Need help bullet stuck

C

coyotewsm

New member
Went hunting this afternoon loaded my gun went to chber the round and the bolt was hard to close. Wanted to make sure everything was ok so I opened the bolt and extracted the shell without the bullet. The bullet is stuck in the throat what do I do?
 
Knocking it out with a cleaning rod is the best way, but if you are in the wild & are stuck...

Assuming that ammo is safe in that gun, take another loaded round & loosen the bullet by wiggling it in the muzzle. Once loose carefully remove the bullet so as to not to spill the powder. Holding everything straight up, push the bulletless case back into battery & fire the stuck bullet out into the ground. I had to do it once & I was glad I remembered the trick & it salvaged my hunt.

FWIW...
 
Sounds like you need to double check the OAL of that ammo. I had the same thing happen 3 years ago. I fired 3 shots at a buck(killed him all 3 times) but when I unloaded the last round, it left the bullet stuck in the lands and dumped powder in the chamber/magazine. I found that the rest of that box of ammo was over length. Not sure how that happened but it had to be my fault.
 
You probably can't save the hunt anyway. There must be a reason the action couldn't be closed in the first place. The rounds had been loaded too long; brass sized too long and bullet seated too high.

I use pull through to clean guns at home, not in the range or in the field. I have a set of cheap break-down rod in my pack. Not for cleaning, but for occasion such as this.

-TL
 
At the beginning of deer season I load up 20 of my go-to hunting rounds and cycle each one of them through the action. Just one more thing I don't have to worry about.
 
I worked up a nice load for a rifle once and drove to Wyoming on an antelope hunt. Went to load the rifle and the ammo was seated out too long to fit into the box magazine. I used the butt end of a knife to slightly blunt the tips of the bullets and had a successful hunt, but I guess there is something to say for running your ammo through the action before you go hunting. My ammo for that trip was just loaded single shot into the chamber at the range with no thought to the magazine. We live and learn....hopefully...
 
Assuming that ammo is safe in that gun, take another loaded round & loosen the bullet by wiggling it in the muzzle. Once loose carefully remove the bullet so as to not to spill the powder. Holding everything straight up, push the bulletless case back into battery & fire the stuck bullet out into the ground. I had to do it once & I was glad I remembered the trick & it salvaged my hunt.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't do this. It is axiomatic that seating a bullet into the lands increases the peak chamber pressure of any load -- on account of the drastically increased effective inertia required to start the bullet moving, which, in turn, is required to start expansion of the combustion chamber volume, which reduces pressure.

By definition, the "stuck" bullet didn't travel far down the bore, so removing it via a cleaning rod down the muzzle should be a simple operation.
 
How about not using the full powder load?
It wouldn't take too much powder for the bullet to just exit the barrel, would it?
Not everyone carries a cleaning rod into the field.
 
OP said:
...opened the bolt and extracted the shell without the bullet.
The bullet is stuck in the throat ....
Click to expand...
The OP has already solved the problem (once home), but it points out the general
rule to carry a broken-down cleaning rod on any field excursion -- if for nothing
else to clean the mud out of the muzzle when you somehow stick it into the ground.
:mad:
 
Hi, RKG,

It might be axiomatic, but it is not really true. For many years target shooters have found that seating the bullet out so it contacts the lands gives best accuracy. So BumbleBug's solution is perfectly feasible.

Jim
 
Poring a bit of oil down the bore from the muzzle end will ease the process of knocking it out with a cleaning or squib rod --- Hold the muzzle vertical...then drop the squib rod down from about a foot above the squib --- letting gravity do the work.
 
Here is a tip I heard...

I've never tried this, but I heard that you can carry a 3" brass rod slightly smaller than the bore with the edges polished smooth. By dropping it repeatedly from muzzle to bullet tip, the force magnified by inertia will knock the bullet free.
James K said:
It might be axiomatic, but it is not really true. For many years target shooters have found that seating the bullet out so it contacts the lands gives best accuracy. So BumbleBug's solution is perfectly feasible.
Click to expand...
Getting a bullet stuck has happened only once in my life. The only reason I can figure is that I didn't fully push the handle down when bullet seating. It wouldn't take much since I always seat just off the lands as particular to what each gun likes. I heard the tip about shooting the bullet out & so I tried it & had no problems. I mentioned it to a friend & a day came when it happened to him. He also shot the bullet out with no problem. Without any freebore I'm sure pressure will be slightly higher, but unless your load is already on the edge of bursting, I believe the practice is safe.

JIMHO...
 
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It might be axiomatic, but it is not really true. For many years target shooters have found that seating the bullet out so it contacts the lands gives best accuracy. So BumbleBug's solution is perfectly feasible.
Click to expand...

It is true that some bench resters seat bullets to "touch" or even "jam." And it is true that some (but by no means all) rifles shoot more accurately that way. However, when bench resters do this, they adjust their load to keep pressure where it should be.

In this case, we have a fellow proposing to use a "jump" powder load with a "touch" or "jam" bullet seating, and it is indeed axiomatic that peak chamber pressure will be higher than if the same load were fired with a spec "jump" seating depth. It has also been demonstrated empirically that these pressure spikes can be substantial enough to pose a danger to the shooter (and the rifle).
 
When all else fails, blast!

You can borrow a buddy's rifle for that hunting shot.

Do NOT try and shoot the bullet out with a filled case from another round. It's just possible you've got an oversize bullet stuck in your chamber, either got mixed in at the factory or on your loading bench. Either way, you can blow your rifle up and seriously hurt yourself or a friend trying to get it out by blasting.
 
In spite of the "scream" folks, it is perfectly safe to shoot out a barrel obstruction, even one farther up in the barrel, but NOT WITH A BULLET!!!

Most folks, experiencing a stuck bullet from a squib load, or a stuck "snake", will try to drive it out. After messing things up and maybe ruining the barrel, they take it to a gunsmith who does magic, but won't say how he got out the obstruction. In fact, he probably used a half charge of powder with no bullet and simply shot the obstruction out. Of course, if the second round has a bullet in it, the result will be a bulged or burst barrel, so NO BULLET!!!

Jim
 
Do NOT try and shoot the bullet out with a filled case from another round.
Click to expand...
Good Advice
In spite of the "scream" folks, it is perfectly safe to shoot out a barrel obstruction, even one farther up in the barrel, but NOT WITH A BULLET!!!
Click to expand...
Not the best idea. The loader already made one mistake that's been identified. What happens if there is a second issue? The safe play is to stop and be safe. Remove the obstruction with a rod is the best choice.
 
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