Hahn's Tubes

[GST]

I bought a sack of the 1.2" from Shiloh after I discovered them in their new 2010 catalog. They snug right up onto my bullets from a Rapine 475 gn. ringtail mould and just come to the end of the chamber without sticking out. So what kind of glue needs to be used on the bullet and the paper on the other end? Some have said hair curler paper is the thing, are there other options for paper?


Scott

[Rich Siegel]

Children's white, Elmer glue (gel) and I agree with the hair curler paper end cap.

Rich

[1stregtengr]

I use lens paper, only because I have a big box of it, works great . I also use elmers carpenters glue because it is water proof, got caught in the rain at winchester, imagine that, and some of the white glue melted, with the carpenters no such problem.

[Charlie Hahn]

Regarding glue and paper for my tubes. I have inputs from many shooters and there are several types of supplies that appear to work very well.

From the start I recommend using hair curler paper held in with fingernail polish or Lacquer paint found in hobby stores. This combination is most consistent as both are low ash, and don't block or slow down the fire path. If a little lacquer or polish bleeds into the paper it has less effect on the fire path than the white glues.

If you are using a card wad over your powder it needs a drop of glue, and what ever you fix the bullet with it fine. For this I suggest the polish or lacquer if you have a snug fitting fitting bullet. The next best thing is DUCO cement. If you have a looser fit it will bridge the gap. If you have a flat base bullet GEL super glue works well. These adhesives fracture when fired and reduce the possibility of material sticking to the bullet. One glue to avoid is Gorilla Glue.

If you are using a load that does not fill the tube, and after you place the card wad on top of the powder you have two options. First leave the space free. If for instance if you have a rifle with a long chamber and the space is longer than 3/8 inch it is best left empty. The tube being crushed with as as the filler and will exit with the bullet. Many have found that the long column of filler lets the tube remain to the breech area.

Charlie Hahn

[GST]

Thanks for the replys. I got my wife to get me the curler paper and fingernail polish in town the other day. The fingernail polish wouldn't stick so I used Elmers on the end cap. Looks like I can only get about 45 gn. or so in the 1.2" tube so I will figure to start with 3F. I will try to finish 4 or 5 in the next day or so and test them out.
By the way how do you carry these catriges around?

Scott

[Charlie Hahn]

I am surprised the nail polish didn't stick. I cut the paper into 3/4 inch squares. Coat the inside of the base end. From the other end using a 7/16 dowel push the paper half way down, turn the tube up and push flush. Twist the dowel slowly and remove.

We use a leather cartridge box. Some have a wooden block drilled to hold these nose down. I like to lay them down.

Charlie

[snapcap14]

I use the perm papers some us phone book pages Glue I use waterglass Sodium silicate solution. bought a gal 6 yrs ago still have 3 qrts left.

[GST]

Charlie- your method with the dowel rod and the figernail polish works more better than what I was trying to do.
Unfortunatly I live in an area that is an absolute vacuuam as far as a percussion Sharps goes. Everything has to be learned the hard way through trial and error.

Scott

[Charlie Hahn]

If you send me an email, I can return some information of building up the cartridge. If you are shooting and experience the breech freeze, I have a fix for that as well.

Charlie Hahn
etb9601@gmail.com
410-208-4736

[Todd Birch]

Charlie

By all means, share this with the rest of us! Breech freeze being the biggest bug bear '63 shooters have to put up with.

Currently, I am filling the breech block cavity with a lithium grease and it works for long strings as long as it is warm. When the grease cools, things get a little tight.

[Charlie Hahn]

Short of doing a gas seal sleeve with and o-ring spring. Here a few things you can do to help yourself.

Make sure the pressure plate can be removed by hand. This means it should have about .005 inch clearance on the diameter that goes into the breech block. Lithium grease is not a good candidate for two reasons, one is lithium in its self is not friendly when air born and able to be consumed, next it mixes with carbon and forms a hard compound. I suggest you go to Mc Master Carr, and buy part number 1392K31, Extreme Pressure Grease. Use it to coat a sleeve if your gun has one and fill the cavity and coat all surfaces of the breech block. If you are shooting slow fire this will help the gun work for multi shots.

Over time with just the stock gas plate and barrel to plate fit, the guns will begin to leak, and erode either the gas seal plate, and then the end of the barrel. I do a modification to the chamber and depending on the gun maker either machine a counterbore in the barrel and add a spring loaded floating sleeve, or with guns with a full sleeve split and do a similar modification to provide a preload of the mating surfaces and drastically reduce leakage and have a working gap take up that allows the gun a little room to wiggle as it gets dirty and wears. It does not last for ever, but now has replaceable wear items. I charge a modest fee to do this, and have many units in the field working. The design I use was created by Art Crowther, an accomplished gun smith that I was lucky enough to have worked with.

Charlie Hahn

[Todd Birch]

Thanks Charlie!

Sounds like a lot of work to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse.

I do note that with the factory fit gas plate, I get gas cutting which tells me that the breech end of my barrel is probably wearing.

For the amount of shooting I do with my '63s, I'll be putting up with their foibles for a while.

[Bob Eschbach]

Scott, I use Hahns tubes by gluing them to a piece of yellow pages paper. One sheet from an old phone book will plug up at least 100 tubes. I trim the tubes off of the sheet of paper with scissors, charge the tube with your favorite load of powder and glue a ringtail bullet on top.Any type of Elmers glue will work. I have found that old Tel books are easier to find than curller papers.I paint the lube on the grease grooves or dip the bullet and wipe the excess lube off of the nose of the bullet.
I am feeding two percussionn Sharps in this manner and have developed the following for fouling control. Both guns have a stainless chamber sleve and an O ring. That didnt make much improvement with fouling until I filled the breechblock cavity (completly ) with Permatex Red high temp sealant and slathered the block with hi-temp wheel bearing grease. Dont use white lithium.. Both guns are now capable of firing 60-70 rds without cleaning the breechblock. Wear a leather glove on your left hand. Lotsa luck, Bob E

[snapcap14]

Thanks Charlie!

Sounds like a lot of work to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse.

I do note that with the factory fit gas plate, I get gas cutting which tells me that the breech end of my barrel is probably wearing.

For the amount of shooting I do with my '63s, I'll be putting up with their foibles for a while.

So you are calling a Shiloh a Sow's Ear Because I know know a lot of them that have had this mod done to them.
most of u in the N-SSA are shooting somewhere around 100 rounds every other weekend if not more not including practice. So far I have gotten more than 3 yrs of this without haveing a gas check problem w/ this modification.

[Todd Birch]

Snapcap

Lower yer hackles!

If I was shooting competitively with a '63, I'd be doing whatever it took to make the rifle more reliable - just like you.

However, esthetically, it would no longer be a true '63. Muck like having a flinter using a coil spring mainspring and synthetic 'flints'. It might still be a 'flintlock', but you know how the 'feathers 'n leathers' crowd would regard it.

There is something to be said for shooting an historic design 'as issue'.

Another example would be the John Garand Match that requires an M1 to be 'as issue'. No glass bedding, custom mods, trigger jobs, NM sights, etc.

And while my 5 Shiloh product rifles are all 'plain Jane', none of them are 'sow's ears'. It was a metaphorical analogy.