stuck boresnake

3

3gunfreak

New member
I have a shooting buddy with a boresnake stuck in the barrel. He was cleaning his .308 one day and for whatever reason he tried to run a boresnake that was too big. Instead of backing it out he tried to continue to run it through which only made it worse. Now the snake is impacted inside the barrel and unable to be reached from either end with ordinary hand tools. This was about a month and a half ago and I asked him today on the way back from a match if he had solved his problem. He replied "no" so I told him I would pose his problem to you guys. (He had never heard of The Firing Line). He has tried lighter fluid and fire, but the flame burns out due to it being so closely packed .

If anybody has any suggestions, fire them off, at this point nothing is too far fetched?

Thanks
 
A cloth bore snake stuck in a barrel? He did not send the cord all the way through first? Did it snap off when it was stuck and he pulled really hard?
Burn it out.
A terrible idea, but all I can suggest and it works for axe handles after all.
 
Seriously plug one end or the orther with rubber that can be pryed out, and keep the snake soaked with bleach. I found, back in '87 that straight bleach will eat cloth when I was instructed to clean white gloves for MP duty. I know bore snakes are likely made from different matterial than MP gloves- but hey, I don't see a lot of other suggesions comming forth just yet.
 
Is it the cloth that's stuck or the oversized brush? I would think the cloth would have enough compression to come out.

If it were mine I would try a good copper solvent to try to eat the brush up and see if it would come out then.
 
Do a search for "Boresnake" or "stuck Boresnake"--I remember that at least one other member had this problem.
Many solutions were recommended, and at least one actually worked! :)
 
Bleach may very well corrode the bore! That I would not reccomend.

the best thing would be to take it to a gunsmith. they have the tools to fix it, but if not...

Probably the only way to get it out, depending on how hard its packed in there, is bit by bit. One can make a simple "patch eater" with a rod or dowel as close to the bore size as possible. Cut the head off a wood screw, something with a diameter about half of the bore. drill a STRAIGHT hole in the dowel, for a snug fit onto the headless end of the screw, and affix with 5 minute two part epoxy. you can then slide the dowel down the bore and screw in a little way, and pull straight out. Ideally, little bits will come out at a time. Of course, this is time consuming and the dowel must be a very close fit to the bore, and the screw must be in straight, or the bore can very easily be marred. One can make a better version of this with steel drill rod, but it requires a lathe.

Eli W.
 
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Have you tried tapping it out with a cleaning rod? Lots of little taps. Mark the rod with a Sharpie to see if you are making any progress.

Another thought would be to fire a homemade squib blank. Pull a bullet, dump out about half of the powder and stuff lightly with cotton.
 
Brass or aluminum rod as close to bore diameter as possible. Drive it out. Done it twice on a customers piece and it worked great. Pour some ATF or Ed Red down the bore first and allow it to soak for a while.
 
When last this problem came up, I emailed Uncle Mike's, one of the prime bore snake makers and asked what process they had for removing a broken off snake.

At the time (last year) they said they had NO recommended process.

This is why I don't recommend bore snakes.
Anytime you're pulling something through a bore by what amounts to a string, it's GOING to break sooner or later.
This is why the military long ago stopped using the old "pull through thongs" as a cleaner.

People compound the risk by using over-sized snakes, and by laundering them until they weaken.
If you must use one of these things, use the proper size, and pitch them after one or two cleanings.

As to how to get it out: See a pro gunsmith or try the "picker" method as suggested by NormOps.
Something like the black powder era "Patch worm" might do it as an extractor.
 
bore snake

Sir;
"Bore snakers" only take out the most visible crud in a dirty bore - it's a lazy way, and a very poor one, of "cleaning" a barrel. I've NEVER used one!
Harry B.
 
+1 on taking it to a competent gunsmith.

I'd gotten a patch and pull cord jammed in an AR barrel, tried to tap it out, got the wooden tapping dowel jammed, tried to tap out the patch, cord, and dowel w/ a brass rod, and came to the conclusion that the only thing that I was accomplishing was to risk damaging the barrel. So I took it to a local gunsmith who had to run a reamer through the barrel to clear it out. If I hadn't persisted in trying to do it myself, he'd probably wouldn't have needed the reamer.

The basic problem that you encounter when you try to push a cord through the bore is that it binds-up and acts like a spring.
 
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How freakin long is his barrel? All of my boresnakes are over 30" long. How did he get the entire snake stuck in his barrel? I would take a cleaning rod, attach a .22cal wire brush, stick in in the barrel and twist until you can get some of the cloth part out. Attach the cloth part to a vice, and slowly pull the sucker out.

Otherwise, take it to a gunsmith.
 
boresnake

Sir;
Pardon my levity but this reminds me of my youth using barbed wire to twist a dead groundhog out of his hole after brain shot with my 22 Mossberg!:)
Harry B.
P.S. Good luck, seriously!
 
Harry,

Remind me not to antagonize you and become subject to your barbs! :D ;)


Swampghost,

Get a copy of Hatcher's Notebook. Somewhere around pages 180 to 200 are descriptions and photos of guns blown apart by trying to clear obstructions the way you describe.


3gunfreak,

The attempt to reverse the direction of the brush made matters worse, as the tips of the bristles then jammed into the steel tool marks. Merrill Martin reported years ago that his borescope revealed barrel surface marks caused by that. Never reverse a brush in the bore.

I would not be burning anything in the bore. The heat of flame exceeds the 1100 degree stress relieving temperature normally applied to barrels.

I would drill a 3/16" hole in the end of a 3 foot piece of 1/4 inch brass rod from Lowe's or Home Depot. Then I would break the head off a #8 brass wood screw and solder that broken end into the hole in the rod. The idea is to make something resembling a muzzle-loader's lead ball remover. Run it down to the bore and carefully screw it into the cloth and start pulling that jammed material to straighten it out. Don't try to take too big a bite. The go in from the other end and do the same thing. The idea is to relieve the cloth's plugging effect and have only the stuck bronze bristles holding thing back.

The next step would be to follow the advise to plug the muzzle with a stopper and eat out the bronze brush with a bore cleaner. The very active chemistry in KG-12 bore cleaner will do it safely and relatively quickly without harming the bore. I have used it to eat the remains of a stuck case out of a die after the stuck case remover tore its head off. It took several days, and I had to pour the KG-12 off and back several times to keep things stirred, but it worked and saved an expensive carbide .223 die.

Once the brush bristles are gone, you should be able to just pull the cloth out. The brass rod may help with that.
 
Thanks for the many geat responses. I forwarded this page to him because there were too many suggestions to list. I do not think you will have to worry about him using a boresnake again. This little episode has become quite the P.I.T.A. I believe in the patch and jag and I think with this episode (if he ever gets it out) will have converted him also.

I will post the results at a later time for all iterested parties because he wasn't the first to do this and probably won't be the last.


thanks again;)
 
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Oh, but bore snakes are so darn tactical!

Yech.

IMHO, I'd take a few ounces of Butch's Bore Shine, or another -mild- ammonia solvent, and soak that sucker. Like, change the stuff every day for a coupla-three days... Get that brush g-o-h-n...

Then you'll stand a better chance with the "tap out with dowel and mallet" method... Pour some oil in the day before you do that, and let it soak... Maybe some penetrating oil, like Kroil... Will it make it past the clog?

BOTH sides of the obstruction should be lubed.

Idea... Instead of a screw, try a long thin nail/needle soldered in the rod... Punch a hole or three through the sucker - clog will get longer, but will be easier to hook with a screw.
 
My wife and I were at Walmart one evening and she says, "OOooooo, look hunny, you want one of these?", as she stands there holding a BoreSnake... I calmly walk over to her, slide it from her hand, place it back on the hook and calmly say, "No hon, because I dont want to cuss up a storm later..."

The bad thing about trying to push a BoreSnake out is that it will compress in the bore and just keep on compacting, getting stuck worse... As was stated earlier, by a few others, you need to pull it out... If little by little, then so be it... A little time put forth will be worth it in the long run.

Good luck!!!
 
Bogie,

About 20 years ago I used straight ammonia to dissolve another stuck case that wouldn't yield to the extractor out of another die. It took about three months. Butch's won't harm the bore, that's for sure, and bronze bristles ought to go a little faster than a case wall, but even so, it's going to be a long wait. The other stuff I mentioned is faster.

I hadn't thought about the bore snake being tactical. Maybe just because you can carry it as unit? The whole idea of cleaning a gun in just one pass doesn't ring true to any experience I've ever had. Those Otis pull-through cleaning cables are about as close to compromising a conventional cleaning rod as I want to try to come.
 
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