Dry balled my ML

[SgtMaj65]

It's not like I haven't done it before, but I rammed a ticking patch and ball into my .50 T/C Renegade barrel last weekend without powder (was talking at the range, wasn't concentrating) and since it was near the end of my day's shooting, I just brought my ML home to pull the ball. I'd been using a much dryer patch than normal, and regret it now.
I've successfully pulled dry patched balls before with a screw ball puller, but no matter how hard I tried and using a little castor oil as a lube, I couldn't get it to budge this time. Tried several times to get some grains of BP under the nipple without success. Decided to use B.I.D. CO2 ball discharger to blow it out and voila -- the patched ball effortlessly came right out on the first blast of compressed air. This little jewel is worth its weight in gold for me, since it seems I tend to dry ball at least once every 4-5 range sessions now. I get to talking with non-BP shooters because nobody seems to shoot muzzleloaders at my range, and boom ... or should I say ... stuck, no boom.
I had seen several posts about using compressed CO2 dischargers and how well they worked. I can now attest. Anyone else use this method? I'm kind of puzzled why a few grains of Goex didn't budge the ball and patch, but it was really stuck.

 

[Bent Sight]

I haven't dry balled my Renegade yet, but I have every confidence I will. I had planned on using my air compressor if a stuck ball remover would not work.

How many PSI does the CO2 produce? How fast did your round ball leave the muzzle when you hit it with CO2? Would pointing the muzzle at an old piece of rolled up carpet be enough to catch the stuck ball or would I need to point the muzzle at a berm? I live a considerable distance from the range and would have to do this in my garage.

 

[Rat Trapper]

pull the nipple and add more goex and it will go bang.

 

[F.G. Ford]

This is where 4f powder come in handy.
A little goes a long way, and will blow most obstructions out.
two or three grains ( grain wt. volume ) through the nipple.
One of those brass primer units work well.
Anyone who shoots flintlock has seen or uses one.
Fred

 

[Ames]

Just wondering if the first few attempts resulted in the ball puller ripping out of the ball? or not moving at all and you had to unscrew it again.
I keep a plastic ramrod around for this kind of thing. Pour a little water down the barrel for a while. Drain. Lube so when it moves it keeps moving. Insert ball puller. Place the plastic rod in a strong vice and pull the rifle backwards holding at the hip.
No longer stress about pulling balls OR ruining my good wood rods. Works on a loaded gun as well. Some days, after hunting with the same load all week, I just don't want to shoot it out and have to clean it for the long drive back to my state. :thumbsup:

 

[mooman76]

I don't leave the range until the ball is out. If it takes several tries adding BP through the nipple, then that's what I do. But there was one time I couldn't get the ball out or didn't try rather. I accidentally grabbed the wrong size ball. By the time I realized this, the ball was passed the point of no return so I decided to keep going. Unfortunately I could only manage to get it half way down the bore, so I had to take the gun home where I had the tools I needed to remove it.

 

[necchi]

I'm with Rat Trapper, Old Ford and Moonman,,
It's too easy to shoot'm out and doesn't require me buying another gadget.

 

[ZUG]

I have and use one mostly at home when I am trying a patch / ball combo working up a good tight patch. I also use it on the range most of the time when needed :thumbsup: :v . I find them handy :wink: .

 

[Danny Ross]

I use a range rod with a ball or T handle on it. Screw the ball puller in with the range rod, turn the rifle over and placing both feet over the ball or T handle, and grab the barrel and pull the rifle upward. Works every time, you don't need a vice or anyone else's help. First time I did dry ball it was a nightmare for me, luckily for me someone at the range helped me and that was before I discovered a range rod. DANNY

 

[SgtMaj65]

I cleared my Renegade it in my front yard, into a big pile of leaves. It came out really fast but just a whoosh of castor oil and the patched ball. Not loud at all. Not sure what the PSI is, it's just one of those 16 gram CO2 cartridges used on paint ball-type guns and air rifles. It sure did the trick. It says it will inflate a tire to 90 lbs. PSI so I would think that's the rating. I would think old carpet or rags or paper would work on catching the patched ball inside a garage. I live in a small town so seeing rifles or muzzleloaders out in the yard by my neighbors would not be out of the ordinary.

 

[SgtMaj65]

I use a heavy duty steel range rod, I took the barrel off and put it in a vice, and it still wouldn't budge. That's when I decided on the CO2, which worked above what I expected it would.

 

[SgtMaj65]

It didn't move even a hair, and I was afraid it would just pull out of the lead and I sure didn't want to bore a hole clear through the ball and then I'd be in real trouble. Anyway, it all came out in the wash when the CO2 whooshed it and the castor oil right out into a pile of leaves in my yard. I've pulled dry balls many times over my many BP years with a screw ball puller very successfully, but this time it just wouldn't move at all. I tried putting Goex under the nipple twice, and it didn't move the ball at all. Probably just didn't get enough powder it pop it.

 

[mooman76]

No mater how it was done, the important thing is, you did get it out and safely.

 

[SgtMaj65]

Yep, and it was a very great relief, I might add.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Yeah it happens to the best of us!

 

[George C]

How did you attach the cartridge to the rifle to blow the ball out?

 

[SgtMaj65]

The B.I.D. CO2 kit comes with three cartridges and a hand apparatus that you screw the cartridge into and it pierces it, then you have an attachment that fits right over the end of the nipple, you compress the handle and whoosh, out flies the patched ball. I was skeptical at first, but it really works. I'll still use my ball puller, because it has always worked ”” up until this last stuck ball. But, now I have a sure-fire way of getting it out.

 

[George C]

I have a large shop air tank it will give 120 psi think it would blow one out?

 

[rdstrain49]

Don't leave home without mine. Way faster than anyother method I've tried over the years. Thing I really like is it will work on flint or cap without any fussin around.

 

[mooman76]

It has been done with a shop air tank. Usually a pinch of powder under the nipple works fine but every once in awhile one gets really stuck but with work eventually it will come out. There are other methods. The hardest is when you bore a hole in the ball with a ball puller and it doesn't come out. Now with a hole you can't use air pressure or hydraulic pressure either.