“Ruined” My First Barrel

[nick_1]

I don't mess with the puller anymore. Pack some powder in the hole and shoot it out.

 

[JamesA]

Putting a few grains of black powder behind the ball through the nipple works every time. Ask me how I know. Just don't put too much.......

 

[Greg_E]

Hard to tell how much the threads are messed up from the picture, but if any of the nipple is in there, and easy out might remove it.

Since there is a hole already there as a pilot, you should be able to drill and tap the next size up as mentioned previously. Or take it to someone who can do this for you.

 

[Felonious]

Putting a few grains of black powder behind the ball through the nipple works every time. Ask me how I know. Just don't put too much.......

I've shot a .50 PRB somewhat accurately from a 28 inch barrel at 30 yards with only 10 grains of powder. I would imagine it only takes a few grains to get a stuck bullet out of a barrel.

 

[rusticbob]

I don't mess with the puller anymore. Pack some powder in the hole and shoot it out.

I don’t think that will work if it’s full of grease!

 

[64Springer]

I don’t think that will work if it’s full of grease!

Reminds me of a scene from Sgt. York.

Pusher suggested that grease would make the bullet come out faster.

Great movie.

 

[DiMarco_Mercantile]

I don’t think that will work if it’s full of grease!

Well perhaps if I can get the grease out, it’ll be worth a shot

 

[pwbsmokey]

Oh yeah, the nipple thread was already in bad shape when I got it. I believe the thread is 1/4-28. I’ll take a look and see what I can find.

Since the barrel is made in Belgium, I doubt that the threads are 1/4x28. They are probably metric. 6mmx.75 is very close to 1/4x28

 

[SwanShot]

Measure the original thread.

Look at Track or DGW and find the next thread size up from yours.

Drill and tap for the bigger nipple.

Just watch your angles so the new nipple lines up with your hammer.

I've done this very thing on my old Renegade. Works a treat.

 

[Greg_E]

Since the barrel is made in Belgium, I doubt that the threads are 1/4x28. They are probably metric. 6mmx.75 is very close to 1/4x28

The Traditions and old CVA are m6x1, think it would be the same? Track of the Wolf has a bunch of different sizes.

 

[deerstalkert]

all is not lost. see if you can clean out whatever is left in the snail. if the threads are really buggered, you can do what TC did when they had a bad run of breeches. drill it out oversize thread for a helicoil with 1/4x28 inside threads and red lock tight it in. then you have the easy to remember 1/4x28 nipple.
if you aren't comfortable doing this a good smith shouldn't charge you much.

 

[Kap]

solder a drill bit to a tube and drill a hole in the ball to weaken it. buy or make a T handle puller. Use the weight from a dent puller and bang the ball out. I have done this before. I did put oil down the barrel and let it soak in for a day. They also make thread repair kits. Good luck . Make sure you clamp the barrel in a vise.

 

[Kap]

Old mechanic

 

[Anvilboy]

Why haven't you tried to remove the breech plug. That is much simpler than all the gyrations you have done with the nipple. I once tried to screw up a barrel by trying to remove a breech plug into which the drum interfered. I ended up cutting the barrel off and moving it back. You aren't even close to ruining that barrel. Take it as a learning experience. Even if you screw it up beyond repair, you will be improving your skills, and, there are replacement barrels out there...

 

[Uncle Miltie]

At this point you can send the barrel to the Log Cabin Shop in Lodi OH. The gunsmith there can remove the projectile and repair damage done to the threads quickly and at reasonable cost.

 

[jmull4609]

.... you can also drill and tap to install a threaded insert, thereby maintaining the original nipple thread diameter

 

[Flintlock]

Put some lube down the barrel before pulling or forcing out, it will help some. Too many people use to tight of patch ball combination in the first place, in the old days pulling a ball or load was a common everyday practice, they used a slightly undersized ball.

 

[Flintlock]

It'll all work out, new ideas or a reliable muzzleloading gunsmith. We've all had a similar problem.

 

[DiMarco_Mercantile]

Thank you all for the excellent suggestions, I’ll see what I can do with the barrel!

 

[Billy Boy]

Hello,
I’m sure everyone has ruined a good barrel at some point, and today I (presumably) ruined mine on my favorite percussion pistol. Or at least got it stuck beyond my current means!
For starters, there’s a dry ball down near the breech that’s been expanding pretty heavily due to a failed attempt at using a ball puller. I then proceeded to try an air compressor threaded into the drum, which didn’t work even with some oil for compression.
Then I moved onto the grease gun method, threaded it into the drum and pumped. That seemed to move the ball about a 16th or so forward, but I guess my fittings were bad and grease kept flowing out through the nozzle and “zerk clamp”. I tried at it off and on for about an hour, adjusting the fittings as I went.
After no more progress, I decided to give the grease gun a rest. As I loosened the “clamp” to pull it off the zerk, the whole zerk pulled out of the gun breaking the threads of where the nipple goes. So now I’ve got a greasy stripped barrel with a tightly stuck ball.
Looking back I should’ve tried to put some powder behind the dry ball and shoot it out, but I was afraid to try it since I haven’t done that before. I’ll have to retire the pistol to the shelf of curiosities for the time being.
I imagine it would cost more than the gun is worth to get the barrel sorted out or to purchase a replacement in the unlikely scenario I come across one. Although I could try my hand at re-threading, but that may have to wait a bit while I practice.
Oh well, failure is the best teacher after all! Thank you for reading my misadventure!

Overszed nipples are available. You can probably run the larger dia. tap in without drilling. fairly soft stuff in that drum.