Wooden dowl stuck in barrel

[bboswell]

A friend chambered a factory loaded bullet in his 270 Encore, shot one and chambered another, since no shot came so he ejected the round, bullet stuck in rifling, powder dumped out and primed case flew....

He brought it to me to clear the stuck bullet. I figured it would be easy to put a wooden dowel down the barrel and bump the bullet out. Wrong, dowel broke in the barrel, I put anther dowel in to bump it all out and it broke at the muzzle.

i have since been able to pull the bullet from the breech end but the dowel is STUCK.

I have exhausted everything I can think of to push / drive it out that won't hurt the crown or rifling.

Anyone have any ideas??

 

[Barrelnut]

You could remove the barrel. Put penetrating oil down the barrel and let is soak over night. Drill a small hole through the bullet. screw a tab into the hole. Pull the bullet like you would with a gear puller or something. Similar happened to me one time....

 

[LoneTraveler]

I would not put any liquid in the barrel. Any liquid poured in the barrel would be absorbed by the wood dowel and make it swell and get tighter. Unless you are using the liquid as a lubricant for instant removal.

One of the most powerful forms of putting pressure on a small hole is a Hand levered grease gun. You would need a piston in the barrel to hold the pressure so the grease would not flow around the dowel, but shove the dowel rods out. A lead cast gas check bullet may work well. or a jacketed bullet with the nose cut flat at bore diameter. so as not to act as a wedge to the dowel rod. Remove the barrel from the action and make a cap to fit the barrel, Put a hole in the cap thread 1/4X28 screw a grease Zert fitting in, Attach a grease gun start pumping.

This is a system that works to remove unknow loads from muzzleloaders. Seen a gun that was double loaded, 2 bullets and 2 loads of powder squirted out with no problem or damage to gun. Good Luck on this one.

 

[Frank in the Laurels]

Take it out of the stock, remove scope, a little lighter fluid and s match...should take care of the problem quickly !! Then use a metal rod of some type you knock out the bullet...you got nothing to lose !

 

[bboswell]

The bullet is out. The wooden dowel is the only remaining problem.

 

[AZShooter]

How about using a slide hammer? Attach some sort of clamp on the wooden dowel, like a V block with slide hammer's plate behind it. Remove rifle from stock and affix in a gunsmith's vice or a bench vice with necessary rubber to prevent damage to metal. Or reverse with dowel in vice and slide hammer affixed through action with some soft metal between slide hammer piece and action.

How about using a bronze rod or somewhat harder alloy brass rod (any that won't flare at end) that is close to bore diameter to hammer the dowel back out the muzzle? Use a dead blow hammer and slowly tap out dowel.

I decided to see if others have posted. Here are some ideas from some interesting threads:


a guy says this: "Take the barrel off and place inside a oven at 350 for 2 to 3 hrs. The wood will shrink. Tap wood out.

the end result: "So we tried the oven trick today and it worked like a charm! 400deg for 30min and after tapping the wood with the brass rod and hammer I was able to use the rod to push the dowel out. Thanks!"

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This may be the last resort:

use a small charge of powder with some cotton to hold powder in place. It drove out a bullet AND dowel! With only the dowel stuck it might work with a very light charge.

Dowel stuck in barrel - THR

Using a primed case first is mentioned in other threads. If primer isn't enough begin to add powder and slowly build up pressures till dowel leaves barrel. copied from another thread: "If not set off a primed case. Add powder as necessary until the wood is ejected."

 

[Pdvdh]

Using a primed case first is mentioned in other threads. If primer isn't enough begin to add powder and slowly build up pressures till dowel leaves barrel. Copied from another thread: "If not set off a primed case. Add powder as necessary until the wood is ejected."

This is what I would do. Should be easy.

 

[wwbrown]

Do you live far enough ti have termites? Might take a while, but from what I have heard they work cheap.

 

[Snowrun]

Place a nut large enough to easily pull the dowel through while also sitting on the crown. place a fender washer over the top of that and run a long screw with a diameter small enough to clear the bore easily. When you turn the screw in, the dowel will pull through the nut allowing you to grab with pliers, etc. Simple puller.

 

[Dosh]

This is getting interesting. I'm liking the dry it out in the oven and a very light charge best. However, the turdmites intrigue me some.

 

[J E Custom]

I think just the primer would move it enough to grab it with something.

I would also recommend priming a fired case without sizing it, so it seals better.
And if it moves at all, do it again until you have enough dowel to get it in a vice.

Once you have it in a vice be sure and twist it in the direction of the barrel rifling twist.

Let us know if/how you get it out.

J E CUSTOM

 

[Schnyd112]

If the bullet is out, why not pull the bolt, use your bore guide, cleaning rod, jag, patch and push it out the front of the barrel? Am I missing something because it sounds like you guys are making it harder than it needs to be.

 

[FEENIX]

If the bullet is out, why not pull the bolt, use your bore guide, cleaning rod, jag, patch and push it out the front of the barrel? Am I missing something because it sounds like you guys are making it harder than it needs to be.

I too was wondering about that.

 

[Frank in the Laurels]

Burn it out, drop some lighter fluid from the muzzle and light it, that amount of heat won't hurt anything compared to powder heat...even if you let it burn for a while I' all bet it will loosen it to a point where you can push it out..make sure you do it outside !!!