Barrel blocked - help!

[ColonialRifleSmith]

If you need a brush to clean your barrel you would be better off to get a new gun.
Reprime and shoot the rifle and don't worry about lead left behind it will come out although I have never heard of this happening? You need to get all your brushes and throw them away, they are nothing but trouble .

WHAAAATTTTTT??????? Semper Fi.

 

[Bunk]

It would seem to me if you are shooting a Patch & Ball gun lead would not touch the bore.
My Sharps has a bore polished so slick it does not lead foul and gets a couple of dozen JB Compound patch swabs every good cleaning.
Bunk

 

[Sir Boniface Harrison]

If you need a brush to clean your barrel you would be better off to get a new gun.
Reprime and shoot the rifle and don't worry about lead left behind it will come out although I have never heard of this happening? You need to get all your brushes and throw them away, they are nothing but trouble .

Thanks - it is actually a new rifle, I have thus far only put 15 rounds through it. My use of a brush was down to ignorance rather than neccesity.

 

[French Colonial]

I do not use brushes as part of my usual cleaning regimen, but every once in awhile (usually when it is too cold to do anything outside) I will use A GOOD brush to clean the bore down to spotless. (Usually happens when I am bored and the wife is watching uninteresting stuff on the tube)

Just make sure you get the ones mentioned previously that have the wire looped around the base, not the ones that are pressed in the base.

Use your solid range rod for doing this (not your H/C P/C hickory rod) and if the brush wants to stick (this is the new bristles not wanting to reverse direction) just twist the rod with some pliers or similar while pulling and it will come right out.

After doing this a couple of times the bristles seem to weaken and they reverse easily, this has been my experience.

 

[LME]

Thanks - it is actually a new rifle, I have thus far only put 15 rounds through it. My use of a brush was down to ignorance rather than neccesity.

If you use a brush on a M.L that has a breech plug you are courting a problem. Brushes don't like to be pulled out but will go in easily. On a barrel that has both ends open no proplem. I don't use brushes and I keep my barrels clean. I have seen to many people that have used a brush and couldn't get it out.

 

[Bunk]

Using a caliber smaller (E.g. a .45 brush in a .50 bore) makes a never lose it jag with the patch wrapped around the brush with no bristles showing, and the last part is important, the bristles must all be covered.
Keep makin' smoke
Bunk

 

[S.Kenton]

This is the answer to your problem, I've never seen it fail.

I’ll add a little more… don’t use any brush in your muzzloader. If you do your asking for serious trouble, the bristles are bent towards the muzzle end of the barrel during the push towards the breech, then when you pull it back out you actually have to bend those same bristles backwards to extract the brush, this causes the issue your experiencing. on a modern firearm the breech area widens and the brush has a chance to flex back to normal..then when you pull it it’s is in the correct direction. Does that make sense?

 

[user 48702]

If you use a brush on a M.L that has a breech plug you are courting a problem. Brushes don't like to be pulled out but will go in easily. On a barrel that has both ends open no proplem. I don't use brushes and I keep my barrels clean. I have seen to many people that have used a brush and couldn't get it out.

I use brushes when ever I feel it's necessary, which is the majority of the time. Once the rod bottoms out, I continue to twist clockwise and extract, the brush comes right out. I guess I just received proper training and instruction on how to use a brush in a closed breech barrel.

 

[SmokepoleSam]

Gunny, I agree with you completely, I've used brushes the same way for over 25 years and have never had a problem you just have to twist the bristles to free them from the grip of the barrel.

 

[user 48702]

Gunny, I agree with you completely, I've used brushes the same way for over 25 years and have never had a problem you just have to twist the bristles to free them from the grip of the barrel.

Agreed, I also have a front stuffer cannon with barrel made from the front half of a 37mm M3 anti-tank gun's rifled barrel, It is stubborn to clean since it has deep rifling, but I found an outfit that makes about any size bronze brush you would need. Same procedure, about the time I'm bottoming out, hard twist to the right, reverse pull, and what do you know, she scrubs in reverse. Been working with that little cannon using the same cleaning process for almost 30 years, haven't had a stuck brush yet. I've been using brushes with the same procedure in muzzle loading rifles since about 1973, probably because nobody told me it couldn't be done.

 

[LME]

I use brushes when ever I feel it's necessary, which is the majority of the time. Once the rod bottoms out, I continue to twist clockwise and extract, the brush comes right out. I guess I just received proper training and instruction on how to use a brush in a closed breech barrel.

I used them as well many years ago before I learned they were not needed. I have seen the problems people have had because they used brushes. If you like them go for it. I don't need them. If any one lets their barrel get so clogged up that they need a brush to clean it then I feel sorry for them. I have seen rifles some in my shop that were abused because they were never cleaned properly. Some could be saved /some couldn't.

 

[FlinterNick]

For barrel obstructions i always remove the breech plug and punch out the objects or rounds with an aluminum or wooden dowel, so that the threads don’t get touched.

If you need assistance, pm me.