how to pull a ball

I have not had to resort to the grease gun, Ron, but I would definitely go that route before pulling a breech plug. Powder in the touch hole or in the flash channel under the nipple generally works although I’ve pulled a few with a ball puller screw on a good ramrod.

Idaho Ron said:

Did you even watch the video?
It doesn't make a mess.

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i watched it, the concept works well. problem is reloading my grease gun is a friggin mess to do sometimes.. as this is the step in Ron's proceedure which he edits out of the video. lol

filling the barrel with fine powder was far easier and cleaner to do . Thanks Guys for all the ideas and help. much appreciated and thanks to Ron for that video you made, i will keep it filed in my memory bank

BoomStick said:

Just use low pressure if you use an air compressor...

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Where's the fun in safe and sane? Isn't it supposed to be exciting to launch a ball in unintended directions, on second thought maybe surviving to play again Isn't overrated after all.

shorthair said:

Where's the fun in safe and sane? Isn't it supposed to be exciting to launch a ball in unintended directions, on second thought maybe surviving to play again Isn't overrated after all.

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last dry ball i launched out with 160lbs of air pressure! did i mention dented drywall?
Idaho Ron, i used the grease gun method on one FTF i had and managed to get the grease even in my hair! and the only tube i had was graphite blend.
some people can get dirty in a bathtub. i am one of them

The “melt the ball with a blowtorch” is still my favorite!!

LME said:

Can you show us a picture?

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I've never posted a picture on here, but I will try to do so.

Doc said:

I’ve never gone to a Rhondy where I didn’t have to use this at least once or more. Works great every time.
Doc,

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I have one of these for bikes. Is there an attachment to fit on the nipple or use as is?

BlackRock52 said:

I have one of these for bikes. Is there an attachment to fit on the nipple or use as is?

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i made one up yesterday, go to autoparts and get a tire valve, I chucked mine in my lathe and die cut it 1/4-24 , my problem was i only had 100 psi aircompressor

BlackRock52 said:

I have one of these for bikes. Is there an attachment to fit on the nipple or use as is?

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The entire CO2 getup was/is on sale at most Rhondys. That’s where I purchased mine as is. If there is a different attachment this would be unknown to me. Sorry.
Doc,

Idaho Ron said:

Did you even watch the video?
It doesn't make a mess.

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I call a barrel full of grease a mess!

Jimbob said:

I call a barrel full of grease a mess!

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Guessing you haven’t actually tried it or even watched the video.

Jimbob said:

I call a barrel full of grease a mess!

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You are right it is a mess but a stuck ro
round in the barrel is a bigger mess?

SDSmlf said:

Guessing you haven’t actually tried it or even watched the video.

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Yeah I watched the video but I have NEVER had a problem pulling a stuck ball with the proper ball puller threaded onto the end of a brass range rod. If I ever do I might try the barrel full of grease method

Pietro said:

Before pulling the ball, have you tried removing the nipple & drizzling powder into the ignition channel to shoot it out ?

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Nephew did that in his flinter. Walked outside the apartment at midnight touched it off. Said cool flash and bang. He had pointed at the ground. His patch puller and ramrod accessory end was found buried the next morning 6" to 8" in the clay dirt outside his sliding glass patio door. That will put a hole in ya.

Maybe he put a few to many grains of 4f down there? Nah.....

golden sky said:

i made one up yesterday, go to autoparts and get a tire valve, I chucked mine in my lathe and die cut it 1/4-24 , my problem was i only had 100 psi aircompressor

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Uh, the threads for most nipples used in percussion rifles will be 1/4-28. (Some Italian percussion nipples are 6mm-1.00 which is kinda sort of close to 1/4-24) The 1/4-24 will not seal properly and the 100 PSI compressed air will leak out instead of pushing out the ball.

if your ball is stuck at the bottom of the barrel, remove the nipple stuff powder in the hole put the nipple back, put a cap on and fire it,,the ball will come out easy,,but make sure the ball is all the way down the barrel

Grenadier1758 said:

Uh, the threads for most nipples used in percussion rifles will be 1/4-28. (Some Italian percussion nipples are 6mm-1.00 which is kinda sort of close to 1/4-24) The 1/4-24 will not seal properly and the 100 PSI compressed air will leak out instead of pushing out the ball.

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thanks, that's what i meant you guys a helful bunch, best forum on the web ever!

First, I think every time I have ever dry balled was while I was at the range and someone struck up a conversation and I got distracted.

Then, being the impatient type, I usually try the quickest method to get the ball out so I can resume shooting, which in 90% of the cases is filling the pan with prime, closing the frizzen, tilting the rifle to the side toward the touch hole and slapping the stock a few times so the prime funnels in through the touch hole.

In some instances the humidity is so high the prime will not flow in the touch hole so I use the ball puller from TOTW of which I have a caliber specific one in every shooting bag (I have a dedicated shooting bag for every gun).

I have a CO2 discharger that I have never used but plan to someday just to see how it works (do you have to take the lock off?) and may try the grease gun method if I ever bring a loaded gun home.... which is unlikely but still would like to see how it works.

swamperk said:

if your ball is stuck at the bottom of the barrel, remove the nipple stuff powder in the hole put the nipple back, put a cap on and fire it,,the ball will come out easy,,but make sure the ball is all the way down the barrel

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The ball will come out easy needing only about 5 grains (volume measure) of powder, but the report will be quite mild. Yes, real black powder works best. Do verify that the chamber under the nipple is dry and not a wet collection of fouling.

Reminds me of one instance where members of my gun club were working hard to clear a dry ball. Several caps were fired but no ball came out. The ram rod kept on striking something hard at the breech. I suggested that they point the muzzle at some grass to verify that something might be coming out. The grass moved and the rod was hitting the breech face after the first clearing shot. I have had some debate as the report was quite soft and little to no smoke was seen coming from the muzzle that the ball didn't come out. Most of the times the ball did come out when verified with the working rod.

In a few cases the ball didn't get removed. The working rod verified the ball had moved away from the breech. We doubled the quantity of the squib load and reseated the ball back at the breech and shot the ball out.