Well, I was having a blast on my second outing with my Tulle and I got a ball about 8 inches from the powder. I mean this dude is "stuck" will not go further. I have a ball puller ordered that should be here tomorrow. Do they really work. Any suggestions? I cleaned the pan and area around the flash hole really well. Can the barrel safely wait until tomorrow night to be cleaned???
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2nd day with new gun and I have a ball stuck!!!!!!
- Thread starter pharmvet
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Yes it can wait, the damage is when it sets like that for days on end... Over night will not hurt it...
If you have a removable flash hole, carefully remove it and dump out as much powder as you can through it, no since pulling on a live round unless you have to...
Make sure the ball puller is screwed in all the way into the ball before you pull and keep as much of your body away from the muzzle as possible...
My ball pulling rod has a "T" handle, I hook it on a limb of a young tree and get behind the gun and pull with both hands, this way I am not exposed to the muzzle, should it do off...
You could drive the ball down onto the powder with a dowel rod and a mallet, then shoot it out... They use to drive in balls on muskets this way long ago...
If you have a removable flash hole, carefully remove it and dump out as much powder as you can through it, no since pulling on a live round unless you have to...
Make sure the ball puller is screwed in all the way into the ball before you pull and keep as much of your body away from the muzzle as possible...
My ball pulling rod has a "T" handle, I hook it on a limb of a young tree and get behind the gun and pull with both hands, this way I am not exposed to the muzzle, should it do off...
You could drive the ball down onto the powder with a dowel rod and a mallet, then shoot it out... They use to drive in balls on muskets this way long ago...
I should also add that "IF" the ball puller doesn't work, (say you strip out the threads you cut into the ball) then you can get one of those CO2 ball pullers and blow it out...
I have never used one, so I can't really say how they work...
But I can say this, once the ball, patch and powder have been removed, clean, Clean, CLEAN that bore...
I have never used one, so I can't really say how they work...
But I can say this, once the ball, patch and powder have been removed, clean, Clean, CLEAN that bore...
Guest
Do have someone help you, by holding the pulling rod. That way, the rod will be held straight, with no side force being applied to the rod, barrel/ball. Side force could happen if using the "T" handle arrangement mentioned, although that is another solution woth tring if help isn't avialable. Wrapping a strip of leather around the rod for extra grip will also help. I use a piece of stretch rubber, that lab techs & nurses use around arms when drawing blood, etc.
: The CO2 discharger would be an excellent method, although I've never used one. Others have used and recommend them with perfect success.
Daryl
: The CO2 discharger would be an excellent method, although I've never used one. Others have used and recommend them with perfect success.
Daryl
Use this as a learning experience, when loading and the ball starts to feel tight going down the barrel, clean before the next shot...
After a while, you can get a feel of how many shots you can get by with before cleaning, right now, everything is new to you and you are still learning...
Welcome to the Musket Zone...
After a while, you can get a feel of how many shots you can get by with before cleaning, right now, everything is new to you and you are still learning...
Welcome to the Musket Zone...
Guest
'Nuther good reason to swab between shots.
'Nuther trick to unstick the ball is to pour soapy water down bore. This kills the powder and make the patch slippery.
I've also used WC-40 to kill the charge and slick the bore.
The puller does work, but wet the charge and bullet/patch first to make it easier.
'Nuther trick to unstick the ball is to pour soapy water down bore. This kills the powder and make the patch slippery.
I've also used WC-40 to kill the charge and slick the bore.
The puller does work, but wet the charge and bullet/patch first to make it easier.
I hate pulling a charge. When I've had to do it I needed a bench mounted vise to hold the rod. Then I pull like hell on the gun. The Co2 discharger will pay for it self with one use. Stuck jags were discussed here not to long ago, search for the thread, there were a lot of other ideas on how to remove a stuck ball. Good luck. :thumbsup:
Guest
None of us like to pull charges. It's dangerous and it really sucks. Plus half the time the puney little ball pullers don't work! Half the time I can't get a co2 discharger to move the ball.
You may get to learn the innermost secrets of your new smoothie by pulling the breechplug and hammering out the stuck ball. I hope not.
Maybe one of those Murphy's oil soap concoctions you guys come up with would lube up the patch enough for him to pull this load. Moose snot and STP or something?
I'll hammer the ball on down if I have too to avoid pulling the charge or the breech plug.
One of the things Hanson wrote in his Colonial Frontier Guns was that most of the origional guns, when found, had a worm attached to the ramrod. It was attached as a perminant part of the rod, on the small end that went into the stock.
This indicates to me that the old timers did a lot of bore wipping between shots just to avoid the kind of situation we are dealing with here.
There is no indication that they "cleaned" their guns as thoroughly as we do, but they probably routinely wiped the bore between shots unless it was an emergency. It dosen't take but a second to run a twist of tow down the bore before you load, sepically if the worm is already on the end of the rod.
Life is not a contest to see how many shots you can get before you wipe the bore. Contests always have a winner and a looser. In this contest the looser gets to deal with a stuck ball sitting on top of 60 grains of powder!
My wife's gun DEMANDS to be wiped every third shot, while other guns in the rack will go a full range session without attention. Most of them will not shoot 25 yard cloverleaf groups like her rifle does either.
If you are going to use a really tight patch/ball combination you just have to wipe the bore between shots.
Man I just hate it when I have to load up everything and go home with a stuck charge in the bore!
:: ::
You may get to learn the innermost secrets of your new smoothie by pulling the breechplug and hammering out the stuck ball. I hope not.
Maybe one of those Murphy's oil soap concoctions you guys come up with would lube up the patch enough for him to pull this load. Moose snot and STP or something?
I'll hammer the ball on down if I have too to avoid pulling the charge or the breech plug.
One of the things Hanson wrote in his Colonial Frontier Guns was that most of the origional guns, when found, had a worm attached to the ramrod. It was attached as a perminant part of the rod, on the small end that went into the stock.
This indicates to me that the old timers did a lot of bore wipping between shots just to avoid the kind of situation we are dealing with here.
There is no indication that they "cleaned" their guns as thoroughly as we do, but they probably routinely wiped the bore between shots unless it was an emergency. It dosen't take but a second to run a twist of tow down the bore before you load, sepically if the worm is already on the end of the rod.
Life is not a contest to see how many shots you can get before you wipe the bore. Contests always have a winner and a looser. In this contest the looser gets to deal with a stuck ball sitting on top of 60 grains of powder!
My wife's gun DEMANDS to be wiped every third shot, while other guns in the rack will go a full range session without attention. Most of them will not shoot 25 yard cloverleaf groups like her rifle does either.
If you are going to use a really tight patch/ball combination you just have to wipe the bore between shots.
Man I just hate it when I have to load up everything and go home with a stuck charge in the bore!
:: ::
Well, as has been mentioned, try pouring some water or something down the barrel to soften the fouling and lube the patch before trying to pull it. That or pound it down the rest of the way and shoot it out. Something that might help you to not have this problem again, besides wiping between shots. I always use a tight fitting overpowder wad over the powder. This seems to push the fouling down on top of the charge. Then i use a half a lubed fiber cushion wad over that. This seems to keep the fouling soft after shooting. For me anyway, using those wads, i can shoot as much as i want without wiping the bore. :results:
Flintshooter in Indiana
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After you get the ball out, (hammer it down and shoot it out), try lubing your patches with Lehigh Valley patch lube. :m2c:
You never mentioned how many shots were fired before you stuck the ball. Sounds like a fouling problem. The Lehigh Valley will help that. Your patch/ball combo might be a bit tight also.
You never mentioned how many shots were fired before you stuck the ball. Sounds like a fouling problem. The Lehigh Valley will help that. Your patch/ball combo might be a bit tight also.
Guest
Most fouling problems have two causes - too little or improper lube or too loose a combination that doesn't scrub the bore top the bottom of the gooves.
; For most target shooting, spit makes the best, cleanest shooting lube. Stumpy's Moose snot lube strikes, for me, about 1" higher, and that's all, with barely larger groups, yet allows constant shooting without having to swab the bore. Most comercial lubes don't shoot cleanly enough for this, but some do, like Hoppe's #9 Pluss and Birchwood Casey's black concentrated lube that mixes with water as well as Stumpy's formula that I almost followed. I don't think the %'s are critical. Mine was something like Beeswax 2oz.; Castor oil 8oz; Murphy's Oil Soap 2oz.approximately. I don't know if anything other than Castor or Murphy's is necessary, & those might jsut work alone, but beeswax alone won't work. It needs something to soften it a lot, yet with 40% vaseline or neetsfoot oil(castor oil might work) makes a GREAT bullet lube for BP slugs in ML or CTG guns. The other's, Castor oil and Murphy's might work by themselves without the other or beeswax included.
; For most target shooting, spit makes the best, cleanest shooting lube. Stumpy's Moose snot lube strikes, for me, about 1" higher, and that's all, with barely larger groups, yet allows constant shooting without having to swab the bore. Most comercial lubes don't shoot cleanly enough for this, but some do, like Hoppe's #9 Pluss and Birchwood Casey's black concentrated lube that mixes with water as well as Stumpy's formula that I almost followed. I don't think the %'s are critical. Mine was something like Beeswax 2oz.; Castor oil 8oz; Murphy's Oil Soap 2oz.approximately. I don't know if anything other than Castor or Murphy's is necessary, & those might jsut work alone, but beeswax alone won't work. It needs something to soften it a lot, yet with 40% vaseline or neetsfoot oil(castor oil might work) makes a GREAT bullet lube for BP slugs in ML or CTG guns. The other's, Castor oil and Murphy's might work by themselves without the other or beeswax included.
Doc Arroyo
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Well ya got a bunch of good info. Now you have to do better then a good friend of mine.
Stuck his first ball by forgetting to put in the powder.
, so we put on the ball puller and played tug of war.
So he stepped back to the loading area, loads, steps to the firing line, primes and attempts to shoot. Guess what? NO POWDER!
So we pull the ball, and I take the bullets home. With a bit of instruction from my wife and a few supplies from her jewelry making stuff...I built the finest pair of .50 caliber earrings the world has ever seen! I presented them to him for Christmas!! :crackup:
Stuck his first ball by forgetting to put in the powder.
, so we put on the ball puller and played tug of war.So he stepped back to the loading area, loads, steps to the firing line, primes and attempts to shoot. Guess what? NO POWDER!
So we pull the ball, and I take the bullets home. With a bit of instruction from my wife and a few supplies from her jewelry making stuff...I built the finest pair of .50 caliber earrings the world has ever seen! I presented them to him for Christmas!! :crackup:
Rat
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Are your balls cast from soft lead? If you use a hard mix by mistake, they can get stuck pretty easy.
I use a pretty tight ball/patch combo in Bess, and I wipe every three shots. Since I started using wonder-wads under the ball, I can get more shots than that...but every three is fine with me, so I've stayed with that.
Rat
I use a pretty tight ball/patch combo in Bess, and I wipe every three shots. Since I started using wonder-wads under the ball, I can get more shots than that...but every three is fine with me, so I've stayed with that.
Rat
Another reason for a solid brass ramrod, it WILL put the ball to the bottom. Also if you will use spit, not just lick the patch, but put it in your mouth and get it wet you'll never have this problem. Always carry a T-handle for your ramrod.
Congratulations! You've had your first dilema and now don't have to worry about when it will occur. Everyone gets one, eventually.
Just a few observations: Drip just a few drops of water or moose milk/powder solvent on top of a stuck ball and wait a couple minutes, then try seating it. Sometimes this helps. If your patch was already plenty damp this won't help a bit.
I hestitate to mention this one, but I've done it when the ball is close to being set. Approach a tree with the ramrod on the ball and the gun held horizontally with the barrel pointing at the tree. Approach slowly at first, and try again with more enthusiasm if the first approach doesn't work. If you approach the tree properly the momentum of the gun will ram the ball home. (It's stupid, it's dumb, it's a bad idea, you could break the ramrod, etc. etc.)
When using a ball puller, I poke the threads through a triple layer patch before sending it down. This prevents the threads from walking off-center and engaging BESIDE the ball and screwing up the barrel. Some ball pullers already have a centering shoulder and don't need this.
Just a few observations: Drip just a few drops of water or moose milk/powder solvent on top of a stuck ball and wait a couple minutes, then try seating it. Sometimes this helps. If your patch was already plenty damp this won't help a bit.
I hestitate to mention this one, but I've done it when the ball is close to being set. Approach a tree with the ramrod on the ball and the gun held horizontally with the barrel pointing at the tree. Approach slowly at first, and try again with more enthusiasm if the first approach doesn't work. If you approach the tree properly the momentum of the gun will ram the ball home. (It's stupid, it's dumb, it's a bad idea, you could break the ramrod, etc. etc.)
When using a ball puller, I poke the threads through a triple layer patch before sending it down. This prevents the threads from walking off-center and engaging BESIDE the ball and screwing up the barrel. Some ball pullers already have a centering shoulder and don't need this.
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