HELP! Stuck ball in flintlock

[nitroproof]

Guys,

Today I took my .50 cal flintlock out and shot it with .490 balls, T/C patches and T/C Bore Butter... managed to get a ball stuck 8" from the muzzle and all attempts with ball puller failed. It's now sitting in basement with oil soaking the patch.

Fixed breach plug, it has threaded vent.

Suggestions????

Thanks,
Nitroproof [smilie=b:

[drago9900]

If you have not put a hole thru the ball you can put powder thru the touch hole[unless the vent is removable ] then you can remove it and insert powder, reseat and shoot it out. You can get a CO2 discharger and try to blow it out. One last way I have heard is if the vent is removable, you can get a grease zert with the same threads and use a grease gun to push it out with the grease. This would be my last choice. Maybe you can blow it out with a compressor as well. Just be careful blowing it out, it can blow out with considerable force so aim it in a safe direction.

[merlin101]

I've removed the nipple on a percussion cap and pushed a few grains of powder in there and fired a stuck ball. Can you get some powder in than tiny hole? Just a few grains will do it.

[StrawHat]

Use the CO2 canister or compressed air. Unless you can push the ball on top of the powder, you risk a ringed barrel or worse by putting powder in the breech and firing the unseated ball.

Another option is a zirc fitting and pump it out with grease. Then you need to clean the grease out of the Barrel. Start with the CO2 or compressed air.

[TCLouis]

Is it fully charged with a load of powder?

If so, don't shoot the ball out

Compressor with the touch hole removed, or the CO2 ball remover built for such a problem. As someone already said, the ball will come out with enough velocity to damage something.

[Bent Ramrod]

I've seen people work enough powder into a flintlock vent to shoot a dry ball out. Takes a while with a pin and a small heap of powder on the vent, but it works. If you do this, try to ram the ball back down the barrel before firing.

[nitroproof]

The patched ball is only 8" from the muzzle, 42" barrel. I was thinking of getting a brass rod and trying to drive it on down the barrel and shooting it out. Will check out the other suggestions.

Thanks guys.

[Rattus58]

The patched ball is only 8" from the muzzle, 42" barrel. I was thinking of getting a brass rod and trying to drive it on down the barrel and shooting it out. Will check out the other suggestions.

Thanks guys.If it is really stuck.... you're going to have a time of that for sure... at 8" it would be easier to attempt to drill a hole through the ball and weaken the ball so you can push it down or or pull it with an aggressive puller...... and been there done that... so to speak... :grin:

[zuke]

The patched ball is only 8" from the muzzle, 42" barrel. I was thinking of getting a brass rod and trying to drive it on down the barrel and shooting it out. Will check out the other suggestions.

Thanks guys.
I've done that before. Take's awhile but it worked.

[dikman]

Man, that must be tight if a puller won't move it! Unless you can make up some sort of adapter CO2 or a compressor is unlikely to work. (Even if you had such an adapter, if the ball is that tight I doubt if CO2 will work anyway). Soaking it is probably a good idea - what are you using to soak it with? A thin penetrating oil would probably be best (50/50 acetone/ ATF is a good one) and then try the ball puller again. Perhaps tapping it down slightly might be enough to loosen it and then use the ball puller.

I definitely wouldn't try firing it.

[MadHamster]

I usually use hydraulic method with a syringe that fits the hole when i unsrew the vent liner.

[curator]

If the barrel has a threaded vent, remove it and use a brass rod and a heavy hammer to drive the ball to the breech. A heavy hammer will work where a light hammer will only deform the ball. Put five to ten grains of FFFFg in the vent hole, then replace vent liner and fire the ball out. Ball pullers rarely work on a well-stuck ball and often pull the end off your range rod making the problem worse. An alternative to this simple fix is to find an automobile "zerk fitting" (grease fitting) of the correct thread then screw it into the touch hole threads and use a high pressure grease gun to push the ball out. This is a bit messy to clean up but works on even the most stubborn bore obstructions.

[country gent]

A rod as close to bore dia as possible with a cup point machined on the end tapped lightly mau raise the lead ball enough to lossen it so it can be pulled easily. The cup point and light tapping raises the lead up into the cup pulling it from below shrinking the balls dia.

[rob1990]

Ball puller on your ram rod

[nitroproof]

Tried after letting oil (Slip 2000) work about 16 hours... used a short 3/8 dowel (about 12") and a plastic hammer to get the ball moving. Switched to an aluminum shotgun rod and pushed the ball home with hand pressure only. Don't have the luxury of being able to fire one off the back porch so will take it to the range one evening after work.

[country gent]

Dont be surprised with the oil soak if the charge is dead.

[dikman]

If you could push it home with hand pressure then a puller should work. I had one dry-balled (!) (percussion cap gun) and the CO2 wouldn't budge it! So I screwed in the puller and it came out no worries. I should add that I use a steel range rod that I made myself and there's no way that the screw-in puller is going to pull out of the rod.

[flyingmonkey35]

http://www.dixiegunworks.com/product_info.php?cPath=22_99_322&products_id=15330&osCsid=jemene1ase8qk3ievc5r34pek6

[waksupi]

Get rid of the Bore Butter to prevent this in the future. Terrible stuff if you don't like heavy fouling. Moose Milk!

[OverMax]

Ball lodged that near its barrel muzzle having attempted screw pulls. I doubt a co-2 discharger will do the job. Best send it out and have it professionally removed. Only other way I know that may work. Measure it's touch hole vents threads. If it measures 1/4X28 you could screw in a auto Zerk grease fitting and hydraulically pump its barrel full of auto chassis grease. Doing so would force the ball out.

[WILCO]

you could screw in a auto Zerk grease fitting and hydraulically pump its barrel full of auto chassis grease. Doing so would force the ball out.

Yep. That's what I was going to suggest. Learned about that method from the Guerrilla Gunsmithing book.

[StrawHat]

Glad to hear you got it moved. Let us know when it is out.

[waksupi]

If you stick a ball with Bore Butter, try setting an electric iron on top of the barrel. You can usually heat up the barrel and melt the lube to move the ball. Then throw the lube away.

[KCSO]

First lube the bore with water or light oil depending on what you use for patch lube. A soaked patch wil more a lot better than a dryer one. Then using a good puller made of steel rod use the magic acessory, a dril bit centered in a brass guide and drill a pilot hole for the screw. If you don't you are just making the ball a lot tighter when you run the screw in. Then screww in the puller screw and with steady pressure pul out the ball. In the shop I simply use an adapter and blow them out with the shop air compressor. BEWARE 150 psi will put a ball clear through the shop wall if you don't follow instructions and point t at the bullet trap.

[nitroproof]

Shot it out this evening! My ball puller kept stripping out. I've had my flint longrifle over 30 years. Pretty much a wall hanger the past 10 years. Didn't have/ couldn't find much in the way of supplies so I bought some Bore Butter and T/C patches. In the old days I used a much thinner parch (need to find these again) and black powder solvent, home made moose milk solution or good old spit.
Took out the vent scraped out as much of the main charge as I could and replaced with 4F. Degreased the frizzen and pan, primed it and Valoom!

[dikman]

There's your problem - you're not using it enough!;)

[Lead Fred]

We have shot out 32 cal thru 75cal balls out with a 160lb compressor.
Silly folk that do not use TC 1000+ products find all kinds of trouble
We that do, dont

[doc1876]

if the breach will unscrew, just take the whole thing apart, and finish pounding it out. that is the best way, and then clean it good, and use better lube ( and maybe thinner patches)