Breech Loading Barrels
Breech loading is awesome, it is much faster to load. I think it took me about 40 seconds to load a spud with the ramrod method, and now it takes me 5-10 seconds. Once you try breech loading, you will never go back to muzzleloaders.
Type 1: Cam Lever Coupling
This is the method I use on my spud gun.
I use Banjo fittings. You can get them at many farm equipment stores. They are used on sprayers on farm equipment (as in fertilizer, pesticides, etc.) According to the banjo website their operating pressures are 125 PSI, I believe this is not the max PSI, only an operating range, as you may already know they can hold much more pressure before failure. (a wild guess would be 300 psi max,or more?) They come in many sizes, I have seen 1" to 3", with many variations on the kinds of fittings.
www.banjocorp.com for more info. I use model 200D and 200A fittings on my gun. The pics describe the method I made the barrel. The hardest part is turning the barrel down on a lathe. You can also use a Dremel tool, but it took me around an hour and a half doing it like that.
A pic of what it looks like:
pic was not too clear, materials include: 2"MPT fitting, 1.5-2" bushing, 2" cam lever coupling, and 1.5" schedule 40 pipe.
2" Banjo fitting model 200A 2" Banjo fitting model 200D
How it works:
This barrel is my breech loading rifled barrel. Notice how the excess fittings have been eliminated for a smooth look.
gif animation of the process
Type 2: Pass Through
This method is not quite as fast to load as the cam lever coupling method, but still does a nice job.To make this type of breechloader, you will need 2" female adapter on your gun. The barrel size will be 1.5" sch40 PVC.
Take a 2" male
adapter and remove just enough PVC from the inside to allow the 1.5"
sch40 to slide through. This can be accomplished with a Dremel tool,
lathe, or half round file. You will also need to take a 1.5" to
2" bushing and file the inside ring out of it. The ring prevents the pipe from going
through the fitting. Now just cement the 1.5" to 2" bushing
inside of the 2" male adapter, and slide the pipe through the fitting
about 3-5", put pvc glue on about a 1" wide area around the pipe and
slide the adapter over the glue, twisting 1/4 turn as you go. Now just sharpen the side that goes into the
barrel for a nice spud cutter. To use the barrel, just smack
the tater on the sharp end and screw it into the chamber.
