AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Gun Building => Topic started by: Chowmi on December 18, 2016, 08:05:23 PM
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Well,
I was too embarrassed to post this until I solved it, so here we go...
I was sanding my ramrod down to a diameter that would fit the ramrod hole on my SMR. I had previously threaded the steel ramrod tip to the end of my range rod and run it all the way down the channel to the end of the hole, so I knew that the steel tip would fit the hole all the way through.
Here comes the dumb part: I had not secured the ramrod tip to the ramrod with a pin yet, but it was a tight fit and it had made it easily before....
Anyway, I ran the wooden ramrod with the tip friction fit on it down the hole. It didn't go all the way, got stuck somewhere. Pulled out the ramrod, minus the tip. $#@*!
I was pretty sure that the ramrod tip end had 8/32 threads all the way through, so I cut the head off a long 8-32 screw, put that on the range rod and ran it down hoping to thread it on and pull the tip out and tell nobody. Didn't work. I couldn't get it to thread. I then figured that the range rod might be too thick and was preventing the screw from reaching the threaded hole. So, I found a skinnier steel rod and threaded that. Still no luck. Put gun in closet and stew over my stupidity!
Today I found a piece of music wire, bent the end into a narrow U shape, like a hook. I trial fitted it into a 8-32 hole, ground it down so it would fit, and ran it down the ramrod hole, and through the ramrod tip. It took two tries, but I managed to pull it out easily.
Phew!
You can probably guess what it had hung up on. It was the rear barrel lug. I had not quite filed it down far enough and it is sticking into the ramrod hole. I don't remember, but the barrel must have been out when I trial fitted the ramrod tip down the hole.
Just for grins, I tried threading an 8-32 screw in from the back side, as I had tried when it was in the hole. I couldn't get it to engage.
I hope nobody needs to repeat my trick, but you never know!
Cheers,
Norm
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I think gunsmithing makes us all smarter because we have to figure out how to get ourselves out of trouble. Problem solving at its finest. I've never had your conundrum, but now I know how to get out of it when I eventually do it ;D I can't wait to see what crazy things I do next build, I surprise myself every time with my own stupidity. Glad this site is here!
Greg
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After 25 years of building these guns, I thought I had made every mistake possible building these guns. You just proved my wrong. ;). Heaven knows I never had a mistake free build. BJH
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I think gunsmithing makes us all smarter because we have to figure out how to get ourselves out of trouble. Problem solving at its finest. I've never had your conundrum, but now I know how to get out of it when I eventually do it ;D I can't wait to see what crazy things I do next build, I surprise myself every time with my own stupidity. Glad this site is here!
Greg
You hit the nail on the head! And I have a lot of getting smarter to do, that's for sure.
This is a humbling hobby. Some days I feel like a king, some days I'm the village idiot.
Cheers,
Norm
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Every time someone tries to make things "idiot proof" for me I am surprised at how quickly I can train myself to become a better idiot !!
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It sounds as though you didn't need this site to solve your problem as you figured it out for your self but thanks for letting us know how you did it any way as we might some day need that tip.
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My dad always said (about carpenters, but it fits gun building), everyone makes mistakes, but the masters of the craft know how to hide them the best! !
Doc
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Must have been a flintlock!!!!
Percussion, It would have been a cap and a couple of grains of powder.... :o
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I don't think it was stuck in the barrel.
Jim
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I don't think it was stuck in the barrel.
Jim
Exactly.
Although, I suppose one solution would be to drill a hole into the RR channel from the bottom of the barrel channel, dribble in some powder, add a fuse and shoot it out! Might not like the results though....
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I don't think it was stuck in the barrel.
Jim
Exactly.
Although, I suppose one solution would be to drill a hole into the RR channel from the bottom of the barrel channel, dribble in some powder, add a fuse and shoot it out! Might not like the results though....
Oh that will buff right out. :o
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A couple hundred more mistakes like that and you will be a genius.
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Another way to do that is to attach a brass bore brush that is larger than the id of the rr tip to a modern cleaning rod and force it into the rod tip. It comes right out with the brush stuck inside. Best that it be no longer than the inside of the tip is deep.
Your not the only one to make that mistake!:)
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Another way to do that is to attach a brass bore brush that is larger than the id of the rr tip to a modern cleaning rod and force it into the rod tip. It comes right out with the brush stuck inside. Best that it be no longer than the inside of the tip is deep.
Your not the only one to make that mistake!:)
That is brilliant!
And thanks to your "friend" for also being in the stuck ramrod tip club!
Norm
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My apologies, I miss read...
Hate it when that happens >:(
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My apologies, I miss read...
Hate it when that happens >:(
I've never ever, ever in my life done that before.
Except those 20 or 30 times that I did.