Cartridge Stuck In Chamber...

[JeepHammer]

Ugg! Not again...!

Cartridge stuck in AR clone chamber, bolt locked closed and won't budge.
Owner drove an aluminum cleaning rod into the bore, and now there is an aluminum cleaning rod jammed in the bore...

So I tell the potential customer it will be $100 to remove the case & rod, no guarantee HE hasn't screwed up barrel or bolt, but I won't do any damage...
He throws a fit about the $100 fee (I have a shop to support, and my time is worth something).

So I unlock the bolt, hydraulic his cartridge & cleaning rod out (reloaded 'White Box' ammo from a gun show) and offer to gauge his remaining ammo for sizing for free, he declines saying it wasn't the ammo.

Goes to his truck, inserts mag & IMMEDIATELY sticks another round in the chamber!
(You gotta love hillbillies...)
You should have seen the look on his face when he came back in, never got out of the parking lot...
Everything was already dragged out on the bench, so I pulled the second stuck cartridge for $20,
And he took me up on checking the rounds, which 2/3 had flaired shoulder bends from too much crimp.

At least he didn't break the charging handle off trying to beat the chamber open, that happens quite often.

I can fix what stupid does, but nobody can fix stupid...
Moral of the story, don't trust random reloads and see a qualified gunsmith when it stops, don't break out a hammer & pound away...

 

[bwframe]

...So I unlock the bolt, hydraulic his cartridge & cleaning rod out...

Can you give details on exactly how you did this?
Thank you!

 

[JeepHammer]

Can you give details on exactly how you did this?
Thank you!

Check your PMs, not up for the trolls & crap fights...

 

[JeepHammer]

Found these on YouTube,

https://youtu.be/fimvzxZTpbU


https://youtu.be/HGbigz35QAg


https://youtu.be/6fVJP7oYAjc

https://youtu.be/vlhpdZaVaQ8



And this guy that is cobbling together AR10 uppers could use it!


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hKPt65sjwSA

 

[JHB]

Thanks for dinging those up very informative.

 

[rosejm]

Very neat. I'm struggling to understand how that would work with the gas port in the barrel.
But I suppose something viscous enough wouldn't flow through well enough and still pressurize the barrel.

Similar to removing pilot bushings from a crankshaft, just has to seal "well enough"

 

[JHB]

Use a clamp on gas block and install 90 degrees or more out of index.

 

[schmart]

JeepHammer
Thank you for sharing your knowledge of this! This has been very informative to me anyway and is something I'll file away for future reference! I'd give you rep points, but apparently, I don't have any to give out. Not sure how to get any.
--Rick

 

[JeepHammer]

AR rifles don't have enough clearance around the brass for commerical collet pullers (Brownells).
You simply rotate the gas block just enough to block the gas port and hydraulic away.
A piece of rubber gasket material and band clamps works too.

 

[churchmouse]

I have heard of this but never observed. Slick.

 

[JeepHammer]

The only thing I ever saw it didn't work on was a 10" .223 barrel, and I was using a grease cap on the muzzle,
It took the already shaky threading job off the muzzle trying to remove a squib (guy was trying for subsonic) and boogered up the muzzle threads with a suppressor adapter.

The lathe bed, or the 4"x4" heavy wall square tubing version I'm working on wouldn't have done that since nothing but a brass nipple touches the barrel.
I stole the brass nipple idea from the videos above, I know a good idea when I steal it!

 

[bwframe]

Maybe Johnny's watching this thread? He just posted this video.

FYI - I have not yet watched the video, it was just listed as recommended to me on YouTube. Am a big fan of Johnny's Reloading Bench though and know his great video work well.

[video=youtube;6gecaRGGaYU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gecaRGGaYU[/video]

 

[JeepHammer]

Stuffing a steel rod down the barrel never made sense to me, first you gouge the bore/chamber, then you expand the case further when propellant compresses.

I only use oil to remove squibs. Lots of reasonable priced hydraulic pumps out there to produce pressures to move a squib.
I use the one on my hydraulic press and I haven't found a squib it won't remove yet.
The plumbing is a pain, but it works.
Never seen a primer move before, it must be an oil thing.

Keep in mind, the muzzle threads are only so strong, the larger the case, the more surface area and harder to remove most times.
That's why I'm working on a rack to take the pressure after seeing the lathe bed idea, if I compress the barrel between centers it will take the pressure off the threads.

After taking the threads off a 10", .30 cal barrel trying to remove a squib, I made a 2 piece cup for the chamber end of AR barrels for squibs.
Works pretty good, but the common grease gun won't move a rifle squib a lot of the time if it's stuck in the rifling and not the throat.

I guess it's all in how you want to do things, but a steel rod has never been a good idea...

 

[mlockhart]

Johnny has these adapters for now
https://youtu.be/kkBUoPhHdwg

 

[STFU]

If I had not seen these videos, I would not have believed it was possible to do this...then again, I am not a gunsmith and do not normally think about issues like this.
Very interesting. Thank you all for the information.

 

[Floivanus]

Maybe Johnny's watching this thread? He just posted this video.

FYI - I have not yet watched the video, it was just listed as recommended to me on YouTube. Am a big fan of Johnny's Reloading Bench though and know his great video work well.

[video=youtube;6gecaRGGaYU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gecaRGGaYU[/video]

Watching?

is he yet another hoosier that makes gun content?

 

[JeepHammer]

If anyone is still interested,
A 'Drill Stop' with brass screw, tapered end works to block gas port quite well.

A drill stop is a piece (slice) of thick wall tubing with a threaded hole in the side for a set screw.
You simply slip it over the drill and tighten the screw.
Brass taper nose screw doesn't booger up the gas port.

This is assuming the barrel doesn't come in with a gas block, or the gas block won't seal.
Some gas blocks are pretty shoddy and leak a lot.