Need breech plug for Green Mountain TC hawken (15/16”)barrel.

A while ago I purchased a Green Mountain barrel for one of my TC hawkens. Turns out it was one of those barrels with a bad breech plug.  I contacted Green Mountain and was informed that they are no longer replacing those bad breech plugs.  SO, I am seeking a TC hawken breech plug for a green mountain barrel.  Any suggestions?

I will keep my eyes & ears open, Will let you know if i come across one. The last one I bought was from Track of the Wolf, it was a 15/16 that i installed on a .45 TC Hawken Barrel, I just looked and see that Track has them on Backorder. I have one here that some Dummy tried to take off by Twisting on the Hook, They made a mess out of it (This is the one i replaced)

Thanks Lewis.  The barrel is unfired and in perfect condition except the nipple is not aligned with the hammer properly. This is a round ball barrel 1:66 twist 45 cal.

As long as it clears you are fine If by chance it doesn’t, you will have to Heat and Bend the Hammer, I have done so to MANY of these Hammers

Thanks Lewis. I can do that. Just wasn’t sure if that was the way to go.

loreto123 wrote:Thanks Lewis.  I can do that.  Just wasn’t sure if that was the way to go.

That is how i correct Hammer/Nipple alignment Remove the Hammer from the Rifle, Place it in a Vise, Heat and Bend. You lose a little Case Coloring, Which i am ok with

What’s wrong with your breech plug? Why is it bad? I may be able to help.

sdporter wrote:What’s wrong with your breech plug?  Why is it bad?  I may be able to help.

Thank for your offer to help. I believe I have one of the Green Mountain barrels with the improper nipple placement. This is an unfired NOS barrel I purchased a couple of years ago. Just now trying to install into one of my hawken stocks. Tried several different hammers, all seem to align the same. Need to bend hammer.

I copied and pasted below, The original poster of this was Zonie from “The Muzzleloading Forum”

For those not familiar with the "Helicoil issue", a few years ago Green Mountain installed some new equipment which incorrectly threaded the nipple holes in their drop in barrels breech plugs.

In order to save these barrels they decided to rework the breech plugs by installing a helicial threaded steel inserts so that the threads would be the correct size. The threaded insert is commonly called a Helicoil. These Helicoil inserts by the way meet MS (Military Specification) standards so using them is not a "fly by night" fix.

When they did this, they did not mention it to the people buying the barrels and many of these people were very upset at getting a reworked barrel.
There was some concern about safety and functionality but most folks were just annoyed at paying full price for a reworked barrel.

Several people mentioned that Helicoils are often used to repair damaged spark plug threads in their engines saying that their use to repair a nipple hole was similar.
At the time, I pointed out that with a spark plug the plug itself seals the hole to prevent gas leakage but with a percussion nipple there is nothing that creates a gas tight seal.
The comparison looks like this:


I still maintain that having a Helicoil in this location is a poor use of them from a design point of view but as long as the Helicoil is not blocking the flame channel between the nipple and the breech I will concede that they should last for years and anyone who owns a barrel that was repaired with them has very little to worry about.

There is one thing to keep an eye on though.
Helicoils do have a bad habit of unscrewing with the screw that is screwed into them when the screw is being removed.
If they are installed in your barrel and this starts to happen when your removing the nipple DO NOT REMOVE IT ALL OF THE WAY OUT.
Stop unscrewing it and go to your Auto Supply Store. Buy some Loctite Thread Lock. Return home and apply a very small drop to the exposed outside threads of the Helicoil and then screw it back in. Let it cure and then remove the nipple.
Do not use a lot of this Loctite as the Helicoil threads do communicate with the internal threads and you do not want the Loctite to penetrate thru the walls of the Helicoil and get on the nipple threads. That would really make a problem.

Lew, you still have those pictures where to bend the hammer?

not Lew, and is an old thread but this shows where i bent mine. upper arrow is where the hammer is heated. lower arrow shows the direction the cup moves. bend very slight!
working the cock in both directions in successive heating and bending can cause them to break. don't ask  
the example in the picture, personally, i wouldn't bend. if needed i would open the back of the cup slightly to clear the cap. ymmv

Idaholewis wrote:I copied and pasted below, The original poster of this was Zonie from “The Muzzleloading Forum”

For those not familiar with the "Helicoil issue", a few years ago Green Mountain installed some new equipment which incorrectly threaded the nipple holes in their drop in barrels breech plugs.

In order to save these barrels they decided to rework the breech plugs by installing a helicial threaded steel inserts so that the threads would be the correct size. The threaded insert is commonly called a Helicoil. These Helicoil inserts by the way meet MS (Military Specification) standards so using them is not a "fly by night" fix.

When they did this, they did not mention it to the people buying the barrels and many of these people were very upset at getting a reworked barrel.
There was some concern about safety and functionality but most folks were just annoyed at paying full price for a reworked barrel.

Several people mentioned that Helicoils are often used to repair damaged spark plug threads in their engines saying that their use to repair a nipple hole was similar.
At the time, I pointed out that with a spark plug the plug itself seals the hole to prevent gas leakage but with a percussion nipple there is nothing that creates a gas tight seal.
The comparison looks like this:


I still maintain that having a Helicoil in this location is a poor use of them from a design point of view but as long as the Helicoil is not blocking the flame channel between the nipple and the breech I will concede that they should last for years and anyone who owns a barrel that was repaired with them has very little to worry about.

There is one thing to keep an eye on though.
Helicoils do have a bad habit of unscrewing with the screw that is screwed into them when the screw is being removed.
If they are installed in your barrel and this starts to happen when your removing the nipple DO NOT REMOVE IT ALL OF THE WAY OUT.
Stop unscrewing it and go to your Auto Supply Store. Buy some Loctite Thread Lock. Return home and apply a very small drop to the exposed outside threads of the Helicoil and then screw it back in. Let it cure and then remove the nipple.
Do not use a lot of this Loctite as the Helicoil threads do communicate with the internal threads and you do not want the Loctite to penetrate thru the walls of the Helicoil and get on the nipple threads. That would really make a problem.

I believe the type of helicoil you are talking about is called a keensert. The keensert insert was a much sturdier thread than the helicoil.