Jammed Patch

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medicman5555

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So there I was using an Otis pull through cleaning kit, the one where you use the same patch for all bore sizes and i guess I made mine too big. I now have a patch jammed in the chamber, and the flexible rod poking out of the muzzle of my .17 HMR.I tried using a pointed instrument to pick apart the patch and after 2 hours, i had a bit of fluff and still cannot use my gun ( of course I spotted about 30 gophers today). My question is, how do i remove this patch? I dont care if i damage the pull through rod. Is there any way to destroy the patch with a chemical or with heat even and then free it up? When you're all done laughing at me, any help would be appreciated :D
 
I would not try solvent or oil. I find a wet patch harder to pull than a dry one.
Only thing I can think of is either a dental pick from the chamber or air from the muzzle. Wrap an airgun in a rag around the muzzle and pull through.
 
"...flexible rod..." Or a string? No burning required. Put the rifle in a padded vise and either pull on the rod or tap it on the handle with a plastic mallet. Or put the rod in the vise and pull on the rifle. You could give the chamber and stuck patch a squirt with WD-40 first.
 
Its one of those Otis rigs that has the plastic coated wire, so i cannot tap it out, otherwise, I'd be good to go right away. I tried picking it out, had a small pick and made no headway at all, its pretty far in the chamber as well, so that is most of my issue. When it first happened, i went in there with a pair of tweezers and a pick and spent 2 hours on it. I tried burning, but couldn't get the patch to light, any recommendations? I was thinking a squirt of lighter fluid in there first, what does everyone figure for chances of damage with that method? Thanks for all of your suggestions
 
medicman5555 said:
I was thinking a squirt of lighter fluid in there first, what does everyone figure for chances of damage with that method?
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Burning the patch out is not going to hurt the rifle at all, you run a greater risk of scratching the chamber while trying to pick it out.

If it is in the chamber now and stuck tight you do not want to try and force it through the barrel and run the risk of it jamming in a more inaccessible place.
 
I was thinking a squirt of lighter fluid in there first, what does everyone figure for chances of damage with that method?
Click to expand...

Could try it... should work

You also could put the rifle in a vise, hook a pair of vise-grip on the wire and pull/hammer the vise-grip so it could pull through
 
I assume that most of the patch is jammed in the chamber/neck/throat portion of the barrel. Do you think it would be possible to unscrew the Otis cable from the jag, and use a rod from the muzzle end to push the jag and patch back out? Or try sixty9santa's suggestion of compressed air from the muzzle once the cable is out.
Burning the patch might work, Particularly if most of the patch is in the chamber rather than the bore, but what about the plastic coating on the Otis? If it melts it could create a mess.
When I ran my little shop I always dreaded it when a customer brought in a gun with heaven only knows what stuck in the barrel.
 
The jag and the cable are one piece for the little .17 cal rod, so thats a no go, if i could unscrew it, i bet air would work great, thats why this problem is so nasty, i have no way at all to get the cable out of the barrel and i cant get a good seal with air, my only option is the burn option i guess, so ill try it out and report back
 
I don't know if I can recommend this, but waaaay back when I was in my teens, I broke an issue pullthrough off partway down a .303. In desperation, I held the barrel over an alcohol lamp until the patch started smoking, and then pushed out the patch and remains of the pullthrough with a rod.
 
Or a can of Sterno. I probably would have used a propane torch if I'd had one. Don't even know if there were propane torches then. Blowtorches burned white gas, and we surely did not have one of those.
 
medicman5555 said:
well tried to light the patch, no go, squirted some lighter fluid in there and it would actually kill the match, so i dunno what to do now guys. Ideas?
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use one of those long BBQ lighters instead of a match......or a propane torch. Put the flame into the chamber, pull it out, put it in , pull it out. Do not hold the torch flame there for too long......
 
Don't despair, there are a couple of solutions to this age-old problem. Believe me when I say you are NOT the first guy to have this happen. :D

Pretty sure we can save the rifle and the cleaning kit, but first thing we need to know is how much of the cable is sticking out of the muzzle?

Ted
 
Don't laugh, fill your barrel near to the top with water (few inches below crown), take a brass rod perferably as near as possible to the bore diameter, do not use wooden dowel (may split causing further grief) and smuck it with a rubber/plastic hammer. The hydraulic pressure should force it out. The major trick here is to make sure not too much of the rod is protruding out as it will bend, not too close to the diameter as it may expand.

Good Luck
 
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