Weird Stuck Ball

Today I had an weird experience with a stuck ball in my plains rifle.

I went to one of my clubs to shoot their woods walk course. I used my normal target load: 55 grains of Goex FFFg black powder, .490 round balls wrapped in .020" patches lubed with Mr. Flintlock, and a CCI No.11 cap. Normally this would allow me to shoot at least 25 rounds with no bore swabbing.

But after about 12 - 15 shots I went to reload and could not get the ball to go more than about 8" down the bore no matter how hard I tried. It simply would not go any further down.

If I didn't have the correct tools to pull the ball that would've been the end of my day. However, I had a ball screw and a T-handle that screws into the other end of my ramrod.

I recommend the collared ball pullers sold by Track of the Wolf. They are sharp and will easily screw into the soft lead of the projectiles used in muzzleloaders. The brass collar around the screw keeps it centered in the bore. See here: https://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/574/1

The other accessory that makes it possible to more easily pull a ball by yourself is a T-handle that screws into the other end of your ramrod. Of course, this requires your ramrod to have threaded fittings on both ends.

Once again, Track has what you need: https://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/586/1

I keep one of the aluminum T-handles in the back part of my shooting pouch.

To pull the ball today I attached the screw and handle, screwed into the ball, then inverted the rifle and held the T-handle down with my feet. I then gave the rifle a tug upwards and it popped the ball free.

If the bore is really crusty you may want to swab it before trying to pull the ball. Also, if it is really stuck, pouring some oil down on top of it may ease extracting it.

This is another reason to make sure that the threaded ferrules on the end of your ramrod are pinned in place. Without a cross pin there's a high likelihood you'll pull it right off the rod.

Anyway, I got back to shooting after I ran a couple cleaning patches wet with Mr. Flintlock down the barrel, followed by a dry patch. Since swabbing can force wet fouling into the flash channel, I popped a cap before loading, to ensure it was clear.