HELP! Slug and dowels stuck in bore!!!

[BigDaddie]

Hi All,

I have managed to really jam up my 8mm mauser bore with dowels and the lead slug whilst attempting to slug it for size. I oiled the bore, lubed the pb ball and it went in fine until it got about 2" from the chamber. At that point, I think one of my 1/4" dowels may have split and jammed the one in front of it. The bore was clean++ with no fouling whatsoever in it.

It would not move at all despite inserting a 6mm brass rod and pounding on it. I tried this from the chamber end too, but to no avail. At this point, I had to walk away before I got too angry. I think I only managed to compress the wood mass in there.

I thought about removing the barrel and the rear sight base and use my propane torch to heat the barrel up to try to char or burn the dowels. The obstruction lies 2" in from the muzzle to about 6" from the chamber so it is fairly long (and compressed).

I'm sure this has happened to others so if you could give me any suggestions, that would be great.

[Jim]

At this point, I would suggest trying to lay your hands on a 5/16" diameter rod made of hard metal. You could cover a 5/16 rod at spots along it's length with thin tape to keep the steel rod off the riflings. Cartridge grade brass would be the best. I would NOT put any more lubricant of ANY description down the bore. That will only make the shattered wood pieces swell just that much more. I would take the action out of the stock, stand it up on a piece of SOFT wood and start a gentle but steady pressure on it with a light hammer.
Be patient. You're in charge, not the rifle. Don't let this whip you. Take your time and be careful. You don't want to injure yourself or ruin the rifle.

[BigDaddie]

Thanks Jim. I was aware of the potential for swelling so I didnt stick any more fluid in there (other than the oil that the bore was initally lubed with). I reckon I saw some 5/16" threaded brass rod at the hardware when I was there today. Do u think that would be ok? That way, I dont need to worry about marring I guess.

I have a barrel vise and action wrench that suit the mauser (I've taken this barrel off b4). I might be able to get a better force on it with the barrel off. I found that the brass rod flexed and wobbled alot when I tried to go from the chamber end thru the action. I was wacking it pretty hard and I must say that it had a pretty hard 'end feel' if u know what I mean...like it is stuck fast!

[Bret4207]

If you heat it enough to char the wood you'll surely damage the barrel to a degree. I'd get a 5/16 steel rod and a fairly heavy hammer. A light hammer will just rivet the ball tighter. You need to get one good shot that will get it moving then it should come out. I'd drive it back out the way it came. If you don;t want to do that then you'll need something like a 1/4" drill bit, electricians bits are 2 to 3 feet long and you should be able to relieve the obstruction enough to get it moving. Center the bit in the bore with tape.

Lesson- NEVER use wood for slugging. Even though it seems like a good idea it WILL break.

[Ramsgate]

I have found myself in a similar mess and brass did not work. I finally used a steel rod close to the bore dimension and hit it so hard that it made me cringe. If I were doing it again I would try chucking the steel rod in a hammer drill and see if it could reduce the violence. My current method of determining bore size involves shooting a cast bullet at glacial velocity into a column of water. This isn't working out either. And then there is the splash ... sigh.

[JSH]

I have myself in a similar mess. I got the slug out, but the dowel is still in there. I have not tried a steel rod but have beat the crab out of a brass rod to no end. I think I may have to take my barrel off and have it bored on a lathe to get the dang stick out.
What makes me so mad at myself is i had a brass rod in the truck, but this happened in the middle of the winter and I didn't want to go outside to get it. I was only checking the throat and could see the end of the slug.
I myself suspect this happens way more than we would think. Most are to embarrased to ask or post up on the subject.
My stick is still in there BTW.
Anyone got a pet termite?
jeff

[BigDaddie]

Lesson- NEVER use wood for slugging. Even though it seems like a good idea it WILL break.

ROGER THAT!!! I'm not ashamed to say that I stuffed up here Hopefully others find this thread useful. Anyway, I have removed the barrel from the action and it is firmly clamped in my barrel vise which makes for a good steadier when belting the living shaiser out of a drift. As I said before, I've done this b4 on other rifles without incident....I guess my luck had run out.

I have 6" length of 5/16" threaded steel rod in the shed. I inserted that into the bore (muzzle end) and it was quite a tight fit. I don't think that a turn of electricians tape will allow it to get in there...Thats why I thought the brass may be a better idea. I guess it will be a little trial and error.

THe worst part is that this is a bloody good barrel...like new. I think that smacking it from both ends has compressed that wood into the rifling making it really tough to budge. Needless to say, that slug is well and truly obturated.

The conundrum is: do I hit it frim the chamber end or from the muzzle end?? Keeping in mind that the obstruction is now about 6-7" from the breechface and 2" from the muzzle in an 8mm M48 (MINT ) barrel

[Shiloh]

I have found myself in a similar mess and brass did not work. I finally used a steel rod close to the bore dimension and hit it so hard that it made me cringe. If I were doing it again I would try chucking the steel rod in a hammer drill and see if it could reduce the violence. My current method of determining bore size involves shooting a cast bullet at glacial velocity into a column of water. This isn't working out either. And then there is the splash ... sigh.

So you gave it the old college try!! Now back to the drawing board

Shiloh

[Blammer]

I would use a RB puller like for muzzle loaders, to get the wooden dowel lengths out.

may think about using a RB puller to get it out from the chamber end.

at least that way you're drilling a hole in it to allow the RB to "collapse" and then move.

as long as you get the object moving I don't think it will matter what direction you get it out.

[Calamity Jake]

Bret4207 says "you'll need something like a 1/4" drill bit, electricians bits are 2 to 3 feet long and you should be able to relieve the obstruction enough to get it moving. Center the bit in the bore with tape."

And I agree, drilling out as much of the dowl and slug as possible will releave a lot of pressure.

Center the drill bit with tape. You will have to drill a small amout then remove the drill and clean out the chips, do this a lot, if you don't then the chips will build up in the flutes of the drill and GET STUCK in the bore too

[Char-Gar]

I have slugged many barrels over the years, but never used a wooden dowel to do the deed. Reading this makes me glad I didn't.

I take an oversize slug, center on the muzzle and pound it flush with a rawhide mallet. I then drive it three or four inches in with a short piece of brass rod. I then just uses the proper cleaning rod and push it on through. every once in a while it takes a little tap on the rod with the mallet, but nothing hard.

In over a two hundred slugging, I have never stuck anything. I really didn't think it could be done, until I read this thread about wooden dowels. What a mess!

[Pepe Ray]

At this point the DEEP drill is the only solution (IMHO)
BUT,
rather than using tape to shield the bore from the drill, I'd use electricians "heat shrink". It comes in a range of sizes, both diameter and length. And it is easy to apply. It has friction co efficient qualities as well as preventing thickness variation caused by overlap.
Yah gotta get that wood outa thayer.
Pepe Ray

[Bill*]

Just double charge a case and shoot it out
JOKING

[Trifocals]

After removing the barrel from the action, machine a cap to screw over the chamber end of the barrel, tap it for an air fitting and apply 100#-200# air pressure. Rather than machining a cap, saw the front receiver ring off of a junk receiver, weld a cap on one end. If air pressure wont budge it, hook up a high pressure washer with 2000#-3000# of pressure. if that wont push out the dowel and slug try a diesel repair shop that has a high pressure pump to test fuel injectors. Hopefully, one of these methods will do the trick without damaging the barrel. LOL

[carpetman]

Maybe put some termites in the barrel??

[RayinNH]

I use wooden dowels as large as will fit in the barrel. However I cut the dowel in pieces that are 6-8 inches long. The short pieces are stiffer and less prone to breaking. Drive the dowel down and then insert another until you get through the barrel. I've never broken one yet. Use straight grain dowels...Ray

[Zbench]

I use Chargar's method to the T, although I use a brass hammer to get it started. Seems like most of the swaging occurs in the first 4-5 Inches. I turned a brass drift on the lathe which has about .010" clearance in the bore. Once I'm at the end of the rope on that (about 7"), I just use a cleaning rod and push it right out.

Having your bore squeaky clean and oiled is a huge plus.

I'm skeptical that boring with a wood bit will do anything but ruin the bore. Electrical tape will get stuck in there and probably make things worse. I think I would make a brass slug that has very little clearance and push it down the bore on top of the mess that is in there and beat on it with a steel rod that is chamfered on the end. I don't care how much it's compacted in there, if there is a good enough "washer" on top of it and you pound with a steel rod, it is going to come out. Just a question of how much pounding. The closer that the steel rod is to the bore diameter, the more it will translate to the slug.

Pete

PS. If you tell me the size of your bore, I can turn a plug if you don't have access to a lathe.

[Pavogrande]

I , of course, do not know the resources available to you but this is what I would do: make an extension drill using a piece of drill rod closest size to bore diameter. 8mm is about .321, "O" is .318 and 5/16 is .312 which is bit sloppy but should work. Drill rod, fractional, letter, and metric is available at any tool supply. Turn a 9/32 or 19/64 drill shank down to about 3/16". Bore drill rod to fit new shank diameter and solder drill in drill rod. You now have a drill that will drill out blockage without damaging rifle bore -- Check runout before using to make sure drill tip is running true.
my ha-penny

[Tumtatty]

I had the same thing happen to me a year ago!

I compressed long wooden dowel into about a 1 inch area by pounding on it.

Here's how i finally got it out....I thought I had to ruin my K98 to do it, but it shows no marks and shoots great.

I had a cleaning rod for a 91/30 Mosin (it was the thickest rod I had available). I heated that B----ch up to glowing and I began pounding it into the lead. It I had the rifle in a vise. Eventually it started moving through the lead. From there the whole glob came out. I kept it to remind myself not to be a bone head in the future.

Get the thickest metal rod you can fit in the barrrel without touching the sides. Heat it to glowing. Pound it into the lead.

I made several wide wraps of electrical tape on a couple sections of the rod to keep it centered in the barrel and hopefully avoid hitting the rifling. It worked for me. It ruined my Mosin cleaning rod, but saved my K98.

Hope this helps you.

[roadie]

If it were me, I'd go with the drilling out idea, sounds like it is very tightly plugged.
But if you do try pounding it out, use as heavy a hammer as you can get.

roadie