Ball in Bess REALLY stuck in the bore!

[Brasilikilt]

Hey everyone

Last weekend I tried to fire off a blank load with friends, but kept getting a flash in the pan.
I tried picking the vent hole on site with no luck.

When I got home, I pulled my powder and wad, and noticed that I was getting a vacuum inside the bore.
I got out my super vent pick and realized that there was something on the other side of the touch hole.

I tried forcing some powder in the vent in hopes of dislodging it, but ended up getting just another flash in the pan

*Out comes the ball puller*

I got it down in there, got a hold of something and pulled as hard as I possibly could, but nothing budged at all!
Eventually what happens is that the ball puller screw rips out of the obstruction leaving little ribbons of lead stuck between the threads.

I then took a tiny nail and tapped it into the vent hole in hopes of creating a little pocket to pack a few pinches of powder.

When I set it off, it just seemed to blow out the hole I created when using the ball puller

The thing is I have no idea how this ball got down there or why it is stuck so bad.

I don't know anyone with a CO2 discharger, and I'm not sure if it will work.

Right now the musket is sitting with a bunch of gun oil in the barrel in hopes of loosening whatever junk might be lodged in there.

Does anyone know of any other tricks?

Any suggestions will be appreciated

thanks

Iain

 

[pcrum]

If you can't pull it, you may have to pull the breech plug and hammer it out. If you don't know how it got there in the first place, it may be worthwhile to do anyway just to be safe. It sounds like a dry ball, but be sure to soak the barrel in water to be sure that there is absolutely not a live charge behind it.
Best of luck!
pat

 

[ol vern]

Soaking the barrel in oil is a good place to start. Got the barrel out of the stock? I would
set the barrel down in a can of oil about 3 in deep. that way if you wind up having to un-breach
it the breach plug threads would be socked with oil.

 

[Parzifal]

Horrible!

This is the reason i use 69 cal patched balls, easier to get out!

You may have to invest in a co2 thingy, or you can just use the worm...over and over again until enough material is removed from the ball to thus loosen it.?

Or what about finding a much larger screw for the worm?

I dont know .

But I do feel your frustration

 

[paulvallandigham]

Getting a larger sized wood screw and having it welded to a fitting that will screw into your Range road will get that out. With a ball that diameter, the standard ball puller screw is usually too small.

I once was able to remove a dry ball from a .62 caliber rifle, by removing the touch hole liner, and using a small screw driver to force the ball forward enough (in many, MANY, short stages) so I could get some priming powder in behind the ball. We then shot the ball out.

 

[roundball]

With what you described, the next simplist thing it to force it out with a grease gun...have personally done it so this isn't fiction.

First you'll need a grease gun fitting the same threads as the vent (or nipople) seat...a combo pack of the different thread sizes at an auto parts store is just a few bucks.

Revove the vent (or nipple), and using tiny 1/4" squares cut from a dry cleaning patch, begin stuffing them into the vent hole so the grease will have something to push against...stuff as many as you can work up in there to seal behind the ball

Screw in the correct grease fitting and if you're lucky enough to have a grease gun, and better yet an air compressor grease gun, you'll be done in a few minutes.

Or...get it all prepared then take the ML to a garage where you know the guys and have them use their air driven grease gun to pump grease in there and force the ball out.

Then remove the grease fitting, and the first dry cleaning patch you push dowm bore will force 99% of the grease right back out of the vent so be careful what the vent is pointing at...a couple more dry patches and then you just need to clean it like you would if you had just come back from the range.

 

[Mike Brooks]

I'd just get a new gun..... :haha:

 

[mazo kid]

The grease gun method that roundball suggested is a good way to dislodge a hard-stuck ball. Sometimes air pressure will dislodge it too; just have the muzzle pointed in a safe direction. Did someone play a mean trick on you, it seems you would remember dryballing and not removing the ball right away. If it's been in there a while, rust may have a grip on the patch, so oil soaking would seem to be a good thing. Emery

 

[bnail]

Heat up the barrel and just pour the danged thing out! :wink:

Seriously though, just index the breech plug and then remove it. you can then give your bore and breech plug a good cleaning before reesembling.
It'll save you frustration as well I think :thumbsup:

 

[Bob Miller]

I know that you said that the screw picked up some lead but wouldn't hold; but make certain this is really a stuck ball.
I have a target match in two weeks, so dug out my rifle [a target rifle which I have not fired since last year.], and ...the same thing. Only , it turns out it wasn't a ball. It was clay!

A screw, scraper, and water got it out, but it was a chore.
I checked my other guns and they were OK, but this was the first time anything like this has happened . Just thought I'd raise the possibility!

 

[trent/OH]

Assuming that this ball is one of yours, I suggest you mic the rest of them and see if one or more are over-size.
Last time I was at Friendship a lady got a ball stuck really tight. We finally got it out, but she had brought supposedly .350, and when I mic'ed them, fully a quarter of them were over-size. Some were as big as .365, and that doesn't slide down the bore at all!

 

[Many Klatch]

I keep two or three graduated sizes of ball pullers in my pouch. The first one often pulls out of the lead ball, the second one sometimes pulls out and the biggest one always works. Figure the first one is just making a proper sized hole for the larger threaded ball pullers. Don't panic, have someone weld a proper sized screw to bigger threaded wood screws and then pull the stuck ball out.

Many Klatch

 

[tg]

"it turns out it wasn't a ball. It was clay!"

I just gotta ask.....where did the clay come from?

 

[Bob Miller]

My friend thinks it was mud dauber wasps, or some other insects that deposited this stuff in the barrel. It was almost like cement.

 

[tg]

Now that is somethimng I had never thought of, I always check the bores of my guns before loading but the notion of bugs in the barrel so to speak had not crossed my mind.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Mud wasps making nests in the barrels is rather common, if the gun is left out in a shed or barn. The clay left behind is like concrete.

 

[horsesoldier03]

In the past, I have had dirt dobbers clog the bore of some of my modern rifles when stored in the open. As long as I keep them in my safe I have not had an issue. However, I always check my bores on my modern rifles now, and I have two marks on my ramrod, one mark is an empty chamber and the other is marked for loaded. I figured its a good precautionary measure, even though I do not store my ML loaded.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

A friend had this happen to him many years ago. The gun was an original '63 Remington Zouave in fine condition. It was a tough job getting that mess out of the barrel. I learned a good lesson and always use tompions in my long guns now, even if I have to make them myself.

 

[renovato]

Mud daubers can cause all sorts of unexpected problems. I had a friend blow a shotgun barrel many years ago because of a mud dauber nest in it. That taught me to always check all bores very closely before shooting.

 

[J.D.]

"it turns out it wasn't a ball. It was clay!"

I just gotta ask.....where did the clay come from?

I have heard of feet of clay, but balls of clay???
I don't think I wanna go there. :v

Brasilikilt,

In your case, removing the breechplug is probably the best bet. That said, I have never removed the breechplug from an Italian bess, so I don't know how tight they are. Most breechplugs on production guns are screwed in under considerable pressure, so it might be pretty hard to remove.

As an alternative, the touch hole on those bess' is pretty big. It might be possible to use a hand held drillbit, twisted with your fingers, to remove enough lead to allow picking a sufficient amount of powder behind the ball to blow it out. You might even be able to use a hand held electric drill, if you are careful enough, but IMHO, the hand held drill bit would be a better idea. The drill bit won't enlarge the touch hole as long as you drill straight into the vent, BTW.

I also suggest drilling about a 1/2 " into the end of a short section of ramrod and epoxying the shank of the drill bit to the RR as a handle. A handle should be easier on the fingers.

As a word of caution, applying side pressure to a small drill bit will cause it to break inside the vent. Not a good thing.

It doesn't take all that much powder to blow a ball out of a firelock. However, there has to be enough room behind that ball to pick enough powder into, to do the job, and that is where the drill bit comes in.

The nail will only deform the lead, not remove it, so you may not have made a large enough hole.

Using a drill bit to form a cavity behind the ball may sound extreme, but sometimes extreme measures are called for.

Heating the barrel hot enough to melt the lead, as someone mentioned, might be another alternative. However I wonder about discoloring the barrel, or soldering the lead to the bore.

I dunno? I have never encountered a ball that was that hard to remove.

Let us know how you get it out.
J.D.