CO2 Bottles...Do they really work?

[B P Maniac Shooter]

I've been reading lot of posts recently asking how to remove a round ball or a "dryballed" black powder gun.
Although I usually just shoot them out, here is another option to try:

 

[brushblind]

OK, but most BP rifle shooters use the tightest patch/ball combo they can for best accuracy. Try the same test using a fowled bore with a .490 ball and a .015 patch.

 

[Grenadier1758]

Thanks @B P Maniac Shooter for providing the video of the function of a CO2 Ball discharger.

This video and @Idaho Ron's video of the use of a Grease Gun to unload a dry ball should be saved in the information forum.

@mmull56, these CO2 dischargers do work on heavily fouled bores. They do work best when the ball is at the breech. And if the CO2 doesn't blow the ball out, there is always the grease gun. Not as messy as one would think.

The canister originated from the bicycle tire inflators. The threaded CO2 canisters hold CO2 at about 800 lbs of pressure. The threaded versions hold CO2 better than the unthreaded ones. You can get a cheaper version by buying a bicycle tire inflator and grinding the needle ball inflator for a flintlock or using a tire valve with the 1/4-28 threads exposed on a percussion rifle.

 

[B P Maniac Shooter]

OK, but most BP rifle shooters use the tightest patch/ball combo they can for best accuracy. Try the same test using a fowled bore with a .490 ball and a .015 patch.

They work in those situations too. I used it on a friend's gun that was dry balled.
He loves the tightest patch & ball possible & it worked fine.
Looking back, I probably should have used the tighter balls, but, in real life,
I shoot the .480 ball 99% of the time anyway.
It didn't cross my mind to use the larger ones till a viewer mentioned it.

 

[Grimord]

If at home, you can use a air compressor with the proper fitting to blow out a ball. crank the pressure up to around 100# and make sure you have a good back stop for the exiting ball, cause it will come out of the barrel with significant force.

 

[user 34300]

Mine works ok with calibers 40 and up. Smaller calibers do not have the cross sectional area for the pressure to act upon. Sometimes I can make it work with my 32 but usually not. We us the CO2 units for club day dry balls and they usually work better for others. They mostly shoot cap locks and making a seal on the nipple is easier than a thin tapered brass tube in a touch hole.

They are worth having in the range kit. It is a good first try solution.

I had a unit like the one in the video linked above. It leaked like a sieve and was useless. The CO2 cartridge self discharged in about 1-minuet. The loads in the video were extremely loose and it was caliber 50. I would expect 100% success.

 

[2 shots]

would tight work better? as it makes a tighter seal in the bore.

 

[Okie Hog]

Have seen the CO2 discharger fail more times than they worked. It failed every time with my tight fitting patched round ball loads.

 

[Howard Pippin]

I've been reading lot of posts recently asking how to remove a round ball or a "dryballed" black powder gun.
Although I usually just shoot them out, here is another option to try:

I think they work very well, at the last match I attended, I removed a dry ball For a younger shooter. Works like a champ, only problem is the CO2 leaks down over a long period of time and I have to always put on a new cylinder. But in this case it allowed the fellow to keep on shooting without have to give up that morning. I think they really have their own place. A grease gun would have worked, So would probably an air compressor, But neither was available on-site. I would've put a charge under the nipple, but he didn't because he didn't know why it wouldn't shoot and didn't know it was dry balled. He thought he might have even double loaded. The only reason I've ever dry balled was because of visitors.
Squint

 

[FiremanBrad]

Mine worked several times during our 4H shooting season. All 50 cal with .495 balls with .018 ticking patches

If yours didn’t work, you did something wrong.

 

[B P Maniac Shooter]

I think they work very well, at the last match I attended, I removed a dry ball For a younger shooter. Works like a champ, only problem is the CO2 leaks down over a long period of time and I have to always put on a new cylinder. But in this case it allowed the fellow to keep on shooting without have to give up that morning. I think they really have their own place. A grease gun would have worked, So would probably an air compressor, But neither was available on-site. I would've put a charge under the nipple, but he didn't because he didn't know why it wouldn't shoot and didn't know it was dry balled. He thought he might have even double loaded. The only reason I've ever dry balled was because of visitors.
Squint

The leaking cylinder is a problem with mine too.
I always keep 4-5 cylinders on hand because of that problem.
I've used mine with other shooters often too.

 

[Joemolf]

OK, but most BP rifle shooters use the tightest patch/ball combo they can for best accuracy. Try the same test using a fowled bore with a .490 ball and a .015 patch.

Correct! At least I do. Yes I have one thought it was a good idea. I’ve used them to fill flats on road rides mountain bikes too with great success not so much with two or three times I got a ball stuck. Occasionally I may use them at the range after removing fouling from the breach plug blowing out the fouling. They are expensive and one time use. The one I have is big and cumbersome I keep it in the truck along with the cartridges. The screw pull has never failed me which I accomplish the ball removal in a safe fashion.

 

[Joemolf]

I would consider my barrels softly fouled and don’t typically swab them until I fired 10 to 12 rounds. Exception would be the Charleville orBrown Bess where now I’ve just been using paper cartridges. Even on the Charleville 2 weekends ago I had to pull the ball but it was heavily fouled yet came out easily with the range rod.

 

[Joemolf]

My son was shooting his45 unmentionables lever rifle testing out his homemade cowboy action loads. Well one he forgot to powder and the primer pushed it far enough in it had to be tapped out with a range road. The hardcast 45 would not take a thread. Never realized how hard hard cast can be

 

[oldracer]

I have one and several others in our group do. We usually use TWO people, one to hold the rifle on the bench very stable and the other to use the discharged. Has worked every time!
John

 

[sturmkatze]

I've been reading lot of posts recently asking how to remove a round ball or a "dryballed" black powder gun.
Although I usually just shoot them out, here is another option to try:

Good video my friend

 

[BigAl52]

Thanks Mark for another great video. You are a true Ambassador to Black Powder shooting

 

[ZUG]

I have one of the older CO2 models with the metal adaptors and I made a replacement as a spare out of brass tubing from K&S. The threads on the older one that I have is 5/16" X 24 tpi. The bicycle tire inflator is threaded for the tire valves which are not the same as 5/16" X 24 tpi. Here is a picture of my older CO2 discharger and a new bicycle tire inflator with an adaptor that I made up from a tire valve and some 1/16" K&S brass tubing on the end. I am working on making up another nozzle out of another tire valve but with a smaller brass shaft which will allow batter access to the flintlock vent hole.

 

[B P Maniac Shooter]

I have one of the older CO2 models with the metal adaptors and I made a replacement as a spare out of brass tubing from K&S. The threads on the older one that I have is 5/16" X 24 tpi. The bicycle tire inflator is threaded for the tire valves which are not the same as 5/16" X 24 tpi. Here is a picture of my older CO2 discharger and a new bicycle tire inflator with an adaptor that I made up from a tire valve and some 1/16" K&S brass tubing on the end. I am working on making up another nozzle out of another tire valve but with a smaller brass shaft which will allow batter access to the flintlock vent hole.View attachment 146791

Those are the type nozzles I was talking about.
The ability to remove a ball in a dry balled gun without removing the lock is REALLY nice.
The manufacturers should have NEVER moved from those metal nozzles to the cheap plastics ones they make these days.
Thanks for sharing....

 

[Mulebrain]

I have tried one at a match, and it was aggravating and taking too much time. Trickle powder in and just shoot it out, is for me

Better yet, don't dry ball in the first place.