stuck brush

[rond]

I have a TC Hawken in .45 purchased in the 70s and while cleaning yesterday the brush pulled off the cleaning rod. The piece that screws into the rod was still connected, the brush pulled out of that. The breach plug has never been off this rifle so I'll have a hard time removing it. I plugged the nipple and poured Hopes in the barrel in the hope that it will dissolve the copper brush enough to get it out with a jag. If you have any ideas please post.

[bosterr]

A friend of mine had that same problem. It was a brush that the twisted steel part that contains the bristles pulled off the threaded ferrule. The best way to prevent this is to only buy brushes that the twisted metal part is threaded through the ferrule.

Now for the solution. His was a .54 caliber. He found a piece of copper tubing long enough to touch the breech plug. Push the tubing down and completely cover all the bristles and pull it out. If it's a tight fitting brush the bristles are bent in the wrong direction and won't reverse to allow an easy removal without encapsulating the bristles first.

[Taylor]

What bosterr said,it do work.

[Maven]

I've read about this problem on other forums and one frequently mentioned suggestion was to take a length of copper tubing whose inside diameter is less than that of the brush; push it down over the brush; and slowly pull it, and the brush, out of the bbl. Pulling the breech plug is an absolute last resort on T/C bbls. as it requires a special wrench, the correct (both material & form) vise jaws, and lots of muscle.

[salpal48]

I had the same Problem with My Original 1861 Springfield. I was able to Pull it out with a Standard Hook type Bullet puller . . I pushed the Puller down and Tangled it up in the brush it self.. At first Difficult. But once the brush reverse position came out quickly. Only use Nylon brush . no copper or Brass

[bob208]

the copper tube is the way to get it out I have done it many times. the advice I always gave after doing the job was tell them not to use a brush in a muzzle loader. I have never used one in 40 years of shooting muzzle loaders.
don't try to unbreach a rifle unless you have the proper barrel vise and breach wrench.

[Standing Bear]

14 ga solid copper wire 10-12" longer than the barrel. WITHOUT insulation. Wrap one end around a Phillips screwdriver 4-5 times to make a cork screw. Pay attention to the direction of twist when inserting into bore as u may be turning backwards. Screw the wire into the brush and pull. The inside of the corkscrew allows twisted wire part of the brush a place to go.
TC

[rfd]

hope some of the cool tricks mentioned above work for the OP.

"Ain't nothin hard of you have the right tools - and know how to use 'em." - if yer in this trad ml game for life, then, ah yes, this is why i have those good breech plug pullin' tools. :)

[mooman76]

You got good advice on how to fix the problem. Many do not recomend using a wire brush ever. I've never had the problem mentioned but here is a couple thought for the next person or time. I always use a well worn brush when I use one. Also the problem as mentioned is the bristles trying to reverse directions so when you try to pull it out, they dig in, so before you try to pull the brush back out, twist/turn the cleaning rod about 180 degrees. This will change the direction of the bristles making it easier to pull back out.

[rfd]

imgo, for the patent breeches of offshore guns, a patched bronze or nylon brush is fine and pretty much mandatory as a patched jag ain't getting in there - just be cognisant and careful of the direction ya twist it.

[54bore]

You got good advice on how to fix the problem. Many do not recomend using a wire brush ever. I've never had the problem mentioned but here is a couple thought for the next person or time. I always use a well worn brush when I use one. Also the problem as mentioned is the bristles trying to reverse directions so when you try to pull it out, they dig in, so before you try to pull the brush back out, twist/turn the cleaning rod about 180 degrees. This will change the direction of the bristles making it easier to pull back out.

Good advise on how to remove the brush. And if you follow What mooman76 said ^^ from now on it shouldn't happen again, when you push a new tight fitting brush down the bore till it bottoms out at the breech make sure to 'Twist the rod 180 degrees to change the direction of the bristles' BEFORE trying to pull it back out

[curator]

Sometimes a corkscrew-type patch puller will grab a stuck bore brush and pull it out. Better to ALWAYS use bore brushes that the spiral wire core goes through the threaded shank. These cannot pull off inside your gun. Years ago almost all bore brushes were made this way. The cheap Chinese-made knock-offs have the threaded shank swaged onto the spiral wire core and can easily pull apart. Its not just muzzle loaders who have this problem. Cheap bore brushes should never be pulled through a bore. Push it through then remove it from the cleaning rod. Since you can't do this with a muzzle loader, best to not use them. Even with a quality bore brush, you need to turn the rod (in the direction to tighten) a quarter turn before reversing it as the bristles will be pointed in the wrong direction if you don't.

[54bore]

This is a good brush
185019

This is a Junk brush
185020

[triggerhappy243]

Where is the "like" button?

[rond]

Thanks for all the great replies, I will work on it this afternoon.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Well, I learned something today.
Lots of great sounding ideas here, that I never would have thought of, if I had the same problem, luckily I've never had that happen.

Back in the early 1990s, when I first got into shooting ML, I bought a TC Seneca 45cal, with a rusted bore. My friend (Bubba) and I tried to get the breech plug out, so we could "fix" the rust in the bottom of the barrel. Guess what, all we made was scrap metal. Back then you could get replacement barrels through TC (made by Fox? or Foxtrail? or something like that?)...So I got to order my first QLA barrel, and I still have that 36 cal barrel and Love it.

[Tatume]

Fox Ridge Outfitters. They were good folks to deal with.

[GoexBlackhorn]

I have a TC Hawken in .45 purchased in the 70s and while cleaning yesterday the brush pulled off the cleaning rod. The piece that screws into the rod was still connected, the brush pulled out of that. The breach plug has never been off this rifle so I'll have a hard time removing it. I plugged the nipple and poured Hopes in the barrel in the hope that it will dissolve the copper brush enough to get it out with a jag. If you have any ideas please post.

I often wondered if you could pack the nipple hole with blackpowder and shoot the bore brush out of the barrel.
Anyone ever try it?

Another option is to buy a CO2 Cartridge Discharger, used to remove contaminated loads still inside the bore.

[Lethemgo]

I was lucky once and grabbed one out of my buddies barrel with a tow worm

[mooman76]

You could try shooting it out but being a brush and not being solid or near air tight, probably wouldn't work, but hay, what have you got to loose trying. Another option probably wouldn't work either but does work on really stuck RBs or jags, put a grease zert in the place of the nipple and use a grease gun to pump it out. You shouldn't need to fill your bore with grease, just enough to get it started moving.

[Tatume]

I lost a cleaning jag once when the end of my ramrod came off. That is exactly what I did, put a few grains of powder under the nipple, replace the nipple, cap it, and fire. It made a surprisingly large hole in my back yard, and I had to dig about eight to ten inches down to recover my jag!

[rond]

Before making a trip to the hardware store for some copper tubing, I tried the patch jag and was able to remove the remains of the brush. It was a blue green color so I guess the Hopes worked. Thanks for all the ideas.

[Throckmorton]

I"m learning all kinds of cool tricks in the forums today . I gotta come here a lot more often !!
I can remove my breech,but the copper tube trick would be easier, especially in the field if need be.Or if a friend asks me how.

[10 ga]

First explain to wife how dumb and bad a situation you are in. YOU NEED A NEW MZL!! After you get a new rifle then extract the brush from the old one and never even mention getting it fixed. Only mention the bad part when you find another excuse to be dumb and bad off and needing to replace a gun. Any excuse to continue stocking the armory. 10

[mazo kid]

Many years ago, I got a bore bush stuck at the breech end of my barrel. Luckily, I was able to twist the ramrod and remove it. Haven't used a bronze brush since! I really don't see any need of using one.

[GoexBlackhorn]

Bore brushes clean bores better than 90+% of jags. Shooters that only use jags sometimes sell muzzleloaders that no longer can hit the side of a barn. The buyer of that gun spends two hours with that just-purchased-barrel digging out all the lead, copper or plastic in the grooves with a brass bore brush - then suddenly that barrel becomes a tack driver again at 100 yards.

Old owner gets his brand new muzzleloader.
New owner bought the used gun at half price and spent $20 on two different solvents and that 15 year-old muzzleloader suddenly shoots like brand new. Just seen another incident like this about four months ago. New owner pulled out around 5-6 strings of plastic (from sabots) from the bore. Shoots like a dream now.

If one uses light powder loads and shoots prelubed patched roundballs, or a good lube on light-to-medium sized conicals, then a jag might be all you ever need, for the lifetime of the ML.

But in a large majority of cases, the barrel just needs a good cleaning..... brass bore brush and commercial solvents that remove lead, copper and/or plastic. Brass bore brush to the rescue of a neglected barrel that only saw a jag up and down that barrel for 15 years.

In my normal cleaning situations, I use a black nylon bore brush. After a couple hundred shots of sabot/bullets, I'll pull out the brass bore brush instead. But in most cleanings, all I use is that black nylon bore brush - for it goes up and down the bore easier than brass.

I never got my black nylon bore brush stuck in the barrel..... never! The only time I use a jag is to seat the bullet. I've never used a jag for cleaning.

[dondiego]

Brushes are fine if you have a breach plug to pull out. Trying to reverse the bristles in a traditional ML can cause a problem.