Stuck brush in barrel

I don't seem to be getting any handier as time goes on.

Had a short day shooting my .50 T/C working on a load, patch combo. Used 70 gr. FFG. After 6 shots I had to really clean the barrel not just swab it out w/moose milk on a moist patch.

I was getting tough fowling the last 6 inches of the barrel making it hard to load. Using .490 and 0.018 pillow ticking to get a tight patched RB in my TC. Lots of work. Using the dry patch with 1:7 ballistol mix. (I need to read that whole thing again

Soooo, took it home and was cleaning it w/a new .50 caliber rifle brush, smaller than the 10/32 threaded jags and brushes I have from black powder cleaning supplies. Washed in soap and warm water in bucket, and then kept scrubbing with some other cleaner. I kept getting colored patches out.

Made the mistake of giving this smaller diameter cleaning rod a bit of a twist at the bottom and twisted the dang patched brush clean off.

It ain't hard to be humble....

No way I was getting it out. So took it to a friend with FFFFG flint lock priming powder. The barrel was cleaned and lubed, took the nipple off, dribbled, poked, tapped and thumped 4-f in that hole for a good while, touched it off and blew the whole works in to a sand pile.

Wow, I felt lucky.

-the patch on top of the new .50 brush might have helped form a better seal.

What I might have learned;

1.) Don't do that again.
2.) Always use the heaviest 10/32 cleaning jag supplies.
3.) Throw those other cleaning rods and supplies in the closet w/center fire guns.
4.) Don't twist the cleaning rod at the bottom of the barrel. If at all only when you are pulling it and only in the direction that will keep the jag/brush tight on the rod.

I've not put a ball down the barrel before powder - yet. Looking forward to that. I'm sure it'll be soon now...

Hope this gives you 1 or 2 folk that might do something like this an idea of how to deal with this situation.

I'm still looking for the appropriate emoji that is rolling its eyes.

:shake:

Yeah Glen, the brushes commonly available nowadays are cheap come apart junk compared to what the target shooters used when muzzleloaders ruled.

When I first started shooting a fast twist .40 about the first thing I did was to have a brush discorporate way way down by the breech. Used a piece of 3/8" brass tube to get it out.

Get yourself a CO2 unit like the BID kit. After I got the kit I loaded a patched ball with powder and used the BID to see if it would clear it. It hit the berm at 40 yards. Dang near hit the target, probably would have if I was aiming the gun. Don't know how it would handle a brush, but if a bit of powder cleared it, the CO2 would also. I don't use brushes in a one hole barrel for that very reason. When you push a brush into bore, the bristles are folded backward making a one-way creeper. A tight jag and patch seem to work just fine.

#1 - DON'T use brushes in a muzzleloader...

NEVER ever use a brass brush in a muzzle loader!
They will get stuck in your barrel.
In a gun, that can pass the brush completely through the barrel, like a modern double shotgun, not problem.
A tight fitting jag with a good quality patch with warm water should do all you need.
If you run a damp patch down the barrel with each shot, you should not have any build up in the barrel.
Shooting several shots and not running a damp patch is looking for disaster, not to mention your shooting scores will suck.
Your ram rod should be well made, not a piece of doweling.
A well made hickory or ash ( straight grained ) ramrod will stand up well.
Of course a brass, or aluminium ram rod will work well, but are not pleasing to the eye.
If you get a hickory or ash ram rod with a well made brass jag tip epoxy glued and also with a pin through the brass and wood, it will not separate.
If you cannot make one your self buy one from Track of the Wolf, October Country ( their ram rods are great! )
You will enjoy shooting your rifle much more, and with confidence.
Good advice, from an old geezer who has shot a lot and wrote the book on screw ups.
Fred

Fellas, brushes are needed in the rifles that are made to shoot heavy lubed lead bullets. If you never brush you can get cavities down there in the corners of the grooves where it's the hardest to clean. I passed on an otherwise lovely Volunteer on the east end of Phoenix in a shop years ago just because of the sad strings of little pits down the right side of each groove.

In retrospect I should have snagged it and got the barrel freshed out to shoot .476 molds!

If it happens again you can get it out with a thin-walled piece of copper pipe (with the outside diameter) close to the inside bore diameter. Push it down the bore and it will slide over the bristles of the brush making extraction easy.

A Plan B is to have a double coned piece of brass (sort of like an hourglass shape that can go down the bore), and slip over the threaded end of the brush. That will let you get the threads of the rod to engage the threaded end of the brush. A pair of bottle necked centerfire cartridge cases (glued together at their necks) would be a good source to make that from. Something like a 7mm and 30 cal nestled together at their necks would work well for it.

Plan C is to remove the plug and push it through.
You probably don't have a good enough seal with it to inject the barrel full of grease and hydraulically force it out, which CAN be done with a stuck ball.

Oh Yeah, you're gonna love your first dryball. Not only do you get the opportunity to have a jag pull out of the ball. BUT, you can also break your ramrod near the tip leaving the broken rod AND ball lodged in the barrel.

Black Hand said:

#1 - DON'T use brushes in a muzzleloader...

Click to expand...

#2 - re-read number 1...... :thumbsup:

You rock!

Thanks Grizz, still in the dark ages up here. Booo! Bear!

#2 don't use brushes in a muzzle loader, OK!

Thank you, Old Ford, much appreciated. My original ram rod is 40 years old. I baby it. Good advice. I'll save your post cuz I'm ML curious and such, and good advice is appreciated. Kudos, and stuff, thank you!

40 years since I bought this gun. Heck, Del Que wouldn't recognize my gun, but I sure stopped it up. Your advice is good! Just remember my remedy. It worked this time. I'm not cognizant enough to think of watt you did. Thank you, though! Much appreciated. (If I was a mtn man back then I'd probably have died and you'd a never herd of me.... but then I shoot self bows too. I'd a married a Crow or Flat Head girl, been true and moved to Canada, er something... March is a muddy month down low...

Yipes! Aint life and learning fun?

Thank you, folks. You are welcome round my campfire anytime. Blessings. Glen....

Make room Glen,
I would love to make one more hunt/Rondevouz before I punch out.
Life is good!
Fred

Black Hand said:

#1 - DON'T use brushes in a muzzleloader...

Click to expand...

You didn't say that loud enuf.

DON'T USE BRUSHES IN A MUZZLELOADER. NEVER, EVER.

Where are you at? Do you shoot in Palmer each month.
If so I will bring my new cleaning procedure and set up to show you. I always seem to find myself at odds with conventional thinking. After 50 years of always doing what I was told I am quickly finding out through experimentation that some things I thought were true are not.
I now clean only with a stiff bristle brush through a entire match. The trick is to give the down barrel brush a quarter turn to the right to bend the bristles 90 degrees so they will flex down and release there grip on the bore wall. This requires 10-32 threads which I find on more muzzle loading rods all the time.
The loading sequence is:
1 load the initial shot in a clean bore.
2 drop the fresh charge for the next shot.
3 push the bristle brush down bore on top the fresh powder charge.
4 give brush 1/4 turn right and withdraw.
5 load patch ball with favorite lube.
6 shoot and repeat until match ends or you notice to much fouling build up. The combination of brushing the bore and wet patch lube on the new patched ball keep the fouling in check.
This method keeps the fire channel free of swab fouling between reloads, brushes the fouling down bore between shots and provide a fouling cushion on top the fresh powder to keep patch lube off the fresh powder.
Still testing but it's worked well in the last two matches I used it in.