Help! The breach plug is stuck

Crestliner

Six Pointer
I've got a TC Encore with a breach plug that won't budge. I've broken the tool that came with the Encore and 7/16" socket. I tried liquid wrench for a couple of hours still wouldn't turn. I've soaked it over night in brake cleaner, still won't come loose.

Thought about trying to get an impact socket on it but it is too big to get in the recess.

Worst of all it has started to round off.

Muzzleloader is 2 weeks away!!!
 

firehawx

Four Pointer
Fill the barrel with boiling hot water. Once the barrel is hot to the touch dump it out and then try to remove the breach plug. Has worked for me 2 times.


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firehawx

Four Pointer
Also in the future don’t store the gun with the breech plug in it


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treein dixie

Twelve Pointer
Called not good or not cleaning last year and anti seize or grease before putting back in. All I can offer is good luck they usually weld in if not properly cared for.
 

pattersonj11

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Kroil would be my first try. A torch for Heat would be my last resort. Need to heat the outside. You could try heating the outside and then a can of compressed air to cool the breech plug.
 

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
You need to be using Kroil or PB Blaster, brake cleaner has no lubricating qualities to it at all.

If you are dead set on doing it your self, soak it, heat it gently and use an impact socket and small impact wrench with the setting turned down and rock it back and forth. You will most likely have to turn it up but use caution.
 
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shadycove

Twelve Pointer
Stop. Take it to a gunsmith.

Paying a gunsmith will be much cheaper than destroying a Encore barrel.
A 'smith will have a barrel vise and know how to use it.
If you can find one, buy a new breech plug [most larger sporting goods stores have them in stock] and take it with you when you go to your 'smith, this gets your MZ back to you a few days quicker.
And he won't be mad at you if you have been soaking it down several times a day with PB Blaster.
I would cut a toothpick in half and plug the breechplug hole from the breech end, then spray alot of PB Blaster down the muzzle and stand the barrel vertically in a corner with the breech in an empty/clean soup can [to catch leaking oil, which can be returned to the barrel to soak some more].
Good luck and keep us posted as to your results if you will.
It's how we learn.
 
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45/70 hunter

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
You don't need an impact socket. Soak it good as said by others, put a regular socket on there and hit it with an impact gun.
 

Mr.Gadget

Old Mossy Horns
Was thinking it is the older type based on his comments.

If the barrel is toast I have a SS 50 ca TC Encore barrel I may sell.
 

brucesmith0817

Six Pointer
I've got a TC Encore with a breach plug that won't budge. I've broken the tool that came with the Encore and 7/16" socket. I tried liquid wrench for a couple of hours still wouldn't turn. I've soaked it over night in brake cleaner, still won't come loose.

Thought about trying to get an impact socket on it but it is too big to get in the recess.

Worst of all it has started to round off.

Muzzleloader is 2 weeks away!!!
Put some heat to it then try

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shadycove

Twelve Pointer
Not naming names but you folks telling someone to put heat on a gun barrel are not thinking this thru, even a MZ operates at considerable pressure [esp with 3 -50gr pellets or 150grs of loose powder loaded] way more than enough to blow a gun apart.
Heat may be the answer but without heat treat training [like during gunsmith school] it would be stupid to try it.
Advice is OK until something bad happens, personally I could not sleep well knowing that someone died following MY advice. His kids orphaned and wife widowed, nope not me.
I have been in on several stuck breech plugs over the years and if I have one, I assure you all that Chad at Club Guns in Denton will get some of my money.
You all do what you want, but please be careful leading someone else into something with truly deadly consequences.
 
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sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
It doesn't take dangerous heat to give it a shot though. Very hot water poured down the barrel could help the barrel loosen up without any risk of structural damage.

I always grease my plugs, so I've never had one THAT stuck, but the hot water trick has worked with other things.
 
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Crestliner

Six Pointer
Thanks for all the suggestions. I boiled it on the stove tonight and was gonna use a bolt grip socket, but the package indicated there was a 7/16 socket. Nope there were (2)1/2 sockets instead.

I've got some feelers out for a gunsmith. Anybody have a gunsmith they recommend in Wake County?
 

FishHunt

Old Mossy Horns
Make your own mixture of 50% acetone and 50% ATF. Plug the hole in the breech plug and pour about 2 ounces down the barrel. Let it set for a day. Heat the breech plug area on the barrel with a hair dryer for about 5 minutes and try to remove the plug. The 50/50 mix of acetone and atf works better than ANY penetrating oil sold.

<>< Fish
 

Mr.Gadget

Old Mossy Horns
Works best if you only heat the outside of the barrel.
You will expand the barrel keeping the plug cooler so it breaks the bond and works free.

Never heat with anything other than a hair dryer or heat gun if you are not 100% sure of what you are doing and how to do it. No flame.

if you heat the breach plug being more metal larger cross section than it will get tighter.
thin wall barrel will heat faster and keep heat away from the plug. You can also use the socket or other metal as a heat sink.

If no luck heating the barrel only.... heat it again then hit the center of the breach plug with CO2 or even canned air to freeze the plug. This will expand the barrel and shrink the plug making it easier to free.
 

Crestliner

Six Pointer
I called Thompson Center tech services. They told me that I needed to get an anti-seize liquid into the breach plug. I've never seen a liquid anti-seize compound, I've only ever seen it in paste form.

I'm I missing something?
 

FishHunt

Old Mossy Horns
I called Thompson Center tech services. They told me that I needed to get an anti-seize liquid into the breach plug. I've never seen a liquid anti-seize compound, I've only ever seen it in paste form.

I'm I missing something?

50/50 mix of acetone & ATF. Watch and try it.

<>< Fish

[video=youtube;CESDxCloCoQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CESDxCloCoQ[/video]
 

BigGun1

Eight Pointer
I have mixed wd40 and antisieze also. PB Blaster and time has always been good for me on the worst case scenario. At least 24 hours. And drown in! Then start with minimum heat on exterior. Don't forget wd40 and acetone are flammable.
 

Billy

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Thanks for all the suggestions. I boiled it on the stove tonight and was gonna use a bolt grip socket, but the package indicated there was a 7/16 socket. Nope there were (2)1/2 sockets instead.

I've got some feelers out for a gunsmith. Anybody have a gunsmith they recommend in Wake County?

Not Wake County, but if Benson in Johnston County isn't too far, Trent at Guns Plus has helped me out before, very reasonably.
 

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
50/50 mix of acetone & ATF. Watch and try it.

<>< Fish

[video=youtube;CESDxCloCoQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CESDxCloCoQ[/video]
Just don't ever get that stuff on anything with paint, it won't have it on it long. But it is good stuff.
 
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