Screwbolts

Thank you for your reply. I will give the 'C' drill a try, if it is necessary, to be able to close the breech with an O-ring in the primer pocket. Installing a 3/8 bolt in the breech plug and milling a new smooth primer pocket interests me, but i don't think it would work in either the Accura or the Omega. To me, it doesn't seem possible to get a socket on the bolt and into the barrel of either rifle. The socket, if my brain is working correctly, won't fit into the opening in the barrel which receives the breech plug. These breech plugs aren't so very expensive, so using the O-ring to slow the flame erosion, then after the erosion is too much, replacing the breech plug may be the way to go. Thanks again.

Ive been following this thread and have modified my Accuras BP like Ron did ,I havent shot it yet. I tried putting the oring into the primer seat and the primer was pushed up pretty high, I tried to close the breech and it didnt want to close completely and I didnt want to force it .Im curious to see how you make out with this,if you have to drill the pocket any to utilize the o ring in the Accura.

RonL, When I use a bolt I remove the bolts hex head after It is screwed threw the breech plug, this leaves me with a 3/8, .375 stub to shorten or cut to length on both ends of the plug. The plug still retains the same system for removal as it had originally.

Here is a photo of my Rolling blocks plug, you can see some threads exposed on the primer end. This was one of the first plugs I did and at the time I was not treading all the way threw with the tap and would jam the bolt against the end of the threads cut my the tap locking it in place. I now thread the plugs straight threw and use the end of the threads on the bolt to jam/lock the bolt in place, this leaves no threads showing. I am going to cut/fit the nose end of the plug anyway so why not cut the excess threads off, this leaves a much neater job.

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Some photos showing my mods to a rem 700Ml breech plug.

Plug with bolt fitted, bolt is always a little long to allow fine tuning

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This shows same plug with both ends of bolt trimmed, still way to long but a start.

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This the vent end with liner now installed



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Screwbolts

Aha, it appears i will not be tossing any worn, flame cut breech plugs. Thank you for the explanation, and the explanatory pictures.

Haven't really felt the need to use an O ring in my Accura too much, but here is what i did to the worn Omega breech plug pictured.







This breech plug has seen many rounds, and also has been modified and fitted with a savage vent liner. It hasn't seemed to be as accurate as a new unmodified breech plug, so i figured i would toss it.


Screwbolts suggested i drill the primer pocket deeper using a letter C drill which would allow the use of an O ring. I tried using an O ring in the damaged breach plug without drilling it, but couldn't get the action to close. So, i followed Screwbolts advice; purchased a letter C drill, and drilled the primer pocket some deeper.





Here is what the breech plug looked like with the O ring installed. It fits nicely, and doesn't want to fall out. The O ring is 1/4" outside diameter; 1/8" inside diameter, and 1/16" thick.






This morning i headed up in the hills, and fired 7 shots with the Omega, and the modified breech plug, with an O ring installed. The load was 105g BH209, a 300g 44 caliber xtp, a Harvester crush rib sabot, and a Federal 209A primer. Following is a picture of the 7 spent primers, and the used O ring as well, along with a new O ring.





One can see there is zero blow back when using the O ring.

The accuracy wasn't very good today though. The pictured target was shot yesterday using an unmodified Omega breech plug (yellow holes), and today using the modified breech plug with the O ring, and the savage vent liner installed (green holes). The range was about 102 yard, and the air was about 30*, with no breeze.





To me, it doesn't seem worthwhile to install a vent liner in the Omega breech plug. In my brief experience, the standard Omega breech plug seems just about perfect as is. However, once the breech plug has been used a lot, and suffers from flame damage in the primer pocket, it would seem that using the 'C' drill, and then using an O ring will extend the useful life of the breech plug. Perhaps there are those that will want to use an O ring in a 'new' breech plug, so there is zero blow back. My guess is the addition of an O ring shouldn't affect accuracy, unless it makes it better.

Hi RonL, for some reason your photos didn't show for me :-(

Ken

Sometimes i have to hit the refresh or repeat button to make the pictures show.

Thanks for the tip!! It worked!!

I started with the old cap lock, moved to the Knight disc and moved up to a Encore and than to a Traditions Prusuit and on up to the first style Pro Hunter. The latter being my pick out of every ML I've had the pleasure to own. The Knight had few different style BP's meaning the fire path was larger or the back of the BP was more open or the back was split supposedly to help lignite the powder. The Traditions if the BP got worn you have to pry the primer out. All these ideas in my opinion came to a head w/ the Encore/Pro Hunter that will all but flip your primer out. The Idea of being able to remove the BP w/ my hand does influence me to not ever buy a ML that has that feature. If I can't carry a BP wrench then I shouldn't be hunting. It also allows for more blow by. Manufactors need to forget the speed breech and move on to other improvements. The thing to remember is what ever BP you have is keep it clean and the threads greased or taped. If the ML was designed w/ that plug then you might improve it but in the end is it worth the expense. The main thing in my book is the speed I can remove & replace a primerbecause w/ a 209 misfires are rare.