How to remove a really stuck jag??

Ol' Flinter

Ol' Flinter

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I have a 14 ga percussion smooth-bore with a jag and cleaning patch stuck about 9" forward of the patent breech. Also, attached to the jag is the broken end of the ramrod to which it was attached until recently. I tried a "Puffer" and it did move the jag about an inch but the relatively large volume of air in the barrel cushions the small volume of high pressure air from the puffer. A compressor at 140 psi did nothing. The plug/patch has been soaked with WD40, Break-free, silicone lube and oil to no apparent effect so far. Breech plug has been in for 150 years and won't move with usual treatment and I don't want to mar the barrel of this old beauty.
So I am thinking to put some water in the barrel via the nipple hole, plug it with a 1/4-28 bolt and heat the breech to boil the water and hope the steam would push out the plug. Have also tried squirting in WD40 and detonating it but to no avail so might have to heat the barrel to create a vapour and try again with the WD40. Also thought about filling the breech section with water and setting it out to freeze but at the expansion rate of water to ice that would be a long slow process. Now with all the solvents/lubes it would be difficult to dry out the breech so that a small powder charge could be used to shoot out the obstruction but if rinsed out with a few passes using methanol it might get dry enough...

Okay, so has anyone tried my steam idea or do you have any better ideas?
 
Here is another option:
Machine a brass slug a few inches long so that it just slides in the barrel. Drill, say, a 1/2" hole through it. Attach a 1/2" drill to a rod. Place the brass sleeve on the drill, slide everything down until the sleeve and drill are in contact with the obstruction, then drill into it. This will break up the obstruction and you should be able to pick out the bits. The sleeve will prevent the drill from touching the bore.
 
If you are going to thread the nipple hole,put a grease nipple in it and use a grease gun to force it out.

In the automotive repair business we do that with stuck brake caliper pistons sometimes,much safer than blowing them out with compressed air!
 
Tiriaq's idea has merits but using a brass guide would make me nervous, I would be easy for a twist drill with a little "sideways" pressure on it to rub through the brass sidewall very quickly.

My suggestion would be a nipple connected to a port-a -power of some sort and hydraulic the jag out, if the OP has a friend in the heavy equipment/truck repair business a hyd pump should be an easy acquirement (or any local shop for that matter).

The freezing water thing would be the last thing I would try...to easy for the water to freeze and apply burst pressure to the barrel sidewall instead of moving the jag.
 
Take up the bbl volume with water and try the "puffer" again. If it moved once it should move again I would think.

If it's nothing but a cotton patch in there I would think there should be something around that would dissolve it. Battery acid ate two cotton shirts and pair of jeans on me one time.

Just a WAG.

M

BTB - What is a "puffer"?
 
Rubbing alcohol, brake cleaner pour some down the barrel and light it ,the cotton will burn off so you can blow it all out. Or you could try and potato gun it out ether( starter fluid) and a primer on the nipple . Might be something to consider before you destroy that frozen nipple getting it out to adapt a grease fitting some how. There are grease needles mayed Silver solder weld it in the nipple hole . Adapt a corkscrew worm to a rod . Best of luck !:cheers:
 
buzzmagoo said:
Rubbing alcohol, brake cleaner pour some down the barrel and light it ,the cotton will burn off so you can blow it all out. Or you could try and potato gun it out ether( starter fluid) and a primer on the nipple . Might be something to consider before you destroy that frozen nipple getting it out to adapt a grease fitting some how. There are grease needles mayed Silver solder weld it in the nipple hole . Adapt a corkscrew worm to a rod . Best of luck !:cheers:
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You have the PERFECT avatar for the potato gun suggestion!! ( it is a good suggestion though. I was going to suggest hairspray but ether is probably less messy. I'd still take the hairspray over a bore packed solid with grease though...)

My first choice would be gnmontney's suggestion. Just use water to prevent any "cushioning" of air and try the puffer again.

As for your steam method, It'll either work, or pipe bomb your face off your skull. Which wouldn't be ideal. So I'd try to find a way to heat it from a ways back. Or at least video it :)
 
Could you fill a grease gun with water? Hydraulic it out without as much of a mess?

Or rabbits. Put some rabbits in there and they'll reproduce the jag right out of there in a matter of minutes.
 
So you need some kind of acid that will eat the patch but not the steel. Body shop guys know what kind it is!! It eats rust but not good metal.
I heard a guy blow a bullet out that he forgot to put powder under buy putting 4F black powder in the nipple hole and setting it off. Start small and work your way up. Do your research on the method you choose.
 
tigrr said:
I heard a guy blow a bullet out that he forgot to put powder under buy putting 4F black powder in the nipple hole and setting it off
Click to expand...

I dry balled once, and that method worked. I did the dirty deed in the basement aiming at a panelled wall from about 20'. That round ball embedded approx. an inch into a wall stud! Pretty lucky it didn't hit concrete and ricochet back at me. Won't do that in the house again!

M
 
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As long as the obstruction is well clear of the under rib, you could heat that segment of the barrel to 800 -900 F and burn the cotton patch off. Wrap the barrel with wet paper towels if there is any risk of melting a soldered on under rib.

cheers mooncoon
 
Don't have a machine shop so could not try the grease gun idea. So, today I tried to put Coleman stove fuel (benzene) and later some butane from a BBQ lighter re-charger into the barrel and detonate it with a percussion cap - no go. Then put in about 10 ml of water and added heat at the breech plug, creating steam to push out the obstruction - no avail but it did dry everything out in the barrel. Then used a 3/8" steel rod and pounded the obstruction down until it was only about 4" ahead of the breech plug. After that I removed the nipple, trickled in about 10 gr of 3Fg powder, replaced the nipple and shot the obstruction out (not in my basement!). End of story but what an ordeal.
 
I once knew a girl in high school that probably could have created such a negative vacuum her pony tail would have been braided with brass...

Sorry I got to the party too late...
 
Ol' Flinter said:
Don't have a machine shop so could not try the grease gun idea. So, today I tried to put Coleman stove fuel (benzene) and later some butane from a BBQ lighter re-charger into the barrel and detonate it with a percussion cap - no go. Then put in about 10 ml of water and added heat at the breech plug, creating steam to push out the obstruction - no avail but it did dry everything out in the barrel. Then used a 3/8" steel rod and pounded the obstruction down until it was only about 4" ahead of the breech plug. After that I removed the nipple, trickled in about 10 gr of 3Fg powder, replaced the nipple and shot the obstruction out (not in my basement!). End of story but what an ordeal.
Click to expand...

So, what did you recover that was hung up so bad?

Ya, don't do clearing shots in the basement. Me bad!

M
 
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