill bit in a pair of vice-grips, breech plug in my hand going through the primer end. Like I said, I had gone through at least 50 rounds without touching my breechplug before this. I was using a cheap set of bits, and they broke with the torque once they got into the carbon build up. I used the mini rotary drill with smaller drill bits and just ground it out little by little after I had broken the others. It worked pretty well. The rotary drill was also a cheapie and would just stop if it met too much resistance so the combo worked pretty well.
 
In my Triumph it's a must that you keep the breechplug drilled out to keep it shooting straight. I take the 1/8 bit to the range with me.
Zen
 
You're not putting you the bit clear through are you ? Only cleaning out the area of the primer?
 
NO, not going clear through. The 1/8" or 3mm bit is used to clean the channel that leads from the primer pocket down to where the channel narrows for the flash hole.
 
drill

I just got done cleaning my Pro Hunter for the month. I can't hunt for a while and so I major cleaned it up until yotes in Feb. I used that Coke (diet) trick posted and man when I went in w/ that bit i got gunk out i never would have thought was there. I let soak in that coke for a good 2 hours . The breech face wiped off w/ a paper towel/ I used the bit until i felt the botttom, then Traditions pipe cleaners, canned air a little rem oil and a little plumbers yellow teflon gas tape and popped it back in.
 

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