Short story . . . . long story . . .

[Prof Young]

Fire pole shooters:

If you wanna cut to the chase tell me how to get a 50 call ball out of a ten inch single shot pistol barrel!

If you wanna hear the whole crazy story . . . read on.

Some time ago I posted about building a Hawken pistol out of a kit I bought via an auction. Well I got the thing done and it looks good. Will post pic at another time.

Problem one is that the cap does not ignite until the second strike of the hammer. What gives with that? At first I thought the nipple was not lining up correctly with the hammer, but if that was the case it wouldn't ever fire.

So I take it to the range. First shot takes two hits of the hammer on the primer but the ball leaves the gun and punctures the target 7 yards down range.

The second shot I aim more careful and dang if the ball doesn't leave a hole just about where I was aiming.

Thirds shot, takes three strikes for the cap to fire, but nothing happens. I put on a second cap. Two hammer strikes later I get a bunch of smoke out the barrel but no ball. (That thing couldn't have just rolled out of there could it.) So I'm guessing the patch and ball somehow did not make a complete seal and the power (pyrodex) just burned instead of exploding. I tried the old trick of taking the nipple assembly screw out and pouring some more powder in there but no such luck. (What do you call the little barrel the nipple screws into? Does it unscrew and come out?)

I bought a patch and ball remover "screw" that fits the ram rod but there ain't no way that thing is going to bore into that hard lead ball.

So how do I get the ball out?

Can I get it out by inertia, like an inertial bullet puller. Granted I couldn't hit it down on to anything harder than a plastic or wood surface.

Here's the particulars. I'm using 30 grains of pyrodex, behind a pre treated patch and a 50 cal ball that I think was designed for BP revolvers. But 50 cal is 50 call right.

So . . . . . HELP!

Life is good.

Prof Young

[bamaranger]

I would be sorely tempted to pull the nipple again, dribble in powder, and shoot repeating the as necessary. The dribble should not be enough powder to create a problem with pressure. I would swab the bore with lube aforehand to create as slick a surface as possible for the process. When you tried this technique....what was the result? You can measure where the ball is (if it moved) by checking with your rod.

I have read of folks driving out a ball with high pressure air.....stuffing the nozzle into the hole left when you remove the nipple and airing it out. I would lube the snot out of the bore for that process too.

Using a "ball puller" (the threaded pointed rod attachment" is the traditional method of removing a stuck ball. Any chance you seated a ball w/ no powder, a goof-up known as dry balling? Since you have a short pistol barrel, pulling the ball with a rod seems entirely possible. You might consider having a brass rod made, bored and tapped to take the ball puller. You could then work on the rod with a mallet, tap and twist.....repeat, etc
Pulling a ball is possible, it's' been done plenty. I would soak the barrelwith a lube, muzzle up, before I tried it.

The cylinder the nipple screws into is called a "drum".

Finally, you sure there's a ball in there? Again, your rod should tell you if in fact there is.

[mehavey]

you sure there's a ball in there?

^^^ THIS ^^^
You're not going to get the blow-by you described with any degree of actual patched ball.
Run a rod down and see where it stops (and/or you feel/hear steel-on-steel of a clear breech.

cap does not ignite until the second strike of the hammer.

Cap is not fully seated on the nipple (period)
1st strike seats it. 2nd strike fires it.

tried the old trick of taking the nipple assembly screw out and
pouring some more powder in there but no such luck.

It didn't ignite at all ?

[Prof Young]

See post title!

Life is good.
Prof Young

[l.cutler]

As stated, thoroughly check to see if there is a ball in there. If the charge went off and you got smoke and fire out the barrel I just don't see any way the ball could stay. A ball puller will easily screw into a lead ball, you may be hitting the back of the barrel.

[deerslayer303]

i don't believe there is a ball in there at all. As far as the cap not going off first whack. Replace that nipple with a quality stainless steel one from TOTW or the like. All the factory nipples that came in my Spanish and Italian guns were not that great, a #10 or #11 cap just didn't seem to fit quite right.

[ballardw]

Originally Posted by Prof Young

Fire pole shooters:

I bought a patch and ball remover "screw" that fits the ram rod but there ain't no way that thing is going to bore into that hard lead ball.

Not a BP shooter but "hard" lead sounds wrong to me. Aren't these supposed to use basically a basically pure lead ball?

[4V50 Gary]

Here's some suggestions:

1) .50 cal barrel should have a .010 patch and .490 ball (or something like that).
2) Pyrodex sometimes needs a boost & a few grains of 4F or 3F before the Pyrodex would help.
3) Ball should be pure lead and not an alloy.
4) In cleaning the barrel, it probably has a nock patented chamber so you need a scraper to clean it out. Drop a .30 cal rod down and it'll probably drop deeper than the .50 cal bore.

[Prof Young]

Thanks for all the info and help. This is what I loved about this forum. I'll let you all know what I find out. In the mean time I have one unanswered question . . . .


Does the drum unscrew out of the barrel?

Life is good.
Prof Young

[Hawg]

Originally Posted by Prof Young

Does the drum unscrew out of the barrel?

Yes. Or at least it's supposed to. If the threads are rusted in place it will probably twist off.

[mehavey]

If the threads are rusted...

If significant resistance felt, leave it in for now.

FIRST Things First: Is the gun actually empty at this point ? (Drop in the cleaning rod and see if it goes all the way down (no ball/no powder) or stops short (still loaded)

SECOND (if unloaded): see if a 30 cal cleaning rod goes down even (say a 1/4-1/3" inch) further. If so, we'll have to get that patent breech recess cleaned out.

Let us know.....

.

[gwpercle]

In reguards to the bullet removing tool ... the ball should be of soft lead and the screw on the ball remover should , after a rap with a plastic mallet to get it started , screw into the ball and once fully screwed in ... pull the ball out ... squirt some penetrating oil into the bore & onto the ball to help it slide out ... lube always helps things slide in and out ...
so use it !
Good Luck and get a new nipple ... SliXshot Black Powder Nipples are THE Best !
Just do a search on the term SliXshot Black Powder Nipples ... I'm not sure of link .
Gary

[Hawg]

If you're using #10 caps get some #11's.

[Prof Young]

Firepole shooters:

Well, it turns out there is no ball to be removed. After reading all of the last exchange above I tested the depth with the ramrod. Seemed unlikely that a ball could still be in there. Shined a flashlight down the barrel and it looked like it was empty but not sure. Took the screw out of the nipple drum and held it under a bright light and looked down the barrel and definitely no ball in there.
Wow. The thing must have made it out of the barrel but not to the target.

Okay, so on another note I got some stainless steel nipples and the need for double strike on the cap has been eliminated.

Can't wait to get back to the range with it.

Life is good.

Prof Young

[mehavey]

^^^^^ ^^^^^

[deerslayer303]

Awesome Sauce!! Glad to hear it. Which Pistol is this? Let us know how she does next time out. If I can get my Kentucky shootin close to POA at 25 yards I'll be happy. The front sight is too short me thinks. I need to find a taller one that I can file down.

[Prof Young]

Deerslayer:
It's a CVA Hawken Pistol that I made from a kit that I got at an auction.
Lotta fun to shoot. And fun is the name of the game with this kinda gun.
Life is good.
Prof Young