ronlaughlin
Ron, I have great respect for the projects that you are doing, I just wish I had the skill and the machines to do it myself...
Even mine?!? Mine are stainless!
But, No yours are not even close to the material, engineering, or treating that the Lehigh has... and I say that respectfully. Do yours work - YES!... do they do the things or will they last as long as the Lehigh I would bet not.
I also agree that the vent liner is not need to shoot BH succesfully for a given period of time. I do say that with the vent kiner including you SS vent liner you will be more successful for a longer period of time.
My own personal opinion I would much perfer to have a breech plug with the vent liner than without... is it necessary NO... Is it more reliable over a wider range of possibilities - I say it is.
I would further say that the vent liner allows marginal breech plugs designs to work more effeciently than they did when they were in their original state. And I offer the Triumph plug as an example, according the Western the length (geometry) of that plug rules it out as an ideal BH breech plug, but if you modifiy the flash cannel and add the ventliner - it suddenly becomes a much better BP for BH, not that it is necessary for any other powder.
One other thing I think about... if I were pulling down on a nice bull elk in the woods with rotten weather all around me the gun draping with snow all over it, I would feel a whole lot better about squeezing the trigger with a vent liner in the plug than one without.
Just stuff that I have found over a long period of time...