Gaaah! Help! Can't get stuck ball out

[Khufu]

I think if that happened to me I would go to home depot, and get a piece of steel rod the biggest diameter that would fit with a layer of cloth around it. remove the barrel put it on some padding and smack that rod with a heavy weight persuader until it rams the ball home, then remove it by firing it.
its a lot easier to hammer it home than pull it out. you did say there was a powder charge in there.

 

[Ben Meyer]

I've had a patched ball hang up a time or two while ramming it down. I was always able to grab that beefy range rod and knock it all the way down.

 

[hinamanra]

Tie the rod to something stout leaving some slack in the line and give it a sharp yank.
Pull straight. This will amplify the pulling force. I always carry a line with me in the field so I don't have to use a shoelace. use a prussic knot.

It's just like a stuck bolt, some times you have to use a little "impact" to break them loose.

I thought that I invented that technique, It always worked for me. Just make sure your ball screw is bottomed out in the ball or it will yank guts out of the ball.

 

[Griz44Mag]

Take a careful look at the ball. What is the orientation of the sprue? Is it dead center on your screw hole or is it off to the side where it would contact the bore? If you rolled the ball where the sprue could come in contact with the rifling, it may have been enough to jam it. That and the lead being wheel weights instead of the recommended dead soft pur lead could have been the lethal combination...

 

[brewer12345]

I tossed the ball already, so no way to know. Oh well.

 

[toot]

now is this the end of it or does the beat go on? would this happen with an inline? sorry to use that dastardly word?this could be used as a sticky on how to or not get a stuck ball out..

 

[brewer12345]

now is this the end of it or does the beat go on? would this happen with an inline? sorry to use that dastardly word?this could be used as a sticky on how to or not get a stuck ball out..

So I think next time I would get a range for or similar and use a mallet to hammer the ball down on the powder so I could shoot it out. Other than that, what would you have done differently?

 

[Newtire]

Yep, He fired Black MZ once with old wonderlube then tried to reload That stuff is god awful at leaving a really dry bore and hard fouling. G-Damn ascorbic acid and dextrose powder, stuff should be outlawed.

Hard, dry fouling sounds to me like 777.

Yep, He fired Black MZ once with old wonderlube then tried to reload That stuff is god awful at leaving a really dry bore and hard fouling. G-Damn ascorbic acid and dextrose powder, stuff should be outlawed.

Hard,dry fouling sounds like 777 to me. I've used a heap pile of Black MZ and only kind of fouling I've ever seen is a kind of gooey stuff. Even after sitting for a week, a grey deposit that comes right out with a little water is all I ever got.
Now, 777 is more like what you describe. Two shots in a TC Scout and I had to pound it down and shoot it out. More power with 777 but no more for me.

 

[Grenadier1758]

Its interesting that by the 8th post, the recommended solution was suggested by the original poster and Moonman. It took 78 more posts for the grease gun solution to be applied and attain the desired solution. I wish you saved the removed ball and provided a picture.

As was stated earlier, now is the time and place for ego to be set aside and discuss the lessons learned.

 

[Carbon 6]

now is the time and place for ego to be set aside and discuss the lessons learned.

There are lots of lessons to be learned here.

 

[Ben Meyer]

God forbid I ever need to go get a grease gun to remove a stuck ball. But is it as easy as screwing it into the percussion nipple or flash hole liner, and pumping til it comes out? Any particular type of grease/gun? I can picture getting a full barrels worth of grease out to totally suck, especially the area around the breech plug. Any tips for that?

 

[ohio ramrod]

I suggest you soak the barrel with the old standby 1 part murphy's oil soap, one part hydrogen peroxide, one part alcohol. The foaming action does wonders for freeing up items stuck with fouling.Just stand the rifle up and pour the mixture in and WAIT a while and let it work.

 

[TGJaeger]

Brewer,
Try your heat gun to heat up the barrel, after the powder has been neutralized, to make the lithium grease thinner. Some paint thinner or the thinnest motor oil you have can help after you have removed most of the heavier stuff. You are going to get messy no matter how you approach it... But, glad you got it done and I think we all learned a lot from your experience.

 

[brewer12345]

There are lots of lessons to be learned here.

Rather than beat around the bush, it would be helpful to hear what you think the lessons are. I am all ears.

 

[brewer12345]

God forbid I ever need to go get a grease gun to remove a stuck ball. But is it as easy as screwing it into the percussion nipple or flash hole liner, and pumping til it comes out? Any particular type of grease/gun? I can picture getting a full barrels worth of grease out to totally suck, especially the area around the breech plug. Any tips for that?

Unscrew the nipple. Screw in a 1/4-28 zerk. Attach a grease gun and start pumping. The one I bought was a lever action model rated to 6000 PSI. Getting the grease out is not fun. Lots of patches and mineral spirits.

 

[Grenadier1758]

Lesson 1. Understand what fouling is created with the powder and lubricant you are using.
Lesson 2. Know what steps are necessary to keep the fouling reduced so that a ball and patch or lubricated bullet can be rammed to the powder at the breech.
Lesson 3. Have a procedure for removing a ball loaded with no powder, a ball stuck partway down the barrel or remove a ball when a load with powder and ball absolutely refuses to fire. Each procedure may be different.
Lesson 4. It may be easier to clean a barrel full of grease than to unbreech the gun and drive it out.
Lesson 5. We may not have all the needed tools at our disposal to remove a that is stuck in the barrel.
Lesson 6. There may be more than one way to successfully remove a ball.
Lesson 7. ...

 

[brewer12345]

Grenadier, I think those are all spot on.

 

[Carbon 6]

Lesson #7
Evaluate the problem prior to enacting a solution.

Lesson #8
Evaluate the success or failures of your solutions.

Lesson #9
Formulate a strategy for problem prevention.

 

[nhmoose]

To get rid of the grease in the barrel:
remove the grease fitting, take a solid range rod with muzzle protector and the proper sized jag with a nice tight patch and push the grease out of the touch hole or nipple hole.

Now remove rod and spray brake cleaner down the bore followed quick with the same rod and jag with a clean patch. Couple times done. Don't make it harder than it has to be.

 

[Grenadier1758]

Lesson #7
Evaluate the problem prior to enacting a solution.

Lesson #8
Evaluate the success or failures of your solutions.

Lesson #9
Formulate a strategy for problem prevention.

Well, Carbon 6, I see you paid attention in your Total Quality Management training. I would swap Lesson 9 with Lesson 8 simply for the order of the process. Problem solving in three steps. Understand/define the problem. Determine a procedure to solve the problem and perform the procedure. Evaluate the success or failure of the procedure. If the procedure failed, start over. Getting help is vital to overcome the failure.