Stuck ball in Hawkin Rifle

[powderrr46kegg]

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

 

[Britsmoothy]

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

That's two, not once

 

[flntlokr]

I'm using a 36" Creedmore cleaning rod and did have the ball puller firmly seated at one point. After several days (literally) of tugging without success I unscrewed it and tried various concoctions down the barrel to soften things up. Now I can't get the puller reseated. I've managed to create a nice hole in the ball and that is why I'm now thinking maybe I can just continue and try to drill through it and simply dump out the bits that remain.
From the experience I have described - should I consider this barrel trash, or is there hope?

The grease gun idea is good. All you need to do is get it moving, then air pressure should do it (or a 'silent discharger CO2 thingy) You shouldn't have to fill the bore with grease. I don't know why the ball won't move with air pressure; the most I have ever needed was about 60psi, and they came out hard!(make sure it's pointed safely, or drape a rag loosely over the muzzle) Ball pullers are always a last resort for when nothing else is around. BY screwing into the ball, you expand it and cause it to tighten in the bore. You also run the risk of it gouging the barrel wall if it gets off centre. You might try pressing a tubeless tire valve over the nipple, and putting air through the valve; it will give a better seal than just trying to get a blow gun on it. Works on flinters too. Or just de-breach it, and get the load out from behind.

 

[flntlokr]

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

They come out hard, don't they? Next time, stick the barrel in a bucket of water or point it outdoors. I have caught such balls (once) just by hanging a piece of fabric loosely over the muzzle.

 

[45man]

I hate grease! I have all kinds of fittings for the grease gun and only one works anyway for the mowers or grease comes out the sides. To have a barrel full of grease turns me off. How do you rod it? Bad stuck balls just took some FFFFG into the nipple to move the ball. Then more FFFFG and reseat. Soon it will shoot out. Air or CO2 is best but not in the field. What to do after driving 150 miles to hunt and have a problem? What do you do with a flint lock? Many solutions if you are home but halfway across the country you better learn to fix with no tools.

 

[Stantheman86]

I'm going to try to just insert a thick metal rod into the bore and pound it down to the breech, then bloop it out with a dribble of 3f under the nipple.....in the case of my Buffalo Hunter.

 

[Griz44Mag]

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

Think that was fun? Try one of the CO2 dischargers. I hit the berm at 50 yards with a resounding thump....

 

[Grenadier1758]

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

Brass brushes are another object that gets stuck in barrels and are difficult to remove.

 

[DAKurth1]

I'm going to try to just insert a thick metal rod into the bore and pound it down to the breech, then bloop it out with a dribble of 3f under the nipple.....in the case of my Buffalo Hunter.

There was a new shooter at our club who dry balled his .45 T/C Hawken.
He tried a ball puller, but just ended up putting a hole through the ball, which collapsed the ball enough that he ended up shoving it into the patented breech, covering the flash hole.
I tried the 4f powder under the nipple with no luck!
I tried my CO2 discharger, again no luck.
I ended up taking his barrel home and removing the breech plug to drill the ball out and that’s when I saw why the “shoot or blow it out” methods didn’t work!

 

[45man]

Yeah, the ball blocks the hole and you are done. You will not get powder behind the ball. But I still say ball pullers are too large and just make it tighter.
But how in the world did you get the TC plug out? I have the tool and you can't hold the barrel without a 3' pipe wrench. That thing must be torqued at 300 ft#

 

[Britsmoothy]

Actually the screw does not press the lead against the barrel. It will indeed lengthen the ball and can actually aid loosening.

 

[DAKurth1]

Yeah, the ball blocks the hole and you are done. You will not get powder behind the ball. But I still say ball pullers are too large and just make it tighter.
But how in the world did you get the TC plug out? I have the tool and you can't hold the barrel without a 3' pipe wrench. That thing must be torqued at 300 ft#

I had the breech plug removal fitting.
Chucked the barrel into my bench vise that was padded with aluminum angle iron and used a 14” crescent wrench on the breech plug tool to remove the breech plug.
I had put some Kroil in the barrel after putting a toothpick into the nipple and let it sit for a day and that certainly helped!

 

[vintovka]

The grease method seems safest way. Adding FFFFG under nipple may or may not work but doubt it will damage the barrel in any way. Long ago Hal Sharon told me the story of how he won a lawsuit against him. He showed the jury how strong his barrels were by plugging both ends, packing with powder and setting it off by a fuse thru a touch hole. All the fire came out of touch hole - no barrel damage. Got the idea from DGW Turner Kirklands Catalog and it saved him $1000's on that bogus lawsuit. On another note a customer came in with a steel ball bearing tightly rusted in near breech. No powder. We added some 3F (ground fine with two spoons) and reinstalled the nipple. On firing -- all the fire came our the nipple cocking the hammer back. Not recommended. Very exciting, but no deal and wound up pulling plug and ramming bearing. (BTW tight fitting shiny ball bearings are not a good idea for use as a bore inspection reflector.)

 

[45man]

Back long ago I lapped molds for Minie" balls to fit rifling. Got one done and it got stuck so I put a few gr of FFFFG in the nipple. Pushed the ball down and shot it. I held pointed at the 2X4 bench leg. I felt the ball go down the barrel slow with a puff at the muzzle. The Minie" went full depth in the 2X4. What? A grain or 2 did that. It could kill for sure so be extra carful.

 

[Robwright]

I now have a .54 cal T/C percussion Hawken that I won in an auction on GunBroker earlier this spring. I was actually looking for an 1805 Harper’s Ferry pistol when I first saw it. My $280 bid was bumped to $300 and surprise - I won (or lost- depends how we look at it – keep reading).

I now have a muzzleloader in my garage with a stuck ball and 90 grains of GoEx FF sitting behind it. Yes – I did clean the gun before taking it to the range. My original cleaning included boiling water down the pipe and watching it squirt out of the nipple hole. This was followed by numerous patches to swab it dry. The black powder guru at my club swears by Mystery Oil so I followed his procedure. Remove the nipple and replace with ¼ x28 panhead screw to close the exit, fill with oil, stand it in the corner and go away. A few days later I dump the oil and swab it dry with patch after patch. Let it dry further for a day or two and then go to the range and shoot it.

Once at the range, the CCI #11 caps would not work with the original nipple so I replaced with a brand new one. Cracked off 2 or 3 caps and then dumped 90 grains of GoEx down the barrel and got a good bang. Swabbed the barrel and loaded her up with patched 0.530 lead ball. First trigger pull, I heard the cap, but no powder discharge. New cap - Second squeeze – BANG - all is well. I then send a cleaning patch down the barrel and discover that the barrel is incredibly fouled from just one shot. In fact the rod becomes stuck and I need to recruit another set of hands to assist. Load it up again and same routine. This time I go through several caps without a discharge before a good BANG.

It’s the 3rd ball that is still in there now. I have tried compressed air and a military style ball puller. Nothing wants to work. I poured ½ bottle of Ballistol down the barrel to let it soak. What’s next? I am considering a 36” x 3/8 drill bit to grind the lead to bits, but there is powder behind that ball. Is this a really bad idea? Should I just park this barrel in the corner and forget about it? And - What’s with the misfires? Is this not uncommon?

I have an India made flintlock Brown Bess that is fired frequently. There have been misfires, but usually it is because there was no spark and the flint is to blame. I expect a percussion lock gun to fire if the cap cracks off.

Help me out here!

I took a cheap aluminum cleaning rod and forced a deck screw (with the head ground off) into the threads where the jag would normally go. Wrapped masking tape around the rod enough to center the screw in the bore. Worked it into the ball enough to get a decent "grab", then applied compressed air to the nipple while gently pulling on the rod. Once the ball begins to move it will pull out. Did this twice after my powder got congealed and caked up in the breech while hunting in snowy conditions.

 

[Barrie Dale]

I use a military style Ball puller from Track of the Wolf to get any stuck balls out of any Barrel These work extremely well and are cheap to buy as well. It has a very strong pointed sharp thread on it which sticks into the ball and pulls it out quite easily.

 

[mjpchief]

Just went through the stuck ball deal yesterday. Tried a bullet puller and it pulled loose from the bullet twice. Took the rifle home and tried the air compressor and got nothing. Finally put a grease fitting in the nipple hole and started pumping. Since I didn't want to look down the barrel to see if the ball was moving I stuck a drill bit in the muzzle against the ball to be able to see it move. After pumping the barrel full of grease it began to pressure up and "bang" the bit left the barrel. Thought I had it. The ball had jerked just enough against the bit to jar it out of the barrel. Put the bit back and started pumping again. After about 5-6 more pumps "bang" again. This time the bit left the barrel again followed by the ball, patch, and powder. Found the bit but haven't found the ball and patch yet. Spent a little time cleaning the grease out of the barrel and it's ready to go again. Grease zert and grease gun is the way to go.

 

[Barrie Dale]

If my puller fails to dislodge the stuck Ball we usually pull the nipple out and feed a small amount of NO.4 powder down behind the ball. I then re-install the nipple and cap it off aiming down range of course. This always works every time.

 

[mjpchief]

If my puller fails to dislodge the stuck Ball we usually pull the nipple out and feed a small amount of NO.4 powder down behind the ball. I then re-install the nipple and cap it off aiming down range of course. This always works every time.

This ball was stuck about 4" down from the muzzle and was not going to go any further down the barrel. Had to use the grease gun method

 

[MikeJW]

I just cleared a stuck ball with my range rod (T/C Hawken 54)(AR15 military cleaning rod) with ball puller screw attached. I then inserted the cleaning rod in my battery drill, gently screwed into the ball and then removed the drill from the rod and inserted the rod in my bench vise, tightened it down and gave a jerk on the barrel and it all came out. Oops, almost forgot I sprayed windshield cleaner down the bore to soak the patch and make it slick.
MikeW