Clearing a barrel obstruction in a mosin?

[PerpetualStudent]

Short version: my brother has rammed most of a paper towel about 6 in down the barrel and it is well and truly stuck. We've tried pounding it out using the steel rod and a rubber mallet. We've tried letting some water sit on it and then pounding. It's not budging.

Back Story: My brother came up to visit us- we went to the range had a great time with his mosin. We came back to the house exhausted and completely forgot to clean it. So he woke up at 5 AM realizing we had used corrosive ammo and started cleaning it in a sleep deprived state. It went alright until he tried to use most of a paper towel in order to dry it out well. Since he knows I recently joined here he wanted to see if you guys had any advice.

[Mica_Hiebert]

Let a bunch of penetrating oil soak in the barrel then continue the steel rod pounding

[RU shooter]

Keep it soaking wet and twist a undersized bore brush into it little at a time and try to tear it out in small pieces instead of ramming it out your just compacting it that way

[country gent]

fill barrel with water or a light mix of ballistol and water.and let set for a couple hours. It should soften and break down the paper towel, Leaving the loose fibers to push out. If possible set rifle muzzle down in a container and pour water ballistol mix in from breech. And let soak. When you try to push it out use a tight fitting patch on a jag. pour a little water in the bore if its ran out and push jag into bore with a solid quick push. This should create a hydrolic effect pushing the water past the towel and compressing it further allowing it to come out easily. Think of depriming berdan primers with water. A paper towel could be worked out with undersized brush and pushing twisting into towel and pulling out in pieces until removed completely.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

If it was done after shooting with corrosive ammo, and he isn't confident of having removed the residue, it is better dealt with quickly. If the towel was at normal atmospheric humidity for most areas, or soaked with solvent or water, you could remove the stock and heat the barrel till it dries out and contracts. With most solvents you could, if necessary, heat it till the paper chars, for military barrels are intended to take that sort of heat. I wouldn't answer for every kind of barrel cleaning product, but you could test it on a piece of brightened steel first.

With some barrels (7mm, 8mm., .25in. etc., you can get a 12in. length of K&S brass tubing, file teeth in the end, and use it in a drill to cut out the obstruction. 5/16in. would probably have to be hammered into the rifling, though. But you could probably get it down to the obstruction and use it as a guide to drill out the obstruction with an extra long 9/32in. drill. With corrosive residue I wouldn't wait till the tubing comes by mail order. I wouldn't even rely on filling the bore with oil as a delaying measure if there was any water-based product in there, to stop it penetrating all the way in.

[waksupi]

If it was done after shooting with corrosive ammo, and he isn't confident of having removed the residue, it is better dealt with quickly. If the towel was at normal atmospheric humidity for most areas, or soaked with solvent or water, you could remove the stock and heat the barrel till it dries out and contracts. With most solvents you could, if necessary, heat it till the paper chars, for military barrels are intended to take that sort of heat. I wouldn't answer for every kind of barrel cleaning product, but you could test it on a piece of brightened steel first.

With some barrels (7mm, 8mm., .25in. etc., you can get a 12in. length of K&S brass tubing, file teeth in the end, and use it in a drill to cut out the obstruction. 5/16in. would probably have to be hammered into the rifling, though. But you could probably get it down to the obstruction and use it as a guide to drill out the obstruction with an extra long 9/32in. drill. With corrosive residue I wouldn't wait till the tubing comes by mail order. I wouldn't even rely on filling the bore with oil as a delaying measure if there was any water-based product in there, to stop it penetrating all the way in.

I agree with heat. You probably wouldn't need to completely burn the towels out, just char them good. I solder on barrels all the time, you won't hurt them with heat.

[PerpetualStudent]

He's running with the heating option. He tried using a heating gun but it's not going quickly. Any advice for heating method? He's considering using open flame or a soldering iron.

[Mk42gunner]

I would figure out where the paper towel plug is, from both sides, then use a propane torch as has been suggested to char the paper.

Use a close fitting steel rod with a suitable steel hammer, a three pound blacksmith hammer is my weapon of choice for driving obstructions from rifled barrels. You want the force to move the plug, not have a rubber bumper.

After you get the obstruction out, I would re-clean the rifle and dry it by pouring boiling water down the bore. The metal will get hot enough from the water to dry itself, then oil the bore well.

Robert

[PerpetualStudent]

Well that seems to have done the trick. My brother is very grateful for your help.

For those who are interested here's what the obstruction looked like when he got it out : http://i.imgur.com/n899N4f.jpg

[bob208]

I have done it a few ways one was a long screw and a slide hammer to draw out the patches. the other was a piece of tubing that just fit in the bore and a long drill in side the tubing and drill a hole in the obstruction then push it out.

[WineMan]

Whatever you do, stay away from steel drill bits. A brass screw might help but it also might add to the problem. I would say to make a "cutter" from a brass rod, and wrap it with electrical tape at intervals. Turn it by hand a couple of times and pull it out to remove some of the paper. Use lots of penetrating oil and take your time. Pushing will not help but removing a little at a time will.

Dave

[3006guns]

Boy that thing was really compacted! Don't feel bad......yours truly tried cleaning a .58 Zouave muzzle loader with a paper towel years ago and it took most of the evening to get that one out with a ball worm.

A good trick is to get a piece of brass or copper tubing just slightly under bore size and file "teeth" in one end. Push it up against the obstruction and rotate/remove. It will act as a "plug cutter" and remove the paper one piece at a time without damage to the bore.

[Adam Helmer]

I suggest folks start out with SMALL cleaning patches when cleaning bores. In the past, I had a M1909 Argentine Rifle a neighbor plugged hard. Fortunately he stopped by my farm before he drilled midway down the barrel to rootoroot out the patch. It finally came out and all is well.

Adam

[gwpercle]

DO NOT shoot it out...just in case that hasn't been covered.
A red hot steel rod doesn't work that well either...we tried.
Heating the barrel hot enough to burn up the paper towel is not to be tried either, the metal will be scorched and may be damaged.
Best practice is old school screw tip , like black powder ball puller. To pull , you screwed it into the ball and pulled it out . Any shop seeling black powder stuff should have one, cost about $3.00 . I find the ball puller works better than the patch or wad puller for this . Screw it into wad and tear out bit by bit. This works best.
Been there done that !

[Andy]

that thing looks as dense as a bullet

[LUCKYDAWG13]

I would get a brass jag red hot and run that down the barrel on you cleaning rod and burn it out like that