Freeing a stuck boolit

[keyholer]

Experimenting with rodent flatulence loads, I assumed that if I stuck one in the barrel, I could shoot it out with a sufficient load of powder in a primed case. A shooting buddy counsels that's a terrible idea, that it will likely result in a bulged barrel. What's the reality of the situation?

[Ford SD]

Experimenting with rodent flatulence loads, I assumed that if I stuck one in the barrel, I could shoot it out with a sufficient load of powder in a primed case. A shooting buddy counsels that's a terrible idea, that it will likely result in a bulged barrel. What's the reality of the situation?

Not a expert on the stuck bullet only did one in rifle, that I pushed out wit a cleaning rod

Using powder I think is a bad Idea

[500MAG]

I recall this being talked about a while back. I think the consensus was to use a slide hammer with a screw on the end of it that you screw into the boolit. If you pound on it, it may mushroom and get stuck worse. No, do not try to use a powder load.

[Spawn-Inc]

Spray oil down the barrel let it soak for an hour they use a brass rod to hammer it out. I've had the pleasure of doing it several times in various guns.

[Tatume]

Using gunpowder to remove a stuck bullet is a recipe for disaster. It will probably damage the gun, possibly irreparably, and might injure you too.

I've removed several stuck cast bullets. The hardest part is locating a suitable brass rod. Don't try wood! It will splinter, jam, and make the problem worse. If you must use steel, wrap the rod in several places with tape, building up the diameter to almost bore diameter. That way your barrel is protected from being touched by the steel rod.

Removing the bullet is very easy. Use a heavy hammer and light taps. DO NOT use a light hammer and heavy blows. Light taps with a heavy hammer will move the bullet. Heavy blows with a light hammer will upset the bullet, possibly causing it to be stuck worse than before.

Stuck bullets usually move immediately, easily, and without damage to the gun.

[marvelshooter]

I would definitely not attempt to blow it out with a powder charge. I don't think it would end well.

[Virginia John]

I carry an aluminum rod in my range bag just for this purpose.

[waksupi]

I read in either a P.O. Ackley book, or Hatchers, about using powder to remove a bullet. Of course they had access to a new barrel if they would ruin one. I personally wouldn't do it.

[WilliamDahl]

I wonder what the difference is between something like this and some of the old artillery pieces where you loaded a projectile into bore and then put a powder charge behind it.

[Gtek]

Steel/brass rod as large as can fit in bore. Wrap with tape every couple inches to bore diameter. Shot of light oil (Kroil, etc.) in front of way it is going. Yes, big hammer - light bumps. Nothing to it. Gtek

[marvelshooter]

I wonder what the difference is between something like this and some of the old artillery pieces where you loaded a projectile into bore and then put a powder charge behind it.
I would say the difference is with the artillery piece the powder charge is right behind the bullet. With the stuck bullet there is an air space where the expanding gasses can build up pressure before encountering resistance.

[WilliamDahl]

I would say the difference is with the artillery piece the powder charge is right behind the bullet. With the stuck bullet there is an air space where the expanding gasses can build up pressure before encountering resistance.

It would be interesting to find out how much pressure is needed to get a projectile moving dependent upon where in the barrel it is stuck.

[Larry Gibson]

Ackley and Hatcher both used that method for cast and jacketed and recomended its use. I've used this method numerous times over the years.with complete success.

I use 6 - 10 gr Unique, depending on cartridge, with absolutely no wad or filler or anything to hold the powder in. Load at the range with muzzle up. Slowly lower muzzle down range and fire. It is simply the same as using a reduced load in a very large case. Isn't that what most of our cast bullet loads are anyway?

Larry Gibson

[WilliamDahl]

Ackley and Hatcher both used that method for cast and jacketed and recomended its use. I've used this method numerous times over the years.with complete success.

I use 6 - 10 gr Unique, depending on cartridge, with absolutely no wad or filler or anything to hold the powder in. Load at the range with muzzle up. Slowly lower muzzle down range and fire. It is simply the same as using a reduced load in a very large case. Isn't that what most of our cast bullet loads are anyway?


I could see there being a theoretical difference if the barrel was tapered.

[3006guns]

There's some disagreement about shooting out a stuck boolit. Although I respect Larry's opinion greatly, personally, I won't do it...and yes, I have a copy of Hatcher and respect that greatly too!

The solution is pretty simple though. Find a welding supply shop and purchase a 3' length of 1/4" brazing rod (yes, they do make it that big). Clear the weapon and insert the rod, then smack it with a hammer. I have used this method several times with both lead and jacketed over the years and haven't had a boolit stick yet......they always come out.

[bangerjim]

DO NOT USE POWDER!

I made hard brass adaptors to screw onto the end of my cleaning rods for the various cal's I use. These screw on and make it easy to pound out (with a heavy hammer as above) the stuck bad boy. Soft brass......no. Steel.....no. AlBro or hard high speed brass.

This allows me to take ONLY ONE set of rods to the range and use with ALL the cal's I may have at the time. Eliminates the "go to "Hell-n-Hunt" for the right size brass rod.

bangerjim

[BBQJOE]

I suppose taking a hack saw and cutting the barrel on either side of the stuck bullet isn't a good idea either.
;-)

[Scharfschuetze]

As noted in post 13, if a bullet is stuck in the barrel, it just produces an ultra large chamber when you load a case with a light charge of fast burning powder behind it. I have also used this method a few times with no damage to the barrel or firearm. On one assignment, Larry Gibson and I both worked out of the same military facility that had an indoor range. Unless we were deployed overseas or on an exercise, we shot just about every day during our lunch hour for several years until I was reassigned to another post. As the range was indoors, we used the opportunity to refine our cast boolit loads for everything from 25/20s to 45/70s. As we were only shooting paper at 25 yards, many of our loads were in the "squib" category and thus had the potential to stick a bullet every now and then. Depending on the cartridge, an appropriate load of Bullseye or Unique (as noted above, without any form of wad or filler) would solve the problem most ricky tick. Think about it for a second. Your barrel is designed to withstand pressure levels in excess of the maximum charge or pressure in its calibre. Is a load that just barely obturates your brass cartridge case going to swell or damage it?

Now that I've said that, I believe black powder to be a different story. In the Washington State hunter safety booklet that we use to teach hunter safety is the proviso not to leave any airspace between the black powder and projectile and recommends (correctly) to compress the BP with the projectile before shooting in a muzzle loader. I believe that also would apply in this situation when using BP.

Bottom line? I've used both methods to remove the odd stuck boolit and both work fine. Still, if you are uncomfortable with using powder, use the tried and true rod. I might add that I watched a couple of guys pounding on a stuck bullet at the range last week and I'm sure that they must have damaged the throat or rifling of that rifle with all the banging and pounding that they were doing on it without any rod or chamber guide. I know that most members here would be more rifle savy than those two guys, but I sure wouldn't want to buy that rifle at a gun show!

[WilliamDahl]

Although I suspect that using powder to shoot the bullet can be an acceptable option most of the time, I would probably use a brass rod as a punch to remove it for the simple reason that this method would allow me to save the bullet and recover the lead.

The only time I ever had to do this was when I tried to slug a barrel and I made the mistake of using a wheelweight alloy instead of a soft lead alloy.

[MtGun44]

I ALWAYS knock them out with a brass rod and hammer.

Bill

[truckjohn]

I always knock them out...

A good cleaning rod or brass rod and a heavy hammer will do the deed without issue...

Here's the deal....
If you are going to play with cat sneezes... You BETTER ALWAYS bring a rod along to knock bullets out.... ALWAYS.....

It's just the nature of the beast....

Thanks

[Eddie2002]

If you can't find a brass rod of the right size most of the big box home improvement stores stock aluminum round stock. I've been using an old aluminum cleaning rod and a block of wood for my odd squibs. Pops them out of the chamber with just a few blows.

[gimling]

I got one stuck once, I just went to lowes and bought a piece of all thread and pounded it out, then used the lead I pounded out as my bore slug measurement.

[koehlerrk]

I've had this happen twice... both times, I deferred to General Hatcher, and used a small charge of the fastest burning powder I had, in my case, Bullseye, and I will say that it pops the offending bullet out like a cork. Start low, you can always put more powder in for the next try, but it really doesn't take a lot. You're much better off than trying to pound it out with a rod... that's a very easy way to ding up your bore, especially with a small bore as the rod diameter is very small...

[Hickory]

I suppose taking a hack saw and cutting the barrel on either side of the stuck bullet isn't a good idea either.
;-)

Your problem solving techniques have not matured to it's fullist potential. :holysheep

[Dan Cash]

I wonder what the difference is between something like this and some of the old artillery pieces where you loaded a projectile into bore and then put a powder charge behind it.

Separate loading artillery has a projectile seated in the bore with the propellant charge seated immediately behind it with airspace in the chamber analogous to a fixed (cartridge loaded) round of ammo.

Placing a charged cartridge in a firearm with a stuck projectile up the tube allows the propellant to burn in an unpredictable and erratic manner resulting in: A. an expelled projectile with no harm done; B. a projectile still stuck in the barrel and a lot of preeure trapped in the bore; C. A bulged or burst barrel.

[WilliamDahl]

Separate loading artillery has a projectile seated in the bore with the propellant charge seated immediately behind it with airspace in the chamber analogous to a fixed (cartridge loaded) round of ammo.

Placing a charged cartridge in a firearm with a stuck projectile up the tube allows the propellant to burn in an unpredictable and erratic manner resulting in: A. an expelled projectile with no harm done; B. a projectile still stuck in the barrel and a lot of preeure trapped in the bore; C. A bulged or burst barrel.

I remember reading about the 16" naval guns on the Iowa-class battleships and it was my impression that with them, the projectile was loaded to the same place each time and then a possibly varying number of bags of powder are then loaded to dependent upon the range of the intended shot. It seemed that the space between the powder and the projectile varied in that particular weapon. Maybe someone who served on one of them could chime in with some more info?

[Tatume]

I remember reading about the 16" naval guns on the Iowa-class battleships and it was my impression that with them, the projectile was loaded to the same place each time and then a possibly varying number of bags of powder are then loaded to dependent upon the range of the intended shot. It seemed that the space between the powder and the projectile varied in that particular weapon. Maybe someone who served on one of them could chime in with some more info?

My father served on several battleships in the Pacific Theater of WWII, and after the war. After the war I was invited aboard and given the opportunity to crawl up the barrel of a 16" gun. That was on the Wisconsin. I was five at the time.

To load the guns a projectile was placed on the tray and a rammer shoved it into the breech. The hydraulic rammer was retracted and the required number of bags of gunpowder were then placed on the tray and rammed. Afterwards a primer was inserted.

Following the explosion on the USS Iowa and the initial, incorrect hypothesis:

"Subsequent studies, ordered by Congress, managed by the General Accountability Office, and conducted by Sandia National Laboratories, completely discredited this theory. Sandia found that the suspected materials were normally present in firing residues, but strongly suspected that there had been an unexpected hypersensitivity to the ramming action under a certain set of conditions that existed at the time of the accident. Normally, there is air space between the base of the shell and the leading edge of the front powder bag: 17" with the five-bag load in use. It could be determined that there was no such gap, indicating an overram due to an unknown mechanical problem in the power rammer. Contributing factors may have been the mixture and position of propellant granules in the particular batch being used."
http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/16%22-50_caliber_MK_7_naval_gun

[Scharfschuetze]

Back in the early 70s, my team was practicing calling for fire with an 8" howitzer battery. At one point, we rotated out of the FO bunker individually and back to the howitzers which were a couple of miles away from us. The gun crews, as could be expected, were very proud of their pieces and showed me all the ins and outs of getting a round out of the tube and onto a target many miles away and unseen by the gunners.

Due to the range constraints of the firing fan for the range, the gunners were only loading a single bag of powder which left a great deal of air space between the charge and the projo which was manually rammed up into the chamber and the start of the rifling. It reminded me of the large air space in my cast bullet loads and I thought nothing more of it till reading the above post about the 16" naval rifles and the previous post to that about howitzers. It now seems to be a good corollary to our topic here.

Now, with that all said, I got to pull the lanyard on the big gun a couple of time and watch an 8" HE round sail up into the sky until it was out of sight. Largest weapon that I ever got to fire!

[Texantothecore]

I use an aluminum rod with an empty brass cartridge case scotch taped to the business end of the rod. Works just fine.

[jonk]

Ever hear of breech seating? The single shot folks mechanically ram a bullet into the bore then insert a primed, charged cartridge behind and shoot. Matter of course. Often with excellent accuracy.

Now combine that with Col. Julian Hatcher's notes, who probably forgot more about ballistics than most of us will ever learn, and I have absolutely no issue with shooting the bullet out. Now, that said, carrying primed cases and powder to the range is not very easy, so I usually carry a rod to pound them out. But just saying, I'd have zero issue with shooting them out, and anyone who does needs to rethink ballistics. Again, with smokeless powder and no filler.

[inspector_17]

haven't had to deal with rifle boolits only pistol boolits. but I use rod and hammer method.

[kartooo]

Back in the early 70s, my team was practicing calling for fire with an 8" howitzer battery. At one point, we rotated out of the FO bunker individually and back to the howitzers which were a couple of miles away from us. The gun crews, as could be expected, were very proud of their pieces and showed me all the ins and outs of getting a round out of the tube and onto a target many miles away and unseen by the gunners.

Due to the range constraints of the firing fan for the range, the gunners were only loading a single bag of powder which left a great deal of air space between the charge and the projo which was manually rammed up into the chamber and the start of the rifling. It reminded me of the large air space in my cast bullet loads and I thought nothing more of it till reading the above post about the 16" naval rifles and the previous post to that about howitzers. It now seems to be a good corollary to our topic here.

Now, with that all said, I got to pull the lanyard on the big gun a couple of time and watch an 8" HE round sail up into the sky until it was out of sight. Largest weapon that I ever got to fire!

i spent 3yrs with the 155's, 2 at ft lewis 1 in Germany
Yup there was a pretty good gap between the powder and that 97 lb bullet.
it took several lbs of powder to move that round many miles to it's target.
the towed piece here in the states we manually rammed the round in, in Germany it was a track vehicle and hydraulicaly rammed.
the primer was a pretty good sized cartridge that torched it off. the impact fuse did not activate until a few rpms on the round out of barrel.
Scharfschuetzer, we pobably crossed paths at ft lewis if you were there 73-74.

[Scharfschuetze]

Hey Kartoo,

I was there in 1970 and then again in 88 to 94, 97 to 2000, 05 to 06 and finally in 2011. It's probably my favorite CONUS base. Lots of good shooting there, both on the base and at the various rifle ranges all within an hour's drive of the base. I'm still a member of the Paul Bunyan Rifle and Pistol Club south of Puyallup. They have a great high-power rifle program as well as many active cast bullet shooters using either rifles or pistols. Wish I could mine those backstops for lead.

I'm going to guess that you were with the 9 Infantry Division. I was at both North Fort and then later on at the new 1 SFG compound on main post.

[unique]

I have used both methods and much prefer the powder method. Never read Hatcher's piece but essentially did same thing using a little unique.

The way to think about it is that the starting pressure for lead bullet is somewhere around 2k psi. So right there it tells you that the pressure in your barrel needs to peak a little over 2k psi to get going. Is 2k psi going to break anything? I don't think so. The harder part is figuring how much powder that will take so like everything else in this game if you are not sure work up.

[dakotashooter2]

What I question is the possibility of blowback in this situation. Under normal firing the bullets resistance to the rifleing is going to cause the case to expand right away. If the bullet is stuck a significant distance down the bore it seems like the case may not fully expand and fill the bore before allowing some gas leakage around it.

[unique]

What I question is the possibility of blowback in this situation.

Well if your first attempt is with a charge too light it'll sound like ['click-pssfff'...meaning the bullet didn't move and pressure is leaking back past the case...really uneventful. Your deodorant can is more dangerous that that.

Once the charge is significant enough for the bullet to move then things are happening in milliseconds range and your senses can't really detect anything.

Really isn't that big of a deal unless you over do it with the powder charge. Anyone reloading is obliged to use common sense and certainly anyone questioning this method is doing just that since shooting a stuck boolit out isn't all that intuitive...but that doesn't mean you can't.