Help! Steel Cased Ammo Locked Up My FAL

[John C]

I have an STG-58 FAL built on an Entreprise Arms receiver. I've only shot it twice, both times with Bernaul .308 Win steel cased ammo.

Before anyone starts in about the evils of Wolf/Bernaul ammo, just say that I knew about it and took the risk. I got burned.

Anyways, the first trip to the range worked great. However, it was in the fall. Now that summer is almost here in the high desert, I went shooting again. I did not scrub out the chamber of my rifle from the first trip.

Last Saturday, I loaded up a magazine with the same ammo, and on the first shot, the case stuck in the chamber, the extractor ripped off a piece of the rim, and the primer blew our of the case. I think that my gas port may have been set too high for the temperature, causing too much force in the extraction cycle. I tried to tap the case out with a rod, but I just poked out the Berdarn priming holes. The case is stuck in there TIGHT.

I then tried to soak the case in KROIL, a penetrating oil from the magazine well end. No effect. The oil DID penetrate, I found a bunch of it had penetrated through the barrel threads to the outside of the barrel!

I've ordered a broken case extractor from Midway, but this is stuck TIGHT. Do broken case extractors have the kind of leverage needed to unstick something of this magnitude? I realize that the case head must be off before I can use the case extractor. My current plan is to cold chisel the case head off and try the broken case extractor. The case is sticking 1/8 inch out of the chamber.

Another option is try KROIL more forcefully. I'm thinking of using a rubber stopper to stop up the hole in the bottom of the case and fill the chamber with KROIL over the top of the case, so that it will penetrate down between the case and the chamber.

Will this work?

HELP!

-John

 

[goon]

You might try driving it out from the muzzle. I have done this with a cleaning rod (carefully). Others have suggested using small sections of hardwood dowel because the smaller sections are less likely to flex and break off in the bore. The wood is less likely to damage the bore than the metal cleaning rod would be.
I would try this before you cut the case off and use a broken case extractor.

 

[db_tanker]

+1 on the wood dowel. Close second would be either a brass or bronze rod-stock that you can get from a hardware store. Of course, this is all dependent on what diameter hole you poked into the spent case. If you can get some 5/16 rod stock or wood you should be okay...you should be able to drift it out, I feel. Also try to soak the case putting the kroil in from the muzzle.

Hope this helps...

D

 

[Onmilo]

Use a turned brass bore plug that is female threaded for the rod, a muzzle guide, and a male threaded steel rod and you might be able to drive it out from the muzzle.
If the steel rod is turned to .003" under bore size you won't need the muzzle guide

Don't try driving the case out from the muzzle with any jury rigged cleaning rod set up.
You must use a bore plug that is turned to exact bore dimension or all you are going to do is wedge the cleaning rod and whatever you stuck down the bore which will just cause you another problem to solve.

The bore plug will enter the case mouth and bottom on the cartridge base.
The muzzle guide, or minimun dimension of the steel rod, will keep the rod parallel in the bore.
The rifle action must be secured in a holding fixture.
Penetrating oil must be flooded around the case/breech area and allowed to work for a bit.
The steel rod must not extend more than three inches from the muzzle or you risk bending the rod and possibly scratching/scoring the bore plus you don't want the mess impacting the receiver when it comes free.

Use a BFH and begin tapping with moderate force.

I have had to use a screw extractor chucked in the tailstock of a lathe, the extractor buried in the base of the steel cartridge case, the barrel chucked in the headstock and the tailstock handwheel to back the case out of the barrel chamber, I pray you don't need to use that measure. Good luck.

 

[db_tanker]

ugh...onmilo...if that would have been me I would have been sweating bullets, so to speak...


Merely reinforces my idea of never messing with steel case in anything made of western manufacture. I know others have had fair to midland luck with steel case in Mattels...but IMO they have been lucky...

D

 

[Mikee Loxxer]

I had broken case stuck in my Ishapore Enfield. A guy at a gunshow told me to use a cleaning rod with a brush bigger than the bore diameter attached to it and push it into the breech. Once it is in far enough to have it end just pass the case mouth pull it out, the broken case should come with it. It worked great in my Enfield.

 

[John C]

Thank you, gentlemen, for you replies.

However, the first thing I tried was to tap out the case with a rod. I used a hammer to lightly tap the case. The rod broke through the base of the case where the berdan primer fit. The case didn't budge.

This doesn't look good. I will try the broken case extractor. Failing that, I'll probably have to go the route that Onmilo suggested.

Onmilo, I don't have a lathe. Where would I go/who should I contact to get this kind of work done? How much would you estimate I should pay? I'm currently in a low cost of living area.

-John

 

[Onmilo]

There isn't a machine shop out there that is going to care where you are living as long as you can pay the bill.

I would recommend a NAPA Auto store that has machine work ability as a place to start if there are no local gunsmiths.

Oh yeah,,, now you know why you use a bore plug screwed to the end of the cleaning rod,,,,,,,,,,

 

[tangodown]

I have gotten both steel and brass cased ammo stuck in a couple of my rifles. Before I invested in a broken case extractor I always used the lube it up and tap it out thing that you tried, usually worked... I have had two cases stuck in my cheap AR (one steel and one brass). Broken case extractor worked on both.