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

[Philip Lebow]

Gents, Just FYI, I had to unbreech an early CVA Hawken. Left loaded in a damp place. VERY heavily rusted in otherwise clean
barrel. Un-breeching those barrels is very tough. Got the drum out with Kroil and rattling it with a brass hammer. Had to weld a slotted block
to the tiny plug tang, put the bbl in the barrel vise, and two 'smiths on the cheater on the tang block.
Barrel was so ratty from rust, that I had to make a new breech plug and put in a new drum, after I cut off last 2 inches of breech end.
Moved everything on the bottom of the barrel forward 2 inches, and shortened the ramrod.
Drum was from Track. Test fired it with 100gr FFg and a roundball. No leaks. Yay.
Don't try this at home....unless you are a machinist 'smith.

 

[Rawhide67]

If it's only part of a ball or a build up of something, the grease gun trick won't work. It'll just squeeze by the problem.

If OP tries to pull the breach, I'd be very careful. Those buttons on the breach plug break off easily. Ask me how I know.

A scraper near bore diameter could work, maybe after a judicious soak of the bore in solvent.

 

[Walkingeagle]

He solved the problem.
Walk

 

[rrebuck]

If you get the ball puller to thread into the stuck ball, but just can't pull it out for whatever reason, then put the ramrod into a vice and pull on the gun. I've never had that not work.

 

[Jaeger]

I woud try to pull the ball with a range rod and ball puller. You might also be able to blow it out with compressed air or a grease gun. Try the easy methods first before pulling the plug.

I agree with the range rod and a ball screw. Before you pull, squirt a bunch of lubricant: WD 40, penetrant, heck, even water....down the bore to unstick the ball and patch. If the screw pulls out of the ball, restart and try again. Persistence pays. Then try the other stuff.

 

[French Colonial]

I agree with the range rod and a ball screw. Before you pull, squirt a bunch of lubricant: WD 40, penetrant, heck, even water....down the bore to unstick the ball and patch. If the screw pulls out of the ball, restart and try again. Persistence pays. Then try the other stuff.

Gentlemen, trying to be as nice as possible, Please read the thread before responding.

You are WAY behind the curve.

 

[UndeadPoet]

Gentlemen, trying to be as nice as possible, Please read the thread before responding.

You are WAY behind the curve.

Yep. Lots of great info and suggestions have come in after, but the problem has already been resolved, and ended up not being a stuck ball and patch; just a crud build-up, that was cleaned up. Thanks everyone!

 

[DixieTexian]

Regarding the use of a ball puller, having one is a great accessory to have on hand, for sure. The rub is that some have a screw that is much longer than ball diameter. A longer screw than your ball is not a good thing! If you go completely through and pierce your ball, then the grease fitting method will not work at all later! I'd recommend making a collar of some sort to fit over the too-long-screw part which limits the screw length to about 3/4 of your ball diameter, that way you can't pierce the ball all the way through which leaves the grease fitting method still a viable last resort alternative. Good luck!

With a CVA style breech, if you screw all the way through the ball you've basically solved your problem. Just make sure it is seated all the way down and go back to shooting it. You may also find that you need to get a larger diameter screw to screw through it again and enlarge the chamber in your newly extended chambered breech if you have issues with powder bridging over the hole, but expanding the hole in soft lead should be pretty easy.

 

[dan101955]

Thanks to all that gave me suggestions to try.
I ended up using a range ros with a stainless wire brush on it.
Put it all the way down the barrel and put my drill on the range rod and scrubbed the barrel for 2. min and rechecked the barrel with camera and was clean as new.
Took it out and fired it with 3 f and 2 f and had no issues.

Dan

 

[Dave Markowitz]

Going forward to keep the breech clean, take advantage of the fact that your rifle has a patent breech and you can easily dismount it from the stock for cleaning. Remove the nipple and place the breech end in a bucket of warm water with a couple drops of dishwashing soap, and use a cleaning patch to pump the water back and forth through the barrel. It will get the bore clean quickly and also make sure the powder chamber and flash channel are clean.

Just make sure it's dry and oiled before you put it away.

 

[Frontier's]

Breech plug is super difficult to remove on these guns and I'd not suggest it, over an old load.

 

[Harmonica Bob]

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

You don't have to remove the breech plug! I am not embarrised to say that I have done this. I am embarrised to say that I did this twice the same day! lol If you don't have FFFF powder, make some by crushing what you have. Friction can set it off, so only crush a little at a time, and keep it away from the flask!!! Remove the nipple or flash hole liner, then get as much of the fine powder in there as you can. DO NOT DO THIS WITH THE BALL HALFWAY DOWN THE BARREL!!! Using the ram rod, you can tell if there could be old powder under the ball. Assume that it could come out HOT! but more likely, it will just pop out. Then just shoot it out. If it only moves part way up the barrel, push it back down. Work more powder in there and shoot it out.

 

[frankie]

Have you tried youtube videos

 

[Walkingeagle]

Sigh…
Walk

 

[French Colonial]

Sigh…
Walk

Reading is hard

 

[dan101955]

Going forward to keep the breech clean, take advantage of the fact that your rifle has a patent breech and you can easily dismount it from the stock for cleaning. Remove the nipple and place the breech end in a bucket of warm water with a couple drops of dishwashing soap, and use a cleaning patch to pump the water back and forth through the barrel. It will get the bore clean quickly and also make sure the powder chamber and flash channel are clean.

Just make sure it's dry and oiled before you put it away.

That is the way I clean all my black powder rifles. HOT water and dawn soap.

 

[dan101955]

Breech plug is super difficult to remove on these guns and I'd not suggest it, over an old load.

Totally agree.

 

[dan101955]

Breech plug is super difficult to remove on these guns and I'd not suggest it, over an old load.

Totally agree

 

[dan101955]

The gun has a button breech plug.
Was made in 1988.reat gun fun to shoot.

 

[UndeadPoet]

The gun has a button breech plug.
Was made in 1988.reat gun fun to shoot.

My first muzzleloader was a 1995 CVA St. Louis Hawken in .50 cal that I bought new. I acquired a 1990 .54 cal barrel for it later, as well. Both were button breeches. It was a great rifle that I didn’t shoot enough.