Did I just tomato stake my 223AI barrel?

[BoilerUP]

This afternoon I was using a new 223AI modified case gauge that I had a guy make for me to check OAL to lands in my 223AI. I slipped a 80gr A-Max into the case, pushed it into the lands with fairly little pressure, cinched it down and removed the length gauge. Now in doing this, the bullet was staying stuck in the lands, so I had been using a small dowel rod to simply drop in the barrel and knock the bullet out; it had worked like a champ in my 260 and never had issues before with the 223AI.

The 80gr A-Max did not drop free.

Stupid me didn't stop and take a breath, but rather got the dowel rod out of the barrel and proceeded to drop my Tipton cleaning rod in...still no dice. I then started to hit the Tipton rod with a small piece of 2x4...that didn't work so I started the push/pull method at which point the Tipton rod broke right at the muzzle.

So...I've got an 80gr A-Max stuck in lands and a broke-off Tipton rod stuck in the rest.

Is there a gunsmith out there that can un-fark my situation and salvage the barrel? I can obviously spin the barrel off the action to send it out...just hoping my dumbass tax doesn't go all the way to the cost of a new barrel.

[tufrthnails]

How hard did you beat on it to break the rod off in the muzzle? Not a gunsmith by any means but I have pushed some squibs through when I was an armorer in my days in the sandbox. Pretty rare but they did happen from time to time and for some reason only on the range thankfully. One possible thought we had was range ammo was basically old issue stuff we had on had from previous rotations. Anyways what I used to do was take a solid cleaning rod and work the round through the barrel not against the lands. Mind you I have never had one that wasn't at least 3/4 of the way down the barrel and thankfully all three of the guys realized there was a weird prob and did not send another round. Hope someone can chime in with more experience in this area then I have.

[scope eye]

Contact Apache gun works, I am sure it is no big deal with the right tooling,
still a bummer

Dean

[homefrontsniper]

Take barrel off and morter it ????

[homefrontsniper]

Should come out 2 or 3 good smacks

[scope eye]

Do you have access to an air compressor, that might work.

Dean

[FW Conch]

You may be able to run a small screw into the Tipton rod at the muzzle end and get enough purchase on it to pull the rod out.

Then get a brass rod and tap it on the bullet, from the muzzle end, until it comes out.

This is not a squib situation. Don't even think about driving that pill all the way through your barrel.

Good Luck :))......Jim

[Rooster 50]

you drove the ballistic tip into the bullet and caused it to wedge in the lands. don't ask me how I know. You will need to have the barrel removed and the bullet pulled from the chamber side.

or take some well intended bad advice here and ruin your barrel.

[geargrinder]

Load a case full of blue dot and blow them out......JUST KIDDINIG!!!!!!!!

I've heard of machining a brass plug that is held by a live center in a lathe. The plug is plumbed for a grease zerk which is slowly pumped with a standard grease gun to 3000psi pushing the bullet back into the chamber and only filling the barrel with grease. Not broken dowels or cleaning rods.

[homefrontsniper]

Morter it.. same as bullet hammer 2 or 3 good smacks it will come out

[Sponxx]

You may be able to run a small screw into the Tipton rod at the muzzle end and get enough purchase on it to pull the rod out.

Then get a brass rod and tap it on the bullet, from the muzzle end, until it comes out.

This is not a squib situation. Don't even think about driving that pill all the way through your barrel.

Good Luck :))......Jim

I was thinking along this lines. Maybe add some loctite on the screw to engage the tipton rod better and clear the bullet from the muzzle end afterwards.

[BillPa]

I was thinking along this lines. Maybe add some loctite on the screw to engage the tipton rod better and clear the bullet from the muzzle end afterwards.


Same here. I don't use them but aren't Tipton rods carbon fiber?. The end on the bullet is probably splintered and not stuck very tight, just enough to keep the rod in place. If he could get a hole in the rod to turn in maybe a #6 sheet metal screw for something to get a hold of. It would probably pull out with little effort.

The bullets are easily removed with a knockout rod. I keep my old Belding & Mall one piece SS cleaning rods around the place for that purpose. With 1/2"x 4" steel handles they're like battering rams!

Bill

[1.618]

Is the rod broken off flush with the muzzle ... or possibly just a smidgen below the level of the muzzle?

If just below the muzzle/crown, I think I'd be tempted to fill the barrel up to the muzzle with kerosene or light oil, then get a soft wood dowel slightly oversize, start it in the muzzle (with the entire barrel filled with kero/oil) and give it a good rap with a shot hammer. Remove the bullet and mess hydraulically (and the penetrating qualities of the kero/ATF mix might help). Probably couldn't hurt anything, anyway, assuming the rod is broken off below the crown.

Good luck, that's a bummer.

[1.618]

Morter it.. same as bullet hammer 2 or 3 good smacks it will come out

That's probably a good plan, too. Just don't mortar it against the sidewalk or cinderblock!

[Joetinva]

Don't feel bad, I just put a new Mcgowen 6.5 CM barrel on. My old Criterion is sitting in the garage with a Dewey coated .30 cal cleaning rod permanately installed. It's a long story, I didn't think things through before I got the hammer out.

[BillPa]

My old Criterion is sitting in the garage with a Dewey coated .30 cal cleaning rod permanately installed. It's a long story, I didn't think things through before I got the hammer out.

Hey, try soaking it with TM bore cleaner, it eats the coating on Dewey rods, I found out the hard way.


Please Note that Sinclair International’s TM Solution and Montana X-Treme Solution will attack the nylon coating on Dewey rods. Please do not use these 2 cleaners with Dewey nylon coated rods.

Bill

[BoilerUP]

UPDATE:

Jim @ Apache Gun Works was able to remove all the obstructions from my barrel, and by some small miracle it doesn't appear as though it was damaged in any way.

Lessons learned?

1. SLOW THE EFF DOWN, TAKE A BREATH, PUT THE HAMMER AND NON-STEEL RODS AWAY

2. Jim Skinner's customer service is every bit as good as "other Jim" (Briggs)...folks, buy from Apache Gun Works with *confidence*

3. Next time, make sure the barrel is properly cleaned before you go trying to find OAL to lands with a Hornady gauge

4. If you get a stuck bullet in the lands, Jim recommends putting a sized (with no expander) case into the chamber which will seat the bullet in the case, then remove the bullet/brass as if it were simply a stuck case.

5. Did I mention, slow the eff down?

[Chrazy-Chris]

glad it worked out for you. I have a .270 barrel with a solid copper projectile still stuck in it after a bad reload. I ended up switching it with a 30-06 barrel because that worked better for elk anyways.

[earl39]

glad it worked out for you. I have a .270 barrel with a solid copper projectile still stuck in it after a bad reload. I ended up switching it with a 30-06 barrel because that worked better for elk anyways.
As mentioned above you could have a cap threaded to fit on the chamber end and with a grease fitting installed simply use the grease to push it out.

[BillPa]

...or spend 12 bucks for set of these.....
http://www.sinclairintl.com/gun-parts-tools-accessories/firearm-accessories/bullet-drop-rods/sinclair-bullet-drop-rod-set-prod33852.aspx

They'll fit in your range box....just in case the need would arise.

I found a use for my old Belding & Mull SS cleaning rods. With they're 1/2"x4" steel handles they make pretty good knock'm out rods too.

Bill