Dumb cap and ball mistake - advice needed

[maillemaker]

Mighta ended up a camp name.....

Old "Davey Two-Balls!" lol

 

[Sir Boniface Harrison]

I've done this myself.
1) Chamber out.
2) Remove nipple.
3) Squirt WD 40 into front and rear of chamber. This should get round the balls and render the powder inert.
4) Place chamber in vice.
5) Drive out both balls by gently tapping, using a thin brass rod and non metallic mallet.
Should come out no problem!

 

[Bunk]

Remove cylinder.
Remove nipple.
Dump powder.
Use a small brass punch through rear of cylinder to push out ball.

the operative word ere is BRASS punch. You muck up those fine threads and you have a five shot six shooter. I doubt a wood dowel would be strong enough.
The self tapping screw and pulling the ball is the best safest way.
Experience us what you right after you need it.
So listen to experience. A steel rod will necessitate buying an expensive metric tap to straighten things up.
Good luck
Bunk

 

[DaveBeal]

I've stupidly loaded two balls into the same chamber of a cap and ball revolver. I've heard of people intentionally firing two balls from the same chamber, but I don't want to try that. I'm not sure whether there's powder between the two balls. I'm thinking that I can remove all caps (already done), remove the cylinder from the frame, remove the nipple from the double loaded chamber, drain the powder from under the first ball and drive both balls (and the powder possibly between them) out with a wooden dowel and a hammer. Is this safe? Thanks!

My thanks to everyone who responded! Being the compulsive type, I bought a ball puller from Midway. I then realized that it has 10-32 threads, and all my cleaning rods are 8-32, so I bought an adapter from Amazon. When I finally got all the pieces assembled, removing the balls was easy.

- Davey Two-Balls

 

[Capnball]

I've stupidly loaded two balls into the same chamber of a cap and ball revolver. I've heard of people intentionally firing two balls from the same chamber, but I don't want to try that. I'm not sure whether there's powder between the two balls. I'm thinking that I can remove all caps (already done), remove the cylinder from the frame, remove the nipple from the double loaded chamber, drain the powder from under the first ball and drive both balls (and the powder possibly between them) out with a wooden dowel and a hammer. Is this safe? Thanks!

Sounds like it would work.

 

[TFoley]

Being lazy, with the cylinder removed and cone. Hit it with 160lbs of air (in a safe direction)

If not the screw method works well.

First, get your handy home compressor..........................

 

[CaptainVane]

Just did it at range this morning. Removed nipple tapped out with eyeglass screwdriver, fits in nipple hole. Replace nipple.
Done in under a minute.

 

[wiscoaster]

I've stupidly loaded two balls into the same chamber of a cap and ball revolver.

No, not stupid, probably just distracted and lost place in loading sequence. Been there, done that. You discovered your error and what you did following discovery proves you're not stupid.

 

[CaptainVane]

At range the other day I did…
Loaded 2 balls same chamber
Didn’t put powder in one chamber
Different times.
Being the only guy with black powder i get a lot of guys asking me questions, sometimes hard to stay focused.
It happens to all of us all the time, not just rookies.

 

[springfield art]

A less invasive method:

- Remove the cylinder
- Remove the caps
- Screw a self-tapping screw into the ball from the mouth of the chamber
- Pull the screw/ball assembly out
- Dump powder (if present) as necessary

I'm not saying I ever screwed up in a way that required pulling a ball...

Clever! Very good.

 

[Snooterpup]

Old "Davey Two-Balls!" lol

Reminds me of and old British limerick:
“There once was a man from Devises
Whose balls were of different sizes.
One was so small, it was no ball at all,
The other won several prizes.”

 

[wiscoaster]

...
Being the only guy with black powder i get a lot of guys asking me questions, sometimes hard to stay focused.
It happens to all of us all the time, not just rookies.

Part of the fun of shooting BP ML at a public range.

All those tricked-out AR's are a big yawn nowadays. But a honkin' big cap 'n ball revolver or a five foot long flintlock rifle ... ejecting great clouds of smoke obscuring the sight pictures of everyone downwind ... now they spark some attention!!

 

[Smokerr]

Remove cylinder.
Remove nipple.
Dump powder.
Use a small brass punch through rear of cylinder to push out ball.

It never occurred to me to pull one from the front. If the Ram puts it in there a small punch will easily drift it out (I have done that on two of the three BP and just have not gotten to the ROA yet)

Why? The width of the band tells you volumes about how good your bullet seal is.

So yea, get the cap off gently asap. Then at your lea sure pull the Cone, dump the powder (still it a bit with a drill if needed) get the punch and gently tap. By the time its at the end it will come right out.

Maybe a bit more resistance with two but I sure would try the punch vs the screw. You can span the cylinder over a hole or across two pieces of wood if the front one needs some space to drift as its going to be very full.

Add into that you don't need to get carried away trying to kill all powder. Worst case a small flash is nothing with the Cone out and note the brass punch though I use steel I would recommend the brass.

Yea I spent a lot of years taking a cover off a 4000 gallon gasoline tank and yes we had non sparky tools for it, but you talk about a case of the willies, look 4000 gallons of gasoline through a manhole and ................