Touch hole liner question

[KILTED COWBOY]

Looking at the Kibler colonial rifle kit. Has option for stainless steel or carbon steel touch hole liner.
Pros and cons, how do you choose?

[flehto]

If that "white"  {SS} circle around the TH  offends one's sensibilities,  then get the plain steel liner  which can be finished like the bbl. Seeing the SS liner will outlast the plain steel liner, I'd opt for the SS. ...either choice is OK.....Fred

[KILTED COWBOY]

Thanks for the advice, Flehto.

[stubshaft]

I too have the SS liner.  With the frizzen closed you couldn't tell the difference.

[hanshi]

All mine are ss and I wouldn't use anything else.

[J.E. Moore]

I used a SS liner on my barrel and when I heat blued the barrel it turn a dull color and is not as obvious as it was before.

[bnail]

I think I already know the answer to this but I have to ask. What is the major drawback for a carbon steel liner? will its longevity be that much shorter than the barrel?  my biggest concern would be unreachable fouling collecting in the cone and eroding the liner disproportionately to the barrel. but am I missing anything else?

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

It depends how you clean your rifle.  If you push patches down to remove the fowling, you will not get guk out of the threads or in the corners of the breech plug/barrel transition.  If you flush in a bucket of warm water, hydraulicking the water in and out, everything gets flushed perfectly clean.  I use stainless liners without reservation.

[bgf]

Regarding the difference in longevity, I believe there is a thread about that.  It is not insignificant:. Something like 3000 shots for stainless and 300 for carbon.  Maybe Jim Chambers will see this thread and state the facts!   

Unless you are a high-art builder and/or low volume shooter, stainless is a better choice usually.

[Robert Wolfe]

I'm in the camp of being offended by the stainless steel blob on the side of a barrel. Just don't like the way it looks, particularly if the gun is "aged." Just looks out of place. But, to each his own - that's why this is a great country.

[J. Talbert]

I'd don't have research to back it up, but I'd speculate that both the 3000 and 300 estimates are extremely low.

Jeff

[alex e.]

Some might not know this. Chambers does make a carbon steel White Lightning vent. When properly installed it's invisible.

[bgf]

I'd don't have research to back it up, but I'd speculate that both the 3000 and 300 estimates are extremely low.

Jeff

I did try to make it clear that these were off the top of my head , but I don't think either is off that much.  Unfortunately I can't find the thread or anything else; new search doesn't work like old one...  Of course, it also makes a difference what you're doing.  A chunk gun or even a top notch offhand shooter will be pickier about touch hole wear than most "normal" people .

Here, Jim does not give numbers, but says basically the same thing I did above about applications:
http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=18940.msg179063#msg179063

[M. E. Pering]

It really depends on what you intend for the rifle.  So far, I have always used White Lightning vents made by Jim Chambers.  I could make my own easily, but at $5-6 it really isn't worth my time.  There are other options out there too... Beryllium coming to mind first.  I think Beryllium is a popular choice in Europe these days.  This somewhat surprises me, since Beryllium is quite poisonous in dust form.  I know this because my father installed one of the first MRI's in my state, and he was issued beryllium wrenches because they are non-magnetic.  I used to help him a lot, so used these wrenches myself.  Beryllium was used because of it's toughness, and resistance to wear, which is exactly what you want in a touch-hole liner. 

I don't have a personal muzzleloader.  I have an SKS, but not a personal muzzleloading rifle (One of these days, I hope to build one for myself.).  But the ones I build for sale are SS linered.  I believe it will give my customers the best, longest service.  I used to hunt with a caplock that I borrowed on an almost daily basis, and I know that a rifle I make may also receive that kind of service.  I want to make things that last as long as possible.

Whatever liner you choose, please do the gunsmith a favor and use anti-seize compound on the threads.  Same goes for the breech plug as well.  This will keep things from rusting into a solid chunk of metal.

M. E. Pering

[rich pierce]

Some might not know this. Chambers does make a carbon steel White Lightning vent. When properly installed it's invisible.

Exactly.

[Dennis Glazener]

Exactly.

Just make sure its not 12L14 . When I asked Jim about this several years ago he told me yes he had one that was not stainless but it would burn out in several hundred shots (forget number he used), it was my understanding that it was made out of 12L14 barrel steel.
Dennis

[Pukka Bundook]

Depending on what you're building, a SS can look fine, as certain arms had platinum liners, and very close to S-S in colour.
I always use SS anyway, but make mine out of 3/8" rod, so a regular liner will pretty near fit inside.
Never made a gun with a barrel under 1  1/16" breech, so a liner that size works OK.

Best,
Richard.