friend's stuck ball with powder

[hobbles]

Hmmmm,, a fully automatic Muzzle loader,,

 

[F.G. Ford]

This sounds like something you would find on the side of the road in Iraq with a cell phone taped to it.

 

[Stony]

I once read that at Gettysburg, the war department checked the rifles found on the battlefield after the 3 day battle. They found several thousand rifles still had loads in them. Most only had one but several hundred had multipule loads. One had over 17 loads in the barrel. Your customer may have had a bad case of buck fever. I also read once of a hunter in Africa who when charged by a lion didn't fire one round but did empty his rifle by just working the bolt again and again. Sometimes people just go into auto drive and forget that little thing like pulling the trigger.

 

[gmww]

About that information on the Battle field guns. Read an article somewhere about how they figured a small percentage of the soldiers were doing the most killing.

They used the information you posted as an example of soldiers going through the motions but not shooting in fear of killing a possible relative across the way. Sorry about changing the topic but it's an interesting theory.

Wish I could remember where that information came from.

 

[Stony]

S.L. Marshall (who ever that is) wrote a book about firepower in WW2 where he claims that 20% of the soldiers caused 90% of the wounds suffered. I think his point was to try and get more soldiers actually firing their weapons at the enemy thereby causing more wounds. I also read that the average number of rounds fired per hit was like 10,000 for every single hit. This was to have included strafing fire and ammo used by gunners in bombers as well as ground troops. I think I've wasted enough time and space on this. Sorry

 

[Deadeye]

Vietnam it was 1 hit for every 25,000 rnds. or so I read someplace.

 

[vsparto]

I have a solid stainless steel one piece range rod that is 32 inches and a ball puller and a length of rope in the range box. Screw in the ball puller and tie the rope around the handle and a fence post or reasonable facsimile and give a few good yanks. I had a ball stuck half way down my TC Hawken .50 cal and couldn't get it to go any further so yanked it with the above method. A good solid range rod is a must have.

 

[Shelldrake]

Yep,, SLA Marshall and his book "Men Against Fire".

Quote: In an average experienced infantry company in an average day's action, the number engaging with any and all weapons was approximately 15 per cent of the total strength. In the most aggressive companies, under the most intense local pressure, the figure rarely rose above 25 percent of the total strength from the opening to the close of the action.
End Quote

FORTY-ONE YEARS LATER...

"Marshall's ratio of fire...appears to have been an invention."
”” Roger J. Spiller, 1988

 

[fwshannon]

vsparto,

Great Idea! I needed you with me instead of my Irish Brother. He just said, heck with it!
Nice to have something else to try when all else fails....

Fred

 

[Bernie Schneider]

So??? after 2 wks. is it still stuck?

 

[Throckmorton]

One trick we learned our first time out...after trying to use lumpy Pyro.
we screwed in the bal rmover,but it would not grab tight enough,so we cut the tapered part off to give it more 'bite'.
worked like a charm.Now we carry a new one and cut down one.
We tried pounding the muzzle down on the floor on a paddeed 2x6,no luck for us.
Great info an forum,glad I found it!!!

 

[RedFeather]

One piece of advice I was given on ball pullers and that is to somehow fix a drill bit that is smaller than the puller screw onto the rod. Maybe mounted in a button to keep it centered. The idea is to first remove a bit of lead from the center thus preventig the puller screw from expaning the ball and wedging it in tighter. Made some sense to me. Even a hard minnie like the one described above should respond to that and some penetrating oil.

RedFeather

 

[Stumpkiller]

I always wondered how they found the same hole with those, but I guess the centering button would solve that.

I use the standard wood-screw style puller, but when I get one I spend a few minutes with a jeweler's file to get it to a fine & sharp tip. When it comes time to pull a ball (hey, it happens) I give it a good throw from the muzzle so the weight of the rod drives it into the lead.

 

[mike alexandre]

First thing do witha stuck ball or bullet is to give the barrel a little squirt of Ballistol. Leave it for 3 mins and the ball puller does the rest easily.