Well last weekend I stuck a ball. Being a former boy scout I had bought some 6mm x.75 alemite fittings for just such an occasion . Man you can blow a ball right out with a grease gun. However, what a mess. HAHAHA
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Lyman Plains Rifle -A stuck ball and grease
- Thread starter jambuster
- Start date
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That’s one way to do it. Had you ever thought of using a ball puller and putting your ramrod in a vice to pull it out? I welded a large wood screw on the end of and iron rod to pull mine when it’s so stuck that the regular ball puller blows through from trying too many times.
Black Powder Maniac is one of the gurus on this if you mean a "dryball". He has a video on it. Way less messy, risky and less time consuming to just shoot it out. Pull nipple, pour in powder, tapping on the side of the rifle as you do, until drum is full, 5 to 15 grains, replace nipple and make sure ball is all the way down. Cap and fire in a safe direction. This load can still kill. The grease thing seems like a nightmare to me. You and I might be the only 2 on the forum to ever have this happen, but lots of folks here have ways to fix it. How do they know ? SW
Is it that hard to just just a ball puller? All these methods. I have to say, the grease thing would be an option if I used percussion. Oh well, I have a great bp gunsmith.
Well it wasn't a dry ball the powder charge was in there. The ball got stuck about half way down. I had forgotten my range rod which is steel and my delrin (plastic) rod was not stiff enough to push it down. I am the only one in my group that hunts with BP and I was just shooting at cans at lunch so nobody else has a stiffer rod. I had brought a modern gun for backup and didn't miss the afternoon hunt. I have dry balled them before and put some powder in through the nipple to blow them out.
The CO2 discharger may not be reliable when the charge is halfway down the barrel. Not enough pressure can be developed to push the ball out. @jambuster made the best decision to use the grease gun.
ronaldrothb49
45 Cal.
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I hadn't done that in many many Many years until recently when sighting in the new flintlock I just finished. In my defense my lady came outside with both the pups and I had to stop and go close the back gate and talk to her totally messing up my loading procedure. Well I had never dry balled a flintlock before and while I have all the stuff to pull a ball I didn't want to have to dig it out so I started putting a little 4f in the pan and pushing it through the touch hole. did that 4 times till it was full primed it and fired it and that ball just zipped right out. I really didn't think it would work on a flintlock.
I unscrewed the touch hole, poured in 4f, replace touch hole thingy. Same but faster.
I’ve used a compressor to blow out a stuck ball but be careful where you piont the muzzle because that ball really flies out of there.
longcruise
70 Cal.
Loaded, not a dryball. Take it home and hammer the ball down. Iff that's not convenient time wise, get to a hardware store and buy a few oak 7/16 dowels. Cut one so about ten inches protrudes from the Muzzle. Hammer away. Rinse and repeat until it's seated and shoot it.
Wipe between shots.
Wipe between shots.
That would be my first option for sure.
Idaho Ron
58 Cal.
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The Compressor doesn't work on a stuck projectile.
A dry ball sure, I've used a Compressor. There is a huge difference between a dry ball and a stuck one.
In my video I show using 150 PSI on a stuck ball. It never moved.
yellowhammer
40 Cal
Recently had to do that. Got the screw into the ball, but yanked the t-handle off the range rod, and could NOT grip the metal rod with oily hands. Came home, out in 1 sec with vise.
What a pain in the tail.
ETA: I may leave an old drill press vise or some vise grips in the truck to avoid in future
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Seeing as how I built all of my rifles, if I am shooing at home and I have a troublesome dry ball I can pull the barrel, remove the breech plug and knock the ball out in just a minute or so. I have all Rice breech plug tools in my shop.
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They have a rod-puller tool you can have at the range with your kit. I need to get one, actually; a vice is nice at the home workbench, but at the range, impractical. It's like a 'pliers' type thing that grabs the rod tightly for pull-out.
yellowhammer
40 Cal
P.S. to my above post: I had the CO2 kit to blow out the ball and it failed miserably. Had to break out the ball puller jag.
At my club's range, we have the CO2 tank, a large vise mounted on one of the benches and a sturdy hook to capture the handle of the ball pulling rod. The powder to shoot the ball out is provided by the shooter. I don't recall ever pulling the breech at the range. I do know that some members have the tools to remove the breech plug, but not at the range.
Even though the grease thing is a mess it is easy to do
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