Newby - bullet stuck in barrel

rkaine

rkaine

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Hamilton, Ontario
Hi - Well, I am all set up, and going to load my first this weekend, probably get to shoot them on Wednesday.

Now, I have probably a simple question, however.....I will follow the books etc. and load from the guides, should the unthinkable happen, and a round get stuck in the barrel, I have a couple of questions...

1) What sort of rod do you use? I am shooting .223, can you use a cleaning road with no tool to force it out?
2) Do you force the bullet down the barrel, or try to get it out through the chamber?

Silly questions, but then again, there are no silly questions when reloading.

Cheers

Ron
 
A fired bullet stuck in a barrel can be very tight and will not likely be easily removed with a cleaning rod.You might have luck pouring a mild copper solvent down the barrel on top of the bullet and let it sit for a few days.It shouldn't damage the barrel and might eat away enough bullet jacket to loosen the bullet.
 
Get a long copper rod, that is just a tad smaller on the diameter.. you can tap it out with a hammer if it's tight, and the copper rod won't damage the barrel (as would a steel rod)
 
If it is a jacketed bullet just at the throat, tap it back out of the barrel. If it does not tap out easily... don't try and do it.... take it to a gunsmith. I have seen many barrels ruined by trying to drive an obstruction out of the barrel and making the whole problem worse...

Once a jacketed bullet is fully in a barrel it is very hard to drive out of a barrel.
 
Be careful openning the action if you get a bullet stuck in the barrel! If the bullet is stuck in the barrel then that means all of the gas pressure will be trapped in there as well. Eventually that gas pressure should leak out through the action, but if you try to open the bolt too soon then you could damage the gun or suffer serious injury.
 
I think that you would have to be pretty far off the proper powder charge to get a rifle bullet stuck in you rbarrel.

It's probably the most common with handguns, I know I have stuck 2 in my 45. 45 is a pretty big hole, so I just inserted a metal rod and whacked it out with a mallet.;)
 
This is what I would do!

Clean the barrel in the direction that you will push it out....this gives it a clean lightly oiled surface to move on once you get it going

DO not try to push it out from the front....the bullet is pointed....your rod will try to move to on the sides and will not center the force

And try to use a copper smaller than bore dia(yes it can be snug....not tight.....use grease)

grind the last 1" of the rod (bullet end) at a slight taper....this will prevent the rod from mushrooming and scraping the barrel

Small taps but firm...rotate the rod as you hit......be gental.....be patient




This is what works for me .....


NOW.....can some one teach me to spell??
 
Why not? said:
Right.....................;)
Click to expand...
You don't believe that? The pressure of expanding gas (which is what happens when smokeless powder burns) is what drives the bullet down the barrel. If the bullet didn't make an almost air-tight seal by expanding into the rifling then the bullet wouldn't get very far because the gas would race around the projectile instead of pushing it. Just because there wasn't enough pressure to drive the bullet all the way out of the barrel doesn't mean that there wouldn't be a dangerous amount of pressure still behind a bullet that fails to exit the bore. It's never a 100% air tight so the gas will eventually leak out through the action or rifling and it will be safe to unlock the action.

Rkaine, you can either take Why Not's all so enlightening "Right....." comment or you could error on the side of caution and wait 30 seconds before opening the action IF you should get a bullet stuck in the barrel. Unless you are trying to make a subsonic handload (which shouldn't be attempted by a rookie IMO - see http://members.shaw.ca/cronhelm/DevelopSubsonic.html for more info) then you should probably worry more about seating the bullet too close to the lands or over charging your cases.
 
CanFire said:
Just because there wasn't enough pressure to drive the bullet all the way out of the barrel doesn't mean that there wouldn't be a dangerous amount of pressure still behind a bullet that fails to exit the bore. It's never a 100% air tight so the gas will eventually leak out through the action or rifling and it will be safe to unlock the action.
Click to expand...


Just an observation.. if there was a signifigant amount of gas in the chamber behind the bullet, then it "should" be enough to cycle the slide, and let the gas out when the shell is ejected. Even it it's enough to bring the shell back out 1/2 inch that should break the seal on the back end, and let the gas out..
 
I've always wondered what would happen if you fired a primed cartridge with a few grains of red dot or something similar, but no bullet.
 
I have heard of guys removing stuck bullets by filling the barrell almost full of water or oil then use a wooden dowell slightly smaller in diameter than the bore with a cleaning patch or something like it to seal the barrell. Then you just push it down the barrell and the pressure will push the bullet back out. Once you get it pressured up you may have to hit the dowell with a hammer to get it to move but it should work.
 
ckc123 said:
Just an observation.. if there was a signifigant amount of gas in the chamber behind the bullet, then it "should" be enough to cycle the slide, and let the gas out when the shell is ejected. Even it it's enough to bring the shell back out 1/2 inch that should break the seal on the back end, and let the gas out..
Click to expand...

Yes, in a semi-auto you'd be fine because of the blow-back design. As you pointed out, the worst that would happen is that you would get a failure to eject. In a bolt action rifle however, the bolt is locked down and does not recoil so in effect the gas only has one way to escape and that is thru the bore. Once you rotate that bolt up, the built up pressure could push the bolt back in a big hurry. Kinda of like shaking up a bottle of champaign and then freeing the "stuck" cork.
 
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So getting away from the trapped gas issue, and back to original question for a moment...
I have not tried this, or read of it elsewhere. Mostly, just thinking out loud here, so act accordingly.
i suspect that if you put the gun in a freezer overnight, the barrel would contract smaller, and swage down the bullet. Then take it out and GENTLY warm it up (with rags soaked in hot water, NOT with a propane torch!) to expand the barrel slightly. I would be comfortable trying this with a lead core, copper jacket bullet. I would not try it with steel core bullet, as it might bulge the barrel.
Anyone with more experience?
 
tootall said:
So getting away from the trapped gas issue, and back to original question for a moment...
I have not tried this, or read of it elsewhere. Mostly, just thinking out loud here, so act accordingly.
i suspect that if you put the gun in a freezer overnight, the barrel would contract smaller, and swage down the bullet. Then take it out and GENTLY warm it up (with rags soaked in hot water, NOT with a propane torch!) to expand the barrel slightly. I would be comfortable trying this with a lead core, copper jacket bullet. I would not try it with steel core bullet, as it might bulge the barrel.
Anyone with more experience?
Click to expand...

In order to "swage" anything requires whatever it is to be changed beyond it's elastic abilities. Almost every solid has elastic ability........ the extremely small amount of movement caused by temperature change would not cause a permanent deformation.
 
CanFire said:
Be careful openning the action if you get a bullet stuck in the barrel! If the bullet is stuck in the barrel then that means all of the gas pressure will be trapped in there as well. Eventually that gas pressure should leak out through the action, but if you try to open the bolt too soon then you could damage the gun or suffer serious injury.
Click to expand...


As I was scrolling down to the part where it says "POST REPLY" to ask just how in the world you would ever get a projectile stuck in normal reloading, I came upon this even bigger gem. Two of my jobs today are mandatory,one is for yours truly. They all just took a back seat until I get my head around this great compression theory..That one just got printed for my shop wall. God love ya

And you guys worry bout my grammar?? HHHHHHHHAAAAAAA
 
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OK seriously now. If you forget to charge one it could and I emphasize COULD get into the rifling, but such a small distance that a 3/16 brass rod merely being droped on it should be enough inertia to pop it. IF thats not enough get it to smithy. Pounding will expand and make tighter..Personally I've worked hard at getting projectiles stuck in very tired bores just to tap back out and look at rifling strength...Its not that easy.Usually either a go or no go. The very few that I've been able to get stuck 3/4 the way up a rough bore still come out no prob..Its pulling a car out of the ditch. It went in ,its gotta come out..Think of ###
 
CanFire said:
Be careful openning the action if you get a bullet stuck in the barrel! If the bullet is stuck in the barrel then that means all of the gas pressure will be trapped in there as well. Eventually that gas pressure should leak out through the action, but if you try to open the bolt too soon then you could damage the gun or suffer serious injury.
Click to expand...
"Enough pressure to cause serious harm" would move the bullet out the barrel.
I think your dreaming. I've had a few stuck bullets. Never seen anything at all in the way of gas release. Remember the bullet stopped because of LACK of pressure.
 
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