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Stuck minnie ball
te1980
Member Posts: 5 ✭✭
Well, I've got a Minnie stuck about 6 inches above the powder charge. I've tried pulling it but the puller just pulled out of the soft lead and now will not bite into the bullet. Should I seat the ball down to the charge by driving it down with a hammer and a steel rod and then shoot it out or not? I'm thinking that with the ball being that tight in the bore, the pressure might be too high and buldge or split the barrel but I'm fairly new to blackpowder shooting so any help would be great. Thanks
Comments
I've seen double charged rounds go off as well as double loaded charges with no problem. Just make sure that it is seated on the powder charge and you should be fine.
If you do feel worried, tie it to a tire and fix a string to the trigger.
If your gun had a removal breech plug , which I assume it does not , I would then push it out either end with the rod. But letting it soak should free it up enough that you may be able to grab it and pull it out if loose enough.
I would probably try that before risk ruining the barrel ..... but like the man said , if you got it seated against the powder , I would think it would shoot out alright.
If you soak it overnight with the lead remover keep in mind that ruins the chance due to wet powder of shooting it out.
Pound it down and shoot it out. No worries.
+1...if the lead is that soft it will go on down with a little more force....Bull
I also have a mold (Lee) that casts mini ball a tad bit tighter than I like and solved the problem by rolling them, with pressure, between two pieces of oak 1x3 to make 'em a bit smaller.
One other thing I learned when I first started shooting minis, was to put lube in the cavity along with the grease groves. I've always used Crisco and have never had to swab the barrel. My bore always looks wet (no sticky fouling) and it's easy to clean with dish soap and hot water.
Something tells me they didnt have this problem in the old days, I cant see soldiers swabbing their bores every 3 shots or so. Me thinks the bp of today burns dryer than the bp of yesteryear.
Something tells me they didnt have this problem in the old days, I cant see soldiers swabbing their bores every 3 shots or so. Me thinks the bp of today burns dryer than the bp of yesteryear.
In fact they DID have this problem! The Whitworth Rifle,(that fired a 5 sided bolt, not a minnie or round ball), required cleaning after every round fired. Civil War Soldiers have written about dropping thier musket for a cleaner one, putting canteen water and peeing down the barrel to clean out fowl, and so on. If i remember correctly the tenth round in a cartridge pack was a cleaner bullet. It had a hard metal disk on the bottom to scrap the fowl from the barrel.
As for my stuck ball problem. I must have had one ball that was out of round or oversized. I've probably put 25-30 rounds through it since, without a problem. I even shot off 48 rounds of blanks reenacting two weekends ago and shot 5 or 6 live rounds the following Monday afternoon without cleaning at all before the minnies started to get tight in the bore.
quote:Originally posted by team roper ozzy
i agree shoot lubed rounds ..i use 50/50 of Crisco and bee's wax...after around 10 rounds or so swab out the barrel,,have the same model as you and never had one problem with it live fire or re-enacting blanks. fun toys [:D]