Removing a Stuck Ball in a Muzzleloader

If you shoot a muzzleloader long enough at some point you'll "dry ball," i.e., load the ball without a powder charge. At that point you'll need to remove it.

Note that the following applies to traditional muzzleloaders, not inlines with easily removable breech plugs.

Some guns allow you to remove the nipple or flash hole liner and dribble in a little bit of fine grained powder, then shoot the ball out. E.g., if you do this in a percussion revolver it's pretty straightforward to remove the cylinder, remove the nipple, dribble in a small amount of powder, reassemble, cap and shoot the ball out.

However, many times you can't easily get enough powder behind the ball to bloop it out.

One option is a CO2 ball discharger. This uses CO2 from a cylinder to shoot out the ball using gas pressure. Many guys like these to unload a gun after hunting if they haven't fired it.

Otherwise, you need to pull the ball, for which you need a stout range rod or ramrod and a ball screw.

I've setup my rifles with Delrin ramrods that have threaded brass tips on both ends. The tips are both glued and cross-pinned to the rod so they don't pull off. (They will eventually come off if you don't cross-pin them.)

When I'm hunting or shooting a woods walk with a muzzleloader, I keep a small leather bag in my shooting pouch that contains a few items to keep my rifle running in the field:

L to R are:

• Nipple wrench
• Ball screw
• Patch pulling worm
• 8-32 male to 10-32 female thread adapter
• Cleaning jag
• Replica US M-1817 tow worm

Note how the ball screw has a brass collar around it. It's just smaller than the bore and serves to keep it centered as you screw it into the ball. 

The corkscrew-type worm is for pulling patches from the bore if one slips off a jag. The M-1817 worm will do that, but can also be used to scrub the bore with tow fiber wrapped around it like a primitive bore brush.

I've made up similar sets for .45, .50, .54, and .58. I may omit the thread adapter and don't usually carry both types of worm. 

You can get most if not all those accessories from Track of the Wolf, Dixie Gun Works, October Country, Crazy Crow Trading Post, Muzzle-loaders.com, The Possible Shop, or even Amazon.

Along with the bag of ramrod tips I also carry an aluminum T-handle from Track of the Wolf in my bag. This screws onto the other end of the rod and gives you something to grab onto.

To pull a ball here's how I do it:

1. If the bore is fouled run a damp patch down it to remove most of the crud, then run an oiled patch down to lube the patched ball on the way out.
   
   
2. Screw the T-handle and ball screw onto the rod.
   
   
3. Optionally, put a small drop of oil or smear some bullet lube onto the tip of the ball screw to make it easier to screw into the lead ball.
   
   
4. Put the ramrod down the barrel and using some pressure, drill into the stuck ball with the ball screw. You'll want to ensure you have good engagement but don't overdo it and strip it out
   
   Note: Once you start drilling the screw into the ball never turn the ramrod counter-clockwise because the ball screw will come off the end of your ramrod.
   
   
5. Give the ramrod a sharp tug to get it started. If necessary, invert the rifle and hold the T-handle between your feet then give the rifle a sharp upwards tug. This usually gets it moving.

If the ball is really stuck, tie the T-handle to a tree or other immovable object and then yank on the rifle.

If the ball screw strips out of the ball you can retry it but at that point you may need to resort to a CO2 discharger or in a worst case scenario, unbreech the barrel. This is known as a bad day.

If you pull the ball from an unused hunting charge you may be able to dump some of the powder immediately, but you may need to break it up with the ball screw and/or worm first, because it'll be compacted in the breech.

Knowing how to pull a ball is an important skill for muzzleloader shooters. Aside from dry balls, you may want to pull a ball after an unsuccessful hunt rather than shooting it out and fouling your gun.

And yes, you can shoot a ball that you've pulled. It's basically a hollowpoint now if you load it with the hole facing up. AAMOF, yesterday I fired a ball I pulled after the Pennsylvania early muzzleloader deer season. I shot it at the Boyertown fun shoot and whacked a gong out at about 70 yards with it.