Stuck ball in Hawkin Rifle

[hawkeye2]

If you think you have problems now wait till you have drilled a hole all the way through the ball. Don't go there. Your best bet is the grease gun and grease fitting. No the barrel isn't trash unless you do something to damage it. What you are experiencing is just another day in the life of a black powder shooter.

 

[rafterob]

Have always been able to pull a ball with a ball puller, not always easy. Sounds like you have lubed it up plenty. When pulling a ball it is best to have some mechanical advantage. Tie a slip knot on a rope and suspend it from a tree branch or rafter in the garage. It needs to be high enough to allow you room to pull the rifle away from it. Your rod must have a knob or T handle so the loop can grip the rod. So once you have the ball puller securely entered into the ball, slip the loop over your rod and then jerk your rifle away from the rope.
If indeed you have, or do bore the center out of the ball the grease method may be your only hope.
A couple notes to prevent this again. Filling the barrel with oil was not wise. More than likely you had a significant amount of oil in that breech and that gums stuff up real quick.
After cleaning with warm soapy water,rinsing and then drying. I put one drop of oil in the nipple hole and then use my patched cleaning rod to suck it through and blow excess back out.
The other thing you mentioned was "Swabbing" the bore. That is where many folks go wrong. A damp patch is all that is necessary and don't use an up and down motion. Push the patch down, give it a few seconds and then pull all the way out. Reverse it and do it again (or use another clean damp patch. Then follow with dry patches. Many make the mistake of pumping the ramrod up and down and this forces crud back in to the breech.

 

[bobboss]

I've ordered the the centering styled ball puller and will try that first. Grease gun will be if all else fails. Thanks all for the input.

 

[Mark Herman]

If you use a bronze or brass brush make sure it is fastened together with a twisted wire, not a press fit shaft. They are a bugger to get out when they come apart in the bore. Not impossible but difficult.
Mark

 

[Otter]

I've ordered the the centering styled ball puller and will try that first. Grease gun will be if all else fails. Thanks all for the input.

Once you get the ball puller firmly into the ball (I am assuming you will be using a steel/SS range rod), hook the T-handle/ball end of the rod in a vise or in a small crotch of a tree. take the butt end of the rifle and pull on the rifle with as much pressure as needed. Might take less pull than you think. Be sure to keep the barrel and rod as straight as you can. Pull the BARREL off the ball, not the BALL out of the barrel.

 

[azmntman]

If ya blow through the ball with the ball puller the grease gun will fill the barrel with grease and the stuck ball will be right where it started and have 30" plus of grease on top. NOW YOU CAN CUSS

 

[hawkeye2]

If you make a hole all the way through with the puller or any other way you will be removing the breech plug to drive the ball out. Again, go with the grease gun. Since you have already tried a ball puller you may have a hole in the ball that's too big for your new puller to bite into.

 

[Britsmoothy]

No gents. If there is a hole in the ball screw the puller in when you pump the grease gun.

 

[azmntman]

:thumbs up: always thinkin! Great post, thanks

 

[nhmoose]

Thinking if a hole is through the ball put the screw back in and then Grease pump it out like you should have the first time.

A good gunsmith it would be out now.

Listening to those who said pump it out with grease it would be out now.

Learn from it.

I have unloaded over 150 ML in my shop with the grease fitting, safely by the way so when folks refuse to listen have a good day. Hope you don't get hurt and are able to us the gun again after fixing the damage you created.

 

[madsweeney]

If the barrel has a breech plug, you can always remove it and drive the ball out with a dowel or rod

 

[Grenadier1758]

The T/C breech plug should use a fitted breech plug adapter to remove the breech plug. T/C installed these breech plugs with a lot of torque and can be quite difficult to remove. Removal of the breech plug is the last option for removal of a stuck ball from a T/C. However it is an option for a black powder gunsmith with the correct tools.

Once again, I am going to recommend the screw the ball puller into the ball. Use the grease fitting to start the ball moving and then it should be capable of using the ball puller to remove the ball.

By now the OP has had time to reflect on the tendency of black powder (and substitutes) to fail to fire when the breech is still very damp from the wet swabbing of the bore.

 

[Kansas Jake]

I have the usual ball screw with a guide. I managed to screw though a ball once. Luckily, I also have had a brass ball screw for many years it is dull and hard to start. It is also tapered a bit. The hole made a nice pilot hole and that did the trick with the brass pulling screw. Another thing from experience is to start with a good strong pull to see if the screw is snug and then when the ball moves keep going.

 

[Griz44Mag]

If you use a bronze or brass brush make sure it is fastened together with a twisted wire, not a press fit shaft. They are a bugger to get out when they come apart in the bore. Not impossible but difficult.
Mark

Did I miss something? What does a brass brush have to with with a stuck ball in the bore?

 

[Marinekayak]

So I had found an old Musketoon that my father had in the basement since the early 80s. I tried co2, grease fittings and broke a puller off. The musketon is.58 so i took 9/16 brass tubing and beveled the edge to a sharp circle with some saw teeth cut in it and then expoxied it on a metal rod. The 9\16 was just barely fit down the bore. i worked the rod past the bullet and got it out of the barrel. It took a little banging but it worked. Turned out it was maxi hunter that sat in the bore so long that it had glued itself in. Even the pyrodex that had been the charge had turned solid and I had to soak the bore then flush it out. It wasn`t pretty but now I have a musketoon that I shot as a little kid shooting again.

 

[Idaho Ron]

A friend of mine brought his rifle to me with a stuck ball in the barrel. I used a grease zerk to remove it. I bought an extra long Grease zerk because a normal grease zerk will not allow the tip of the grease gun to lock on. I only had to give it a few pumps and the ball popped. The safest way to remove a stuck ball from a barrel is a grease zerk no doubt about it.

 

[SDSmlf]

Grease fitting and a grease gun are hard to beat for getting a stuck ball out.

 

[theoldredneck]

Cleaning the grease out after you get the ball out is a lot easier than the effort to pull a stuck ball sometimes. If I can't shoot it out by putting a little powder under it and pushing it against the powder, next step is grease gun. Then scrub barrel. Then I promise myself to never do it again. Later when I do again, after saying all the magic words of profanity I say something profound like
"Crap, can't believe I just did it again ".

 

[Dibbuk]

The T/C nipples use 1/4x28 threads, so you should be able to find a straight Zerk grease fitting that will fit. Use a good quality high pressure grease gun. Finally, tie a pillow case around the muzzle, because when the ball finally releases, it will release all the pressurized grease as well, and without something to catch it in, it will make an incredible mess.

 

[powderrr46kegg]

had a dryball once, learned not to use air to force ball out. ball came out went thru barn wall