Stuck ball removed with lighter fliud charge?

[Darryl]

I just heard the darnest thing. Remove the nipple and squirt lighter fluid in, replacing the nipple, and fire to shoot out the stuck powderless ball. Has anyone heard or tried this?

 

[oldmaster]

I've never heard of this but it sounds like a recipe for disaster. First, I don't think you could get enough fluid in to create an explosion large enough to dislodge a ball and second, if any fluid got on your stock, it would also erupt in flame, setting the stock on fire and possibly you too. :nono:

 

[musketman]

I just heard the darnest thing. Remove the nipple and squirt lighter fluid in, replacing the nipple, and fire to shoot out the stuck powderless ball. Has anyone heard or tried this?

You run the risk of setting the woods/range/home on fire if it works...

I suspect it wont work due to the lack of oxygen in the bore, whereas black powder is nitrated, lighter fluid is not...

There may be enough oxygen in the tube if you don't run the ball all the way down, but then you could ring the barrel, not worth the chance...

What if you have gas blow back out of the nipple or touchhole?

Can you image the fun of burning off your eyebrows with a percussion flame-thrower...

 

[guncobbler]

before we throw to much cold water on this idea, who has a pressure transducer and an old barrel? Put the transducer at base of the stuck bullet and let's see what happens. What we have here is a metal barrelled potato gun with limited oxygen. If schedule 40 pvc pipe can hold the detonation pressure of a quart of well mixed nitrocellulose hairspray and air then a barrel ought to hold the pressure of one third cup of air and not all that well carburated lighter fluid. Let the testing begin! GC

 

[SquirrelsaurusR]

Darryl,
Don't try anything like that unless you're a ballistician and have access to a lab. What if the stuff ignites but doesn't produce enough pressure to move the ball? The aforementioned blowback could mean a neat little mushroom cloud in your face. Not worth the risk just to see if it works.

To paraphrase another expression...
If it sounds like a stupid idea, it probably is.

 

[riarcher]

I can't imagine anyone, ever, that thought it would be a good idea to watch the vent hole during probable ignition. :shocking:

If you fire it off with a match, could you tell folks you've a new match gun? :: :crackup:

 

[cayugad]

I've watched a person some years back set one off with a long nose lighter. He took the nipple off and put that lighter to the hole after he packed powder behind a dead ball. It went pop and the ball went about 25 yards down range.

I personally could not understand why he just did not cap it, but he did it that way. It was interesting. Now you got me wondering about the lighter fluid...

:crackup:

 

[Zonie]

Nope, not me.
I'm trying to figure out why someone would even think to put lighter fluid into the gun in the first place?

If the nipple is removed, it is safer and easier to just pour a little powder into the cavity and tap the gun a few times to work the powder down into the flash channel and the chamber. Doing this a few times, reseating the nipple and popping a cap to fire it doesn't take much effort and it's safer.

I'm not saying the lighter fluid wouldn't work if you gave it time to evaporate in the flash channel and the back of the chamber but it would have to be the fumes that are being ignited to have any explosive force.

As others said, it sounds like a good way to set your gun and maybe yourself on fire.

 

[Smokin6Gun]

What ever happened to the ol ball puller and worm...HaHa! I still remove the nipple and pour powder to the breech. I've seen the compressed air kits also. You won't see me usin one, imagine packin one a those across the Desert or thru the woods. And lighter fluid ... I'll jus' type this, "Common Sense!"

 

[Chrismico]

You got it right Zonie. Just take out the nipple and tap a little 4f into the hole. Not too much, or it will compress under the nipple as it's screwed back in, and form a very hard, solid blockage that will not allow the spark to ignite it or pass through to the charge.

I have used this method to remove a stuck ramrod, but for stuck projectiles, I can almost always get it out with a ball puller. I was very leery about trying this with that ramrod, but I couldn't get it out any other way without damaging it. It ended up shooting about 30 yards and hitting some asphalt, which left a mark on the aluminum Knight range rod, but it didn

 

[Maynerd62411]

The first time I tried this it took me 4 times before I put enough in to push the ball out.
I was a little paranoid of putting too much in and making a big BANG. :winking:
My son forgot to put powder in , at the range, and I forgot my nipple wrench at home.
I live in town. :nono:
I've got this one "neighbor" that looks for an excuse to call the cops on someone. :curse:

 

[Smokin6Gun]

Chris don't feel bad I was doing a rapid fire practice at the range with my 1863 Remington Zouave.58 Mini's. Had one round go off mighty stought, though I put too much powder in it. Till I went to reload couldn't find my steel rod. That was over 10 years ago it must a gone 200-300 yards down range up in a tree or got burried in the Desert brush. One hell of a kick it was. :applause:

 

[soggy]

I know the feeling Smoking Gun..........It hurts don't it ? and your friends never let you forget it :crackup: Even the guy at Track of the Wolf teased me when I ordered the replacement.
Soggy

 

[Chrismico]

Hey, there's another reason to use a range rod. In case you inadvertently leave your ramrod in the bore and shoot it away, never to be seen again, you will still have your factory rod left on the gun, lol!

I always use a heavy brass range rod with the .58 calibers Zouave and the Enfield. They both have that narrow steel ramrod that can be painful to use. It gives me a lot of respect for the guys who had to use them in the heat of battle. I guess the Zouave wasn

 

[Smokin6Gun]

I told um that's what you do when you run outta shot. :crackup:

 

[Smokin6Gun]

<------ is NYS :thumbsup:

 

[Tahquamenon]

Not a good idea in my view.

Unsafe for you, those around you and the environment and unhealthy for your rifle and stock.

:imo:

 

[Chrismico]

Now I remember reading that shooting the ramrod was something that was done in battle when you ran out of shot. The gun was useless anyway without any shot and if the enemy was coming at you, you used what you had. If the ramrod was all you had left, it was used as a projectile. It would make a pretty lethal arrow.

I have also read that the first projectiles that were used when the first guns were invented were arrows. It was the transition period from the bow and arrow to the gun, so the first thing that was thought of to shoot out of a gun was an arrow.

 

[BLAHMAN]

Next thing ya know, we'll hear about some guy who not only dry-balled his gun, but then forgot to bring some lighter fluid.

I can just see it now:

Some guy at a gas station trying to get a drip or two of gas into his[url] rifle...standin[/url]' there at the pump.....makes ya wonder if hi-octane works better than regular! :haha: :hmm: ::

 

[fho]

Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!