Dry balled my .32 Kibler, with my solution

[Docgp]

Well, spent last week at squirrel camp. Got in to a great conversation with a young man (college age) who showed genuine interest in the muzzle loader I was shooting. SO, I was so excited to share the sport that I violated one of my personal rules. Don't visit and load at the same time!! Yup, paid the price. Dry balled my little .32. Oh well, that's ok. Will just spend 20 minutes trickle feeding through the touch hole and shoot it out. Have had to do it a couple times in the past years. Tried that 7 or 8 times. Well, for the life of me, I couldn't get it to work. Packed all the powder I could get in there and just "Pfft". No joy.


So now out comes ball puller. Fought and fought and no luck. Was at end of rope and thought, what the heck. I found the perfect size drill bit to fit into the opening in the end of the 8X32 threads and hot glued it in place. Used the ramrod as a long drill bit and drilled hole in tiny ball. Then screwed ball puller in and removed the ball reasonably easily.

I am sure there are much easier ways, but thought this might help someone. Drill bit pulled right out of the rammer after using, but figured that a heat gun would have solved any issues with that.

FWIW
Doc

 

[Treestalker]

A friend of mine dry balled his 50 cal Hawken and like you drilled a hole in the ball and screwed the ball puller into it and pulled. And pulled. And Pulled. After a while he realized he had turned that barrel inside out and the rifling was on the Outside! So he ordered another barrel and used the inverted one for a Rifling Guide!

 

[30coupe]

A friend of mine dry balled his 50 cal Hawken and like you drilled a hole in the ball and screwed the ball puller into it and pulled. And pulled. And Pulled. After a while he realized he had turned that barrel inside out and the rifling was on the Outside! So he ordered another barrel and used the inverted one for a Rifling Guide!

 

[Carbon 6]

Ball pullers have always worked for me without the need to drill anything. I'd pull the breech or remove the flash hole liner before I went looking for a drill bit.
If you managed to remove the ball without screwing anything up, well then KUDOS.

 

[olskool]

I dry balled my 62 jaeger. I went to the hardware store and got a piece of steel rod and welded on a T handle and welded on a good screw. that works! when I got my new 40 cal. the first shot out the gate I put the powder in a brass measure and dumped it in, loaded a ball, primed he pan and puff no bang. I did this 3 times. I knew I put in powder! I looked in the measure and it was full! a stinking bug built a nest in the spout and clogged up! back to the hardware store for a smaller rod and screw,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[sprucefly]

When my ball puller won't do the job I pour gun oil down the barrel and let it soak. After a 10 minute soak puller always works for me.

 

[Ben Meyer]

I have an AWESOME thick solid brass T handle range rod. I screwed the ball puller perfectly into the ball, and me and my son pulled SO hard on it that lead pulled out of the ball! The threads on the puller jag was completely loaded with lead. I wont use it again on a rifle.

Our 2 Flintlocks have removable touchable liners for easy insertion of powder to shoot out a dry ball. My Hawken has the screw that comes out to do the same. All 3 guns have been dry balled, and the ball shot out with a few grains of 3-4F.

 

[Rodd Boyer]

My buddy dry balled his .62 flintlock rifle on Monday when we were shooting..... he asked me, "you know how long it's been since I've dry balled?" I didn't answer then he said, "I can't remember the last time I dry balled"!!!!!

He sent a screw down into it and we got it out after some intense pulling!

 

[Britsmoothy]

Many buy a ball puller and expect it to work without any testing.
If it ain't sharp it won't even start to screw.
I make my own and test them!

 

[Flintandsteel]

The most important part is to dump a bunch of lube or water down the barrel and let it sit for a few minutes. Softens fowling and gives the patch a little extra lube for the way out.

 

[Logcutter]

A friend of mine dry balled his 50 cal Hawken and like you drilled a hole in the ball and screwed the ball puller into it and pulled. And pulled. And Pulled. After a while he realized he had turned that barrel inside out and the rifling was on the Outside! So he ordered another barrel and used the inverted one for a Rifling Guide!

I hate when that happens.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

As much as I love my muzzleloaders, and sharing with people who are genuinely interested, I’ll admit it can sometimes draw too much unwanted attention at the range. Every Tom **** and Harry have to come over and gawk, make stupid jokes, etc. Ocassionally I’ll have someone who really expresses quiet and polite interest, but it’s rare. Mostly it’s a loud jerk who comes up right next to you while your reloading or attempting to get a good group on target and he’ll say something like “WOW LOOK AT THAT OLD THING! IS THAT THING SAFE TO SHOOT?? CAN I GET A PICTURE WITH YOUR PIRATE GUN??”.

I’ve beeb driving out into the desert to be alone with my muzzleloaders more and more.

 

[F.G. Ford]

“WOW LOOK AT THAT OLD THING! IS THAT THING SAFE TO SHOOT?? CAN I GET A PICTURE WITH YOUR PIRATE GUN??”.
Are we allowed to shoot these morons who come up with these comments? They should not be allowed to go about and procreate.
Scary thought!
Fred

 

[Kestrel]

Limit: 2 per day with 4 in possession. Worst part is, there's soooooo many of them that a guy really has to be patient and not just pop the first 2 he sees. Pisses you off when a really stupid one comes up after you've tagged out and started to clean your gun.

 

[Sidney Smith]

I too have never had to drill a hole in the ball first. I have a steel range rod with a T handle so I just insert, run the rod/ puller down to the ball put a little pressure on the rod while turning to screw the puller into the ball then pull away.

 

[brewer12345]

As much as I love my muzzleloaders, and sharing with people who are genuinely interested, I’ll admit it can sometimes draw too much unwanted attention at the range. Every Tom **** and Harry have to come over and gawk, make stupid jokes, etc. Ocassionally I’ll have someone who really expresses quiet and polite interest, but it’s rare. Mostly it’s a loud jerk who comes up right next to you while your reloading or attempting to get a good group on target and he’ll say something like “WOW LOOK AT THAT OLD THING! IS THAT THING SAFE TO SHOOT?? CAN I GET A PICTURE WITH YOUR PIRATE GUN??”.

I’ve beeb driving out into the desert to be alone with my muzzleloaders more and more.

I must be lucky because I don't get the ***** gawkers. Instead I mostly end up apologizing for the huge clouds of smoke obscuring the target for the more serious target shooters.

As for dry balls or other ignition problems, after a frustrating time or two as a beginner, I bought one of the CO2 powered doohickeys that you plug into the flash hole and blow the ball out. Much easier.

 

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

I have dry balled my .36. I think forcing powder into the touch hole can be problematic because the inside of the the touch hole liner can extend past the curve of the ball. This allows pressure to escape out the muzzle without pushing the ball forward.

I believe I ended up pulling the ball. I don't even try pulling without soaking the patch with WD-40. Another key is to tie the ramrod to a tree or truck bumper and jerk it loose. Having two buddies pull in opposite directions is too mushy.

 

[Buckskinn]

I found that aside from my patches not burning and being shredded, using a wad help prevent dry balling. When my ram rod goes well past my mark, I know I forgot something...

Prior to that, I've just trickled powder in the hole and "poof", watch the ball fly about 100 yards.