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Removing Stuck Wooden Dowel and Soft Lead Sinker from a barrel
When what I am about to describe happened to me, I did a search for an answer, but there is not much information. So I figured I would fess up and admit that I did manage to lodge a wooden dowel and lead sinker in my barrel. On the positive side, I am going to tell you how I eventually got it out. I hope that another lost soul may benefit in some small way.
First, what I took away from this experience, is don't use wood dowel to slug your barrel. It can be unreliable. I have used it before without issue, but this time it bit me in the ass. "The first time the dog bites you, it is the dogs fault, the second time he bites you it is your fault." - Marvin Johnson
What start this is I am the proud new owner of a lovely 91/30 Mosin Nagant with laminated stock. She's pretty, and she shoots factory ammo well. But I wanted more. I wanted to cast for her, so being the good caster I aspire to be, I knew I needed to slug the barrel in order to get the groove diameter. Not a problem, I done this before. Well this time things went south just as the soft lead sinker was about to exit the barrel on the receiver end. At that point, somewhere down in the bowels of the barrel, one or more of the sections of "hardwood" dowel decided it was time to split. Like an idiot, I continued to pound away, thinking "it's right there at the edge, I can do it". Nope, I just made things worse.
The lead was stuck, and the sections of dowel were not coming out, except for a couple of pieces on the muzzle end. What to do, what to do. At the time, I was in the deep woods at the ranch house, and you don't get good cell or internet access there. So I was on my own with my new prize totally unusable. Man I had had plans for that gun that week.
The next day I drove into town, to the do it center, and picked up one of the longest smallest diameter wood screws I could find, along with washers, 8-32 threaded rod and nuts for the threaded rod. The long wood screw and washers allowed me to tap into the lead, and pry it out very carefully using the washers against the head of the wood screw and leveraging against the back edge of the receiver using a flat head screwdriver. It was not long before the lead was out and I was thinking I had it made. Not so fast, the wood was still in there, and the wood screw was only so long.
That was okay, I figured, I will pound it out. DON'T DO THIS, IT MAKES THINGS WORSE.
Okay, so the lead is out, but the wood is not. I did manage to use the same technique on a section of the wood dowel closest to the receiver end. But after that my wood screw was too short, and the threaded rod would not thread into the wood without a pilot hole.
A couple of days later, I was back home, but commitments kept me from fully pursuing my foe. Eventually, I managed to get to a hardware store and pick up a 1/8" x 12" long drill bit to use to drill a pilot hole in to the wood for the threaded rod idea I had.
After drilling the pilot hole, I screwed the threaded rod into the wooden dowel and used washers and a nut to pull the threaded rod back out. Tighten the nut against the washers, and IF your threaded rod does not pull out of the wood, you WILL pull the wood out. But you may have to try several times. The deeper the pilot, the better grip the Threaded rod will have on the wood.
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This worked like a champ the first time, and I figured once I freed those stubborn sections of wood the rest would fall out. Nope, they were stuck too. And they were further down the barrel. Further than my short 12" drill bit could reach.
After some rest and thought, I remembered an old piece of brass tube I had in a junk box. Wa la, an extender.
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So, onward I went, chipping away until I finally managed to have only a small portion left, which I was able to drive out with a metal rod.
I am happy this is behind me, and I do not plan to repeat the event. But I wanted to put my thoughts down in hopes that someone will benefit. Keep in mind all of this transpired over about a weeks time frame. If you find yourself in this predicament, take your time and think it through. I could not put down every detail here, but the gist is here.
There are probably a lot of smarter folks out there that can add to this. I bet there is a simpler way to undo this problem. Please add to this thread.
Oh yeah, the groove diameter is .313". I will never forget that dimension.
After a good scrubbing, the rifling still looks as good as I remember it looking before I started the project. There is one blemish toward the muzzle on the groove, but that might have been there before. I will give her a shot (no pun intended) and see how she shoots versus pre-slugging.