dry balled

during the shooting session Tuesday with my neighbors, i got distracted and short started a .54 ball in my Ardesa.
160pounds of air pressure will eject the above with enough force to dent drywall.
that is all.

Point what in what direction.

So maybe not best to do that in the living room while watching TV?

Don’t point one at the Wife’s flower pot…

rafterob said:

So maybe not best to do that in the living room while watching TV?

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only if you point it at the TV.
which i don't have! won't have! and further more i HATE!

i still haven't found the ball in my shop mess. want to see how the rifling engraves at that point.
maybe i should clean the shop more and shoot less?

NAW! ain't in me.

deerstalkert said:

during the shooting session Tuesday with my neighbors, i got distracted and short started a .54 ball in my Ardesa.
160pounds of air pressure will eject the above with enough force to dent drywall.
that is all.

Click to expand...

No doubt it would eject. I don't know if you have an acreage and were close to the compressor, but why didn't you just seat the ball and pull it? Then you could keep shooting. Just curious.
Larry

Larry (Omaha) said:

No doubt it would eject. I don't know if you have an acreage and were close to the compressor, but why didn't you just seat the ball and pull it? Then you could keep shooting. Just curious.
Larry

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it is a whopping 35 feet from my shooting bench to my compressor! if took longer to remove the nipple than to get to the air.
i have approx. 5k acres clear around me to shoot on. just in the direction of my range, south of my front porch.
My wife says we live at the end of nowhere. i disagree. nowhere is where my missed shots go!

As long as you clear it safely, no harm no foul. When we used to do club shoots, we'd require people using a compressor or those little CO2 chargers to clear the bore down range. They can pop the ball out with surprising force. They worked well with the percussion guns though.

With the flinters, we had to manually pull the ball using the ballscrew and a metal range rod. After a few times, you get used to that way as well. The worst we had was a guy who had a reproduction Charleville musket and ran a bunch of paper cartridge military loads through it without watering or wiping the bore. Then one of the balls got stuck half-way down the bore in heavy, very hard fouling. It took hot water and two people pulling in opposite directions to clear that ball.

deerstalkert said:

it is a whopping 35 feet from my shooting bench to my compressor! if took longer to remove the nipple than to get to the air.
i have approx. 5k acres clear around me to shoot on. just in the direction of my range, south of my front porch.
My wife says we live at the end of nowhere. i disagree. nowhere is where my missed shots go!

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Sounds terrific! Are you receptive to visitor shooters??
Larry

come on out! if'n you can find me you are welcome!

I've dry balled enough times the past 50 years, I've probably saved ten pounds of powder!

A neighbor's wife told me she had a ramrod sticking out of the ceiling of the den down stairs. The rod also entered the room through two layers of drywall , from the garage where hubby was cleaning his plains rifle after a range session. No explanation of the event has yet surfaced , other than inaudible audio , and dagger eyes between the involved parties. Incident has been tabled and some murmurings stated about UFO involvement........

I've only dry-balled once before. But I did it on purpose just to see how it felt, AHEM!

You know you can go to hell for lying!

oldwood said:

A neighbor's wife told me she had a ramrod sticking out of the ceiling of the den down stairs. The rod also entered the room through two layers of drywall , from the garage where hubby was cleaning his plains rifle after a range session. No explanation of the event has yet surfaced , other than inaudible audio , and dagger eyes between the involved parties. Incident has been tabled and some murmurings stated about UFO involvement........

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amazing how they can, on one side of a cloud of smoke, be all sweetness and love, then emerge on the other side of said cloud of smoke as raging dragons! always wondered how they can cross the living room that fast without being able to see through the cloud of smoke!

Dragons are big at Disney these days , but think she might be too old for a job there, She spent most of her smoke on me.

deerstalkert said:

come on out! if'n you can find me you are welcome!
View attachment 138042

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You obviously don't live on the Mexican border!

Yep—have done it twice already with my new Kentucky rifle. First time, I think I double-patched a ball, and it got stuck 6” down the barrel like cement. Friend helped me get it out with a ball puller. Next time, I must have dry-balled—just snaps from the caps. Same friend helped me get that one out. I’m almost afraid to try it again! Poor rifle.

[QUOTE="deerstalkert]i still haven't found the ball in my shop mess. want to see how the rifling engraves at that point.[/QUOTE]
It is learning point (an awareness thing) when you find one of those. (dry-ball ejections) You might be be surprised at what you see

I dry balled my .54 last month , too busy talking . I got out my trusty wood screw ball puller and no go It would not budge , so I tried my faithful now faithless CO2 discharger and got a nice cloud of CO2 out the muzzle . I had driven the screw puller clean through the ball . So it was back to the workshop and take the barrel out of the stock and remove the breach plug . A little heat and the plug was out , then out came the ball or more correctly the lead donut . I cleaned it all and put it back together , all in all it took about 45 minutes and a quick trip to the hardware store for some copper grease . And as a bonus I got to look down the bore from the other end for a change .