Dougy Posted October 11, 2007 Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 A question for somebody who knows :blink: There have been one or 2 posts about a bullet being lodged in the barrel due to an error in reloading, The situation is;- Primer ok, but no powder loaded, then having the bullet seated. Then fired, bullet gets pushed into the barrel a distance and thats it stuck. My question is,- if your out in the field, would it be possible to use a dummy round to dislodge, fire the stuck bullet, and clear the barrel. what i mean by dummy round is a primed case powder and a cottton wool bung. Would it be safe just though of the idea of having one loaded with me all the time i go out just in case of it happening again :blink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al4x Posted October 11, 2007 Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 I'd not like to try it, best option is avoid it happening in the first place Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markm Posted October 11, 2007 Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 I would of thought it would just push up a little further into the barrel and make it even harder to get out. Why not shake each round when loaded in a quiet room to check for powder, if your using factory ammo I would change brand and if your reloading or someone is doing it for you I would worry about quality control. Gunsmiths use a brass rod, bore guide and a hide mallet to knock them out and I am sure they have to go from chamber to barrel end as to not damage the barrel. I think the guy from the US who is an expert / writer on reloading (can't remember his name) sums it up when you see his hand, its not there!!!! As he got some reloads wrong when he was younger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham M Posted October 11, 2007 Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 If you load a round with powder only you will still be generating a lot of pressure. Don’t mess around. Load your cases in a proper tray so that you can see if they are full of powder. G.M. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dougy Posted October 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 It was just an idea, i wasnt sure of the safety aspects that why i posted ths question it did come to mind about he pressure as the bullet would already be in the barrel. I had alway checked by shaking and weighing but did get interupted by a visitor. :blink: It ended my day on the range as i packed up and had to push the bullet out using a cleaning rod. Will definatly improve the quality control in future. :blink: thanks dougy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markm Posted October 11, 2007 Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 TBH I am not sure even a cartridge with powder in would get it moving as the bullets / barrel surface area will be quiet large. When the bullet originally 'launches' it is only held in place by a soft copper jacket before it hits the rifleing. I would imaging the pressures to be massive as well. I would be interested to see the results in a controlled / safe environment. Anyone up for a bit of myth busters? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dougy Posted October 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 TBH I am not sure even a cartridge with powder in would get it moving as the bullets / barrel surface area will be quiet large. When the bullet originally 'launches' it is only held in place by a soft copper jacket before it hits the rifleing. I would imaging the pressures to be massive as well. I would be interested to see the results in a controlled / safe environment. Anyone up for a bit of myth busters? how much for a new 22.250 barrel :blink: and a new pair of hands plus eye's think i will pass on the testing thanks, Just make sure i concentrate on the job in hand while reloading :blink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr smith Posted October 11, 2007 Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 I always visually check in the case for powder before moving onto bullet seating.Though this is for pistol cases and not rifle cases which will be more difficult to see in to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deadeye ive Posted October 11, 2007 Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 My advice John is to go on Evil Bay and get a set of Digital scales with a capacity of 100g (1550 grn) I have a NEVA set @£4.95 and weigh my finished rounds individually .Any major discrepencies will be highlighted straight away How far down the barrel did it go and was it obvious by sound alone rather than looking for a bullet strike .? http://search.ebay.co.uk/search/search.dll...+digital+scales Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dougy Posted October 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 My advice John is to go on Evil Bay and get a set of Digital scales with a capacity of 100g (1550 grn)I have a NEVA set @£4.95 and weigh my finished rounds individually .Any major discrepencies will be highlighted straight away How far down the barrel did it go and was it obvious by sound alone rather than looking for a bullet strike .? http://search.ebay.co.uk/search/search.dll...+digital+scales was only down the barrel about an inch. and i do normally weigh the loaded rounds before putting them back in the box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferret Master Posted October 11, 2007 Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 My advice John is to go on Evil Bay and get a set of Digital scales with a capacity of 100g (1550 grn)I have a NEVA set @£4.95 and weigh my finished rounds individually .Any major discrepencies will be highlighted straight away How far down the barrel did it go and was it obvious by sound alone rather than looking for a bullet strike .? http://search.ebay.co.uk/search/search.dll...+digital+scales I have NEVA scales. :blink: FM :blink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy H Posted December 11, 2009 Report Share Posted December 11, 2009 (edited) THINK ABOUT IT you have just fired a cartridge with no powder in it , Being a rifle with a copper jacketed projectile it will have stopped just after it has engaged the rifling maybe 1/4 " in a 20" barrel the last thing you want to do is put a blank round behind it and drive it another 1" up a 20" barrel , That is 1 1/4" up a barrel with 18 3/4" to go. The only way it should come out is the way it went in from the breech , unless you have a 20" brass piece of round brass bar and a hammer in your pocket or gunslip that will fit down the barrel the only remedy is put it away till another day until you have drifted it out at home and then pull the heads out of all of your reloads and start again checking visually all of your reloads while they are in the reloading tray that the powder levels are the same as a case filled with the correct amount of powder. when you reload you need to check after you have charged them with powder in decent light that they all look the same as one you have check weighed against your reloading data. Edited December 11, 2009 by Andy H Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexm Posted December 11, 2009 Report Share Posted December 11, 2009 (edited) This exact scenario came up in a reloading course I went on. Basically the consensus was that if you load a case with powder and no bullet and fire it behind the stuck bullet there is a good chance you will blow the gun up! The reason is that normally, when a bullet is loaded just before/at the lands, it has a bit of a 'run up' into the throat of the rifling and as the pressure builds the bullet starts to move smoothly. In your case, because the bullet is wedged to start with, you will get a massive pressure spike build up before the bullet starts to move and this could exceed what the barrel can safely take - even if the powder load is significantly lower! Even just firing a primer behind a blocked barrel could be dangerous, the gas has to go somewhere. Chances are it will come back down the sides of the case towards you because there won't be enough pressure in the case to seal the sides of it against the chamber! Edited December 11, 2009 by alexm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macca Posted December 11, 2009 Report Share Posted December 11, 2009 Hi, seen this before, the projectile should be pushed back to the breach, either with a rod or hydraulically(gunsmith). Using a dummy case could cause a barrel bulge or worse still a pressure spike . If your not sure thet tou have charged all of your cases - weigh your finished rounds - they should be within 2 grains of each other. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flytie Posted December 11, 2009 Report Share Posted December 11, 2009 Hi,seen this before, the projectile should be pushed back to the breach, either with a rod or hydraulically(gunsmith). Using a dummy case could cause a barrel bulge or worse still a pressure spike . If your not sure thet tou have charged all of your cases - weigh your finished rounds - they should be within 2 grains of each other. Cheers I agree with macca! It is the method I would employ. I was lucky enough to see a mate make up a hydraulic rig to rescue a blokes match rifle. Putting anything powder related behind the bullet is asking for an explosion! ft Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rarms Posted December 12, 2009 Report Share Posted December 12, 2009 If you reloaded and didn't put any powder in, I think I would dis-assemble everything else you loaded in that batch. Are you sure you might not have double loaded another case? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eLaReF Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 This is a story about a Colt Trooper .357 magnum revolver, rather than a rifle, so there is at least one significant difference I will stress at the end A newish member of a Shooting Club (this is pre-Dunblane) had already blown up his shiny chrome plated Astra copy of a Colt, by putting too much powder in his reloads. We sat him down and patiently went thro' the re-loading process several times, set his equipment up and said CHANGE NOTHING! He bought the Trooper and shot quite well with it. Maybe 6 mths later I was R.O. and I could see his shots landing at the bottom of the Fig 11 target 25 yds away, and hear a few lower power bangs from the gun Having called the cease fire I finally got to him, just as the scorer shouted that the bullet heads hadn't penetrated the 3mm ply backing board to the target. We then discovered he had a bullet stuck up the barrel. Actually, the gun-smith later found out he had FIVE heads in the barrel, which was now bulged. He had changed from 158gn heads to 121gn ones and they didn't stay around long enough to get pressure up (less inertia)so, in less than a year he had destroyed two guns So the moral is - Do NOT try firing a second shot to clear the 1st one - you will likely destroy the barrel as well as any parts of you that are near. It wasn't so bad in a revolver as it would be in a rifle - Why? The revolver has a cylinder-barrel gap of a couple of thou' to allow cylinder rotation amongst other things. The excess pressure escaped thro' this gap A rifle doesn't have this pressure relief option, so it would have to escape elsewhere!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul223 Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 my advice would be to use a powder that fills the case, even better if it's a compressed load, for the .223 i use varget, the case fills to half way up the neck, a short charge is very noticeable and a double charge impossible, with the added bonus that it's real easy to spot any missed case Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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