how to remove stuck bullet

[chumbo]

I have a 7mm 140 gr bullet stuck approx 1: into the rifling. A punch and hammer does not move it. It looks like the nose of the bullet is flattened from tapping. Any suggestions on tools or methods to remove stuck lead?

[hrminer92]

I've heard of people using a torch to heat up the barrel until the lead starts to melt a little and then push the bullet out.

[quickdtoo]

Heat would work, but you'd have to apply quite a bit of heat to the barrel to transfer enough to the lead slug.

It's probably swaged in there from the hammering, if you could reach it safely, center drill it to remove lead from the center of it with ~1/8" bit, it would probably knock right out after a soak with a good penetrant like kroil.

Good luck,

Tim

[gunnut69]

Tapping a rifle bullet out once it's into the rifling is difficult as you found out. Center drilling is a good idea but done wrong can do a lot of damage in a hurry. Try a bit of any good copper remover bore cleaner. It should dissolve the bullets jacket and allow easier removal. When trying to drive a bullet out I've had the best luck with a bore diameter rod(-just a little) with a cone shape cut into the end. Polish and harden and they usually drive right out. Once wedged into place a bullet can be a chore to remove. A cleaning rod will almost certainly NOT have the backbone to drive the slug out. A one inch insert should have been a fairly easy task..

[Savage .250]

  If it was mine I believe I`d get a brass rod somewhat smaller than the bore. Next I`d get me a nice sized heavy hammer. Then before anything I`d protect the "crown". Maybe a piece of thick rubber with a hole in the middle for the brass rod.  Use what ever but protect it some how.
   If it`s a bolt.........then the bolts out,. This goes without saying.  Then I insert the rod with the heavy rubber
   "protector" down the barrel till I make contact.  At that point I just bring it home with that hammer.
     I`m thinking if you were to give that stuck bullet a couple of serious licks..........it`s coming out of there.
     Like i said," if it was mine that`s what I`d do."   

[chumbo]

That's my problem now. I went from a wooden dowel w/ wooden mallet to a brass rod w/ dead blow hammer. Now I have a bullet with a flatten nose stuck.
Don't want to apply heat, that much heat may not be very good for the barrel.
Will try transfer punch to locate center, drill 1/8" hole, then try punch again.
I can not believe it is stuck this tight.
I mistakenly fired a shell with no powder. People don't do this, check your loads, save yourself problems.
The gun is T/C stainless so the barrel is easy to access.         

[quickdtoo]

See if you can put a bushing in the bore to surround the drill bit to keep it centered in the bore so if it does go a bit off center, the bushing will prevent the bit from touching the bore. Brass or copper tubing comes to mind that might work.

Hang in there, you'll get it yet!!

Tim

[jhm]

Take a bullet of the same cal. drill a large hole thru it and cut the tip off seat the bullet into a re-sized piece of brass drill a over sized hole thru the primer hole use this as a protective guide chamber it and use a long drill sufficient size to drill thru the brass and bullet into the stuck bullet, after removing the center of the stuck bullet remove the home made bushing put it on the shelf in case it ever happens again and then with a piece of something tap the bullet out.   JIM

[quickdtoo]

.

[Smokin Joe]

Pour the barrel full of Kroil, let it sit a few hrs and punch the slug out with you choice of rod.

[hrminer92]

Heat would work, but you'd have to apply quite a bit of heat to the barrel to transfer enough to the lead slug.

It's probably swaged in there from the hammering, if you could reach it safely, center drill it to remove lead from the center of it with ~1/8" bit, it would probably knock right out after a soak with a good penetrant like kroil.

Good luck,

Tim

check this story out:

http://www.australianhunting.net/index.php?topic=17949.0

[quickdtoo]

Can't, requires registration and approval.

[hrminer92]

that stinks...oh well....

here's the story:

At the range two weekends ago there was a new chum using a rifle for perhaps the first time, he WAS under supervision and was doing pretty good, that is until I heard an odd sound, sorta Pfissst sound, one you don't want to hear, it usually means the full load of powder was not in the case.
Keep in mind that perhaps 30 other rifles are going off at the same time, so hearing is a tad difficult.

Now this is a .310 cadet, stock standard configuration, the loads seemed to sound ok all day, except for this one, or at least I thought at the time it was only one, when someone is supervising another it is not cool to poke one's nose in and interfere, but I did keep watch, (as we all should all the time), I saw the "Supervisor" take the rifle and open the action, a rush of gas threw the case about 20 feet, no way that rifle would be used again that day.

Next thing I see the owner of the rifle trying to ram the projectile back out through the breach,  I told him it would only jam the slug in harder and it must be done in a workshop.

OK, it came over today, first thing was to strip the whole rifle, next was to drill a hole in the back of the frame for a rod (This is done to almost all Cadet Martinis now as it is the best way to clean the bore, bore sight, burnish the breach if needed), and in this case to hopefully insert a brass drift and tap out the slug, but no such luck I'm afraid.

We measured the depth of the slug, it was jammed just behind the sight block at the breach end, about nine inches from the start of the lands, so now as we went to put in the brass drift we found it would not go in any more than an inch and a half, a bore light showed yet another slug, so now we had two, this was going to be difficult, because ramming one slug against another would expand them both....OH!crap, only one thing to be done now, thank God they were lead slugs and not jacketed.

Now lead melts at about 650 degrees, and that is the same temp as steel turns blue, the Bloke that owns the rifle was not to keen on what I was about to do, but I could not see any other way, drilling and trying to pull the slugs would not work, all that would do is pull the center out and then you have more trouble.

I use a compressed air and LPG torch, the flame is much softer than Oxy, also easier to control, but when I poured the heat onto the underside of the barrel the owner started to get real worried, Oh, I did not mention that the short brass rod was now stuck in the breach end slug, so I had problems getting that out as well now.

Back to the heat, at the stage the lead must be almost melting I attempted to prise the brass rod out, well that did work, only not how I expected, as soon as I touched it it exploded out, and with it came molten lead, yeah, I did sort of expect something like that, but not that much force.

Working quickly we got a ram rod with brass brush down and pushed out the rest of the lead, there was at least 3 projectiles in there, and what is most interesting is the pressure had stayed there for two weeks, proving one thing for him, his bullets are the right size, he he!

Why it happened? First he was using teflon coated bullets without lube,  second he did not check each case as it was filled with powder, third he did not clean at least every ten shots, lastly, he was not watching the novice as well as he should have.

The Cadet is back together, the barrel is fine, the heating did not damage the already re-blued barrel, and has a lesson been learned? I do believe it has.

Paul

[quickdtoo]

Interesting, but I wouldn't try it on my barrel, specially a stainless barrel as in this case.

thanks for sharing,

Tim

[chumbo]

Bullet was removed w/ success. Guns shots w/ no problems. I made a brass blank for a drill guide using a 1/8" drill. Used a transfer to locate center and drilled w/ no problems. First try at removing bullet after drill was not successful. Went to 3/16" drill w/ no problem. I would not recommend any that for the faint of heart. Second try at removing bullet was not successful. Finally applied Kroil to barrel and let soak over night. Third try at removing bullet total success, came right out no problem, Why I did not apply Kroil first?? Goood question. Get some it is good stuff. I don't know what they put in it but I will keep some on hand. Thanks for all the input.     

[quickdtoo]

!!

[Smokin Joe]

It's damn good stuff, that's why I use it. I use it to remove minor leading from my BPCR. It actually gets under the lead streaks.

[quickdtoo]

Heat would work, but you'd have to apply quite a bit of heat to the barrel to transfer enough to the lead slug.

It's probably swaged in there from the hammering, if you could reach it safely, center drill it to remove lead from the center of it with ~1/8" bit, it would probably knock right out after a soak with a good penetrant like kroil.

Good luck,

Tim

Yup!!