Arrgghh! I've just done the STUPIDEST thing I've ever done with a gun!

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Trebor

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My wife's out of town so my mission this week has been to update the inventory of my firearms, and inspect and clean them all.

Up until now, the biggest problem was that I lost the ejector on one of my Garands due to careless dissassembly. No big deal, I can get another if it never turns up. (It flew across the room and vanished)

Today though, I topped that and did what is probably the stupidest thing I've ever done with a gun. Somehow, I got a Dewey Cleaning Rod jammed tight in my FAL receiver. The Dewey Rod Handle is JUST the right size to get good and jammed into the receiver. And here I thought I was smart cleaning from the breech end!

I've tried and tried and I can't get that handle unstuck to get the rod out. I'm gonna have to call one of my more mechanically inclined buddies and take the gun over and have them help me out. It would be humiliating, if I hadn't long ago decided that I couldn't afford to be embarrassed when I do stupid ????? like this because I need to recognize that after a certain point I have to give up on trying to fix it, because I'll only make it worse.

I gotta face it. I'm just not mechanically inclined. This is the kind of stupid thing that I do that reminds me why I will NEVER get into reloading and why I'll never try to build my own gun without close supervision from someone who knows what their doing. (I mean, if it's possible to do something as assinine as putting the barrel on backwards so the crown end is the breech, that's what I'd do)

So, now I have to figure out who's the most likely to be able to help me with this without falling into convulsive fits of laughter at the sight...

It sucks when my ambition exceeds my skills...
 
You are not the first person to get a cleaning rod stuck. Always make sure the rod itself is longer then your barrel, so you can push it out if you have to.

-Bill
 
But at least you have a Garand... Wish I had a rifle like that. Hope your friend and you figure it out! Would be a bummer to display it with the rod in ;)
 
You are not the first person to get a cleaning rod stuck. Always make sure the rod itself is longer then your barrel, so you can push it out if you have to.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but I did it a little different. The rod itself isn't stuck in the barrel, as far as I can tell. Instead the large handle of the Dewey Rod is tightly jammed into the receiver of the FN FAL. When you look at it, the handle couldn't have been better designed to get jammed in there. It fits PERFECTLY. With I had a digital camera...
 
Sure sounds like the rod is shorter than the barrel, or you'd have pounded it out by now, yes? If so, get a length of wooden dowel rod, cut off enough to drop in the muzzle end and yet protrude out about 3" and pound it out with a hammer.

Don't ask me how I learned that....
 
Failure is the father of success. Hang in there dude...some of us (especially me ) always learn the hard way. On the postivie side...the lessons stick with you forever..if you survive. :D
 
quote moredes Sure sounds like the rod is shorter than the barrel, or you'd have pounded it out by now, yes? If so, get a length of wooden dowel rod, cut off enough to drop in the muzzle end and yet protrude out about 3" and pound it out with a hammer.

Don't ask me how I learned that....


Ummmm......... ya, what he said. :(
 
It sounds like he can't get the rod out because the handle slipped into the receiver and is now blocking it completely. You can't push out the rod because the handle is just getting pushed back into the receiver. Is that correct?
 
Umm, I know zip about a Dewey cleaning rod. I also don't, yet, know if the end of the rod is or is not hanging out the end of the barrel. But if it IS then how about just unscrewing the rod from the handle? Or at least unscrewing one length of the rod which might give the remainder more wiggle room...?

Don't ask how I thought that up, either.
 
It sucks when my ambition exceeds my skills...
Click to expand...

Important life lesson...don't be skeered, ever. When in doubt, try it. Sometimes it's painful, but you'll learn.

Now dremel that handle off and move on.
 
Spare the rod, spoil the FAL?

The one peice dewey rod has a plastic roller handle that has locked into the reciever.

Survey the parts and determine which part is the cheapest and most expendable.
Now determine how to remove this part without damaging an expensive part.
I have never figured out how dewey handles retain the rod and still spin...
Mayhaps the rod has a latch ring.

Is the handle jammed inside the reciever cover?

http://www.surplusrifle.com/fal/rifle/index.asp

As an aside,
One day a client appeared in my bicycle shop with a project.
He was removing the chain from an old 10 speed and did not have a chain tool,
so he cut though the frame with a hack saw.

He wanted me to reweld the frame...

Why he did not hack saw the rusted up chain is a question for Father Darwin.
 
It sounds like he can't get the rod out because the handle slipped into the receiver and is now blocking it completely. You can't push out the rod because the handle is just getting pushed back into the receiver. Is that correct?
Click to expand...

Exactly. I took off the dust cover so I could clean from the breech end. I shoved the rod in from the breech and somehow I got the handle stuck in the receiver all the way. At first I thought the patch end was stuck, so I made it worse by tapping on the handle enough to drive the end of the rod out of the muzzle so I could unscrew the brush from the end. I thought the brush got stuck because I put a patche over it. Nope, the brush unscrewed fine and the patch came with it, but tapping on the handle securely wedged it into the upper receiver. There's only about 1/4 inch of the handle that's clear and the rod itself is completely in the barrel. It won't go forward (not that that would help) and it won't go backward. The handle won't spin or rotate either. It's TIGHT.

What 'till my wife sees it. I don't know if she'll laugh uncontrollably or do her "Ohh, Rob!" Laura Petrie imitation...
 
What 'till my wife sees it. I don't know if she'll laugh uncontrollably or do her "Ohh, Rob!" Laura Petrie imitation...
Click to expand...

If it's her gun and/or cleaning rod, you're going to have to put up with some sniggering; if, on the other hand, they're yours, I doubt she needs to find out about your misadventure.

I'd destroy the cleaning rod handle and by another. I'd destroy it very carefully with a Dremel tool and a small abrasive tip a little at a time.

Everybody does dumb stuff once in awhile, eh?
 
I agree with moredes. Before you start breaking things and cutting things, try to pound the rod out from the muzzle end. Take your time and don't get crazy.
If I had done this, I would take my second Dewey rod, unscrew the cleaning jag from it, insert it from the muzzle end, and push the rod out the back. The tip of the cleaning jag on the stuck rod would fit right in the hole in the second rod. If nessessary, you could pound on the second rod. If that doesn't work, put some oil down the bore and oil around the handle of the stuck rod.
Don't do anything drastic, this isn't a big deal.
 
Don't feel bad... we've all been there.

I've got a question for the group. Came back from the range the other day and set about cleaning my M14. Got a Dewey rod with the "pointy thing" for the end (it's called a "jag" right?). Put a Hoppes soaked patch in the bore and tried to push it through with the jag. No go. Too tight of a fit. It was a "standard" .30 cal patch, but lapped over the end of the jag it was just too big to go through the bore. Ended up rolling the patch into a cylinder and pushing it down the bore with the rod... but that doesn't make for a very tight fit, or presumably a very good cleaning job.

What's the "right" way to swab the bore with a patch and jag?
 
my rod was never long enough...

So I got me an extention, about 7 inches long, that threaded into the end of my kleen-bore rod where the brush or jag usually went. If you can find a similar extention or one section of an old jointed rod, and thread that into the Dewey, some judicious tapping might be helpful. It may help to run some thin plastic (eg soda straws or whatever will fit) down the bore to keep the rod from buckling.

May also help to drop the whole lashup into the deep freeze for a little contraction action. Plastic may shrink a bit more than the receiver.

Good luck!
 
Stupidest

I have a buddy that told me the next time I brought another pistol over to him disassembled in a bucket he was going to keep it. Said to either bring it to him and he'd clean it or just leave it dirty. I also had a Erma .22 M1 carbine that I never got back together right. Finally just gave it to same buddy.

rk
 
I assume the handle of the Dewey Rod is some type of plastic. Take an Eye-Screw and carefully screw it into the end of the handle that is protruding from the receiver. Then you can put a strong cord thrugh the Eye-Screw to gain leverage to extract the Dewey Rod. plus you now have a way to hang the rod when it is not being used.
 
i just checked my dewey rods assembly

the handle is held on by a slotted lock nut, in set into the rear of the handle

if you can span the slot with a V notched "wrench"
you might be able to take the handle off the rod

the aluminum nut is pretty soft
 
Think of it this way, at least you didn't accidently get permanent loctite into your 10/22 bolt and freeze your firing pin up. Not that I know anyone that has done that stupid act. Why, it would take an idiot of epic proportions, like the type that flush their rental car keys down the toilet.
 
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