Cleaning Jag Broken off in Smoothy, Now what do I do?

[NJArtillery]

Today was not a good day. I went to the fort to try out a new Smoothbore Roundball, I've been waiting all summer to try this. I even managed to score 2 or 3 Xs on my first target....

However, I never got to shoot my second target.

Like an idiot, I grabbed one of my Musket cleaning patches to swab out the bore after brushing, I was rushing because the next relay was the last one for individuals. I rammed that sucker home, and that's all she wrote. When the rod refused to budge, I knew I was done for the day...

So a couple of people volunteered to help yank that rod out, but nothing worked. I flooded the barrel with WD40,and that didn't help.

I took the thing home, clipped on a good pair of vice grips and started knocking the rod out using a rubber mallet. That worked for about 18 inches, I was making progress, when the cleaning rod said uncle, and the tip that threads to the jag snapped off the rod.

The rod is an aluminum take down, in 12" segments, and had a knurled tip that connected to the jag, I'm pretty sure the knurled part is what broke, and by looking at the end of the rod, it wasn't threaded on.

I took the gun apart, but, just as I always assumed, the breach plug does not come out.

So now I'm speculating what to do.... I'm thinking the easiest thing would be to put some solvent or mild acid of some kind in there to eat the patch out, but I don't want to ruin the barrel...

I don't think it can be drilled out. It's still jammed in pretty good, I don't think there is a non-destructive mechanical solution....

Any suggestions?

[Gary Van Kauwenbergh, 101]

I had something similar happen to me with a pattented breach on a volunteer rifle. I finally took it to a gunsmith who had to think about it for a couple months. He ended up removing the barrel, then heating the breach hot enough to burn the patch away.

[marv762]

do you have an air compressor in the house? set it at about 100 psi and put a blow gun onto the nipple and squeeze. then see if you can find the broken jag. i have always used air to make sure my flash channel is clear before i take my guns to the range. good luck

[RaiderANV]

Remove nipple.......tap ten grains of powder into breech.....replace nipple and shoot it out. Done it many times that way.

[csapow]

Take the nipple out and replace it with a grease fitting, and pump some grease into the barrel, forcing the jag out.

[marv762]

how many tubes of grease does it take to fill a barrel from the breach to the muzzle? then how do you get a whole barrel of grease out of the gun? crazy idea to me.

[marv762]

hew "PJ" i forgot in the good old states you can just go out back and shoot it out. not in "JERSEY". that is why i use air, quiet like and out of trouble with the law.

[John Holland]

Mike - Try a piece of PVC tubing....as large as will fit down the bore....slide it down the bore and over the obstruction/bore brush, all the way to the breech if necessary to capture it....then pull the PVC tubing back out and the bore brush w/patch will come with it, as it is now captured inside the PVC tubing. This is an old trick for retrieving a bore brush that has come off the end of a cleaning rod.

JDH

[Maillemaker]

I can see the PVC pipe working with a brush, but I don't think you're going to be able to use it to push a cleaning patch off of a jag.

With no breach plug, I think the compressed air or grease are the only two options.

But the first thing I would do is make a solution of Ballistol and water and fill the barrel with it for a few hours to let it soften the fouling.

If you dissolve the fouling you should be able to blow it out with compressed air.

I would avoid any caustic substance that could damage the barrel.

Steve

[NJArtillery]

Well, I'm happy to say that I got it out!

With the help of some friends in the 5th VA Cav, we first tried using an air compressor at 125 PSI, that didn't work.

Then we flooded the tube with soapy water, let it soak for 5 minutes, rammed the jag to the breech, and it blew right out with the air compressor.

I'm guessing that we loosened the fowling by ramming it home, it had set with WD40 for over 24 hours.

Thanks goodness it came out, we were planning to attempt a 10 grain shoot out if the air compressor didn't work, but it never came to that...

[Maillemaker]

Awesome! I know you are relieved!

Steve