Why don't people just say it

[bigpower491]

Soooo
I've been an amateur gunsmith for the better part of 40 yrs. A tool and die maker by trade, reckon it kinda goes hand in hand.
A few weeks back sitting in the neighbors barn having a couple one the neighbors tells me he forgot to clean his muzzleloader at the end of the 2019 season. Ok, well thats not good, but I have access to some pretty good compounds so maybe we might be able to clean it up so it shoots decent.
I get this thing home to my shop in my barn, get the bore light up there and holy if there isn't a projectile stuck about 2/3 the way up the barrel. A CVA powerbelt bullet to be exact.
I give the guy a bell, tell him what I find , and ask th million dollar question.....how did that happen. I don't know is the reply. Really.....did you let someone else use it? No. Ok, did it make a little pop when you fired it? I don't know.
Well now I was dumbfounded. He had to have pulled the trigger, cause I can't see him pushing the bullet in halfway and thinking he was all the way to the breech plug . Or can I.
One thing for sure, he wasn't gonna give me an answer
Well it took some doing, but I finally got it out. I poured some Sea Foam in the muzzle and got my heat gun out, it was rusted that bad to the barrel. I let him know today, and I get this question.....do you think it'll shoot any good? Well, i reckon you'll have to see. One thing for sure...ditch the powerbelts and go with a good 44/45 cal pistol bullet in a Harvester sabot.

Still don't get why he won't tell how the bullet got stuck
I mean, I already think he's a monkey for not bothering to clean it after the fact and leaving ti rust in there.........

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

My buddy left a live round in the chamber of his pump-action Rossi for the better part of a decade, thinking it was unloaded-

People do stupid things. Trust but verify.

 

[Col. Harrumph]

I can verify doing the stupid is really really easy. My 10 yr-old nephew wanted to shoot the Rossi pump. Sure! Sez I. Grab the forend and cycle the dainty thing and out pops a live .22. I took the opportunity to call it a teachable moment.

 

[Ignition Override]

At least those guys didn't ignore getting gradually short of breath (also ignoring recent cholesterol checks: had been 200)-- telling Nobody until two days before a heart attack/ instantaneous "very bad flu" sensations.. I was

For me going ten years and not checking a gun chamber would have been far less risky.

 

[wiscoaster]

That's a really pretty hilarious story. It could have had a sad ending, though, if the guy had been only little more stupid.

 

[Ironicaintit]

It’s easier to play dumb than to admit to doing a dumb.

 

[PWC]

Bigpower491 -.When you got the power belt out, was there powder or dried dark "SYRUP" under it? Was it a 10 yr old dry ball or a 10 yr old kaboom that didn't?

 

[bigpower491]

When you got the power belt out, was there powder or dried dark "SYRUP" under it? Was it a 10 yr old dry ball or a 10 yr old kaboom that didn't?

Nah, he was using triple seven tablets. The good thing was that he at least had the breech plug out, but the whole ball of wax was corroded to the barrel right about 2/3 up. In my best guesstimate, the pellets probably got fairly damp from sitting in the barrel, most likely loaded it at the start of the firearm season up here, til the end of late firearm antlerless, around 50 days. She got the sweats coming into a heated shop every night from the cold, and when he finally figured he should unload it, the primer had enough force to push the bullet halfway.....up a corroded barrel because he probably let go a fouling shot before he stuffed his hunting load in the pipe.
I actually got alot of the scale out of it, but there's a spot up there where it was all stuck thats fairly pitted. I basically smoked 2 brass brushes with a ton of Kroil. Lot of elbow grease,, and for christs sakes, had to tip my beers with the left hand for a couple days after from all that. Friggin shame, Thompson Impact, a nice 'loader to me, to have this happen to it. I seen the guy tonight, actually, it's our beer league in the barn night. He hasn't done any of the follow up work on it, guess that can wait til the night before the opener this year, dunno......
It may shoot ok......it may not

 

[FROGO207]

The million dollar question is when he brings it back this year will you rescue him yet again? Some peoples kids!!!

 

[FROGO207]

I bought a muzzel loader from a guy for $25 some years ago cause it had a load stuck in it and he had not cleaned the barrel after shooting it previously either. Got the bullet out and cleaned up the powder. The bore looked like a sewer pipe that sat in the ocean for years. Figured I had nothing to loose so I made a cleaning rod out of a fiberglass rod you use to mark your driveway and a used 1/2" wire pipe cleaning brush. It was a 54 caliber. PB Blaster and lots of elbow grease later I saw rifiling. Cleaned it and tried it with a patched ball. Hit a gallon jug full of water at 50 YDS so it might be somewhat accurate still. Have yet to go hunting with it though.

 

[LoonWulf]

I bought a muzzle loader from a guy for $25 some years ago cause it had a load stuck in it and he had not cleaned the barrel after shooting it previously either. Got the bullet out and cleaned up the powder. The bore looked like a sewer pipe that sat in the ocean for years. Figured I had nothing to lose so I made a cleaning rod out of a fiberglass rod you use to mark your driveway and a used 1/2" wire pipe cleaning brush. It was a 54 caliber. PB Blaster and lots of elbow grease later I saw rifling. Cleaned it and tried it with a patched ball. Hit a gallon jug full of water at 50 YDS so it might be somewhat accurate still. Have yet to go hunting with it though.

A friend of mine had a similar story. Bought an Mk85 from some guy whose house he was at for a party, which cost him 20 bucks. He brought it to me to see if I could make it work as the bolt/striker thingy was stuck. I completely filled the bore with wd-40 from the gallon can. It stood the in the corner action down in a coffee can for a week or so. After all the wd40 worked its way thru, I broke it all apart cleaned the whole thing. It took some serious work to remove most of the rust from the barrel, and even then it was mostly just a vague impression of rifling
With loose Pyrodex ffg and a .45 cal in a sabot, it actually STILL shoots ok. Course, since it's #11 about the only thing you can get here that works mostly, is the Pyrodex ffg.

 

[GBExpat]

Why don't people just say it

Embarrassment and/or shame.

 

[jmorris]

Maybe they are just trying to see how smart you are and around the office telling the story about how “this guy, thinks I just didn’t clean the thing but really...”

 

[IMAhobbyist]

Then again maybe the guy just didn't remember, you know that does happen to some people occasionally.