I stuck my wire brush.....

[Abel]

Hello all. Longtime reader, first time poster.

I broke a wire bore brush off in the bottom of my T/C Hawken's barrel. After trying for a couple hours to get it out with a ball puller and a patch-getter, I went to Google.

The end result was me pullin' the nipple and getting about 15 grains of FFF underneath. I screwed the nipple on, walked over to my paper target and said a prayer to Jesus. Pop! No luck. After a couple tries, I figured that I needed to build up some pressure. So, I pushed a ball patch and a cleanin' patch down to the brush, and loaded up underneath the nipple once again. I walked over to the target and took aim at the bull. BIG POP!!! That worked. The brush shot through the paper and the patched hit right under the hole and fell to the ground smoking. Has anyone else tried this & what were your results?

Thanks,

Abel

 

[Steve Adams]

Yea I did it a few months back. Mine I saved as a reminder to check my cleaning supplies. But it worked out and lesson learned.

 

[J.D.]

Most folks just use a length of copper tube to compress the bristles so's the brush slides out of the bore inside the tube.

God bless

 

[necchi]

Good job, and a great idea putting some patch on top.

I guess I never use a brush,, :idunno:

 

[Idaho Ron]

Most folks just use a length of copper tube to compress the bristles so's the brush slides out of the bore inside the tube.

God bless

This right here is NO :bull:
I have seen this work and it is the way to get out the brush. BTW buy brushes that the wire is looped through the base and twists back to the top. The ones that are crimped in the base GET STUCK!! Ron

 

[roundball]

They can ALL get stuck...particularly when they're new and the points of the bristles are the sharpest...the problem with the cheap ones is they they can pull out of their crimps if you try to use gorilla power to pull the ramrod straight back out.

But the trick is NOT to use gorilla power...just rotate the ramrod clockwise and the bristles will start to get a curve in them...this effectively shortens them from being straight across the bore...the sharp bristle points break their grip into the bore walls from being curved/shortened...when it breaks loose just slide it right up and out.

 

[Zonie]

Welcome to the Forum

Shooting out a stuck jag or a dry-ball (a common term for loading without first pouring in the powder) is a fairly common way of clearing the obstruction.

I'm glad to hear that it worked for you with a brush. It usually doesn't.

That's why the others mentioned the hollow tube method of removing a brush.

If you continue to use a bristled brush instead of one of the "loop" style "brushes" you will continue to get it stuck.
If this happens, it is because the bristles (which work fine with thru bored guns) have bent towards the muzzle when the brush was pushed down the barrel. Then, when you try to pull it back out the bristles wedge into the bore.

The answer when that happens is to turn the ramrod or cleaning rod in a clockwise direction while pushing down on the rod with a light pressure. This will bend the bristels to the side.
Continue turning and you may feel them slip as they jump the rifling. When you feel the brush turn then continue turning while pulling up on the rod. That will allow the bristles to reverse themselves and start pointing towards the breech which will allow the brush to be pulled back out of the bore.

Oh, if you have not pinned the metal tip on your ramrod, this is a good time to do this little job.

Most ramrods from the factory are just glued onto the wood and the tips are very easy to pull off if they are not pinned.

To pin the tip get a 1/16 inch drill bit, a piece of 1/16 diameter brass rod (from the hardware store) and your electric drill.

Leave the tip on the rod and about 1/8 inch forward of the rear of the metal tip drill the 1/16 inch hole straight thru both walls of the metal tip.
Use your pocket knife to form each end of the hole into a cone by inserting the point and rotating the knife.
Cut a length of the brass rod about 1/8 inch longer than the diameter of the metal tip and insert it thru the hole.
Use a small hammer to tap the ends of the wire down into the two cones you made with the knife.
Use a small flat file to file off any of the brass rod that still protrudes from the crossdrilled hole.
Your ramrod tip will never pull off if this pinning fix is done.

Again, welcome to the forum. I think you will find it is the best on the web.

 

[roundball]

IMHO, round end loop style brushes might be OK for a smoothbore but their design is sorely lacking in the ability to get down into the sharp 90 degree corners of the lands & grooves of a rifled barrel...to tweak out the build-up there which is where a brush most needs to be able to do its work in a rifle

 

[Abel]

Oh, if you have not pinned the metal tip on your ramrod, this is a good time to do this little job.

Most ramrods from the factory are just glued onto the wood and the tips are very easy to pull off if they are not pinned.

Brother, I fixed my ramrods from breaking when I ordered a couple of solid aluminum rods from T/C. But thanks for the tip.

 

[bob4st]

...I'm a big fan of solid brass rods... added weight helps me settle...

 

[Birddog6]

May as well tell ya this before it happens, if you have any Jags or Loops or anything with Brass Threads on the end of it, get rid of it & buy the ones with Steel shafts on them.
Every time I hear of someone breaking off something in the bore, it is Brass or Alum shafts on it.
Stop a problem before it occurs.
Get everything with a steel shaft on it, ESPECIALLY cleaning jags. Those elcheapo jags & swabs from WalMart can give you allot of headaches.... :shake:

Keith Lisle

 

[rafterob]

The copper pipe/tube works well for stuck brushes. The other method which is mentioned occaisionally here is to take a length of stiff wire (clothes hanger worked for me) Bend into a corkscrew pattern on the end, insert down the bore and turn clockwise to thread it down around the shaft of the brush and then pull it out.

 

[DrLaw]

I took a thin cleaning patch, shoved it partially into the receiving end on the cleaning rod, pushed it onto the brush, then screwed it on and then pulled. The threads had stripped a bit, but, putting the patch on allowed the rod to get a grip on the brush enough to pull it out.

The Doc is out now. :thumbsup:

 

[zimmerstutzen]

I can't figure out why someone would use a stiff brush in a muzzleloader anyway. They do get stuck. Newbies do it. Don't know of anyone else.

 

[Idaho Ron]

I use a brush, have been for over 30 years. Ron

 

[jaw69]

This is a serious Question not being a smart&%$. Why do you use a brush?

 

[necchi]

This is a serious Question not being a smart&%$. Why do you use a brush?

Ya, that's what I'm wondering??

I mean the propelant is water soluble, I shoot PRB, and I use patches and a bucket of soapy water till a white patch comes out white. What's left to brush? :idunno:

I brush CF guns, but the bullet has contact with the bore an modern powders ain't water soluble,,

 

[Idaho Ron]

If I am using a naked lead conical I always use a brush. I do it sometimes to make sure I don't have powder hung up. I when I clean with patches only the patches always seem to have some dark color.
It has been a part of my cleaning routine for like I said 30 years. No rust in the barrels with the method I use and I have a lot of one shot kills so I keep doing what works. Ron

 

[paulvallandigham]

I use a bronze bore brush as part of my normal cleaning routine. It gets down into the corners of the grooves to dig out crud, and loosen the carbon residue so that the soap can remove it quicker. When breaking in a new BRUSH, I put it into the bore a few inches, and then rotate it clockwise, to turn the bristles sideways, so they don't Stick down at the bottom, where turning the brush sideways( clockwise) can be much more difficult.

I brush the bore in sections- not one long stroke. Again, this allows the tips of the bristles to be turned and so they don't grab so much when I am pulling them back out. They still get into the corners, BTW, but I found a series of shorter scrubbing actions(back and forth) do a quicker, and more thorough job of loosening the residue than one or a few long stroked up and down the barrel.

When using the bore brush, I put a cleaning patch dampened with water, and a squirt of liquid soap smeared around to coat the entire patch, if possible, On the front of the brush. The bristles grab the cloth, and penetrate through the fabric for the most part.

The soap and water helps in the scrubbing, and acts as a lubricant for the bore bristles, making them move more easily in the grooves.

The soapy patch helps wipe away a lot of the residue during the scrubbing, leaving me less crud to dig out through soaking the bore with water and soap.

I have tried cleaning my deep grooved, PRB rifles with and without using the bore brush. If you give soap and water enough time to work, the barrel will be just as clean as when I scrub the crud out of the corners with the bore brush. Using the bore brush just gets the job done faster, and completely.

If you rush the soap and water soaking method( BTDT), you still have crud in the corners, and you have to repeat the process, and/ or use a lot more cleaning patches. I ran short of patches ONCE- and resorted to using the bore brush. That is when I found out how handy it is, particularly when combined with using a wet, soapy cleaning patch in front of it.

Its not the only way to clean a barrel. IdahoRon wisely shares the reason a bore brush is absolutely needed when shooting BARE conical bullets, ( or when shooting a bare shotgun load of pellets). The Bore brush is needed( with solvents) to remove the lead from the bore(s). :hmm: Ron is widely known here on the forum for shooting Paper patched bullets in his Muzzleloaders, as his expected ranges for shooting Deer and ELK are usually more than 150 yards. He also shoots bare bullets in BP cartridge guns. The cleaning problem is the same with any gun that shoots BP, and bare( exposed to the bore) lead projectiles.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

welocme to the Forum Abel. :hatsoff:
lots of good advice here, always use a quality brush and stroke back and forth in sections before bottoming it.
I use a brush myself after say a dozen shots or so then a cleaning patch on jag when plinking.