BULLET STUCK IN BBL in the field

[Huggy]

Broke a rifle stock on a guided hunt years ago. JB Cold Weld and duct saved the hunt. Ever since then I take two rifles just in case there's a major malfunction...

You mention a suggestion that I have adhered to for decades...take a spare rifle along on EVERY big game hunt I was on.
Taking a tumble whereby your rifle/scope combination takes a bit hit is never a good thing and I refrain from discharging ANY rounds other than at a game animal so as to not spook any game in the vicinity.
Head to camp, trade out rifles and head back out into the hills with nothing lost but a bit of time and shoe leather for the extra trip.
Hunting, while not hugely expensive, isn't free, either, so short of packing up and going home "skunked" with the lost weekend, fuel to travel, etc., it has always been a priority to me to cover as many eventualities as I can think of to ensure a successful hunt.
Just MY $0.02 on the topic.
Good Luck, God Bless and.....
Overnout

 

[crkckr]

One of the easiest ways to dislodge the bullet is to remove the nipple, pour in as much black powder as you can behind the ball, screw the nipple back in, place a new cap on the nipple and fire! It generally clears the barrel the first or second time it is done.

No, No, NO!!! You're procedure is mostly correct but you left out a critical step! The ball/bullet MUST be pushed back against whatever powder charge you get in the chamber! Leaving a gap between the powder and ball can create the "blocked barrel" syndrome and can be downright dangerous!

To the OP & his situation, I would think that smacking the butt of the rifle would dislodge even a .22 bullet from the throat but that still leaves a lot of powder floating around in the action, never a good situation with lots of very dangerous possibilities.

If you just absolutely must seat against the lands, the rifle must be held upright when removing a loaded round, just to avoid the powder problem. Of course, if you jam the bullet into the throat far enough, then you would of course have a means to remove said jammed bullet very high on your check list of things to bring with you... right?

Removing the bullet using a partially or fully loaded case is asking for trouble... bad trouble! It might work, maybe even a few times but the one time you crush the neck of the case because it didn't line up perfectly to seat the bullet in the case and... well, I certainly don't want to be around when that little bomb goes off! Reloaders all know how easy it is to mess up a case with the wrong die or just having the case not fully inserted into the shell holder. No way I would try getting that bullet out with any method other than something going down the barrel to push the bullet out. Period!
Cheers,
crkckr

 

[John 264]

I have seen references on this forum to getting a bullet stuck in the bbl when the bullet has been seated out to far into or touching the lands. I have never had this happen to me even though for many years I carried my BDL REM 22-250 in the field while searching for brave groundhogs that lived along railroad tracks out in the country. I always seated my silver tips touching the lands and never thought about getting a bullet dislodged and stuck. Maybe just lucky.The point of my post is to mention a technique that was brought to my attention a while back and get opinions on whether or not it works and would be a safe procedure. If no rod to dislodge a stuck bullet while hunting, remove a bullet from one of your spare rounds and trickle a small amount of powder into the chamber of the opened rifle. Now SPILL OUT THE REMAINING POWDER FROM THE CASING ONTO THE GROUND. Insert the EMPTY, live-primered ,CASING back into the chamber if it will fit. CLOSE the bolt and fire the rifle< This should dislodge the bullet to clear the end of the barrel. DOES THIS WORK?? Could save a hunt!.....BUD

Dumb and stupid it's okay if you don't mind bodily harm

 

[SergeantD]

I have seen references on this forum to getting a bullet stuck in the bbl when the bullet has been seated out to far into or touching the lands. I have never had this happen to me even though for many years I carried my BDL REM 22-250 in the field while searching for brave groundhogs that lived along railroad tracks out in the country. I always seated my silver tips touching the lands and never thought about getting a bullet dislodged and stuck. Maybe just lucky.The point of my post is to mention a technique that was brought to my attention a while back and get opinions on whether or not it works and would be a safe procedure. If no rod to dislodge a stuck bullet while hunting, remove a bullet from one of your spare rounds and trickle a small amount of powder into the chamber of the opened rifle. Now SPILL OUT THE REMAINING POWDER FROM THE CASING ONTO THE GROUND. Insert the EMPTY, live-primered ,CASING back into the chamber if it will fit. CLOSE the bolt and fire the rifle< This should dislodge the bullet to clear the end of the barrel. DOES THIS WORK?? Could save a hunt!.....BUD

Hunt over. Sounds too risky. Where is your backup rifle?

 

[gator378]

I'd never try that .

I have one rifle that likes the bullet into the rifling . 90% of the time it will pull the bullet out of the case when ejected . how I hunt with this rifle is to not chamber a round until I have a shot . if I loose out on the shot opportunity I fire the the round off at the end of the day , to avoid getting the bullet stuck .

I have a 300 Weatherby. There is so much free bore you will never get the bullet close to the lands. If the bullet touches the lands will not fit in the magazine.

 

[John 264]

I have seen references on this forum to getting a bullet stuck in the bbl when the bullet has been seated out to far into or touching the lands. I have never had this happen to me even though for many years I carried my BDL REM 22-250 in the field while searching for brave groundhogs that lived along railroad tracks out in the country. I always seated my silver tips touching the lands and never thought about getting a bullet dislodged and stuck. Maybe just lucky.The point of my post is to mention a technique that was brought to my attention a while back and get opinions on whether or not it works and would be a safe procedure. If no rod to dislodge a stuck bullet while hunting, remove a bullet from one of your spare rounds and trickle a small amount of powder into the chamber of the opened rifle. Now SPILL OUT THE REMAINING POWDER FROM THE CASING ONTO THE GROUND. Insert the EMPTY, live-primered ,CASING back into the chamber if it will fit. CLOSE the bolt and fire the rifle< This should dislodge the bullet to clear the end of the barrel. DOES THIS WORK?? Could save a hunt!.....BUD

It's bad enough that you post stupid **** like this because someone else will try this and get hurt or killed ( you should keep your dumb ideas to yourself)

 

[John Polk]

If you want a new rifle and don't want to go through the hassle of disposing of an old one, I'd say this about as good a way to blow one up as I've seen in a long time.

 

[palerider3]

How exactly is the case going to fit into the chamber after you tricked some powder in? I'm not sure you could do this even if you wanted to. I would never do this even as a last resort to save a hunt. I have a cleaning rod in my truck, I could just go back and get it. If it's a couple thousand into the land a lot of time you can get it to fall out by smacking the butt on the ground.

 

[Indian7953]

Dumb and stupid it's okay if you don't mind bodily harm

Dumb and stupid it's okay if you don't mind bodily harm

This very thing happened to me on an elk hunt in Colorado back in the mid-1990s. I had been hunting in the melting snow falling off the trees and by dark it had return to freezing cold and when I unloaded my rifle the bullet pulled out from being frozen in. The only fix out in the mountains was to fire the around out of there. I was able to save most of the powder But was unable to chamber the empty case over the bullet, so I took my hunting knife and cut about half of the neck off of the case and was able to chamber the round like that. It fired out of there just fine, I'm still here to tell about it. If you use your common sense you will know that anything over a minimum charge and under a maximum charge will shoot just fine, we do it every day with bullets seated at the lands with no problems, and we can use reduced loads if they're not below minimum.

 

[nkyshooter]

Ok - at the risk of admitting I've had this occur (multiple times I might add) ... no - I don't try to fire the bullet out using ANY method ... hopefully I have a cleaning rod ... if not, gravity and inertia have always been enough to get me through the mess I made - yes - several times (slow learner I guess).

Open the bolt and make sure the case is out - shake out all the powder that is likely in your chamber and mag - hold the rifle perpendicular to gravity above a hard surface - a firm rap of the but into that hard surface (or two or three) is usually all that is needed (unless it was a squib load that lodged it in).

We're all adults here so do what you think is best ... for me, I don't think I would ever consider a method that involves trying to drive the bullet forward ... only to the rear and never using any sort of powder/exlposive method, etc.

Shoot straight - Shoot long!

T

 

[greenejc]

I have seen references on this forum to getting a bullet stuck in the bbl when the bullet has been seated out to far into or touching the lands. I have never had this happen to me even though for many years I carried my BDL REM 22-250 in the field while searching for brave groundhogs that lived along railroad tracks out in the country. I always seated my silver tips touching the lands and never thought about getting a bullet dislodged and stuck. Maybe just lucky.The point of my post is to mention a technique that was brought to my attention a while back and get opinions on whether or not it works and would be a safe procedure. If no rod to dislodge a stuck bullet while hunting, remove a bullet from one of your spare rounds and trickle a small amount of powder into the chamber of the opened rifle. Now SPILL OUT THE REMAINING POWDER FROM THE CASING ONTO THE GROUND. Insert the EMPTY, live-primered ,CASING back into the chamber if it will fit. CLOSE the bolt and fire the rifle< This should dislodge the bullet to clear the end of the barrel. DOES THIS WORK?? Could save a hunt!.....BUD

Bad idea. Some powders used in small amounts in large casings will give pressure spikes and basically detonate instead of burning. Just go back to camp and use a cleaning rod to remove the bullet, and go on your evening hunt. Or get out the spare rifle and fix it later. Don't take chances with the rifle or yourself.

 

[Gater]

Wiley Coyote super genius tic tic tic boom no thanks

 

[tony d willIiams]

I have a concave rod tip, brass that I carry in my 4wd, just in case it occurs. I try hard not to make mistakes or repeat them.
If I had a bullet get stuck in my barrel while out hunting my day would be shot.
No, I would not apply powder and make a non-contained explosion.
Plenty of time would be used to reason why and ensure it never happened again. Plenty of science to keep us from making critical errors.

 

[treeman]

I have seen references on this forum to getting a bullet stuck in the bbl when the bullet has been seated out to far into or touching the lands. I have never had this happen to me even though for many years I carried my BDL REM 22-250 in the field while searching for brave groundhogs that lived along railroad tracks out in the country. I always seated my silver tips touching the lands and never thought about getting a bullet dislodged and stuck. Maybe just lucky.The point of my post is to mention a technique that was brought to my attention a while back and get opinions on whether or not it works and would be a safe procedure. If no rod to dislodge a stuck bullet while hunting, remove a bullet from one of your spare rounds and trickle a small amount of powder into the chamber of the opened rifle. Now SPILL OUT THE REMAINING POWDER FROM THE CASING ONTO THE GROUND. Insert the EMPTY, live-primered ,CASING back into the chamber if it will fit. CLOSE the bolt and fire the rifle< This should dislodge the bullet to clear the end of the barrel. DOES THIS WORK?? Could save a hunt!.....BUD