Everything stuck down the barrel! Hydraulic removal?

[rovercoupe]

Right I have found a barrel in my parts tub that’s stuffed full of pellets and probably a cleaning rod and who knows what else ( not by me ) I have about 4” of clearance at the crown and 1” at the breech so it’s packed. Looking down it with a torch I can tell at the barrel end it’s been hammered possibly as a last resort after the rod broke in the other end! It’s a .177 original barrel with quite nice bluing so I have thought about melting them out but don’t want to ruin the finish so I am a bit wary of using heat. I have seen people use hydraulic grease/oil pressure with a custom made attachment on the lathe work for bullets so I could knock one of those up and use the pump off the hydraulic press to try and squeeze them out if anyone has tried similar before. I did see the brass tube guide method but being a .177 there is not much room in there for drilling.

Any other ideas or do I just have to melt them out!

[DesG]

I've drilled pellet mass out with a 4mm drill silver soldered onto a rod before now. They drill very easily but Slow speed and careful are the key words here. If a rod has been hammered in the barrel is probably knacked anyway.

[crowbar]

The way I do it is with a 4mm brass tube with a self tapping screw glued into the bore and screw into stuck pellets and draw out pellets, seems easiest way to me and everything you need readily available .

[Hsing-ee]

The way I do it is with a 4mm brass tube with a self tapping screw glued into the bore and screw into stuck pellets and draw out pellets, seems easiest way to me and everything you need readily available .

This is probably best idea.

Heat to melting point of lead if this doesn’t work and hope there’s no explosive in there …

[Phil Russell]

Extracting pellets one at a time as suggested would seem the best bet. The cleaning rod should (?) come out quite freely. A case of gently gently all the way ...
Hope you get it sorted.
Cheers, Phil

[rovercoupe]

Thanks do you think they will screw out if they have been hammered in? Might give that a go tomorrow if I can find a bit of rod in the garage.

[look no hands]

I had a few pellets (although in .22) stuck in an Airsporter barrel, I got one of the cleaning rods out of a Bisley air rifle barrel cleaning set, it had a threaded end to screw into another rod, as it was an old set, I ground the thread into a point and then it screwed into the pellets stuck in the bore, it made a satisfying pop, like a cork coming out of a bottle, when they pulled out.

[where's it gone]

When you do manage to clear the barrel, it would be interesting to see a photo of the contents that caused such blockage, obviously not lead pellets but possibly broken cleaning rod ?

[costalotpanther]

A good thread this one. I like reading and learning about different techniques. Thanks guys!

[DJS]

I've used a red hot steel rod to melt through a stack of compressed pellets, after repeated applications you end up with a tube of lead in the barrel which pushes out easily.

[32:1]

I cleared a pcp barrel with 12 pellets stuck up it, and the lad had been banging a rod up there to clear packing them even tighter, I simply removed barrel and hung it up but the muzzle and torched it to melt the lead, the left over debris cleaned out easily with a few mops, sadly he had ruined the barrel when he hammered the rod

[Shed tuner]

I cleared a pcp barrel with 12 pellets stuck up it, and the lad had been banging a rod up there to clear packing them even tighter, I simply removed barrel and hung it up but the muzzle and torched it to melt the lead, the left over debris cleaned out easily with a few mops, sadly he had ruined the barrel when he hammered the rod

yeah, that'd be my approach. Lead melts easy... just dont breathe the fumes, and don't wear sandals.

[rovercoupe]

I will have a go at getting them out by the rod method and if not the torch is coming out, I hope it’s a cleaning rod in there all I can see is a snapped off bit of metal.

[Neil54]

I have a 2.5mm drill in the end of some 4mm rod.
I also have a slide hammer made from 4mm rod with a chipboard screw brazed on the end.

It does get difficult to count the number of pellets, especially when they have been hammered.

Most difficult was a .25 scorpion where the stuck pellets had been hammered from the muzzle and had oozed out around the stuck magazine.

Record to date is 29 pellets stuck in a barrel.
6 or 7 pellets stuck seem the norm.

[rovercoupe]

Well now I have a self tapping screw snapped off in one end and the other end still is blocked by the rod! Also tried the torch and nothing, don’t know if I need a bit of angle iron behind it to re direct the torch flame but didn’t get anywhere with that. Had it on there for over 20 mins and didn’t seem to soften at all.
Not really the outcome I wanted but will keep trying.