Minnie Ball Stuck 1861 Springfield

[Winters]

I guess I will run into town and find a grease gun!

Edit: That's a lot of money... I'll see if somebody else has one.

 

[bigstick6017555]

Some times folks that did not have success with a ball puller was they did not get the full length of the screw engaged into the lead ball. Measure your screw length, then mark the rod when the screw comes in contact with the lead, then screw the rod in the same measurement of the screw length.

 

[bigstick6017555]

One of these could also be of help----ram rod puller

 

[Erwan]

Measure your screw length, then mark the rod when the screw comes in contact with the lead, then screw the rod in the same measurement of the screw length.

It's not so bad to measure the diameter of the screw : too small it can pull out of the lead and too big to make the bullet bigger.... I saw that more than once time...
In fact, the grease pump or water pump, not very easy at the range, both will be better and effective...

 

[deerstalkert]

Not sure one bowl is going to be enough to see the end of this.

 

[FishDFly]

That should work, now for a bit of melted butter on top and all is well.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Not at all surprised the ball puller failed.
The force applied to the ball to get it stuck was far greater than the force you can pull with and the threads in lead can take!
Ball pullers only were intended to retrieve ball loaded without powder or to get a ball off powder but always a ball that loaded easy and with normal ramming.

I wager when ever this happened on the battle field they just shot it out irrespective of where it was in the bore. Pressure from the loose powder would most likely rise slowly enough so as to dislodge it.
It's certainly not as dangerous as a ball being shot into another ball or plugged muzzle with earth or snow. And there was good reason the military wanted such thick barrels on their muskets!
Now everything is wet in there I still recomed a near bore size rod on the ground and the rifle placed over it from above. You'll feel it if it's moving by the rifle in your hands.

 

[Jaegermeister]

Should’ve had that sob out by post #5 or #7. By now it’s probably breech plug removal time. By the way, is it an original 1861 or a reproduction? Just curious.

 

[FishDFly]

Do you have a gunsmith close by that can take care of things in short order?

 

[Winters]

Not at all surprised the ball puller failed.
The force applied to the ball to get it stuck was far greater than the force you can pull with and the threads in lead can take!
Ball pullers only were intended to retrieve ball loaded without powder or to get a ball off powder but always a ball that loaded easy and with normal ramming.

I wager when ever this happened on the battle field they just shot it out irrespective of where it was in the bore. Pressure from the loose powder would most likely rise slowly enough so as to dislodge it.
It's certainly not as dangerous as a ball being shot into another ball or plugged muzzle with earth or snow. And there was good reason the military wanted such thick barrels on their muskets!
Now everything is wet in there I still recomed a near bore size rod on the ground and the rifle placed over it from above. You'll feel it if it's moving by the rifle in your hands.

Okay, that may be the next step then. Will, it not deform the bullet anymore if I do that?

Also, I only put a very small amount of water through the nipple hole, and I believe I got it all out.

 

[Winters]

Should’ve had that sob out by post #5 or #7. By now it’s probably breech plug removal time. By the way, is it an original 1861 or a reproduction? Just curious.

Reproduction

Do you have a gunsmith close by that can take care of things in short order?

Unfortunately not.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Okay, that may be the next step then. Will, it not deform the bullet anymore if I do that?

Also, I only put a very small amount of water through the nipple hole, and I believe I got it all out.

The rammer by hand in the normal fashion is very limited. Start hammering it and its still limited. Usually the steel rod just springs out of shape and wants to bounce off the ball but with every blow deforming the ball.
It's momentum you needed not shock!
The rifles mass once moving is many more times the momentum you or a hammer can apply!
Your rifle is actually a 10lb plus hammer!
That coupled with a near bore size rod that can not spring sideways and the ball had no choice but to travel in the opposite direction. If your worried about a steel rod damaging the rifles bore wrap the the rod in some kind of tape.

 

[Okie Hog]

BTW: It appears that troops often had trouble loading a dirty bore. i have a quart jar of Civil War battle field pickup Minie balls; About ten percent have the noses badly battered from whanging with the ramrod.

 

[Celticstoneman]

View attachment 87036

Deerstalker,
You have just won! Everyone else can go home now.
John

 

[deerstalkert]

Deerstalker,
You have just won! Everyone else can go home now.
John

popcorn time!
certainly not making light of the OP's struggles. BTDT. but there has been great advice ad nauseam . many suggestions might even work!

 

[Grenadier1758]

I'm part of the been there, done that crowd. Many years ago, I wasn't paying attention to .my load procedure and got a ball stuck in the bore of my recently assembled Derringer flint lock rifle. Ball puller wouldn't budge it and I pulled it out of the ball. I had to take it home for the next step. Since I had built the rifle, I knew how tight I had torqued the breech plug. I had the pads for the vise and the breech plug wrench. It was a simple matter to pull the plug, add lubricant to the bore to soften the powder and fouling (again). I used the brass working rod to drive the ball out from the breech.

Here on the forum I got all the advice about removing the vent liner to add powder and shoot it out or use the grease gun. My vent liner was not removable and besides the ball had a hole. Of course by the time I was getting all the good advise, I had already removed the ball long before the popcorn was popped and the beer cooled.

The take away here is that I had the tools and the skill to remove the ball. I can only hope that the OP can find someone that can pull the breech plug and drive the ball out or that he can find an inexpensive grease gun (check out Harbor Freight) and the correctly threaded zero fitting.

 

[Rudall]

Sure enough. Try sprinkling some powder on melted lead and see what happens.

Melted and melting point are two different things.
Lead melts at 327.5°C and boils at 1744°C, so molten lead could be anything in between. The ignition temperature of black powder seems to be generally higher than the melting point of lead.

 

[jdw276]

BTW: It appears that troops often had trouble loading a dirty bore. i have a quart jar of Civil War battle field pickup Minie balls; About ten percent have the noses badly battered from whanging with the ramrod.

Or noses battered from hitting something. I got one from my property, flat on one side on the nose. Figured bounced off the ground or side of a tree.

 

[PathfinderNC]

View attachment 87036

Priceless!

 

[deerstalkert]

Melted and melting point are two different things.
Lead melts at 327.5°C and boils at 1744°C, so molten lead could be anything in between. The ignition temperature of black powder seems to be generally higher than the melting point of lead.

sulphur bearing compounds can ignite at around 240c. certainly not something i would do. and i make all my own BP.