Trapdoor Rifles

Evening gents. I bought my 6th Trappy last week and it turned out to be a turd. The chamber looks like someone tried to extract a broken case with an ice pick. I need to try and polish out a few burs and smooth out the neck. (The chamber is actually damaging brass, I reload and I value the cases more than the gun!) Im not going to attempt a BBL swap as I dont want to deal with sight timing (Nothing ever seems to line up correctly when using surplus bbls). My only cost efficient option at this point is to try and smooth the chamber a bit. There is just NO way to get in there with conventional means so Im going to have to pull the breech plug and go straight at it. (Ive been trying all sorts of cleaning rods, U-joints and dremel attachments, you just cant get tool deep into that chamber to clean up the neck). So, before I go putting a pipe wrench to that breech plug (Yes I know I need to make an adapter) I need to ask......were they soldered in? (I was heating the receiver tonight and could swear I saw a few drops of solder sweat out, but it could just have been grease).

None of mine are soldered.

Thats good to know. The thought of tearing this gun open like this really depresses me, but at this point its either surgery or a make it a wallhanger.

In my experience trapdoor breech plugs usually break loose pretty easily, although a sharp smack on the end of a cheater bar may work better than just tugging on a short wrench handle.

None were soldered in military service, but who knows what Bubba may have done afterwards.

I recommend you make a witness or alignment mark on the bottom of the plug and receiver to make reassembly easier. You can do it just by getting the top flats aligned, but matching a scribe mark is easier, and on this gun that mark is not going to harm anything.

Good luck.

If the chamber clean up does not work, a barrel swap is possible, and already has alignment marks, although it may be equally worthwhile to just swap out the barrel AND receiver and a lot less work. Or, you could have the barrel relined. Bobby Hoyt is the master of such things.

Or, as a wallhanger, quit wasting time and enjoy it from the outside--- or pass it along to someone who will be happy at that level.

The good news is I removed the breech plug without much effort. The bad news is the chamber cant be salvaged. I cleaned it up a bit, but nothing short of a cut back and reaming would really help. (Nothing that I can do) To add insult to injury, I found a few more cracks in the stock (one being critical) Oh well, once I refinish the stock and fix the cracks ( It was already sanded and covered in varnish) Ill just put it in the back of the rack and reflect on my poor life choices. Im not too mad, I didnt pay much for the gun, but its still a bummer that its in such bad shape all around.