Gaaah! Help! Can't get stuck ball out

[SDSmlf]

Ok, you have a hole through the lead ball letting the grease pass through it. Plug the hole with your ball puller as tightly as you can, then try the grease gun again.

 

[Bob McBride]

Unbreach it or, worst case, I read about the same problem recently, where the fellow drilled out the center. He ended up getting perhaps 5g 4f in the touchhole, poured 20g or so down the bore to communicate through the hole drilled in the ball and put another ball on top. He rigged it on a lead sled and pulled the trigger with a 20' string.... it all came out.

 

[Kansas Jake]

X2 on what SDSmlf said.

 

[brewer12345]

Ok, you have a hole through the lead ball letting the grease pass through it. Plug the hole with your ball puller as tightly as you can, then try the grease gun again.

Very good idea. Will try that.

 

[Bob McBride]

Very good idea. Will try that.

If it won't bite, silicone tape your puller....

 

[cullen1780]

What a great virtual world. It's been years since I've seen this many guys gathered around a stuck ball trying to help.

 

[brewer12345]

Woohoo! Success. I was able to plug the hole in the ball with the puller and she came out. What an ordeal. That said, I feel very much like I have had a combination cheering session/brain trust along the way! Thanks very much, folks. Would not have gotten it out without the help.

I assume mineral spirits won't hurt the barrel? Any solvents I should avoid? I have a mess to clean up.

 

[SDSmlf]

That wasn’t so difficult, was it?

Keep solvents away from the stock. Save the ball that got stuck. Will jog your memory of a fun time and make a nice conversation piece.

Now, why do you think the ball got stuck? Ball, powder, bore, patch or lube? May as well figure it out so it does not happen to you again. You mentioned balls are cast from wheel weights. Do you have a way to check the hardness?

You also mentioned you had powder blow out when you tried the CO2 discharger. Curious how that happened. Was the discharger threaded into the nipple hole?

 

[mooman76]

Some solvents remove bluing. Don't use anything that will remove rust.

 

[Kansas Jake]

I suspect the ball pulling screw had already put a hole through the ball.

 

[ZUG]

The first thing I would do is to soak that powder charge to prevent any accidental discharge - as you said - "I am extremely reluctant to fire it. Ball is halfway down the barrel and there was a large powder charge put in first."

 

[brewer12345]

That wasn’t so difficult, was it?

Keep solvents away from the stock. Save the ball that got stuck. Will jog your memory of a fun time and make a nice conversation piece.

Now, why do you think the ball got stuck? Ball, powder, bore, patch or lube? May as well figure it out so it does not happen to you again. You mentioned balls are cast from wheel weights. Do you have a way to check the hardness?

You also mentioned you had powder blow out when you tried the CO2 discharger. Curious how that happened. Was the discharger threaded into the nipple hole?

The ball looks fine, although I did put what looks like a pinhole through it. A bit of rifling engraved on the sides, and that is it. The patch was still intact. Everything else came out embedded in a tidal wave of lithium grease, so who knows. I cleaned up the barrel with mineral spirits (getting grease out of the patent breach was "fun") and I will shine a flashlight down the bore before I clean it again with hot, soapy water to see if I can tell if something is up in the spot where it got stuck. Still a bit of a mystery why this ball got stuck.

The discharger does not screw into the nipple hole, it just has a cone shaped plasticy business end that you jam into the opening. When I released the pressure when it would not clear the ball, powder got blasted out.

The barrel is stainless as this is a Grey Hawk (odd duck: traditional percussion lock on a stainless barrel with a plastic stock), so at least that made solvent issues much less of a problem since there is no bluing.

When I run a patch down the barrel, there is no catching or other weirdness. I take that to mean that I probably don't have a spot with a lot of rust or other issues.

 

[brewer12345]

I caught some strong sunlight and looked down the barrel. One of the shiniest and cleanest looking I have ever seen. Looked new. So was this a lube failure? The patch was new and soaked with oil. The rifle prefers an over powder was and they look less well lubed than I would like. I think I will dip them in a Crisco and beeswax mix before using them again. Ultimately when I use up the package I plan to make my own out of leather and will dip them in Crisco and beeswax.

 

[SDSmlf]

Just some thoughts in no particular order on your stuck ball adventure.

Would guess rifling on the ball got ‘engraved’ when the ball puller screw enlarged the ball a bit.

I don’t own a CO2 discharger, but one buddy uses one with a threaded adapter that fits in place of the nipple. I know he had adapters for 1-1/4 28 and metric threads because we discussed them.

Don’t know the alloy of your wheel weight material, but definitely not pure lead. As you add alloys to lead it tends to get harder and anything you cast with it will turn out a bit larger than pure lead. Harder lead is less forgiving in your barrel, especially with a slightly larger ball. What diameter ball is your .530” diameter mold actually dropping? I know that lead with 2.5% tin (40:1) makes a big difference when I cast bullets for paper patching. If you are casting with unknown lead alloys it a good idea to get a lead hardness tester. Believe Lee has one fo $60-$70.

 

[brewer12345]

Wheel weights come in two flavors. Clip on are about 3 percent antimony. Stick on are 99.5 percent or better pure lead. You separate the two and smelt them in different batches. The clip hard stuff I use for cartridge projectiles, the soft stick on I use for muzzleloader. My round balls drop right where they should and they are dead soft.

 

[Bob McBride]

Good news.

 

[mooman76]

My guess is the old lube combined with powder fouling. It built up to the point that you couldn't drive it down the barrel any more. If you don't reload fairly quickly, the powder fouling can dry enough that it hardens just enough to make things difficult.

 

[olskool]

well my solution to it was to go to the hardware store, buy a long piece of 5/16 or 3/8 steel rod depending on caliber, I have both, cut 10in off and weld it to one end and make a T handle, then weld a sheet metal screw to the other end. then put it down the bore and center it onto the ball and screw it in. then find a forked tree and place the T handle between them and pull!

 

[nhmoose]

I always used Brake Clean in my shop to clean up the grease from a stuck ball removal.

At least 2-3 per season, all with full loads of whatever powder. Grease was the third tries as I used a converted C02 bottle and a vey big air compressor for 1 and 2.

The Zerk and grease fitting will also get rid of the broken dowel stuck from trying to pound the ball down that some armatures try.

 

[Ben Meyer]

I have the baddest thick T handle brass range rod I could find. I tried using a balk puller exactly once. Screwed it in tight, me and my son(both 6'3" 250lbs+) sat on the ground, feet to feet, pulling with all we had. The ball puller came out with the threads caked in lead! Ball pullers are useless for rifles IMO.

This was dryballed, so we spent 45 min cramming 4f thru the touch hole (no liner) and eventually shot it out.

Now, all our guns have vent liners. Makes shooting out a dryball a 5 min chore. When we shoot at Friendship, they usually have a special CO2 rig with a big tank that I've never seen NOT work.