Ahh crud....

[86er]

... needed to be cleaned out of my muzzleloader. I made this rifle a few years ago and it is not fancy or anything but a combo of powder and bullet set off by a cap makes it pretty dirty. While trying to clean it a bronze brush broke off in the barrel. I make a hook out of a partial bronze brush and got it in there. It hooked the stuck brush but then it too broke or more accurately it came off the rod. Now how was I to get this out of the barrel? This was a compounded problem since I left my powder in CRS' truck. I crunched some Pyrodex pellets into powder, removed the nipple and ignition drum screw and filled them with powder until no more would fit. Put the nipple and screw in place and set the rifle on a shooting rest, cocked and primed. Ran a 20 foot cord from the trigger to cover and set the whole dang thing off. Them bronze brush projectiles arent real accurate but they do get some pretty good velocity! Cleared the barrel and scrubbed the whole thing clean at the same time. I won't be using any jags or oversized brushes on a muzzleloader anymore. The rifle survived just fine and the group I fired afterwards was just as it should be. Lesson learned here!

[FWiedner]

I remember (when I was young) shoving a few things down the barrel of a muzzle loader trying to capture something else I had lost down there and I managed to gouge the barrel up pretty good by the time I was done. I was probably a bit aggressive and less selective in my application of "fishing rods". I recall a wire coat-hanger being among the fine tools applied.

I was not a firearms professional in your league by any means, but I recall the thought and lesson that this was probably the wrong way to do it.

Might have been more of a process, but couldn't you have taken the barrel off of the stock and removed the breech plug to push the things out the closest end?

[nemhed]

Yep, good lesson there for anybody with an old fashioned smoke pole. Those bristles don't want to reverse direction while still in the bore. Glad it all worked worked out. BTW, that rifle looks like a good working man's hunting tool!

[Blaine]

I remember (when I was young) shoving a few things down the barrel of a muzzle loader trying to capture something else I had lost down there and I managed to gouge the barrel up pretty good by the time I was done. I was probably a bit aggressive and less selective in my application of "fishing rods". I recall a wire coat-hanger being among the fine tools applied.

I was not a firearms professional in your league by any means, but I recall the thought and lesson that this was probably the wrong way to do it.

Might have been more of a process, but couldn't you have taken the barrel off of the stock and removed the breech plug to push the things out the closest end?

I've VERY limited experience with BP, but, as I recall my 1980 T/C .54 Renegade, the plug was not able to be taken out...at least by amateurs such as myself. It always seem moronic not to be able to do that.

[rjohns94]

glad it worked out Joe. stuff happens. looks like you made it work in your favor

[Chuck 100 yd]

TC warns against trying to remove the breech plug on their rifles that are not inlines.
Glad you got it taken care of. I have done the same thing a couple of times.

[Tumbleweeds II]

I've seen a couple of times when we needed to drill holes through overly hard home-cast bullets and fire the gun to get them out. You need a really long drill bit extender and a pilot, and even then you just might fiend the rifling. If I ever have another smoker than lacks the removable breech plug, I'm getting an EZ-unloader to blow stuff out with compressed CO2.

[piller]

I have one of those EZ unloaders, and they send a saboted bullet out about 25 feet or more. I don't think they would work with the brush though.

[jcw]

Cut a length of thin wall tubing about 6" longer than the barrel and just a tiny bit smaller than bore. slide down barrel, force over brush, pull brush our of barrel. It's worked for me.

[harry]

Try one of the brass removers, Barnes is the one I use. Plug the nipple and pore the bore full enough to cover the brass brush and let set over night. It will soften the brush so that it will come out, yes it will take the seasoning out of the barrel but you did that with the brass brush anyways.

[Hobie]

Always reminded me of the poem about the old lady who swallowed the fly. Many people might be quite surprised at what finds its way into the bore of a muzzleloader.

[TedH]

Cut a length of thin wall tubing about 6" longer than the barrel and just a tiny bit smaller than bore. slide down barrel, force over brush, pull brush our of barrel. It's worked for me.

Great idea.

[2571]

Glad he thought of shooting it out on his own. This is a pretty routine procedure to try, even with brushes.

Several other procedures exist. I knew about using the messy grease gun & zirc fitting to hydraulically pump a bullet out. I have learned recently if you use an old fashioned grease gun & shortening or lard, you can heat the barrel to flush out the shortening after the object is removed. Doubt this procedure would work with a brush though.

[jhrosier]

I have a couple of nylon bristle shotgun brushes that I use on my front loaders.
You can give the brush a twist and pull at the bottom of the bore to reverse the bristles for removal and it won't hurt them.
I used a 28 ga nylon brush for cleaning my .54 cal guns for years and it is still in perfect condition.

Jack

[2571]

I use a tornado brush although many bp guys will not use a brush of any kind. Stories of them coming loose in bore are myriad.