Working on the remains of a really rough ml shotgun. Stock in many pieces, under rib off, tang broken. Wanted to pull the plug so that I could repair it by welding, and so that I could get at the bore to see if it could be polished or reamed.
Clamped the barrel flats in the padded jaws of a very heavy 6" vise, and clamped a wrench on the breechplug flats. Wrench is two 1" square bars, clamped together with 1/2" socket head screws, one bar turned for a pipe handle. I use the same wrench on flat sided receivers.
Applied pressure, wrench turned, so did the breech plug tang. But the breechplug didn't. Twisted it right off.
So, I found a piece of steel tube that would slide over the octagon flats of the barrel, and slit it so that the lathe jaws would clamp the bushing down on the barrel. This pretty much centered the barrel, without having to resort to a 4-jaw chuck. Drilled a 1/2" hole through the stump of the plug, then bored out the remains until the roots of the threads were almost exposed. Used a little cold chisel and picks to remove the remains of the breechplug threads, leaving the barrel threads intact. The threads are not a current standard size, of course, so the lathe can be used to make a new plug to fit.
But the bore is really bad, beyond polishing. Would be necessary to ream and sleeve it to salvage the barrel as a shooter. Don't know if I will, the rest of the gun is pretty rough, although with the addition of a mainspring, the lock will snap.
Clamped the barrel flats in the padded jaws of a very heavy 6" vise, and clamped a wrench on the breechplug flats. Wrench is two 1" square bars, clamped together with 1/2" socket head screws, one bar turned for a pipe handle. I use the same wrench on flat sided receivers.
Applied pressure, wrench turned, so did the breech plug tang. But the breechplug didn't. Twisted it right off.
So, I found a piece of steel tube that would slide over the octagon flats of the barrel, and slit it so that the lathe jaws would clamp the bushing down on the barrel. This pretty much centered the barrel, without having to resort to a 4-jaw chuck. Drilled a 1/2" hole through the stump of the plug, then bored out the remains until the roots of the threads were almost exposed. Used a little cold chisel and picks to remove the remains of the breechplug threads, leaving the barrel threads intact. The threads are not a current standard size, of course, so the lathe can be used to make a new plug to fit.
But the bore is really bad, beyond polishing. Would be necessary to ream and sleeve it to salvage the barrel as a shooter. Don't know if I will, the rest of the gun is pretty rough, although with the addition of a mainspring, the lock will snap.
