Plugged bore on Model 28

bgrafsr

bgrafsr

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My cousin called me yesterday morning and said a friend of his was coming to the shop with his Model 28, that had a few bullets stuck in the bore. I went over to the shop to help and after his friend arrived, we looked at the gun. We could see a bullet lodged in the bore about an inch down from the muzzle, and there was a bullet lodged between the rear of the barrel and the cylinder, so it could not be opened.

Our first attempt was to try and remove the first bullet with a bullet puller used to removed a stuck ball from a muzzle loader, but that didn't work even after several tries. We then decided to try and drive the bullets back further into the bore to see if we could get the bullet stuck between barrel & cylinder pushed back into the cylinder, so it could be opened. No luck.

Decided to drill out the bullets, which were full metal jacketed with a flat point, and after a very long, slow time, we were able to finally bore into the last stuck bullet between the b&c. I then used a rubber mallet and after striking the right side of the cylinder with a few raps, the bullet was sheared in two and the cylinder was able to be opened. There were three empty cases and one loaded round in the cylinder. The owner stated he thought the rounds had no powder in them, but I pulled the bullet from the loaded round and that one had a dose of Unique in it.:eek: Luckily, I guess, that round could not be fired due to the lodged bullet keeping the cylinder from turning.

I brought the gun home and and using my barrel removal tools, removed the barrel from the frame. From what I can tell, there are at least 5 or six bullets in the barrel. The owner had apparently shot more rounds than he had thought.

I'm going to take the gun back to the shop this morning to see what we can do to remove the bullets, but if we have no luck, I just happen to have another 6" barrel that I can install to get the gun, a Model 28-2, back into working order. I soft fitted the barrel last night, but I will have to remove approx. .0004" from the barrel shoulder & ejector rod shroud to get it to time correctly, and I then have to set the barrel/cylinder gap, which means re-cutting the forcing cone too. No big deal as my cousin's shop is a fully equipped machine shop, with lots of wonderful toys, err I mean machinery, and I have the necessary tools & gages to do the job.:D

I put the barrel with the bullets in it into a container filled with Kroil, and it's been soaking since last evening, so we're hoping this will help with getting the bullets out. We can see no evidence of barrel bulging, but we won't know for sure until we can get the bullets removed, if that will be possible.
 
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Sounds like a candidate for a conversion to 44 Spl. I doubt if that barrel will be good. My friend did the same thing to a Colt Match target pre war years ago.
He even reloaded and shot a 7th round. I think everyone in SE Michigan gun shops has heard that story about Charlie.
 
I am embarrassed to admit it, but I did something like that a few years ago.

I was trying to make the ultimate cat sneeze .38 loads using a very small amount of bullseye on a progressive press. I made the test rounds on a single stage and measured every charge. When I was satisfied with the load I moved production over to the progressive. I discovered the hard way that my powder measure was not metering the ultra small amounts of the fine powder consistently.

There were a few other contributing factors, like shooting at an already shot out target, so I could not see the bullets on the paper. And shooting indoors during a busy time so I did not hear the report or should I say the lack of it. I managed to stack 6 158 grain SWCs in a 6" Model 14 barrel. Luckily these loads were so weak no damage was done to the revolver or the shooter. The Smith at the range said he steamed the rounds out of the barrel, it took him about 20 minutes, cost $50, it taught me a couple very valuable lessons. I keep those bullets on a plaque over my reloading bench to remind me of the vigilance one must have when reloading.

IMG_6532.jpg
 
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Bill,

Have a LONG talk with the owner before giving it back.

Model 28's are IN DEMAND, and having them wrecked is BAD JU-JU!
 
Perhaps you should fit a 44 or 45 barrel so his 38/357 bullets will have a good chance to make it out the muzzel the next time. He doesn't seem to care if they hit anything anyway......

ward
 
I would check the barrel carefully to be sure it is not bulged - because if it is - you just wasted a lot of time trying to get the bullets out.
 
If he is not too worried about the finish you can try what I did to a friends gun with the same problem. I put the barrel in an oven and heated it to 400. I took it out and put the barrel in a padded vice. I then spayed Freon on the bullets and quickly drove them out. You have to wear a mask because heating Freon can cause phosgene gas, poisonous. Use a wooden dowel to drive it out. Good luck.
 
I'd definately go with a hard brass rod, not wood. I think I'd drill a hole in a block of oak just large enough for the barrel shank and with room below for one or several bullets. That should let you drive the remains of the bullets out with minimal chance of (further) damage to the barrel.

Sticking the barrel in the freezer overnight might also help out with removal.

Note: I'd be real hesitant to heat a barrel to 400 degrees. You're getting real close to the temperatures used to anneal the barrel during the original heat treating process and softening the barrel isn't a good thing.
 
lodged bullets

Was teaching a pistol / revolver class for citizens back in the 90's and had a shooter do the same thing with a Ruger SP-101....her boyfriend had loaded the ammo and she got three bullets up the bore and locked the gun up with the fourth one, when it lodged between the forcing cone and cylinder......had to perform the same process as you describe....fortunately for me, these projectiles were swaged lead, not jacketed...and were easier to work with.....the little Ruger was undamaged and returned to service.
 
Use mercury to amalgamate the bullets. It works like a champ. Use gloves and don't spill it. Plug one end of the bore with a neoprene stopper and pour the mercury over the projectile. then plug the other end and let it sit for a bit BE VERY CARFUL and do it out side fumes will be produced. I keep some around just for this reason. An old thermometer or thermostat switch or two will supply you with about the right amount. after the lead amalgamates you should be able to pour or gently push out the whole mess out into a sealed container to be disposed of properly.
 
Okay, here goes:

1st of all, the guy is an old guy like my cousin and I, and he is also ex-Air Force like me:rolleyes:.

He was loading ammo on a progressive press, and when he would come to a case that had no powder, he was still putting a bullet into it, and after the round exited the press, he would set the bad rounds aside. Why he did not just remove the case with no powder from the press, we're not sure. Anyways, the rounds got mixed up with some good reloads and consequently the barrel got plugged with bullets.

We took a piece of aluminum, turned it down in a lathe to fit the bore, took a thick piece of aluminum plate and drilled a hole in it that the barrel shank would fit into, and went at it. Hammering on the aluminum rod did no good, except to squeeze the bullets tighter into the bore. Back to the drill, which was used to clean out the hole that had already been made through the bullets. We ended up using an arbor press, more drilling, etc., etc.. After about an hour of this we finally got the last bullet jammed into the barrel to come free. More drilling and more use of the arbor press. Eventually we removed 5 jacketed bullets from the bore.

I cleaned the bore, got the last remnants of bullet jacket out of it, and found that the bore was not ringed and the barrel was not bulged. It looked great. I re-installed the barrel onto the frame and the gun is good to go. I did clean up the forcing cone a tiny bit and it gages perfectly, and there was no damage to the b/c gap, which I expected to be okay to begin with.

I do not know how steaming the barrel would help to remove the stuck bullets, but my cousin and another friend who was there to help also thought the barrel could be put in the heat treat oven, turned up to 650 or 700 degrees, and let the lead melt out. I told them it would not be good for the barrel or finish and that idea went by the wayside. We also thought about using mercury to get the lead out, but decided not to do that either. For the time we have into it, we figure about $200.00 to $300.00 for labor & machines, but he won't be charged anything, except that he has to buy 5 raffle tickets from the gun club my cousin & I belong to.:D Who knows, he may get lucky again, and win one of the guns being raffled off.

As for me, I get to keep my spare Model 28-2 barrel.
 
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I guess those suggesting using mercury haven't seen what happens with the EPA gets wind of it. There was a house in the Detroit area that was basically turned into a Superfund Site when the teen age son spilled about a teaspoon of mercury on the carpet. The house was condemned and the homeowner was billed for the removal of all the soil surrounding the home to a depth of 6 feet below the foundation. All over just one teaspoon of mercury.

IMO the best approach for solving this kind of problem is exactly what was done in the end. That is drill the bullets out so they have a bit of "give" in the collapse direction and drive them out with a press. About the only thing I would change is using an Arbor press, we have a hand operated H Frame press at work that would make quick work of pressing a stick of bullets out of a barrel.
 
PS. don't tell the EPA if you spill mercury. Pretty sure all bullet casters would catch hell if the EPA came to see them. Only one idea, take it or leave it up to you.
 
One question I have is about reinstalling the barrel, won't it torque past the original line up and have to be set back a turn or shimmed?
 
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