Round stuck in the chamber - Winchester Mod 70, 30-06

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brokendownyota

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Hey guys. Took a buddy out shooting yesterday and came up with an issue.

I purchased the rifle used through a friend. Rifle came with a handfull of the previous owners pet handloads. Not many, and several varieties. I figured that these would be good rounds to just throw through the rifle to get comfortable with it. Fast forward to yesterday:

Buddy, a non shooter, is shooting the rifle. I'm not paying too much attention (He's military, so he's competant with firearms safety, just doesn't hunt or shoot recreationally). Says to me "The bolt is stuck". Well, I assume he's fired the round and is having a hard extraction, so I start monkeying around with the bolt, trying to pull it to the rear. Isn't going. I close the bolt to try again - Wait, that was really hard.

turns out it was an un-fired round. Now I've forced it all the way into the chamber. I bang the bolt to the rear with my leatherman and the round stays put. I considered firing the round, but realizing that it's an unknown handload that's already off for at least one reason, I decide against it. Pull the bolt out of the rifle and head home.

How do I get this thing out? I've read that putting ATF fluid down the barrel then hammering in a dowel (5/16") will force the round out via hydraulic pressure, so no risk of setting the round off.

Is there a better way?

Thanks,

-Scott
 
If it is a stuck live round, use the hydraulic system you outlined.
I make a piston to a nice smooth close fit in the bore, fill the bore almost full of oil, insert the piston, and strike it with a hammer. On the first bow, the cartridge may be expelled. Or, the bullet may be pushed back into the case, filling the case with oil. Add more oil, reinsert the piston, give it another crack. This is a very effective method with minimum risk
Sometimes even the primer is popped out.
This method is messy. You are going to get oil sprayed around a bit. Pick a good place to do it.
 
brokendownyota said:
turns out it was an un-fired round. Now I've forced it all the way into the chamber. I bang the bolt to the rear with my leatherman and the round stays put. I considered firing the round, but realizing that it's an unknown handload that's already off for at least one reason, I decide against it. Pull the bolt out of the rifle and head home.
Click to expand...

I mean no disrespect in the least, but as irritating at the present dilemma may be, you can count yourself very lucky. I can think of one friend whose reloads I would trust enough to shoot without question, but that's it. You just never know how competent the reloader was or wasn't. In this case, it's a "pet handload" that you would think would have been sized sufficiently to fit the rifle -- but clearly, it wasn't. But far, far worse is the inattentive reloader who mixes up his powder charges or -- worse yet -- mixes up his powders. The simple truth is that none of us have any way of looking at a rifle cartridge someone else has handloaded and knowing with certainty that it's not stuffed full of some fast-burning pistol powder.

To each their own, but the only thing I'll do with someone else's reloads is pull the bullets, dispose of the powder, and start over.
 
Rifle is 1974 - I'm not sure the difference in the feeding system.

Neo: I agree with what you're saying in general. The previous owner of the rifle, and the loader of the rounds, is a good buddy and hunting partner of my FIL who brokered the deal. I trust his attention to detail far enough to fire the handloads, as he's strictly a hunter, and not a pushing the limits kind of guy. Also an accountant, so fairly anal haha.

Anyways, thanks for the input so far guys.

-Scott
 
Just remove bolt and put the butt on carpeted floor.Drop a cleanning rod with a blunt tip and a bore guide if you have one.Give it a sharp wrap with the palm of your hand and that should make it let go.Brass rod is fine too........Harold
 
mbogo3 said:
Just remove bolt and put the butt on carpeted floor.Drop a cleanning rod with a blunt tip and a bore guide if you have one.Give it a sharp wrap with the palm of your hand and that should make it let go.Brass rod is fine too........Harold
Click to expand...

It took 7 posts to get to the correct answer....................
 
Yes, how stuck is stuck?
The bolt has a lot of caming power to twist the case out. If the bolt didn't do it, a rod down the barrel certainly won't.
 
Gunpowder does not just magically explode. It takes a large direct force to strike the primer to ignite the powder. Hitting the bullet will not make the powder suddenly combust. Think of the abuse some hunting rounds go through falling out of pockets, rolling around in truck beds, in magazines of dropped rifles etc. As long as the bolt is removed you'll be fine. Put the cleaning rod down and just lightly tap the end, gradually hit harder and harder. I bet you'll find that it takes less force than you expect it to.
 
This may just be a go-nowhere brain fart, but it occurs to me that if a fella was to pour a bit of Kroil down the barrel and wait a bit, that might loosen things up. That stuff does have a tendency to crawl all over a metal surface, though, so I'd probably pull the barreled action out of the stock first, just so any bedding compound or wood doesn't get compromised.

In general, though, I find the best way of testing half-baked theories like this is to post them on CGN and let someone else try it out on their gun ;)
 
Alright, tried an aluminum rod - that's all I had. Wrecked the rod. Made no progress. That idea is pooched. I've got the firing pin out of the bolt and now I'm trying to get the ejector to catch it - not having any luck. Bolt is difficult to close, (IE I'd have to whack it with something to get it closed, so I'm not doing that) but I can clearly read the headstamp - 30-06 sprg. Weird.

Edit: Update: Attempted the hydraulic method with a busted cleaning rod, couple of patches, and some oil. Popped the primer out of the round. I guess that means the powder is all oil-soaked and the primer is gone. Off to the hardware store tomorrow for a chunk of dowel, then liberal application of BFH to ensue. No more risk, so I should be free to hammer away.
 
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I may be a little more adventurous than most, but I'd say fire it and it will probably come out like any other fired case. I have done this several times, and if like you say the guy doing the loading is experienced and you trust his anal retentive loading proceedures then just drop the hammer on it if you can close the bolt. It will reconfigure the case and it should just come out as normal.
 
forget the dowel you will be be back for a steel quarter inch rod anyway wrap it at intervals with electric tape to protect the bore and hammer it out
 
If the primer is out use a socket from behind where the bolt goes in and turn a small lag screw into the brass case.You can then use a non marking pry tool to get it out.
 
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