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Gunsmithing Loaded round stuck in 338

pyrofx

pyrofx

Full Member
Full Member
Minuteman
May 25, 2007
368
3
57
Bullhead City , Az. VIA 29 Palms
Let someone borrow my rifle . I supplied a bunch of ammo with it too.
Well , they ran out and went to use some ammo from his savage. They got the round stuck in the chamber . Then they tried to knock it out with the cleaning rod . Didn't budge .
I removed the barrel from the action , and now have the joy of the next step .

First thought is pack the chamber end in dry ice and try knocking it out .

Next step , make an adapter for the muzzle end and thread a grease fitting on it and push it out hydraulically .

Any other ideas ,

Greg
 
Place the barrel in a vise and pour some oil down the bore and get yourself a one piece brass rod and knock it out . After you knock out the round you should ask your friend if he wants one lump or two and then bopp him over the head with the barrel !.
 
Put it in the freezer overnight then try to knock it out with a cleaning rod again.

L

edt: I think you have the right idea with the dry ice.
 
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Haven't any of you guys heard about the time someone tried the cleaning rod and had the round go off. Don't use the cleaning rod. You have the barrel off, set it up in the lathe and cut the brass until the primer falls out, then use a puller to get the brass out. don't cut into the primer itself, just the brass around it. I've done it several times.
 
Take the barrel and the action as well as all other parts of your rifle. Hand it all to your friend. Go home. Live your life. At some point in the relatively near future, said friend will show up at your house with a perfectly functioning rifle. That should be the extent of your involvement in this matter.
 
Jkob60 said:
Haven't any of you guys heard about the time someone tried the cleaning rod and had the round go off. Don't use the cleaning rod. You have the barrel off, set it up in the lathe and cut the brass until the primer falls out, then use a puller to get the brass out. don't cut into the primer itself, just the brass around it. I've done it several times.
Click to expand...

You must be joking right ! put a lathe to a live round ? I have knocked out many live rounds from rifles and pistols with a solid one piece brass rod "not a cleaning rod" and never had one go off.
 
pyrofx said:
Let someone borrow my rifle . I supplied a bunch of ammo with it too.
Well , they ran out and went to use some ammo from his savage. They got the round stuck in the chamber . Then they tried to knock it out with the cleaning rod . Didn't budge .
I removed the barrel from the action , and now have the joy of the next step .

First thought is pack the chamber end in dry ice and try knocking it out .

Next step , make an adapter for the muzzle end and thread a grease fitting on it and push it out hydraulically .

Any other ideas ,

Greg
Click to expand...

**Seek the help of a professional gunsmith, use extreme caution**

Pulling the barrel was step #1, congrats to you. Now, fill the bore with a penetrating oil like KROIL and let it soak over night. Chances are that it isn't stuck that bad/tight since it was inserted by hand. Slip a short piece of a wooden dowel into the bore with a diameter just small enough to go into the bore. 4-6" long should be fine. This keeps the cleaning rod from being driven off to the side of the bullet tip. Tap it out with a cleaning rod, do not hammer it out. If your careful and don't get carried away you'll be fine. Machining it out is a bad idea, pushing it out under pressure is a bad idea, the pressure will build until the case releases, it may shoot out and ding the primer.

Now, if your not going to let your friends bang your wife why your rifle? Our money, guns, cars and girls are off limits, we don't loan any of them out to anyone for anything at anytime..............PERIOD!!! hopefully you learned a lesson here.
 
Loaded round stuck in 338

wnroscoe said:
Now, if your not going to let your friends bang your wife why your rifle?
Click to expand...
Because to be a friend means lending only what a friend can handle.

That said, some of my rifles are whores.
 
MAGUA said:
You must be joking right ! put a lathe to a live round ? I have knocked out many live rounds from rifles and pistols with a solid one piece brass rod "not a cleaning rod" and never had one go off.
Click to expand...

No! I am not kidding. You have been incredibly lucky, go buy a lottery ticket.

When you are trying to force it out with a cleaning rod, what you are doing is forcing quasi hydraulic pressure into the case and putting pressure on the primer causing it to detonate. Not kidding about this.

'When I machine the back of the cartridge I do not touch the primer, it falls out and the cartridge is safe. Drill and tap to 1/4-20 and make a puller. He was probably moire at risk when he pulled the barrel with the live round still in it.
 
wnroscoe said:
**Seek the help of a professional gunsmith, use extreme caution**

Pulling the barrel was step #1, congrats to you. Now, fill the bore with a penetrating oil like KROIL and let it soak over night. Chances are that it isn't stuck that bad/tight since it was inserted by hand. Slip a short piece of a wooden dowel into the bore with a diameter just small enough to go into the bore. 4-6" long should be fine. This keeps the cleaning rod from being driven off to the side of the bullet tip. Tap it out with a cleaning rod, do not hammer it out. If your careful and don't get carried away you'll be fine. Machining it out is a bad idea, pushing it out under pressure is a bad idea, the pressure will build until the case releases, it may shoot out and ding the primer.

Now, if your not going to let your friends bang your wife why your rifle? Our money, guns, cars and girls are off limits, we don't loan any of them out to anyone for anything at anytime..............PERIOD!!! hopefully you learned a lesson here.
Click to expand...

May not be classified as professional , but have plumed a few things , and been a machinist all my life.
The kroil trick and dowel/rod have been tried . The issue is that the contact point on the brass is lagre. Almost like a taper pin , and he smacked the bolt pretty hard from what I was told .

The kroil , along with dry ice may be the trick . The only problem is that to get dry ice in California anymore , you damn near need a license. I'll talk to Praxair tomorrow .
 
19Scout77 said:
Take the barrel and the action as well as all other parts of your rifle. Hand it all to your friend. Go home. Live your life. At some point in the relatively near future, said friend will show up at your house with a perfectly functioning rifle. That should be the extent of your involvement in this matter.
Click to expand...

ΔΔ Great advice, I would take it. Said friend isn't such a good friend if he made you wipe his ass. If you're not 100% sure on how to remedy the situation my advice is to take it to a professional who does. Why take the chance with your equipment?
 
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I think, I would buy an new barrel and dispose the old one with the stuck round in a save way. 300 - 500 bucks is not worth of risking a life.
Just my opinion.
 
pyrofx said:
May not be classified as professional , but have plumed a few things , and been a machinist all my life.
Click to expand...

Yea, kinda like a disclaimer statement more than anything. You seem to be more than a week end warrior and probably have a pretty good handle on it. At least you're thinking about it and trying to come up with a game plan, you'll be fine. Keep us posted. I have to say, I like the lathe idea that was mentioned earlier. Machining off the rim to the primer then drilling/taping for a puller would be a good route if one had the means.
 
valentine said:
I think, I would buy an new barrel and dispose the old one with the stuck round in a save way. 300 - 500 bucks is not worth of risking a life.
Just my opinion.
Click to expand...
Valentine , life is full of danger . I work with explosives every day . Game plan and mitigating any bad actions is what makes things doable. Play devils advocate here . Where do you suppose I would discard such a dangerous article?
See the next post for the outcome .
Greg
 
wnroscoe said:
Yea, kinda like a disclaimer statement more than anything. You seem to be more than a week end warrior and probably have a pretty good handle on it. At least you're thinking about it and trying to come up with a game plan, you'll be fine. Keep us posted. I have to say, I like the lathe idea that was mentioned earlier. Machining off the rim to the primer then drilling/taping for a puller would be a good route if one had the means.
Click to expand...

I hear you Bill
I do the same thing in my line of work . Do as I say , not as I do sometimes .

It is out .
What I did:
Made a small cardboard tube that was the size of the cartridge head. First thing I did was take a couple small pieces of dry ice and place them on the rim of the brass to cool things down a bit . I learned this years ago from my dad . The squeal when placing dry ice on valve seats caused one to explode. Next step was to put the cardboard tube around the case head and stack the dry ice on it for 10 minutes. Lead styphnate also decreases it's sensitivity at extreme cold so helps to make you feel a little more warm and fuzzy about doing this .

After 10 minutes I tapped the bullet end with a brass rod and it popped out like a charm .

The problem .....
Last .250" of the case head . It looks like the savage is larger in the ass end than my match chamber . A problem that I have seen with TRG and AI brass. They need to be sized with a small based die .

If I were at home in the shop , I would not have a problem using the lathe either . I would put a piece of 3" steel behind the headstock in case it went bang . I also have a bullet proof windshield panel from a HUMMV that I would mount on the carriage to keep me safe . I really don't think the bullet would come out , but would hate for the neighbors to find out the hard way .

3 weeks ago , we had the British Royal Commandos have a brass case go through his calf . They were swapping barrels on a hot 240. There was still a round in the chamber when he set the hot barrel down . It cooked of , sent the bullet down the barrel 6" and the brass shot out the chamber end . Went through the meaty part of his calf , then through his other boot and lodged in his ankle . Can you say OUCH !!!!

Greg
 
2156SMK said:
I have cut the tail end off of several live rounds to get rid of the live primer and the powder.
There's not really any heat or sparks to worry about while cutting brass...
Click to expand...

What noob did you have to do that for.....? Oh wait, that was me only it was cases stuck in dies....
 
2156SMK said:
I have cut the tail end off of several live rounds to get rid of the live primer and the powder.
There's not really any heat or sparks to worry about while cutting brass...
Click to expand...

If that works for you.. great ! I would rather stay away from the sensitive striking surface of the live primer with a cutting tool.
 
I may be crazy here...but I find the comment about dry ice and needing a license in Cali to be the most disturbing thing in this thread. Glad you got it out. Sorry to hear it even happened. Even more sorry to hear you are in that state. Unfortunately Maryland isn't much better.
 
The cold causes the 2 different metals to contract. Due to their different properties they will contract away from each other in this case and allow you to remove the cartridge. i believe shape may also play into the contraction of the metal in this case but I'm not really sure. What is disturbing about that? It's a method that's been used in multiple applications over the years. The OP had the right idea to begin with.

L
 
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Layton said:
The cold causes the 2 different metals to contract. Due to their different properties they will contract away from each other in this case and allow you to remove the cartridge. i believe shape may also play into the contraction of the metal in this case. What is disturbing about that? It's a method that's been used in multiple applications over the years.

L
Click to expand...

I know how heat and cold work. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about this...

"The kroil , along with dry ice may be the trick . The only problem is that to get dry ice in California anymore , you damn near need a license. I'll talk to Praxair tomorrow ."

That is ridiculous and disturbing to me, not the process. I'm not an idiot.
 
Just shows more than one way to skin a cat.

"Stuck Round Procedures" is an EOD drill for larger caliber HIGH EXPLOSIVE projectiles (all other rounds are the armorers problem!)

I have seen a field freezing technique work before on a 155.

Generally, its explosively driven water pressure though!

If done correctly, everything works fine. if done IN-correctly - barrels get destroyed.

Glad you got out the round.

~Will
 
19Scout77 said:
Take the barrel and the action as well as all other parts of your rifle. Hand it all to your friend. Go home. Live your life. At some point in the relatively near future, said friend will show up at your house with a perfectly functioning rifle. That should be the extent of your involvement in this matter.
Click to expand...

I agree whole heatedly except if this dumbass didn't know not to put neck sized reloads from a different (probably factory savage) rifle into a nice custom, then he could possibly wreck it further by fucking with it.

And as I read further I see the round did get extracted, and it was a factory savage...
 
Last edited:
MAGUA said:
You must be joking right ! put a lathe to a live round ? I have knocked out many live rounds from rifles and pistols with a solid one piece brass rod "not a cleaning rod" and never had one go off.
Click to expand...

One of these days Darwin will come for his reward
 
I've used a slide hammer adapter that hooks onto the extraction rim. Its worked so far, guess I've been lucky. I suppose each of us has to make our own decision, perhaps that firearm is worth more that your life.
 
mallrat said:
I've used a slide hammer adapter that hooks onto the extraction rim. Its worked so far, guess I've been lucky. I suppose each of us has to make our own decision, perhaps that firearm is worth more that your life.
Click to expand...

Can you post a picture of that Rube Goldberg contraption. How would you remove a stuck live round in an M14 ?
 
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Rube Goldberg contraption? It's about as complicated as a Number 2 pencil.
 
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