Stuck bullet

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joebanana

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I bought Hawken rifle and have no experience with black powder but I shot a few rounds, cleaned it and tried one more and cannot get it to ignite. I don't have the jigger to get it out and was just wondering if there are any other methods that people use in this situation.

I tried putting a little 777 down the flash hole but it did not work. Would it be OK to put a little smokeless in it?
 
Don't put any smokeless in ,possibly there is oil in the barrel and you have mixed your propellant in it ?
Can you give us some more info , rifle? , model ? propellant ?
Cheers nessy.
 
starpuss said:
i say use the air trick works all the time.
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If you often forget to put power in, there is even a handy CO2 powered bullet remover for muzzleloaders. I saw it at Cabelas a couple years ago. :D

EDIT: found it

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?type=pod&cmCat=MainCatcat20712-cat20720-cat603824&id=0006480
 
I've blown them out with compressed air. It didn't take a fancy adapter or anything, I think I just stuck an air duster up to the hole after I removed the nipple and blew it out. If that's not available, get the screw that attaches to the ramrod and pull it out. Its handy to keep one in your possibles bag.
 
You seem to be describing a flintlock. Put some 4F powder if you have it, otherwise use 3F. If you are really lucky you can unscrew the touchhole liner and put some powder in that way. Second thing is to make sure that the bullet is all the way down before you fire the gun. Finally touch it off in a safe location. I am torn between thinking you have dryballed and that during the cleaning you have left a small puddle of solvent/water in the breach and that has fouled the main charge. If the gun is a flint lock, I suspect you may have difficulty using triple 7 in it; I think the temperature of ignition is higher than black powder.
If the gun is percussion more or less do the same thing except unscrew the nipple and put the powder in. In all cases make sure the bullet is down on the powder and repeat that check if you fire a light charge that fails to remove the bullet.

cheers mooncoon
 
Get rid of the 777 and use real black powder, work some fine grade BP in from the breech end by removing nipple and/or clean out set screw, and fire it out.
 
Flint or percussion? Are you using caps? A grease nipple from Walmart correct thread size.If percussion remove nipple and replace with grease fitting pump barrel with grease pump and a tube later it's out.Boiling water to clean and your done .USE REAL BP Not CRAPPY 777 I had nothing but problems with it in my .54 and it's no easier to clean.Harold
 
Thanks guys. It is a .50 cal Hawken percussion rifle. I know I did not "dryball" it but will try some of the suggestions here. One other thing, do you need any kind of special tool to remove the nipple or does it just screw out?
 
joebanana said:
I bought Hawken rifle and have no experience with black powder but I shot a few rounds, cleaned it and tried one more and cannot get it to ignite. I don't have the jigger to get it out and was just wondering if there are any other methods that people use in this situation.

I tried putting a little 777 down the flash hole but it did not work. Would it be OK to put a little smokeless in it?
Click to expand...
Good suggestions from people here....Remember...
In flintlocks, always use real blackpowder....
The compressed air technique does work for a patched ball, but if you use a minie ball, air will leak around the bullet and you won`t be able to blow out the bullet....Sometimes....
If you use a bullet puller, make sure that is the right size for the bore...eg: don`t use a .45 cal bullet puller in a .58 cal....You should, for safety`s sake, flush the breech with water/oil to de-activate any powder before pulling the bullet....Also, no matter where the bullet in stuck in the barrel, clean the bore down to the bullet...As you pull the bullet, once it reaches the clean area, the bullet will easily side out....
As for removing the nipple, a large nipple wrench should fit, but use a nipple wrench (check out Marstar), don`t try to "improvise", like using a pliers or such....
One last note, being new to blackpowder, I hope you have bought a book on blackpowder firearms, if not, buy one, then read it several times..
Enjoy the Dark Side
 
I think using a bullet puller is a mixed blessing. I have pulled the tips off a couple of ramrods that way. Also had a barrel where the fellow twisted a wooden rod too hard and it broke off with about 10" still in the barrel. The only puller that worked, I turned a brass base in the lathe that was about .010" under bore diameter, silver soldered a screw in the center and screwed it into a an aluminum shotgun rod. Then tied that to the vice with about 2 or 3' of slack and used a series of hard yanks to remove the bullet.
The problem with oil in the breach is that it prevents shooting the bullet and charge out until you have burned the oil out. I had a barrel that the owner had been worried and put oil in the breach of a flintlock. I must have taken at least 15 tries using a fuse to get the bullet out of that one. The powder would burn like a candle and I could get a small amount more in each time.
Since this gun is a percussion gun, it only requires a few grains (wt) of powder to blow the bullet out of the barrel. If the bullet only moves partially down the barrel, that creates room for a larger charge on the next try before you push the ball back down to the powder. Even in that scenario, 10 grains of 3 or 4F will more than blow the ball clear.

cheers mooncoon
 
Can a flinter use pyrodex 777 if the prime "pan" charge is ffffg goex black powder? Wouldn't the real black powder be able to ignite the pyrodex ?

thanks
 
westwest said:
Can a flinter use pyrodex 777 if the prime "pan" charge is ffffg goex black powder? Wouldn't the real black powder be able to ignite the pyrodex ?
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I have never used triple 7 but strongly suspect that you would require a small charge of black on the inside next to the pan, to ignite the triple 7 reliably.

cheers mooncoon
 
Would it be OK to put a little smokeless in it?
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#### NO!

Go to your local gunstore and spend the $5 to get a bullet puller. The trick with these is to lube up the barrel in front of the bullet. Blackpowder creates a lot of crap in the bore and that makes it difficult to pull a bullet out of a dry bore.

Can a flinter use pyrodex 777 if the prime "pan" charge is ffffg goex black powder? Wouldn't the real black powder be able to ignite the pyrodex ?
Click to expand...

Black powder in the pan "can" ignite pyrodex but it is a place you do not want to go. Trust me, I tried it once and will never do it again. Scared the crap out of me, I thought the thing was going to blow up on my shoulder.
 
Suputin said:
f**k NO!

Go to your local gunstore and spend the $5 to get a bullet puller. The trick with these is to lube up the barrel in front of the bullet. Blackpowder creates a lot of crap in the bore and that makes it difficult to pull a bullet out of a dry bore.



Black powder in the pan "can" ignite pyrodex but it is a place you do not want to go. Trust me, I tried it once and will never do it again. Scared the crap out of me, I thought the thing was going to blow up on my shoulder.
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What scared you ? :) Does it delay the firing much ?

One guy told me it would be ok If I used 10 gains first of ffg goex and 70 grains of pyrodex down the barrell it would ignite fine ? what do you think ...:cool:

cheers
 
westwest said:
What scared you ? :) Does it delay the firing much ?

One guy told me it would be ok If I used 10 gains first of ffg goex and 70 grains of pyrodex down the barrell it would ignite fine ? what do you think ...:cool:

cheers
Click to expand...

Some people do that but what is the point? Why not just use straight black and not be measuring twice? Black is cheaper than pyrodex anyway.
 
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