Muzzleloader Air discharge tool.

[BLACK3]

Hello All,
I was wondering if anyone had heard of such a thing. Possably a co2 charged tool to remove a ball and powder from a muzzy barrell. The reason I ask is that my nephew got his powder wet and his Muzzy would not fire. This happened in the early am when we were out duck hunting. After 10 caps it dried out enough to ignight the powder. If we had , had such a tool he could have reloaded quicker and maybe not have missed 6 easy shots.
Thanks
WARREN

[Del-Ray]

They have them. We use them in the shop to get most, and I do mean "most" BP loads out.

I don't know that name of the unit, but I'll ask the Gunsmith on Thursday, if no one else has posted it already.

[nhrifle]

Absolutely, just make sure it is pointed in a safe direction!

http://www.rmcsports.com/rmcsports_cfmfiles/product.cfm?section=420

[docone31]

That is what the ball puller is for.
To make balls easier to pull, I made an handle on my short starter that has threads that fit in the ramrod end. This makes an handle to pull the ball with.

[fouronesix]

The CO2 discharger has been around quite a while but I've never had need to get one or use one.

ML NO boom for whatever the reason-- wet, oil, fouling, no powder, etc. Good idea to carry a heavy duty (range) rod with ball puller, nipple wrench, nipple/vent pick with thin wire and a little FFF or FFFF.

Most of the time when this happens, I just remove nipple, clean out flash channel with pick, trickle in a little FFF or FFFF, replace nipple and fire. Same holds true for a flinter- sans the nipple. Even works with a no powder oops. Usually you can dribble enough FFF or FFFF powder in behind the ball/or whatever load to shoot it out.

[waksupi]

Yep, they have been around for years. Buy one at a bicycle shop, for half the price of what you would pay at a gun shop. Don't forget to get extra ball inflator needles. Most of them need the tip cut off a smidge, as there are holes in the sides of the tip. Good job for a dremel.
I charge people a buck whenever I clear a load for them on the range.

[BLACK3]

I understand that about the puller , however this is for a 12 gauge muzzy shotgun. Hence no ball

[smokemjoe]

I got one of the 1 st. to come out, it works, but if no powder and pass the inside of the nipple drum why it dont work, Mine uses the soda bottle co2, have alot of full tubes and will sell it, Joe

[fouronesix]

I understand that about the puller , however this is for a 12 gauge muzzy shotgun. Hence no ball

OK then. BTW I did read that you were waterfowl hunting A "ball" puller screw or the two pronged worm, either one will pull the components of a shot charge out. Or you can shoot the charge out by trickling in powder as described in my first post or you can buy the CO2 gadget and see how it works. Makes no difference to me.

[BLACK3]

Thank you Fouronesix I do appreciate the info. I hunt with a real shotgun, however my nephew can only hunt with a muzzy. Both options are good info.

[fouronesix]

As far as what many call a worm. It is the best I've found for removing anything that is stuffed down a ML's bore (anything that should be down there anyway). Better actually than the normal "screw" type remover. It will remove balls, conicals, minies and shot load components. It originally was used as a cleaning jag by wrapping with cloth (therefore the name wiper).

[Goatwhiskers]

I had an inline come in some time back, left loaded from previous season, powder was dead. Washed the powder gunk out, it was loaded with a sabot which had bonded to the barrel surface with rust. Tried to drive the sabot out, stuck goot-n-tight. I filled the chamber area with water, made a plug for the end and screwed it in, then took the barrel outside, clamped it down and warmed the chamber end with my torch. When the water flashed to steam, popped the sabot right out, it did bury in my firewood pile too deep to dig out. Rest of the cleaning job was easy. GW

Muzzies in my area have pretty much gone the way of the dodo. Louisiana made certain center-fires legal for "primitive weapons season" and that killed 'em.

[firefly1957]

I will double the comment on keeping the muzzle pointed in a safe direction when using a co2 discharger i have seen round balls go three inches into the dirt when expelled that way. Here is one link http://www.dixiegunworks.com/default.php?cPath=22_99_322

[waksupi]

At one of our shoots a few years ago, a guy discharged a dry ball with one of these. The ball bounced off a stump, and thumped his buddy in the butt. Didn't hurt him at all, and everyone got a laugh out of it.
Later that evening, I got a couple other club members, found myself a clip board, and a camera man.
I told him that since there had been a shooting accident there, we were going to have to make a report.
I told him to drop his pants, so we could take pictures of the wound. He caught on then, and became very uncooperative! He figured if we had those pictures, they would show up on the club web page. This was true, but how did he know!!??

[BLACK3]

I want to thank you all for your great info. I now have some excellent info to pass on to my nephew, and for my own use. Fouronesix can you tell me where you found that beautiful double claw worm? What do you use to pull stuff out of the barrell. A cleaning kit rod or something else.

Thanks
Warren

[fouronesix]

BLACK3,
Actually that is an original wiper from the mid-1800s specifically for the 69 caliber smoothbores, like the US M1842. There are very good modern versions available from the various Civil War re-enactment supply companies and sutlers and places like Dixie Gun Works. Anything that gets stuck in a ML bore that needs to get pulled out - requires a strong, durable rod. A good quality steel or brass rod is about the best. I've had an old milsurp 50 BMG cleaning rod for 40 + years. I use it for such things.

[Agent1187]

That double worm looks to be worth it's weight in gold compared to the newer pullers I've seen on the shelves.
The most effective use of the air discharge setups is when you think you'll need to use it multiple times in a day (such as at a 4-H or other youth event). Otherwise, it's usually quicker, cheaper, and more effective to just remove the nipple and add some extra powder. That way, a nipple pick and wrench is all you need to clear most any problem.

[DIRT Farmer]

The first CO2 discharger I saw was at the National 4-H training at Crossville TN. The T-C rep had brought it along to demonstrate it. By the afternoon of the second day no one had dry balled so we loaded up a dry load to try it. It was so much fun that we ran out of cylinders "shooting" at the 25 yd targets with 50 cal air guns.
At the NMLRA range we have dischargers on D size tanks at each shack. When they get low, they may or my not clear a shotgun. I keep at least one tapered wad screw in each shotgun box and my hunting shotguns have a concealed screw in the ram rod base. I get mine from Mikes wads.
If you use a worm or screw just remember you are working on the discharge end of a hot gun. Rig a hook point and pull from a solid point with every one behind the muzzle.

[chrisw]

humm, is there a adapter to use w/ an air compressor?

[firefly1957]

They used to make a setup that used a 12 volt air compressor to unload a muzzle loader it would not remove a tightly loaded ball patch combination all the time. For club use we had a CO2 fire extinguisher with a needle adapter and it would work quite well sending a ball down range with quite a bit of force.

[gkainz]

I tried to build a discharger that would plug up to my air compressor. Went down thru a number of rube goldberg adapters, ending up with a grease zerk fitting to match the threads on the nipple hole, and couldn't get a long enough thread to get past the flash pan (?) protrusion at the rear. yeah, I know cap locks don't have a flash pan, but that's the closest I could think of to describe it.
I tried the typical air gun with the rubber tip, but couldn't get a tight enough seal to move the ball down (up?) the barrel.

[MGySgt]

My son had one stuck in his Hawken 50 - He forgot to wipe the barrel to remove the Natural Lude and didn't fire caps to dry the nipples before he loaded it. I guess he went brain dead again. It was a sabot and a J bullet and soft tip (plastic/polyimer) - I could not get it out by using a jag. My compresser and 125 PSI didn't work. he finally had to get one the 'Silent Ball Dischargeer' to get it out.

I don't know if that double worm above would have pulled it or not.