Unloading a Muzzleloader?

[Muddy Creek Sam]

Howdy,

Friend of mine inherited a Muzzleloading Rifle. Percussion cap style. It is loaded and he is a bit leary of pulling the trigger. How do I unload it for him safely.

Thanks,

Sam :D

[3006guns]

You need a "worm".....looks like a woodscrew thread on the end of a cleaning rod. Soak the bore with some penetrating oil first to kill any powder. Work some of that oil in the nipple as well. In fact, you could probably get a stout steel rod and braze or weld a sturdy woodscrew on the end, tap it into the bullet, screw it in tight and pull, brother, pull. Have the muzzle pointed AWAY from you during this operation of course. A few O rings on the rod will prevent scraping the bore.

I believe most of the repro muzzle loader manufacturers have just such a worm that can be threaded on a STEEL cleaning rod. Aluminum might strip its threads. Worst case scenario: the bullet/ball comes out in chunks. No big deal as it comes out and that's the whole idea.

[Johnch]

Pull the nipple
Screw in either a air chuck or grease fitting and push everything out

The air method is not nearly as messy

John

[geargnasher]

Rubber-tipped air blower is how I've done it, the problem is old BP can make a solid plug that doesn't want to come out at all, then you need the "worm".

Gear

[gnoahhh]

This may be overly anal, but I would remove the nipple and inject water or oil into the powder charge to render it inert. Then use a ball-pulling screw attached to a rod. Drop it down the bore and screw it firmly into the ball and pull hard. Really hard. I would use a rod that you don't mind marring if you have to put the vice grips on it. I have a two-handed double jointed ramrod puller for that use, but I honestly don't know if they're made anymore or who would sell it. Oiling the bore ahead of the ball wouldn't hurt also. Flush all the **** out and take it from there.

There are also CO2 dischargers on the market. They act on the principle of injecting a high pressure blast of inert gas into the breech to expel the charge up and out of the barrel. They work pretty slick, but if all you want to do is the one I would try the old fashioned ball puller first. Of course, the CO2 discharger is a handy thing to have in one's kit for that inevitable time when it happens again.

[Marvin S]

+1 rubber tip air nozzle. You can put some light oil in front and back if ya want. Don't forget the eye protection.

[KCSO]

When I shared a building with my brother I had a gun shop in 1 half and he worked on coffee machines in the other. We shared an air compressor a 60 gallon 150 pound giant. One morning bro came in with his m/l and a ball stuck in the barrel. I handed him an adapter and told him to remove the nipple screw in the adapter and point the gun at the wood pile and blow out the ball. I heard the compressor fire up and chucka chucka PSHWEEE as it topped off. Funny I didn't hear a POW!!!! WHANG SMACK a 50 caliber ball coes through the wall hits the milling machine and then the flattened remains bouce off the lathe and land at my feet. Soon I hear a timid, "you all right in there?" At the wood pile dummy! "Uh 150 psi is too much?"

The rubber tipped air chuck has the advantage that it doesn't seal as well as the adapter and may be a little safer, but point it at something solid.

[DIRT Farmer]

Co 2 discharger, there is good evidence of deiseling when high pressure air is injected into the breach or a ramrod screwed into the ball with a well oiled bore slips off the hanger you are pulling from. If the only way to remove the ball is by pulling, soak the breach end in water.
I have heard of using fluid pumped with a grease gun in really stuck loads, or just do like a gunsmith did ( unintentily ), use a torch on the breach. He thought he was just removing the breach plug not unloading it also.

[waksupi]

Any reason to believe it is an unsafe load in it? A long string would work just fine.

[docone31]

I gotta laugh at the time I unloaded a muzzle loader.
I had pulled the ball. Simple enough. They are not that tight in the bore. I then took the ball puller, and put it back in the barrel, to chip at any powder that might still be in there. Some came out. I then took a cap, and put it on the nipple. I pulled the trigger, and POOF!
Well, here is where my natural habits payed off. No one, or anything got hurt! If it had been a goofy load, with another unfelt ball embedded in the barrel, I had a back stop I pointed the barrel at. Nothing came out. Just smoke, back pressure, and noise. We had the ball already out.
That load had been in the barrel for over 20yrs!
We live in an humid environment, and that tells me a lot about Pyrodex. After 20yrs, it still fired.
That is my wife's rifle now, and she likes it. I fixed the issue with the nipple and the drum, and now it fires reliably.
Makes me really glad, I made it an habit of NEVER thinking a firearm was unloaded. My muzzle Always is in a safe direction. Take nothing for granted.
So, you can pull the ball, break up the powder, Then perhaps break up the powder from the nipple side also. Dump it, and check to make sure it is unloaded.
Should be fairly simple.
You will need a ball puller. They screw on to the ram rod. I had to whack my ram rod to get the puller started.
It will go ok.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

Virtually of the above is unneccessary. This is one time deal to be fixed.

A ball screw is a screw that fits your good steel cleaning rod screw thread. It is usually known in the trade as a hanger screw. That is, in many cases, an 8-32 wood screw with no head but rather machine screw threads on the other end, about an inch and a half long. Other sizes are commonly available.

ACE HDWE. charges about 35 cents for this size.

Take a cut round patch or 2 so that you can thread the screw in the center of the patch and on to the rod and a little of the screw tip will stick through, and poke that in your muzzle, the cloth thickness should be a little snug and SERVE TO CENTER THE SCREW IN THE BORE AS YOU PUSH THE ROD TO THE BREECH. Keep the gun pointed in a safe direction, generally up, and don't let the rod be pointing at you. Push the rod down the bore , centering the rod at the muzzle with your fingers, till it makes contact with the ball. Press the rod down with the handle and turn it so that the screw threads about 4-6 turns into the ball. Be firm. Do this upright, muzzle away a little, as if loading.

Find a place in a safe direction to hook the rod handle, hold the gun near the rear sight and near the grip rail and give a good firm pull, not a heroic jerk. The ball will come right out with its patch. Many M/L ranges either have a boot jack kind of thing on the range at ground level or a "V" groove in place under the shooting roof to hook the rod handle into exactly for this procedure. This does not work with the gun's wooden rod in most cases.

BTW this is why most M/L range rods have fixed handles , and many of us shooters have these ball screws in our kit. It is also why I occasionally poke powder down a flint flashhole, or put some under a nipple, as a freshly loaded ball moves easily and I would rather shoot out the ball, than pull it. But this is not a thing to do and be afraid of.

Most worms are for cleaning, not pulling a ball, and if you want to test this, you should do so at the range or with a dry ball, not at a match, or in the bush.

Caution: This procedure is not approved in certain liberal states and is known to cause extreme squeamishness and anxiety in some cases.

BvT Docone 31 is right too. He was a bit ahead of me.

[Hellgate]

If you don't mind risking ruining the gun, just take it out somewhere where you can hide behind a protective barrier, place the gun butt inside an old car tire pointed in a safe direction, tie a string to the trigger, hunker down safely and from some distance pull the string. If the cap pops but no bang. Wait about 10 minutes, pull the nipple, sprinkle in some fine BP, replace the nipple, recap, and repeat the firing from behind cover til she goes off. That's what it shows in the back of the Dixie Gun Works catalog.

[XWrench3]

i have used the air compressor method before. it works well. i point the muzzle into a pile of rags. then i can just pick up the bullet (to reuse with a different sabot) and i just shake out the powder, and sweep it up.

[wilddog45]

CO2 discharger is all i use anymore. The CO2 bottles are the same that are used for seltzer carbonators that you can get at any full service liquer store. Shoots everything out the muzzle with no problems.

[White Smoke]

The CO2 discharger works great. The bullet-puller, sold by several different companies, also works great. You should have one or the other in your possibles bag all the time. The screw-type bullet-puller is smaller, lighter, cheaper and works all the time. The CO2 device is bigger, more expensive and works...as long as you have a full CO2 cartridge to put in it. I have both, but ALWAYS have the screw-type puller with me when I'm hunting. BTW, this may be a two-person job if you don't have a vise or other device to hold the ramrod. Some bullets can really get stuck hard and it may take a pretty good pull to get it out. If you use a screw-type puller, you'll also need a "worm", which removes the patch (and any clumped powder) after you pull the ball.

[smoked turkey]

I was not successful for our muzzleloading deer season which ended yesterday. I was going to shoot the Renegade 54 today but didn't get around to it. It was loaded with a 390 gr. Lyman Maxi ball over 80 grains of Pyrodex RS. I had always wanted to try the compressed air technique but had not ever tried it until this evening. I turned the pressure down to about 55 psi. I mounted the rifle in my MTM cleaning vise. I attached a 3 or 4 inch piece of vacuum hose I had in my tool box to the nipple. It fit over the nipple firmly but not too tight. I used my air blow gun. The maxi came out as pretty as you please. I heard it hit in the grass about 20 feet or so from me. I held the hose at the nipple so it would stay attached. I imagine a sabot would take more pressure and might not work, but this deal worked for me.

[Marvin S]

As easy as that.

[CATS]

Mountain bike shops will have a co2 tire inflator that uses a standard co2 cart. Fits in pocket or possibles bag.

[45-70 Chevroner]

I know that this is not the same thing, but during the Civil War there were cases during the heat of battle, a soldier would load his rifle aim and not pull the trigger then load his rifle again and do the same thing over and over until he had a barrel full of powder and boolit loads.
I just wonder how a soldier would handle such a situation. More than likely a soldier that this happen to would just through the rifle away and look for one laying next to a dead soldier. Rifles were found on the battle field that had 6 or 8 charged loads in them.

[Chili]

Did you get the rifle unloaded? If so, how did you do it?

[Muddy Creek Sam]

Haven't even seen the gun yet.

Sam :D

[Hellgate]

45-70 Chevroner,
When I first got my 1903 sporterized Springfield for deer hunting from my dad I noticed that when the magazine was empty the follower popped up and jammed the bolt so you could not close the bolt. He explained it was to let the soldier know that his gun was out of ammo so he would stop and reload it. Otherwise he would just keep working the bolt and pulling the trigger in the heat and noise of battle. With the Civil War muskets I'd bet that the soldiers would get frazzled (to put it mildly) with all the noise, death, smoke, etc. and forget to cap the nipple and just aim & "fire". Then they'd stuff another charge in and aim and "fire" again & again.

[docone31]

Some did just that!
My friend growing up had a musket from the civil war. We used to grab it, and the other cap lock and go out "hunting" in the back yard. We were real young. No loads, just a bunch of old rifles. We couldn't wait to get a modern one!
At any rate.
The musket had seen battle. It went to a gunsmith to get worked on, and he found the bore loaded! There were three Minie's in there, with a poweder charge between them.
The Gunsmith told us, it was common for the line solder to tear the paper cartridge, pour the powder, ram the Minie, then do it again, and possibly again.
Even thinking about it today, I can just imagine the HORROR of being there. Almost no words for it.
The gunsmith showed us the Minie's. He pulled three of them.
I have dry chambered my cap lock a few times myself. Happens at the range. I can just imagine, standing there, looking directly at the approaching line.
I might be inclined to become a tad "Frazzled" myself.
Just a little.
Holy ****!

[DIRT Farmer]

Which also brings up the point a lot of old guns are out there with an origonal load in them . After hunting, it was brought in and was ready for the next trip.

[mooman76]

I've heard of hunters going through a whole magazine of rounds, chambering them and ejecting without firing a single round.