stuck ball

J

JPOHLIC

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I've got a ball stuck in my Browning mountain rifle. I wasn't watching my daughter as closely as I should have and when she loaded it she spilled most of the powder on the ground. She didn't tell me until after she fired it and the ball only moved a few inches down the barrel.

I tried a couple different sized ball pullers, powder through the nipple, and my air compressor with no luck. The ball is now completely seated in the barrel and I'm pretty sure it has a hole right through it from the ball puller. Oh ya, I broke the end off my TC range rod trying to get the darn thing out so I had to unscrew the ball puller which is still in the ball.

Any other ideas or do I need a gunsmith?
 
4f take the nipple out and put as much 4f as you can shake in then put nipple back and fire at the ground out a few feet get some one to watch to make sure it came out repeat as needed making sure ball is seated each time also those co2 ball dischargers work great. if it don't go time to take out breech plug
 
did you try 4f i nthe nipple or just your standard powder?

The 4f (for priming flintlocks) is much finer and works its way into the chamber a lot better. Whatever powder you have, tap the side of it as you are putting the powder in there to make certain you are getting enough in there. Keep adding until you are certain you have as much as possible in there.

That is my best suggestion - the next step is to remove the breech plug

Good luck, I hope you get it

Edit: sorry as I was entering mine, DEZ gave you sort of the same advice - not trying to repeat - good luck!
 
JPOHLIC

'T'ain't the first time and 't'won't be the last that happens!

I've recently acquired a Browning Mountain Rifle and on the one and only occasion I've fired it, that put an end to my shooting session.

When I got home, I got nowhere with a stuck ball remover. I ended up filling the nipple recess and the nipple with FFFg and that blew out the ball.

It was really weird, as there was a lengthy pause after ignition, taking time for the pressure to build up sufficiently for the ball to exit the barrel. I took joy in melting down that particular ball .....

That rifle may soon be on the block as a new 'need' has arisen. "Last hired - first fired, as the expression goes.
 
IMPORTANT; something no one has mentioned is that after you get some powder into the barrel, via the nipple, seat the ball all the way down again. Two reasons; one is that if you get a lot of powder into the barrel, you will probably ring the barrel just behind the ball. The second is that if the ball is sitting just in front of the powder, it takes very little to push it out. If the ball is half way up the barrel, the hot gasses expand into the much greater volume and you get much less thrust. I would expect you could get adequate 3F into the barrel, via the nipple area. 5 grains (volume) will usually blow a ball out

cheers mooncoon
 
Sharps '63 said:
'T'ain't the first time and 't'won't be the last that happens!
Click to expand...

Actually, my daughter did that twice in the same day. The first time she did it in her muzzleloader! So I gave her mine to shoot while I pulled the ball out of hers. Then she handed me my rifle and said "oops, I think I did it again"

I've dryballed it a few times myself :redface:
 
mooncoon said:
IMPORTANT; something no one has mentioned is that after you get some powder into the barrel, via the nipple, seat the ball all the way down again. Two reasons; one is that if you get a lot of powder into the barrel, you will probably ring the barrel just behind the ball. The second is that if the ball is sitting just in front of the powder, it takes very little to push it out. If the ball is half way up the barrel, the hot gasses expand into the much greater volume and you get much less thrust. I would expect you could get adequate 3F into the barrel, via the nipple area. 5 grains (volume) will usually blow a ball out

cheers mooncoon
Click to expand...

YUP,Make sure you set the ball down on the powder charge,Remember no air space with BP!!A buddy of mine mangled a couple of fingers when he thought he could clear the bore by throwing some 4f into it a few times to blow a ball out.As the ball moved along the pressures got higher and higher.
 
As mentioned earlier, a little 3 or 4F behind the ball and you can shoot it out, recommend shooting into the ground a short distance in front of you, for instant verifacation.
I`ve welded a length of roundstock on a drill bit to make long enough to drop in a barrel and simply drill out the roundball. Works especially well when it`s a flintlock with very lttle space to put powder behind the ball.
Cheers nessy.
 
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Great idea, nessy357 - I'll build a little on that if (like me) your hands are not entirely steady, then you can use a brass or copper bushing from your local plumber supply to keep the bit away from your bore. The PEX reducer bushings work very well and come in great sizes for that & related purposes :)
 
OK, you have a ball down in the breech of the barrel, there may be hole through it, and there is a ball puller with a broken off piece of ramrod stuck in it.

I think that with this much hardware stuck in the barrel, shooting it out might not be the best approach.

If it were my rifle, I would be seriously considering pulling the breechplug.

If you want to grind some fine powder, put a bit in the bowl of a spoon, then use another spoon to grind it.
 
Best way I have found is to unscrew the drum or nipple and you an air compresser nozzle with a rubber head so you can get a good seal. Then give it a good shor and bam comes out. Just dont point it at anything fragile haha

McLean
 
tiriaq said:
I think that with this much hardware stuck in the barrel, shooting it out might not be the best approach.

If it were my rifle, I would be seriously considering pulling the breechplug.
.
Click to expand...

Main reason that I suggested shooting was that on many guns, TCs especially the breach plug is almost welded in place. Although not applicable here, on some spanish guns, the drum screws through the breach plug and has to be removed first, another extremely difficult job at times.

The only one I have cleared which had a screw tip stuck in the ball, had about 10 " of wooden ramrod plus the metal tip plus the ball all stuck in the barrel. I tried drilling with a bushed tip on the drill but that did not work and ended up heating up the barrel and burning the rod out followed by melting the ball out and (breach was easily removed luckily) finished by driving the tip out. The tip was sheet metal and the screw drove backwards up into it expanding the sheet metal tip tight into the bore.. Amazingly the barrel was OK after all of that. I did have some creosote to clean out with a bronze brush but there was no scoring to the rifling.

I had one other barrel of note which the owner thought was dry ball (but wasn't). He ran a steel rod down the barrel with a #12 wood screw welded to the end. It screwed into the recess in the breach plug and broke off. Gun was a TC and the plug too tight to remove and I made a short piece of hardened drill rod with a square hole in the end and in turn silver soldered to the steel rod. Drove that over the screw, the square corners bit into the screw and a part turn and the screw came loose (to my surprise and relief)

cheers mooncoon
 
tiriaq said:
OK, you have a ball down in the breech of the barrel, there may be hole through it, and there is a ball puller with a broken off piece of ramrod stuck in it.

I think that with this much hardware stuck in the barrel, shooting it out might not be the best approach.

If it were my rifle, I would be seriously considering pulling the breechplug.

If you want to grind some fine powder, put a bit in the bowl of a spoon, then use another spoon to grind it.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure there is a hole through the ball for when I tried to blow it out with an air compressor there was a fair bit of air coming through, more than I would have expected to blow past the ball through the rifling. I'm not sure what's left of the patch as I tried shooting it out with powder through the nipple 4 or 5 times. Just wondering if this hole is preventing the powder from getting the ball out?

The ball puller is in the ball however the ram rod was unscrewed, not broken off. I broke off the handle end trying to get the ball out. As much as I hate to have to take the breech plug off I think that's what I'm going to do.
 
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