Serious bore obstruction - How to remove?

Gazz · Jul 30, 2016

I have a Savage 111(?) heavy barrel in .243. The barrel was given to me by a neighbor who was shooting the rifle when he had a squib load and the bullet only just entered the bore. He then tried to drive it out with a wood dowel which of course shattered. Then he tried a brass rod which seems to have accordianed in the bore but he kept trying until he had driven all the rod into the bore - there is nothing sticking out at the muzzle and the bullet has not budged! I soaked the bore with some bore cleaner that had ammonia in it for several days and then carefully drilled and tapped the visible end of the rod at the muzzle. I put a screw in in and tried to pull it out but it just ripped the end of the brass rod off. I am thinking that making a screw on cap for the breech end that I can plug a grease gun into and then hydraulically drive the entire mess out but that seems to be a bit of work. Does anybody have any ideas on how I might salvage this barrel? Could I use straight ammonia to dissolve the rod without damaging the bore? Thanks for any good ideas!

GunBum · Jul 30, 2016

If you are trying to chemically remove it don't use straight ammonia. Use a mixture of 1/3 ammonia, 1/3 vinegar, and 1/3 distilled water. It'll be more aggressive on the copper and tin without eating the steel. It would work better doing electrolysis, but you'll have a hard time getting the current to flow into the bore.

That being said, it'll take years to etch away that much brass rod. If it was mine, I'd be on the internet ordering a barrel, and I'd turn the old barrel into a pry bar.

michiganbuck · Jul 30, 2016

I have knocked out stuck bullets with a brass rod and even a steel rod going back to the breach with the rod rounded at the corner and the bore well oiled. One could push from the breach end with a (mild) steel rod and a hammer.

XX[use straight ammonia?]-Not think that would do more harm than good.

Want to be fancy one could drill a small through hold through the stuck but think this over kill..Perhaps take it to the local gun smith the best thing to do.

Shooting it out will blow up the barrel.

Gazz · Jul 30, 2016

The owner of the rifle did buy a new barrel. I am just seeing if there is a way to salvage the barrel that is not to labor intensive. I would never use vinegar in any amount in a barrel - it is acetic acid and it will dissolve steel. Ask any knife maker who makes his own pattern welded blades, vinegar is sometimes used to bring the pattern out or even to etch the makers mark. By using ammonia, I am only trying to dissolve enough of the rod to release some of the lateral pressure against the sides of the bore that would hopefully allow its removal, if I could somehow grip it or perhaps shake it out.
If I took it to a gunsmith, how would he do it?

jonok · Jul 30, 2016

Not EPA approved, but liquid Mercury allowed to sit on top of the lead obstruction ( with, of course, the appropriate precautions), will quickly dissolve exposed lead and do nothing g detrimental to the steel of the barrel. It won't do a darned thing to remove the brass though.

michiganbuck · Jul 30, 2016

You tube you can see a guy push it out with a grease gun and a threaded end cap.. another shoot it out with a near blank and the bore full of water and a wax load......
Still we used to shoot old military shells in hand and long guns with having a stuck very often ..Hammer knock with a rod and the bore oiled never hurt a gun. at the range one to hold the barrel and the other to wack. Steel hammer and steel rod were the most common.Recently I have had the same with factory and still do the same.

Gazz · Jul 30, 2016

This would be easy if it were just the bullet. I did try with a steel rod from the breech end (which would mean driving the bullet the full length of the barrel) and it moves easily but it is not pushing the rod out. I don't know if there is still wood splinters in there either. I do suspect it though.

Illinoyance · Jul 30, 2016

If your neighbor upset the brass rod into the bore it is unlikely you will be able to get it out. If the grease gun approach does not work the only use for the barrel is as a club, preferably used on the person that created this mess.

Gazz · Jul 30, 2016

I doubt the brass rod is upset. I am sure that it is wavy though with each crest (and trough!) bearing against the bore - kind of like those Chinese finger cuff things but in reverse. I got a brass rod out of an air pistol once that was driven in in -a similar fashion. I think I had bit to grab to though and I don't have that this time.

iwananew10K · Jul 31, 2016

Surely the crown is screwed anyway?? Cut off a bit and pull it out?

kendog · Jul 31, 2016

It can all be removed without damage to the barrel. I WILL be labor intensive AND expensive. The stuck bullet was the injury, the amateur, well meaning attempts after that are the insult. As far as folks pushing "stuck" jacketed bullets with rods of any sort, if you moved them, they were not stuck. The first thing that should have been done with this before all the other trash was wedged down there, would have been to drill the center out of the bullet with fixtures that wont damage the barrel, or use the high pressure grease speerchucker method. Even if a guy knows exactly what he is doing, stuff like this is still time and material, and even removing the initial stuck bullet would not have been cheap. This topic comes up time and again on many forums. Almost always, the right advice is ignored and the next thing the guy posts is how he took it to a buddy or two and now all kinds of things are stuck in there.

Yep, the first go by a real professional would not have been "cost effective". Now how much will it likely cost?

Monarchist · Jul 31, 2016

kendog said:
It can all be removed without damage to the barrel. I WILL be labor intensive AND expensive. The stuck bullet was the injury, the amateur, well meaning attempts after that are the insult.

Thank you.

The worst part? Bad as it is KNOWN to have been cobbled, not being in the room whilst dumb stuff was going down, there's no telling up-front what OTHER insults might have been done.

It WAS a rifle barrel. Perhaps a rather good one.

Forget that, as NOW it is but scrap metal, and cross-alloy contaminated brass & steel at that. How easy it SHOULD HAVE BEEN, done 'right', no longer applies. It's f****d now.

Adding one or several MORE time-waster projects atop others already done is foolish. Yah don't earn braggin' rights for a clever save. Yah gets your sanity questioned over the time wasted and the unknown accuracy and SAFETY of it at the end of the process.

One simply walks way from that sort of s**t and rebarrels.

If even. Sometimes another firearm, outright, is a better and less costly route, yet.

Bill

LKeithR · Jul 31, 2016

kendog said:
...This topic comes up time and again on many forums. Almost always, the right advice is ignored and the next thing the guy posts is how he took it to a buddy or two and now all kinds of things are stuck in there...

So true, And this doesn't apply just to gunsmithing problems. Over the years I've had many repair projects show up at the shop and the story often starts with: "I took this to a buddy of mine and...." :eek:

Monarchist · Jul 31, 2016

LKeithR said:
the story often starts with: "I took this to a buddy of mine and...."

.. and quite often should end with "Well.. guess you guys OWN the problem, now. I do not. Next time, you'll take it to a professional FIRST, yah?"

Gazz · Jul 31, 2016

Thanks for all the useless I told you so replies. Really no thanks. It seems that folks who have no idea how to correct or solve the problem feel compelled to say something, especially if it is somehow condescending. Don't you guys have dishes to wash or trash to take out?
Seriously, I think everybody here knows what the guy did wrong and repeating that to me is no help. The guy gave me the barrel - heavy varmint barrel - and I thought I might be able to save it with some clever ideas from the folks here.
These kind of responses "come up time and again on many forums" and are pretty much useless.

Gazz · Jul 31, 2016

Iwananew10k - I don't think the crown is undamaged but that certainly is an option.

Trboatworks · Jul 31, 2016

Would be sort of funny to saw the whole works clean in half and use it as a wall hanger in a gunsmiths shop.

Sign under:

"Repairs started at home NOT finished here"

Monarchist · Jul 31, 2016

Gazz said:
Thanks for all the useless I told you so replies. Really no thanks. It seems that folks who have no idea how to correct or solve the problem feel compelled to say something, especially if it is somehow condescending.

Really? Ever cross your mind that the advice you like LEAST isn't coming from never-did-nuthin' armchair theorists at all.

It is coming from those of us who HAVE f****d up.

Usually more than once! Then got relaxed enough about it to share rather than pretend we never had done.

Pleases you to scorn that as 'condescending' and repeat it yerself?

Your privilege. Go for it. Learn it again the hard way.

After all...we did that part, too.

Bill

WILLEO6709 · Jul 31, 2016

for what a .243 barrel blank costs I'd scrap it and replace it. This sounds like a whole lotta work for something that still may be messed up in the end. Unless its rare or of historical significance...... why put all the expense in it>

Monarchist · Jul 31, 2016

WILLEO6709 said:
for what a .243 barrel blank costs I'd scrap it and replace it. This sounds like a whole lotta work for something that still may be messed up in the end. Unless its rare or of historical significance...... why put all the expense in it>

For-sure, and yeah.. Post # 4

The owner of the rifle did buy a new barrel.

Dunno where the old one is now meant to go if it were to be salvaged. Keep it and call the NEW barrel surplus to avoid what is involved in fitting it?

Serious bore obstruction - How to remove?

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