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stuck bullets - a tale of an idiot.

JBCGUNS

Aluminum
Joined
May 9, 2012
Location
Sydney, Australia
Phone rings 10minutes ago:

Me: "G'day, Jeff Speaking". It's still morning over here and I'm still quite cheery.
Client: "Hi, I have a problem with my Brno .22."
Me: "Right, What's it doing? ..let me guess, not extracting?, not ejecting?
Client: "No, it's not shooting".
Me: Ah, OK. Might be a firing pin - In which case I have one here, if not could just be a problem with the brand of Ammo you're using but I'll have to have a look at it.
Client. "No I mean, it's firing but the bullet ain't coming out the barrel."
Me: "Oh, shit. .. ...a stuck bullet?"
Client: "More than one I think. Hang on let me check".

Long seconds pass waiting to the sound of jingling brass on a table top and barely audible counting. I take the opportunity to take a bite out of my half finished donut. Phone picks up again:

Client: "You still there?"
Me: "Yes mate". I say while chewing, How many? I sheepishly ask.
Client: "eleven"........... Donut now hard to swallow.
"Any ideas on how to get them out."


Me: "Mate, Did you try firing another shot?? - JUST KIDDING , JUST KIDDING!- DO NOT FIRE ANOTHER SHOT!
Bring it in and I'll see what I can do".

So guys, How much pressure will it take to push out eleven stuck low velocity lead bullets???

JB
 
Phone rings 10minutes ago:

Me: "G'day, Jeff Speaking". It's still morning over here and I'm still quite cheery.
Client: "Hi, I have a problem with my Brno .22."
Me: "Right, What's it doing? ..let me guess, not extracting?, not ejecting?
Client: "No, it's not shooting".
Me: Ah, OK. Might be a firing pin - In which case I have one here, if not could just be a problem with the brand of Ammo you're using but I'll have to have a look at it.
Client. "No I mean, it's firing but the bullet ain't coming out the barrel."
Me: "Oh, shit. .. ...a stuck bullet?"
Client: "More than one I think. Hang on let me check".

Long seconds pass waiting to the sound of jingling brass on a table top and barely audible counting. I take the opportunity to take a bite out of my half finished donut. Phone picks up again:

Client: "You still there?"
Me: "Yes mate". I say while chewing, How many? I sheepishly ask.
Client: "eleven"........... Donut now hard to swallow.
"Any ideas on how to get them out."


Me: "Mate, Did you try firing another shot?? - JUST KIDDING , JUST KIDDING!- DO NOT FIRE ANOTHER SHOT!
Bring it in and I'll see what I can do".

So guys, How much pressure will it take to push out eleven stuck low velocity lead bullets???

JB

Well, you're using the wrong scale. Try to get beyond PSI and think in terms of Fahrenheit. About 640F should do it. LOL. Strip the gun down to nothing and if you have the means remove the action. You actually don't have to as there is little heat treatment needed in rimfire actions. Clamp the gun in a vise muzzle down and slowly begin heating the muzzle with a plumbers torch with a soft flame. As the lead melts out move the torch up slowly taking care not to overheat and discolor the barrel. Heat slowly a bit at a time. After the last of the lead falls out coat the barrel with motor oil and let cool. Odds are if you were careful there will be no color change and no need to reblue. Some times if you are not so gifted and lucky and you have to toss it in the tanks.


ADD NOTE: You don't point the muzzle at the floor just so the lead runs out. There will often be traces of unburned powder, wax and oil stuck between the bullets and it can "fart" molten lead out of the muzzle rather violently. Don't call bullshit on this until you have done a dozen or so. It does happen. Be careful ! ! !
 
I don't see how you can get that many .22 bullets in a barrel. Wouldn't the barrel be sealed by the first bullet or two? What's the mechanism that keeps the compressed air between the second and 3rd slug from pushing it back out the breach?

I'm just curious.

Dan
 
I don't see how you can get that many .22 bullets in a barrel. Wouldn't the barrel be sealed by the first bullet or two? What's the mechanism that keeps the compressed air between the second and 3rd slug from pushing it back out the breach?

I'm just curious.

Dan

You and me both buddy.
JB
 
Well, you're using the wrong scale. Try to get beyond PSI and think in terms of Fahrenheit. About 640F should do it. LOL. Strip the gun down to nothing and if you have the means remove the action. You actually don't have to as there is little heat treatment needed in rimfire actions. Clamp the gun in a vise muzzle down and slowly begin heating the muzzle with a plumbers torch with a soft flame. As the lead melts out move the torch up slowly taking care not to overheat and discolor the barrel. Heat slowly a bit at a time. After the last of the lead falls out coat the barrel with motor oil and let cool. Odds are if you were careful there will be no color change and no need to reblue. Some times if you are not so gifted and lucky and you have to toss it in the tanks.

ADD NOTE: You don't point the muzzle at the floor just so the lead runs out. There will often be traces of unburned powder, wax and oil stuck between the bullets and it can "fart" molten lead out of the muzzle rather violently. Don't call bullshit on this until you have done a dozen or so. It does happen. Be careful ! ! !

You probably won't believe me, but the thought of melting the bullets out had infact crossed my dangerous little mind.
Just didn't plan to actually do it. Thanks for the tip about being careful.
I hope it does turn up. I wouldn't mid trying it now!
 
I don't see how you can get that many .22 bullets in a barrel. Wouldn't the barrel be sealed by the first bullet or two? What's the mechanism that keeps the compressed air between the second and 3rd slug from pushing it back out the breach?

I'm just curious.

Dan

Regardless of the physics... Who the BEEP fires 10 more after 1 gets stuck?
Dude got lucky it was a mild .22 rimfire !
 
A friend brought over a .25 Raven. He thought something was wrong after a few rounds.
His suspicions were confirmed after the slide cracked, bits fell off the gun.
A round did not go in very far from either end, total of three bullets lodged in the barrel.
I milled the slide/barrel away about 50%, made a display out of it.
BUT, eleven must be a worlds record!
 
Not sure what the mechanics of it are Dan. I do know that most of a 22 RFs velocity is generated in that brief instant when the powder changes from a solid to a liquid. Its more of a hammer blow than anything that gets it up to speed. Most guys that have tested regular speed 22 RF report that it gives the same velocities in 10 to 12 inch barrels as it does in 24 inch barrels. Most modern high velocity stuff is pooped out in 16 inches of barrel length. This would indicate that there is not a lot of gas created. Most of the time, bolt action 22 barrels will rupture if a couple bullets are packed on top of one another but I have seen heavier barreled bolt actions that are packed half full with no damage. As a rule the ones that get packed full are 10-22s. The guy gets a once in a life time squib that leaves a bullet in the barrel and they continue firing until the the bolt won't close far enough to trip the disconnector and let the gun fire again. But like I said, I'm not sure how they manage to do it and get away with it. I think it boils down to the fact that 22RF just does not create a lot of gas and bullets and cases do not seal as well as we would like to believe.
 
Regardless of the physics... Who the BEEP fires 10 more after 1 gets stuck?
Dude got lucky it was a mild .22 rimfire !

I have to agree! I get spooked on a misfire. :)

According to this page ( Max Chamber Pressure - SAAMI Specs ) a .22 short and a .45 auto both have a max chamber pressure of 21,000 PSI. The volume of the .45 if more than 4 times greater than the .22, so that's a LOT more energy trapped behind a stuck bullet.

Dan
 
You probably won't believe me, but the thought of melting the bullets out had infact crossed my dangerous little mind.
Just didn't plan to actually do it. Thanks for the tip about being careful.
I hope it does turn up. I wouldn't mid trying it now!

Just to let you know, I have tried to push out multiple squibs with my Alemet high pressure grease gun. It has a max pressure or what they call a "burst pressure" of 30,000 PSI when you bounce on the handle and it wont budge them. You could try filling the barrel with grease and installing a tight fitting "driven in" aluminum piston and using a steel rod in the tailstock of the lathe to move them. I have done this with stuck jacketed bullets in last chance scenarios. Drilling them out very seldom ever works and the barrel is generally damaged. I would get out the torch myself. I have done it many many times.

ADD NOTE: A buddy of mine once experimented with pushing bullets out with oil. He claimed the oil leaked by the bullet at an alarming rate.
 
Thanks Speerchucker. That makes pretty good sense. I imagine that a 10/22 in that condition will actually eject better than normal since the shells will get out of the action.

LOL Now I have one more thing to be paranoid about at the range. I shoot a 10/22 and can't always see where I hit the target.

Dan
 
Just another bit of trivia here while we are on the subject. I drive the tapered brass plug on the grease delivery system into the muzzle of the barrel and hold it there with the tailstock of the lathe. I have put soapy water on it when I'm charging the barrel with grease and there are no bubbles so obviously no leakage. But of the hundred odd bullets I have pushed out in the last 35 or so years I can pump the grease gun at 100 miles per hour with absolutely NO resistance until the grease slams into the back of the bullet. Obviously, the air is having little trouble going by the bullet. Things do get mighty solid after the grease hits it.


Here is a link to the last time we discused this and how to build a grease delivery to press them out with. I still say, get out the torch. LOL
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/gunsmithing/stuck-bullet-249393/
 
The more I think about this....
If I still worked at a gun shop I would figure the price to replace the barrel, then tell him it was the only way to "be sure all was ok in there" then I would mill that barrel in half lengthwise leaving only an inch at each end un milled that still looked like a barrel... Then I would display it in a prominent place in my shop for everyone to ask... Then tell them what not to do!
Maybe save someone else. I have seen some nasty stuff when this happens in a revolver!
 
Just another bit of trivia here while we are on the subject. I drive the tapered brass plug on the grease delivery system into the muzzle of the barrel and hold it there with the tailstock of the lathe. I have put soapy water on it when I'm charging the barrel with grease and there are no bubbles so obviously no leakage. But of the hundred odd bullets I have pushed out in the last 35 or so years I can pump the grease gun at 100 miles per hour with absolutely NO resistance until the grease slams into the back of the bullet. Obviously, the air is having little trouble going by the bullet. Things do get mighty solid after the grease hits it.


Here is a link to the last time we discused this and how to build a grease delivery to press them out with. I still say, get out the torch. LOL
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/gunsmithing/stuck-bullet-249393/

Thanks for all your advice speerchucker, hope I never have to use it!

I remember the final day of a training course I was taking some 20 years ago. A guy was on the firing line with his S&W 29 running thru some drills and all of a sudden a low "pop" as opposed to BANG. The head instructor (and shop owner that I worked for at the time) instantly went running and yelling to the guy not to fire again. I never figured you could hear someone yell over 8 firing handguns...but in that case you can. Fortunately the guy did not try to send another one down the pipe. They brought it back and checked everything out, but it was OK. Evidently that round had not gotten a powder charge, and was only the primer. Had it gotten stuck another full power .44 mag load would have likely caused more than one person on that firing line a bad day.
That was my first experience with something like that, but it is "stuck" in my head.
Having a small dowel rod In the shooting bag is a simple way to check for obstructions in such a case.
 
The more I think about this....
If I still worked at a gun shop I would figure the price to replace the barrel, then tell him it was the only way to "be sure all was ok in there" then I would mill that barrel in half lengthwise leaving only an inch at each end un milled that still looked like a barrel... Then I would display it in a prominent place in my shop for everyone to ask... Then tell them what not to do!
Maybe save someone else. I have seen some nasty stuff when this happens in a revolver!

I agree and would also love to see the side view to see how the bullets all packed togather.
 
Whats that old saying , " if you make something foolproof you just breed a new generation of fools" surely the brass cases would rupture or he would notice something the gases escaping out if the safety port ?
 
Once had a Blackhawk .357 brought in. The owner said the barrel was "welded closed" by the old tracers he had fired through it. It was old surplus stuff. I removed six bullets from the barrel ans scrubbed it clean. No harm done thankfully.
 
Once had a Blackhawk .357 brought in. The owner said the barrel was "welded closed" by the old tracers he had fired through it. It was old surplus stuff. I removed six bullets from the barrel ans scrubbed it clean. No harm done thankfully.

WOW!

That's all I can say but need 10 letters ;)
 
I once had a Dan Wesson .357 revolver come in with 5 bullets lined up in the bore. Since the barrel is a removable cylindrical liner, I figured to chuck it in the lathe, drill out close to bore diameter, and melt out the rest. Well, when the drill pierced thru the first bullet, the compressed air trapped between them blew out along the drill flutes and I about jumped out of my skin. Was prepared for it on the next one, but a week after the problem, the bore plugs were still holding good pressure. Believe it or not, Worst damage to the gun was a bent crane, replaced by factory at no charge.

Tom
 








 
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