Traditions drum replacement??

[Sean McKown]

I havent fully committed to this yet, but how about the possibilty of replacing the drum on a traditions kentucky. What would the threads be?  does someone make an aftermarket drum in the proper thread?  would it be possible to get a us made drum and drill out the stock threads and retap? Im open to suggestions, I really want to make the nipple 1/4-28, but I think I boo booed,  on the retapping of that.  I am open to suggestions.    Sean

[Three Hawks]

There's nothing there that is rocket science.   Simply remove the existing drum and measure the threads.  If you don't have the tools or expertise there is likely a machine shop or gunsmith nearby who can do it.  Once you know the diameter and pitch, start looking in Track of The Wolf, Log Cabin Shop, Dixie Gun Works or other catalogs.  If there's a muzzleloading shop near you, try there.

If you can only find a drum that's pre-drilled for the nipple, It may or may not line up with the hammer when it bottoms on the barrel.  I have had decent luck chucking 'em in a drill motor and filing down the bottom of the drum until it comes tight just as the nipple aligns with the hammer.  It's a cut and try process requiring patience.

Good luck,

Three Hawks

[ridjrunr]

I am pretty shure that thread is 10x1.25.Just take the old drum and go to hardwhare store and check threads there.Home depot has a thread checker gage so may Lowes.ridjrunr

[Wyoming Mike]

The Traditions drum threads extend all the way through the breechplug and has a long flash channel with a hole that has to line up with the barrel.   I was going to switch a CVA pistol, with the same breech design as the Traditions.  I had wanted to change it to flint and thought to just remove the drum and put in a CVA touch hole liner.

Couldn't do it.  The threaded drum hole was way too big for any touch hole liner made.  You would probably find that a conventional drum would have the same problem.  I just buttoned it back up and kept it as percussion.  

Later Captchee converted one into flint.  As I remember he cut the drum and filed it flush with the barrel and and tapped the inside of the drum channel to take a touch hole liner.  You would probably have to do the same thing for a different drum.

It would be easier to order a new drum from Traditions or Deer Creek and replace it whole.

[Riley/MN]

I am open to suggestions.

How about this?

http://www.traditionalmuzzleloadingasso ... php?t=8587

Reminds me...I have some work to get back to...

[Captchee]

Later Captchee converted one into flint. As I remember he cut the drum and filed it flush with the barrel and and tapped the inside of the drum channel to take a touch hole liner. You would probably have to do the same thing for a different drum.

 yes this is how i convert  such systems to flintlock .
 however there are a couple things to keep in mind here .
 the through bolster that Jukar uses "Jukar  is the maker of the Spanish CVA and traditions weapons"
 is unique .
 Basically as others have said , the neck of the bolster goes all the way through the breech plug and mates to the opposite side of the barrel ..
 Now the  breech plug is also , somewhat of a improved breech design where the plug has a hole in it that’s smaller then the bore .
 The nick of the bolster has  one of two different  holes in it that align with the hole in the breech .
 The hole in the neck of the bolster can be either a smaller hole then the hole in the plug OR ist can be a slot . Both of which can very greatly in size .
 The reason they started doing this was to  reduce the amount of problems they were having with customers not properly maintaining the weapon .

 Now  because of the size the nick needs to be in order to  make this design work , the threaded hole in the barrel is quite large . But the main flash hole  inside is about the same as a normal drum bolster .
 The reason for this is because the through bolster is machine  installed  under pressure.
 As such  one can  just remove the bolster . Drill out the flash hole   that aligns with  breech plug hole . Replace the bolster , adding some good thread seal , like RedMan or  high Temp lock tight . Then  tighten it down . Once the thread seal has dried , you then can just cut off the bolster flush with the barrel and tap for a liner.
 Now I wouldn’t do this if you going to  go back to a percussion bolster  . The reason is that there would not be enough wall thickness left in the original  bolster to adequately hold the new bolster  in place.
Also DO NOT just replace the through bolster with a  short standard necked one . What this will do is not only expose the  original threads for the bolster  in the breech plug , but it can also allow the  off side area  of the breech plugs  threads to get subject to  corrosion  .
 If it were I , what I would recommend  is just drilling out the existing bolster and taping it for a standard  US thread . This may not alow you to use a ¼ -28 . However  if you go  up one size  and then order say through ToW a dozen nipples , you have no worry .  Most times you can get 2  from Tow for the cost of 1 nipple through a sporting goods store .
Anyway , I know that’s more info then you probably wanted but that’s the , Why an How of it

[Bigsmoke]

Going along with what Captchee said, Treso makes nipples in .250-28, .255-28, .260-28, .265-28, etc.  These are made out of berrylium, the stuff that looks like brass but is a whole lot toughter.
I am thinking that TOW does sell the taps for those sizes, also.
I am not sure if MSM makes oversize nipples or not.
I have found that with the Treso nipples, the flash hole in the nipple is a bit small, and it does tend to plug up sometimes for me.  I always drill out the nipple to the next size larger drill bit.