**** Warning!, unless you want to feel stupid, do not attempt the moronic skills described in this post *****
Sorry about the post length....
Soooooo, I went out hunting today. Driving along a few hours in and start to notice a fair bit of bear scat on the road. I figure why not?, let's give it a try, So I park the truck and start up a spur road on foot. I'd been walking maybe 5 mins and a Blacky crosses the road about 50yds ahead of me. I chamber a round in the ol' 30/06 and head into the timber after him. Apparently he's smarter than me because that was the only time I saw him or any trace of him. 20 mins go by, I said forget it and made my way back to the truck.
As I neared the truck I proceeded to eject the live round that was in the chamber. Once I opened the bolt I was treated to a shiny piece of brass and an action full of powder........ Dammit!!!!. The bullet was lodged in the rifling and was not willing to come out. (I didn't cycle my handloads through the action before heading out and apparently a couple OAL's were just a hair too long). I emptied the remaining rounds through the floorplate.
So now back at the truck I had to figure out how to remove the bullet or else call it a day (in hindsight I should have just called it a day). Being that my cleaning rods were in my range kit and at home I started looking through the truck for something........ Nothing. Then I started looking for a stick....... Hmmmm, (nope I'm not jamming a stick down the barrel).....
We (wife was there) started driving a little farther along, me pretty pissed right now, when I see the radio antenna on the truck........ Hmmmmm?. So I stop, get out, look it over and think "yeah!, that'll work". It's about 1/4" in diameter and vinyl covered...... Perfect!
Only problem, it's fixed, aka..... I can't remove it.
Here's where things get a little stupid......
So Me, in my infinite wisdom, decide I'll just climb up and feed the rifle down the antenna!, Yeah Genius!. So I hand the rifle bolt to my wife and up I go. I slid the barrel down the antenna, a little tap and presto! The Bullet is no longer stuck, Awesome!....... Or so I thought.
I proceeded to remove the rifle from the antenna only to discover that although the bullet cleared the barrel it was still in the chamber area. As the antenna was sliding out the bore the tapered bullet was wedging itself tighter against it.......... Dammit!! So after screwing with this for a few minutes trying the get the bullet out of the chamber with the antenna, the rifle was now fully seated against the truck fender and I had no ability to get it off the antenna without wedging the bullet tighter............ Yeah........ I'm stupid.
So, time to reflect....... And of course, I get my first passerby.........
"Hey there!, we're just heading up the road a litt.............. Uh.....How the hell'd you manage that"?
Me: "What?, you haven't seen the new M70 antenna cozy?".......... Hahaha.
Anyways..... With a little ingenuity, and a sacrificial pair of sunglass frames I was able to remove the bullet from the chamber through the action, and get the rifle off the truck antenna.
Moral of the story:
A: don't be an idiot like me.
B: carry a few sections of cleaning rod in your pack/truck for just such an occasion.
Sorry about the post length....
Soooooo, I went out hunting today. Driving along a few hours in and start to notice a fair bit of bear scat on the road. I figure why not?, let's give it a try, So I park the truck and start up a spur road on foot. I'd been walking maybe 5 mins and a Blacky crosses the road about 50yds ahead of me. I chamber a round in the ol' 30/06 and head into the timber after him. Apparently he's smarter than me because that was the only time I saw him or any trace of him. 20 mins go by, I said forget it and made my way back to the truck.
As I neared the truck I proceeded to eject the live round that was in the chamber. Once I opened the bolt I was treated to a shiny piece of brass and an action full of powder........ Dammit!!!!. The bullet was lodged in the rifling and was not willing to come out. (I didn't cycle my handloads through the action before heading out and apparently a couple OAL's were just a hair too long). I emptied the remaining rounds through the floorplate.
So now back at the truck I had to figure out how to remove the bullet or else call it a day (in hindsight I should have just called it a day). Being that my cleaning rods were in my range kit and at home I started looking through the truck for something........ Nothing. Then I started looking for a stick....... Hmmmm, (nope I'm not jamming a stick down the barrel).....
We (wife was there) started driving a little farther along, me pretty pissed right now, when I see the radio antenna on the truck........ Hmmmmm?. So I stop, get out, look it over and think "yeah!, that'll work". It's about 1/4" in diameter and vinyl covered...... Perfect!
Only problem, it's fixed, aka..... I can't remove it.
Here's where things get a little stupid......
So Me, in my infinite wisdom, decide I'll just climb up and feed the rifle down the antenna!, Yeah Genius!. So I hand the rifle bolt to my wife and up I go. I slid the barrel down the antenna, a little tap and presto! The Bullet is no longer stuck, Awesome!....... Or so I thought.
I proceeded to remove the rifle from the antenna only to discover that although the bullet cleared the barrel it was still in the chamber area. As the antenna was sliding out the bore the tapered bullet was wedging itself tighter against it.......... Dammit!! So after screwing with this for a few minutes trying the get the bullet out of the chamber with the antenna, the rifle was now fully seated against the truck fender and I had no ability to get it off the antenna without wedging the bullet tighter............ Yeah........ I'm stupid.
So, time to reflect....... And of course, I get my first passerby.........
"Hey there!, we're just heading up the road a litt.............. Uh.....How the hell'd you manage that"?
Me: "What?, you haven't seen the new M70 antenna cozy?".......... Hahaha.
Anyways..... With a little ingenuity, and a sacrificial pair of sunglass frames I was able to remove the bullet from the chamber through the action, and get the rifle off the truck antenna.
Moral of the story:
A: don't be an idiot like me.
B: carry a few sections of cleaning rod in your pack/truck for just such an occasion.
