Bone head move....cleaning rod section stuck in barrel.

[MMA1991]

I purchased a Pietta cap and ball rifle yesterday on consignment for $60. She's a little rough but I thought with some bluing solution and new stain on the stock she would look really nice. Not even sure what caliber it is but that's the least of my worries.

I took it home and removed the barrel. The bore looked rough. I used a 4 section US milsurp cleaning rod, a piece of cotton cloth and some Hoppes No. 9 and went to town. A lot of rust came out. Repeated the process and the leading section of the cleaning rod with the cloth attached backed off/unscrewed from the rest of the rod and is now lodged in the bottom of the barrel.

I have tried to send the rod back down hole in an atempt to align and rescrew it back on but to no avail...:banghead:

I can't be the first person to have done this and wonder if anyone has any suggestions on how to fix this mistake.

Very humbly with hat in hand

MMA1991

 

[KeithL]

Some people have blown stuck balls and jags out with air compressors. Be forewarned it will come out with a lot of force.

Could you send a dowel down the bore and pound the other end of the dowel with a mallet and drive it out?

Make sure the jag and bore are well lubricated.

 

[D Rat]

Stuck Rod Section

You could try removeinng the nipple squrit some lighter fuled or outher flamabel liquedin in the flash hole and burning the patch,the rod section should fall out.

 

[jj1962hemi]

Kroil is a penetrating oil that may get in to places where the Hoppe's won't. I'd try getting it well-lubed before your next move. I've had good luck with Kroil.

 

[Schutzen]

If it is just a patch and a 2-3 inch section of rod, securely attach a 6 inch of coil spring to a rod. Cut off the first coil to open the coil. Slide the spring to the bottom of the barrel and twist gently. You should be able to hook the piece in the spring coils. It works best if you try to hook the piece with the barrel upright and lay it on its side to pull the piece out.

Good luck and have much patience.

 

[Manny]

The compresed air solution should be the best & easiest, but as noted the suck object can come out with significant force. Use an appropriate backstop.

 

[arcticap]

If the compressed air could work, then it may also be possible to fire it out by placing as much powder under the nipple as possible. But the patch that's down inside the bore must be able to contain enough of the expanding gases (or compressed air) to move the object or it won't work.
I think that I would try either of these options before proceeding with another idea.
Trying to burn the patch would require sustaining a flame down inside the barrel for a long enough time to completely burn the patch which I don't how easy that would be. The oxygen supply inside the barrel may not sustain a flame long enough to completely burn the patch, which could destroy the air seal that the patch might have created that could allow the compressed air idea or shooting it out to work. So I wouldn't try burning the patch first.
And we also don't know how much patching was attached to the rod, which could indicate how much of a gas seal that it may have created down inside the breech, if any was created at all. If there's a lot of patch material then I don't know easy it would be to burn it out using flame. But a lot of patching would increase the chance that it could contain enough of the compressed air or powder charge to successfully shoot it out.

 

[BADUNAME30]

Keep in mind that that cleaning rod piece is steel and can/will possibly do damage to the bore if this approached wrong.

 

[alsask]

If it is just a patch and a 2-3 inch section of rod, securely attach a 6 inch of coil spring to a rod. Cut off the first coil to open the coil. Slide the spring to the bottom of the barrel and twist gently. You should be able to hook the piece in the spring coils. It works best if you try to hook the piece with the barrel upright and lay it on its side to pull the piece out.

Good luck and have much patience.

Shutzen...that is a very neat idea! I will have to remember that one if it ever happens to me.

 

[arcticap]

If it can't be blown out or pulled out directly, then the patch might be able to be shredded up by using a wood screw attached to a rod much like a ball puller, or possibly a worm. It would need to be thin enough to by pass the rod that's stuck. What diameter is the section of rod and how much is it blocking the bore?

These are examples:

http://www.redaviscompany.com/0259.html

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Search.aspx?search=worm

Track sells a ball puller screw without a collar:

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Search.aspx?search=worm

 

[Goody3086]

Now I've never shot a single shot, BP long gun. But in my readings they speak of a Breach or Butt plug. Can't you just unscrew that and drive the offending pieces through?

 

[MMA1991]

Goody3086

Not a chance. The barrel is solid at the breach end...no cap...no access.

 

[44 Dave]

Do not mess with the breach plug, the nipple drum often locks it in.
You should be able to hook it with one of the fore mentioned tools or a straightened out fish hook fastened to a rod.
Good luck keep us posted.
Dave

 

[T Bran]

Cut a legnth of soda straw or thin plastic and use it to form a funnel/center guide on your cleaning rod. Flare the wide portion to fit the bore and tape it to the rod. This should help to recenter the lost portion in the bore so you can screw it back together and extract the jag.
Patience is key so dont do anything drastic yet.

 

[Hellgate]

I would just remove the nipple, dump about 5 (or 10 grains at the most) of powder into it, put the nipple back in, cap it , aim at a 1 foot thick stack of magazines inside a cardboard box about a foot away and fire it out. If I had either an air compresser or one of those CO2 muzzle loader bullet dischargers I'd try that first of course. I've dry balled or gotten ramrods stuck at the range before and shot them out with a small amount of powder a couple of times without a problem. Of course, no one was around when I did it.

 

[armedandsafe]

The CO2 extractors work very well in this kind of situation. I've also popped a couple of caps to move the wad back up the bore a little and then dribbled in a few granules (not grains) of powder under the nipple and it comes right out. The idea to put a telephone directory or a few magazines (the paper ones ) in front to capture the ejected rod is a good one.

Pops

 

[MMA1991]

Victory!!!!!!

All:

First, thanks for helping out the new guy. I appreciate it.

My neighbor has an air compressor and we shot the cleaning rod jig and wad out on the first try...

Now to figure out just what the heck I bought for $60...stay tuned.