DanC

Ron, I know it sounds weird, which is why I brought it up. So, heating the breach plug could break the bond with the barrel, the melted wax gets drawn down into the threads and solidifies as the plug cools. Then when the plug has cooled and shrunk back down, it could be turned out because the wax has created a separation between the metal surfaces. Sounds possible, not sure I would try this on anything I gave much value to though. My main thinking was that this technique could prevent damage or discoloring from heating the barrel, so I was curious if it was something used during restoration projects.

I seem to recall something about mechanics heating studs stuck in an engine block then letting some kind of wax melt and run down the threads. Not that you would want to heat your breach plug, I'm just wondering if the process would work.

If you are computer literate enough to shoot RAW and digitally correct, I would suggest disabling your flash and reflecting your lights off white paper instead of shining directly on the object. With a tripod, exposure time is a moot point, I have taken photos at night without a flash, using a 30 second exposure ( no, I don't mean 1/30th). Basically, just turn off the camera auto settings and keep trying different aperature/exposure times and lighting setups then pick the one that turned out best. That's the good thing about digital, taking a hundred photo's costs the same as taking one.

Thank you all for the welcome. I look forward to learning as much as I can from everyone here, seems I've got 30 years of catching up to do.