Need help....Have a cva hawken rifle with ball stuck in it,,,

[Snydly]

If you remove the nipple and dribble in some powder to shoot it out. Remember to make sure the stuck ball is against the powder and not half way down the barrel. The ball needs to be as close to the powder as you can possibly get it. No air gap between powder and ball.

 

[kyron4]

More info is needed.

Did you get a ball stuck or did it come to you that way ?
Is there a load behind ball or is it dry balled ?
Is ball all the way down barrel or stuck half way ?

The more details the better.

 

[Bob K]

I’m an expert on stuck ball, have pulled may out for different reasons. Buy a ball pooled ( nothing more than a pointed screw), attach it to your range rod in run It down the barrel. It’s better if you have a range rod with a “t” handle because you will try turning the range rod clockwise while pressing down and penetrate the lead ball. If you can get a bough thread into the ball it will pull right out by tapping the “t” handle upward using a light hammer. Works every time and once you get the ball out you can generally shake any powder out. However, if you’ve already tried to shoot it, most likely there was no powder under the ball. If you now have two ball stuck, just repeat the process.

My problem generally was that getting ready to load someone would start talking to me and I’d forget the powder charge and push the ball in and immediately utter a number of colorful works. Good luck.

 

[TreeMan]

I got hold of a 50 T.C once, the owner told me he only shot it 4 times. Tryed to shoot it my self ,hesitated when shoot 2or 3 times . When cleaning it realized something was in the barrel. Patch and ball. Got that out then shot it . Great shooting gun.

This post and the original post make my head hurt. How in the name of hades does one shoot a muzzleloader 2 or 3 times and then find a stuck ball in the barrel. That can’t happen people! It just can’t happen!! I give up on this thread. People are telling the original poster how to remove a stuck ball from a gun he’s been shooting and THEN finds a stuck ball in it. This poster also finds a stuck ball in a gun he just shot 2 or 3 times. Sheesh almighty lol.

 

[R Ellis]

This post and the original post make my head hurt. How in the name of hades does one shoot a muzzleloader 2 or 3 times and then find a stuck ball in the barrel. That can’t happen people! It just can’t happen!! I give up on this thread. People are telling the original poster how to remove a stuck ball from a gun he’s been shooting and THEN finds a stuck ball in it. This poster also finds a stuck ball in a gun he just shot 2 or 3 times. Sheesh almighty lol.

I believe it would be pretty hard to shoot with a bullet stuck in the barrel

 

[Philip Lebow]

Gents, If you trickle powder behind a partially seated ball, seat the ball back down to avoid a bulge in the bbl.
Sometimes a ball puller will expand the ball tighter into the bore. Use a steel rod on your puller, you wooden rod will likely come apart.
I had to unbreech a bbl for a customer who had a ball, patch, ball puller and rod tip stuck in the bbl. Just FYI

 

[Philip Lebow]

CO2 dischargers do work, fairly safely, aim away from everybody!

 

[dan101955]

I have a .54 cal. CVA Hawken rifle that has a ball and a possible patch stuck in it. I bought it from a friend in the fire dept.
Didn't know there was a problem with it till I went to shoot it.

Just would not shoot right. put inspection camera down the bore and could not believe what I saw.
A stuck ball and patch in it.

Need to know how to remove the breach plug. Where can I get a breach plug wrench? Is it a right handed thread or Left hand thread?

Thanks for any help,

Dan

Ipurchased the gun that way. The previous owner must have left it that way.
I am new to the 54 but not blackpowder. I was a member of Cushings Battery an artillery unit. Have three black power rifles. None have ever had this problem.

So i took my ramrod and put a ball puller on it and put it down the muzzle, pulled it out and there was lead in the threads of the puller. That is how I knew there was a ball in there. on inspection with my inspection camera, it looked like a melted ball with a patch behind it. I keep using the ball puller and got it stuck and could not pullit out due to too short a rod. Will have to get a range rod and another ball puller.
also put kroil down the nipple and flipped the muzzle up and put kroil down it.

i have let the gun barrel sit overnight soaking with Kroil. Will be ordering a range rod asap.

Thanks for all the help so far.
Dan

 

[dan101955]

More info is needed.

Did you get a ball stuck or did it come to you that way ?
Is there a load behind ball or is it dry balled ?
Is ball all the way down barrel or stuck half way ?

The more details the better.

It came that way.

 

[dan101955]

If the ball won’t come out using a ball puller and just normal elbow grease, try building this. I designed and built it when I couldn’t get a stuck round out through firing. I removed the vent hole liner and soaked the breach end of my barrel in a bucket of warm soapy water for two hours while I built this jig. After flushing out all the powder I put my barrel in a vise. I ran my range rod through the center hole of this jig and attached and a ball puller jag to the end. I got the jag firmly seated into the ball and began turning the nuts seen in the photo near my thumbs. The process is slow but it got the ball and patch out in about an hour. The piece of flat steel pushes against the handle on the range rod pulling the ball down the barrel. The whole thing cost me some time and about twenty bucks from lowes.

What size threaded rod and what type of flat steel did you use.
like that idea alot.
Thanks
Dan

 

[dan101955]

My $0.02:

I'd try to pull the ball using a collared ball screw on a range rod. Before putting the screw down the bore, squirt some good penetrating oil -- WD40, PB Blaster, or Kroil -- down on top of the ball and let it soak for a little while.

This page on Track of the Wolf's site has the collared ball screws: Ball Pullers, steel screws with brass collars - Track of the Wolf

I've had to use one a couple times recently and it worked really well. The collar keeps it centered in the bore and they are sharp enough to screw into the soft lead ball without too much effort.

Once you get the ball out of course clean the bore really well. If the powder has been in there for awhile it may be compacted into a semi-solid mass, so the ball screw and/or a fouling scraper will help to break it up.

used a collared ball screw but got my ramrod stuck and broke it.

 

[Lawdawg98]

More info is needed.

Did you get a ball stuck or did it come to you that way ?
Is there a load behind ball or is it dry balled ?
Is ball all the way down barrel or stuck half way ?

The more details the better.

I loaded it and she wouldn’t fire. I peppered the touch hole to get her to go and she wasn’t having it. Finally I resorted to pulling it out with the jig. It was safe and easy. She’s a Kentucky rifle flintlock that I built from a kit by traditions.

 

[Walkingeagle]

I have a .54 cal. CVA Hawken rifle that has a ball and a possible patch stuck in it. I bought it from a friend in the fire dept.
Didn't know there was a problem with it till I went to shoot it.

Just would not shoot right. put inspection camera down the bore and could not believe what I saw.
A stuck ball and patch in it.

Need to know how to remove the breach plug. Where can I get a breach plug wrench? Is it a right handed thread or Left hand thread?

Thanks for any help,

Dan

So… as you stated above, you went to shoot it and then noticed something wasn’t right. Does that mean you loaded it too?
Walk

 

[TDM]

I have a .54 cal. CVA Hawken rifle that has a ball and a possible patch stuck in it. I bought it from a friend in the fire dept.
Didn't know there was a problem with it till I went to shoot it.

Just would not shoot right. put inspection camera down the bore and could not believe what I saw.
A stuck ball and patch in it.

Need to know how to remove the breach plug. Where can I get a breach plug wrench? Is it a right handed thread or Left hand thread?

Thanks for any help,

Dan

If you said whether it’s a flint or percussion I missed it. If it’s a flint, remove the touch hole liner and remove the unknown powder or determine a lack of powder. You can do the same if it’s a percussion by removing the nipple and flushing with warm water. Once dry you could try a small (10-15 gr) charge to clear the ball. But with so many unknowns from what I’ve read I’d buy a good tapered puller jag from Track of the Wolf as mentioned and just pull it out. You’ll always need a good pulling jag for future mishaps.

Edit: missed the newest post where you said it was a flint and pulled it. Hope you got it sorted out.

 

[Moe ziggley]

few years back picked one up at an auction,,got it home,started cleaning found it loaded,,,,was gonna just shoot it but gave it a minute and got out the puller which didnt work,,went back to maybe i,ll shoot it,,put it up and thought about for a month,,came around another auction,,gave it to a guy that took it half way to ohio,,brought it back covered with grease but unloaded,,told me it had 5 pellets behind a conicul in it ,,and if i would have shot it it would went off like a stick a dinomite,,,that explains the grease ,,,,there should be a way to spread this grease gun thing,,i,m gunna try ,,cause i shot one last nite another one that i bought loaded,,,,eyes closed,,but it worked out,,thanks to the grease gun guy,,gonna try and copy and paste if thats allowed,,

 

[dan101955]

It is a percussion. Like the idea but am going to try the ball pulling again.

 

[dan101955]

When in basement and found my range rod. put a collared ball puller on it will be trying that again. I will also try and send a picture of the inside of the barrel.

another Question ....which powder should I use.2F or 3F. Have been using 3F but wanted to try 2F to see if any difference.

Thanks
Dan

 

[sb 54 cal.]

both powders will work. See which powder will group your shots the best.

 

[earlwb]

This post and the original post make my head hurt. How in the name of hades does one shoot a muzzleloader 2 or 3 times and then find a stuck ball in the barrel. That can’t happen people! It just can’t happen!! I give up on this thread. People are telling the original poster how to remove a stuck ball from a gun he’s been shooting and THEN finds a stuck ball in it. This poster also finds a stuck ball in a gun he just shot 2 or 3 times. Sheesh almighty lol.

I think what happens is that the ball is rammed all the way in to the breech plug. Thus you could place a load in front of it and it would fire off. The flash hole is just far enough forward to still let one fire the gun. But there can still be a ball up against the Breech plug.

I would have unscrewed the breech plug and pushed the ball out of the barrel via the breech end.

 

[UndeadPoet]

Yep, this needs to be answered first!

Agreed. There have been a lot of good solutions offered here, but some/most definitely depend on the specific situation. Sorry to hear that you are having issues.