Stuck ball -=- need help

[jweston]

I was firing yesterday (50 cal lyman GPR) and after 8 rounds, I mistakenly rammed a patch and ball without loading the powder charge.

I had been swabing to the level of the seated ball between shots, so I am sure that there was fouling below this point.

I put the screw-top ball pulling jag on my rod and tried to extract without success.

When I got home, I put ballistol/water into the barrel and the removed vent hole.

I am still unable to remove the patched ball.

My rod is a 3/8 brass rod and I have been gripping the end with pliers. No success.

Suggestions/advice appreciated.

BBurg

 

[Jac Spring]

Two things: one needs to be done at the range or in a safe place to shoot - just put some powder under the ball, reassemble and be sure to tamp the ball down over the charge, then shoot the ball out. Second, you can get one of the C02 powered ball removers - uses pressurized CO2 to shoot the ball out.

 

[bramble]

Blacksburg,

There are two basic categories of muzzleloaders, them what has dry balled & them that will.


do a search on this website. There are a couple of very long threads with excellent advice on this topic. In addition to the one above, folks have used air compressors and have replaced the nipple with a zerk fitting and powered it out using a grease gun.

bramble

 

[Black Hand]

I would drill a small cross-hole in the end of your brass rod just big enough to get a nail in to use as a T-handle. The pliers will not give you enough purchase. Then run the screw into the ball, add a little water to the barrel as a lube and slowly pull the ball out using the T-handle.

You could also try holding the end of the rod in a vise and pulling on the gun.

I would shoot it out only if this happened in a field situation since water/Ballistol in the barrel could foul your charge enough that it wouldn't fire.

 

[jweston]

As suggested, I drilled a hole through my ramrod, inserted an allen wrench for purchase and pulled out my lead-incrusted ballpuller. At this point, I am unable to get the ballpuller to get any purchase on the ball.

If I try to blow (powder) the ball out, how should I clear out the water/ballistol?

BBurg

 

[Black Hand]

Clear out the lead and run it in again. You'll eventually get purchase, but make sure the ball/patch is pretty well soaked. Right now the patch is stuck to the fouling and the ball is stuck to the patch (and also has been expanded a bit by the screw).

It also helps if you turn the rod while you are pulling. This appears to keep the screw in the ball better (at least this works for me).

 

[jweston]

Black Hand, this is what I have been doing. Right now I have a conical shaped hole in the ball formed by the screw. I have tried to drill it in, but my ball puller has a cylindrical disk which is preventing it from going any deeper into the ball.
BBurg

 

[Black Hand]

You must have a commercial ball puller....I went to the hardware store and found some of those double-ended screws, the ones with thread on one end and the screw thread on the other. They come in several sizes. This might be the thing you need, as the commercial ones I have seen look way too short. Sorry if this has caused you difficulty, I know what a pain it is to get a stuck ball out.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Use several applications of alcohol to evaporate out oil and water from the breech. When the back end of the chamber is dry, see if you can move the ball forward any with a small screw driver, or rod. Any movement forward will give more room for powder.

Then put as much FFFg or FFFFg powder as you can behind the ball, and a little in the flash channel or drum, and put your nipple back on. Cap, and fire off in a safe direction. It does not take much powder to move that ball down the barrel. If the barrel does not come completely out the barrel, remove the nipple, pour about 5-10 grains of FFFg powder into the barrel, Then reseat the ball down on the powder, and fire the gun in a safe direction. That should blow the ball out.

 

[George Holton]

Same goes for shooting the ramrod.

 

[George Holton]

There is a form of drywall screw that has teeth on the rhread,maybe????

 

[bucktales]

I'm another advocate of the Co2 discharger. To me, it's a small investment compared to a headache.

 

[Slake]

the CO2 discharger will usually work like a charm but if there's a hole clean through the ball from repeat grabs with the screw extractor it might not be the ticket...the grease gun should still work

 

[jweston]

I removed the ball extractor, put the normal tip, and frammed on the rod to reshape the top of the ball. I was then able to use the ball extractor to remove the remaining lump of lead.

What have I learned?
1. Put the powder in first.
2. Soaking the barrel in Ballistol makes cleaning a breeze.

What have I gained?
A neat hole in the rod that I can put the allen wrench through to gain purchase.

Thanks for all the suggestions.
BTW I think CO2 is for carbonating beer.

BBurg

 

[Slake]

actually nitrogen makes for much smoother tasting beer {Guinness, for example}
the 4H kids have a saying they repeat to themselves:
Powder Patch and ball or you have no shot at all

 

[buzz bait]

i did the same exact some thing :redface: i just used a ball puller had to work at it about 10 minsi was using thin patchs .010that probly helped a little.

 

[AeroncaTAL]

Blacksburg,
I'm glad that you got the ball out. A couple months ago at our club shoot, I got distracted and dryballed. I was thinking of all the frustrations of pulling a ball I've read about when another club member told me to put a few grains of 4f down the drum. I was surprised at how little grains it took to shoot the ball out...
Scott

 

[Dickert54cal]

RMC in PA makes a great CO2 product for getting the ball out. They sell them to Cabelas and other companies. I bought mine direct with all the extra adaptors plus 3 extra carts. or air for $40. I have never dry balled a gun yet but Im sure the day will come. I saw how well it works after a group of us got together this year for our first annual PA Traditionla Flintlock Hunt. Instaed of shooting the ball out and having to clean the gun it was so much easier to shoot it out with air and not have to clean at 11 PM when we got home. The way I helped 2 friends at the range was to unscrew the touch hole and force some 3F powder under the ball -----easy to do in the case of a Lyman. Took several minutes but it got the ball out once enough was placed behind the ball then shot like normal.

 

[J.D.]

I'm glad you removed that stuck ball, however, IMHO, you did it the hard way.

IF I remember correctly, the GPR has a patent breech system that requires about 20-30 gr of powder to fill.

Assuming that you have a flint gun, enough powder can be picked into the powder chamber to blow the ball out without removing the vent.

In the case of a cap gun, remove the nipple and trickle enough BLACK powder into the flash channel to blow the ball out.

As someone mentioned, it takes surprisingly little powder to blow the ball out.

I mentioned trickling BLACK powder into the flash channel because the grains of most subs are too large to enter the channel.

Several years ago, I noticed a new rendezvouer trying to clear his rifle. It wouldn't fire. His friend, and who needs friends like this one, removed the nipple and tried to trickle pyrodex into the flash channel. The grains were too large to work their way down the channel, and the "friend" wrenched the nipple down onto the pyro, compressing it into a solid mass.

The gun still wouldn't fire, so the "friend" left the poor slob to fend for himself.

This poor kid looked like he was ready to cry, so I walked over to offer my help. The nipple was removed to find a mass of pyro so solid that even a good vent pick would barely penetrate the mass.
The cleanout screw was eventually removed, and the pick used to vent the solid mass of pyr out of the "cleanout".

The nipple was reinstalled and the gun fired, minus the cleanout screw. Normally, I wouldn't dare do something like this, but this was one of those rare situations calling for extreme measures. :nono:

The pyro sounded like a bottle rocket streaking for the stars, as it vented through the "cleanout". The gun fired, in what seemed like several seconds later, as the pyro finally burned through to the main charge.

The screw was installed in the cleanout, and the shooter instructed to reload to insure that the flash channel was now clear. His gun still wouldn't fire, so the nipple removed and enough priming trickled into the flash channel to fire the piece. No venting was necessary.

I made him clean the breech before He was allowed to reload. His gun fired without fail after cleaning the congealed oil from the breech.

The moral of the story is; clean the breech well and always use black powder. One never knows when the subs will cause more problems than they promise to solve.
J.D.

 

[clayman49]

Hi There,
Quite a few ways to remove your dry loaded RB, some better than others. 1st, with your vent removed, fill space with powder (but make sure you have no air void there, as you will damage your barrel)then fire the ball out. 2nd, use Co2 as sugested else where and this could be the safest way out. 3rd, with a small drill, bore a hole in the RB, then insert the ball puller scew. A ring or a hole (for a T bar)in the end of your range rode will aid pulling the RB out. The reason for drilling the RB is to reduce ball swell when screwing in the screw ball puller, which will ease the pulling of the RB.