Panicsville HELP

[Boz330]

A friend has a barrel with a jacketed bullet stuck in it. He has tried Kroil, high preasure lube and a 3lb hammer and it wouldn't budge. Next thought that drilling a hole through the bullet might let it collapse on itself, still no luck. It is a GM barrel, 38-50. Anybody have any experience or ideas with such a problem. BTW it really is someone else not me.

Bob

[Bret4207]

A tight fitting brass or aluminum rod and that hammer always worked for me. Might try freezing the barrrel too.

[yondering]

You didn't specify how the Kroil and hammer were used. I've had this situation before; with a solid copper bullet stuck near the chamber. Standing the gun muzzle up for several days with the bore full of Kroil allowed the bullet to be pounded out, when it wouldn't budge before.

Pounding on the bullet itself with a hammer and brass rod can cause the bullet to bump up and be stuck even tighter, especially if you start with small taps. Instead, fill part of the bore (again, muzzle up) with oil, Kroil would work fine, and insert a tight fitting brass rod down the bore, and pound it with heavy blows from a heavy hammer. The hydraulic pressure should force the bullet out of the bore without causing it to bump up. Of course, if you've already drilled a hole in it, that won't work, and you may need a trip to the gunsmith.

[HeavyMetal]

I hate to suggest this but Have you tried heat?

This will call for some very delicate work: you need to have rod and hammer ready, then use a propane tourch to heat the barrel. you want tension on the bullet from the git go! the plan is to get the barrel metal to expand enough to relaese the bullet before the heat causes the bullet to expand as well!

Once you get the bullet moving don't stop! You will, of course, want to go in the shortest direction to exit the barrel.

I suggest this as a last resort as to much can go wrong with heating a barrel.

By the way tell your freind he's not to be disapointed many would have tried "shooting" that bullet out and we know what that would have caused!

[mike in co]

tight fitting metal rod...brass/steel, add a couple wraps of cellopane tape every six inches or so to keep the rod off the rifling, remove from stock, supported...on the tang, in a vice.....hard sharp blows with a heavy hammer. the hole should prevent the bulet from bumping up( any more) consider a bigger hole in the bullet.

mike in co

[rockrat]

I had one stuck and used Kroil. Soaked in Kroil for a few days. I used a steel rod coated in Duct Tape and put the rod in the muzzle down towards the bullet until it touched. I then held the rod at the muzzle (wear gloves) and slamed the end of the rod on a board on my shop floor. Forget the hammer. Bullet came out on third impact

[Boz330]

I'm going to send him a link to this thread. The guy has a pretty complete machine shop in his basement and actually built this gun for another friend. This is the second round that was stuck in the barrel. The guy was working on the break in procedure with jacketed, using 12gr of unique. Apparently there is a problem with the powder. Anyway the first came out pretty easy but this one is a real problem. As I said it is a 375 bullet and he has drilled a 5/16ths hole through the bullet. He has a reamer that would get it to within .003 of the lands but he is real nervous about trying that. A combination of the heat and cold might get the job done. He has already pulled the barrel from the receiver.
Any other ideas are more than welcome, he has a pile of time building this gun, I don't think he wants to do it again. This is one of those friend projects than no money changes hands, but you don't particularly want to do it again.

Thanks
Bob

[dragonrider]

.375 bullet and a .312 hole, if my math is correct he has removed 89% of the bullet, and it still won't move. I can't understand why. Only thing I can come up with is as large a brass rod as can be put in the barrel, big hammer and it must move, unless the bore is bulged and the bullet has filled the bulge. Just a thought.

[HeavyMetal]

How about the previous bullet bulged the Barrel?

Mr. Not Enough Powder fires second round,.. bullet fills bulge and locks in place!

Mike the outside of the barrel! If it's bulged it will show and if it's bulged that barrel is done!

Why was he attempting to "break in" the barrel?

[joatmon]

Shop Press?

[yondering]

The guy was working on the break in procedure with jacketed, using 12gr of unique. Apparently there is a problem with the powder.

Sounds like the guy may have a problem with his loading technique and is loading some cases with little or no powder. Or it could be that the charge is just too weak to consistently push the bullet out the bore. Jacketed bullets are much more sensitive to that than cast, of course.

It might be worth suggesting to him that barrel break-in should be done with full power loads (for jacketed bullets anyway).

[Boz330]

It is a BPCR and the recomended break in procedure is to use jacketed bullets for a faster break in than cast. 12gr of Unique should be a BP equivalent load and should be more than enough to get the bullet down the barrel. That is the same load I used to break in my new Badger barrel on my 40-65 with jacketed. This guy has reloaded since the 50s so he isn't a novice. Maybe the powder bridged in the measure or what ever, I don't know. I have sure had squibs do to my own screw ups though.

Bob

[fourarmed]

With the hole drilled in the bullet, this wouldn't work, but it is something to keep in mind. Gen. Hatcher found that most barrel obstructions could be safely cleared by chambering a case with powder BUT NO BULLET, pointing the rifle upward to keep the powder against the primer, and firing it.

[KCSO]

Turn or have turned a bore fitting brass rod about 2" long and counterbore for a steel rod smaller than boore diameter. Clamp the barrel firmly in a fixture, I use my barrel vise in a 20 tone press. Lube the bore well and persuade with a large DEAD BLOW hammer. If this doesn't work I would be completely stumped.

[Molly]

Since the barrel is already off the action, this should do the job: Insert an oiled and snug (NOT tight!) steel rod a bit longer that the barrel, as if you were going to drive it out with a maul. But instead of flailing away with a hammer, try dropping the barrel from a height onto a piece of wood. The wood is to prevent damaging the threads, and the rod is to provide inertia. This is better than the hammer approach, because 1) You can't damage the bore by buckling the push rod, 2) you won't wedge the obstruction tighter, 3) You won't mar the exterior or hurt your hand with a missed stroke, and 4) the inertia of the rod is compounded considerably by the bounce when the barrel hits: One moment the whole assembly is going down, but the next instant the barrel is going up, while the weight of the rod is still applying downward force. The combined effect is quite effective.

Molly

[Boz330]

Turns out there are 2 bullets in the barrel and when you look down the flats a slight bulge is barely visable. Not good. I have seen a bulged barrel shot, but I don't think it is going to be good silly wet gun.

Bob

[Junior1942]

With a little work on the barrel he'll have a decent jack handle.

[HeavyMetal]

Sorry to hear the barrel is bulged.

Your right that baby is done! With my luck such things happen in the middle of the barrel making it impossible to use for anything else. Hopefully you'll be a little luckier and may be able to salvage the rest of the barrel for another project.

I do know that Barrel "break in" is a huge controversy! However this concept is what got your bud in this mess in the first place.

Seems we had a thread some months ago that "discussed this issue. I'd suggest you do a search for it.

The only barrel work I've ever done is a few replacements on wheel guns and that with a factory replacement barrel.

New rifles I've bought? Take'em and shoot'em, clean as need! To quote Ross Syfried: A new rifle will shoot or not if it does not and a little load "tweaking" doesn't help, no magic "break in " will help it!

[leftiye]

Someone's lucky that they don't have a bolt sticking out of their face!

[Boz330]

Someone's lucky that they don't have a bolt sticking out of their face!

It's a Sharps action, but you are right there. I don't understand how he missed the first shot not going off. The saving grace was it wasn't a hot load. Every squib I've ever had ( handgun) I knew there was a problem. Although I've seen more than one guy do it in competition.
As far as breakin, Badger recomends it along with some other barrel manufacturers. Even if it doesn't work what can it hurt, other than present circumstances, but that could happen anyway. I've broken in 2 Badger barrels per factory recomendations, the one shoots great, the other I'm still working up a load for. Hopefully it will be as good as the first once I figure it out. It has already delivered the highest silly wet score I've ever shot. Of course the Malcolm Scope that allows me to see the targets again might have something to do with that.

Bob