Rolling Block chamber cast: Uh-Oh!

[Hogpost]

Fooey. I’ve done several successful chamber casts with Cerrosafe, but this time was my first with a rolling block. (Oviedo 43 Spanish Reformado).

In attempting reassembly, I find there’s a little bit of Cerrosafe ‘way down inside
the extractor recess, just enough that I can’t get the @#$%^&*!!! extractor back in!

I really don’t want to pay a gunsmith to pull the barrel, then re-install it after scraping out the crud from the extractor slot.

Any rolling-block afficionados out there experienced with this problem, and
not embarassed to share?

[Frank46]

Since the cerro safe melts at a low temp just heat the affected area and when hot enough rap the tangs facing down on a piece of wood. Inertia will do the rest. Frank

[scb]

Since the cerro safe melts at a low temp just heat the affected area and when hot enough rap the tangs facing down on a piece of wood. Inertia will do the rest. Frank

Yup that's what I do. Remove the wood so as not to burn it. Then hit the affected area with a heat gun. Stuff should melt and fall out. You've only got to heat it to a little over 200°.

[John in PA]

And, to avoid the problem in the future, try modeling clay or Duxseal putty in any nooks and crannies you don't intend to fill with Cerrosafe. The temperature of the metal is low enough that it solidifies long before significant softening of the putty will occur. Then punch out your casting and peel off the clay/putty. I use the same technique for glass bedding around stock mortises, etc.

[Toymaker]

[smilie=s: Thank goodness someone else has done it too. Cerrosafe is brittle. I used a long, sharply pointed awl and just tweeked it with a little force. It popped right out.

[Hogpost]

Thanks, Toymaker, I feel a teeny bit less dumb.
I wound up doing a variation of yours, as I wanted to try anything else before heating up the whole bloody gun.
I could see the piece, but was unsuccessful in popping it loose, so I sandpapered the end of a piece of 10-gauge copper wire, heated the end up with the ol' Bernz-O-Matic, and poked the Cerrosafe. The stuff melted & flowed around the copper wire,
which I then pulled out. Hot dog: the extractor drops in & works now!

And as John says, next time I'll dam off any similar nooks/crannies with putty or clay.

[Toymaker]

Glad it worked for you, Hogpost. Just don't sneeze while pouring the Cerrosafe................[smilie=b: