Broken Ramrod / Cleaning Jag in Barrel

[Troutbum]

Greetings,

I guess it was bound to happen at some point! I broke my ramrod with the cleaning jag in the bottom of the barrel. Can anyone recommend a gunsmith in Washington that has experience with muzzleloaders? I would like to send my barrel to have the broken section removed but would prefer to use a gunsmith who has experience with muzzleloaders so as not to damage the rifling.

Rgds......Troutbum

[jackelope]

What kind of rifle is it?

[carpsniperg2]

must be a older style smoke pole with no breech plug. you might try a patch worm and see if you can snag onto somthing and pull it out. when i first started hunting with a muzzle loader my first year i had a jag and patch come off in my barrel and just bought a patch worm and snaged it and pulled it out. if you had a breech plug you could just remove that and tap it out. but it is a older style gun i bet with a wood ramrod as well.

[Whitelightning]

I agree with both those ideas. If you use comppressed air ease into the pressure so you don't make the broken ram rod into a projectile and poke yer eye out

[usmc74]

Had a friend ram a ball with no powder.  The screw on puller broke off.  We tried 4f, compressed air etc, but nothing worked.

After a while, someone suggested threading in a grease fitting, and use a grease gun to push it out.  It WORKED!

Cleanup really was messy.

[markts]

If its a wood ramrod try a bullet puller

[Troutbum]

Thanks everyone for the tips. I'm still working on it.

Rgds.....TroutBum

[whacker1]

Some old traditional style still have breech plugs, and a gun smith can remove it and reinstall, but it wasn't something I had the tools to perform.

[carpsniperg2]

yep some do, but it would have been a easy fix if he could of just pulled it out and pushed it backout. that is why i thought there was not a breech plug by the info we were given.

[Troutbum]

Guess I should have given more detail. The muzzleloader is a 54 Cal Traditions 1:66 Twist. The breech is hooked and looks like it may screw out / in? This is just a back-up to my 50 Cal T/C Hawken so if I mess up the barrel it is not a huge deal. I assume that I can place in the vise (padded of course) and attempt to screw the breech out?

[Whitelightning]

Guess I should have given more detail. The muzzleloader is a 54 Cal Traditions 1:66 Twist. The breech is hooked and looks like it may screw out / in? This is just a back-up to my 50 Cal T/C Hawken so if I mess up the barrel it is not a huge deal. I assume that I can place in the vise (padded of course) and attempt to screw the breech out?

The breech probably has some type of thread lock. You may need to take it to a smith and have them do it. If you can get it out your in business though.

[usmc74]

My buddy garfed up the rear of his barrel pretty bad trying to get out the rear plug.  Having been in there 10 years, it wasn't budging.

Have you tried the grease gun yet?  They make 2-3000 PSI.  You can find metric and US threads.

less than 5 minits and 1 tube of grease

[lokidog]

My Thompson popped out the jammed cleaning jag with a tiny bit of powder put in under the nipple and then fired.  Sometimes had to add a little more a time or two. Be sure to point in a safe direction.  Plus, do this at your own risk as I am not a gunsmith. 

I use an aluminum rod now that I drilled a hole through the end so I could put a 16d nail through it to give me something to grip if this should happen.

[AWS]

If you have a drum and nipple type percussion system you'll have to pull the drum befor you can unscrew the breech plug as a lot of them are treaded through the breech plug to a recess in the breech plug.

AWS

[Hangfire]

It depends on where the ramrod broke off at.  You may be able to get some thing to grasp it, unscrew it and screw in a new rod. I would put a healthy amount of thin lubricant (penetrating type) in the barrel so it comes out easier. Try to see if the bottom of the jag is above the flash channel. If it is, the grease fitting or air pressure should remove it. A friend of mind had a ball with patching stuck in his rifle. We put in a lot of lube and let it set until both sides above and below lubed. I got the ball to move slightly down, which loosened it. I then screwed in a screw on the end of a ram rod and pulled it out.

Be carefull, don't try and blow it out with powder or to much air pressure Like wise don't damage the barrel. The old timers had this happen and could figure it out, with out going to a gun smith.

[Hangfire]

DO NOT try to use powder to blow a stuck projectile out of the barrel of a muzzle loader unless you know what you are doing. This is a common remedy used by some people to get a bullet out when they put the projectile in with out putting powder in first. You must use a small charge and extremely important, drive the projectile down firmly on top of the powder. If you  do not have the projectile on the powder, with the air space, you can get extreme pressure and rupture or ring the barrel. What normally happens the first load of powder is not enough to get the projectile clear out. They load in more powder through the flash channel and forget to drive the projectile back down on top of the powder. Two things can happen. 1- you still have a spark and get a explosion while loading. 2- You rupture or ring (bulge) the barrel. Neither a good thing.

[Dan-o]

I have a little do-hicky that takes a CO2 cartridge and blows stuff out.  It works great..... and I'd venture to say buying one is much cheaper than a gun smith.    Besides, then you've got the tool for next time.

Mine works form traditional or in-line.