Stuck ball in fowler

[Hessian]

I hope this is the proper place for this. If not please move.

Yesterday afternoon I received a phone call from a friend. He told me he had a ball stuck in his smoothbore. He had messed with it and had no luck pulling the load. I told him to bring it over and we would pull the breech plug.
When I looked  I saw a dark mass about 9 inches down the bore. I took a long drillbit and hand turned it into the load and tried to pull it out. No luck but the second time it passed through the obstruction so I thought I'd try to hook it out with a bent heavy wire. LSS, when I rapped the muzzle on my workbench, a "patched ball with the center drilled out" fell out of the barrel.
I look at my friend and he said "Oh I was drilling it out with a masonery bit but it wouldn't come out."
We ran a wad of tow down the bore &I put a borelight  down it. I didn't see any gouges just crud so I told my friend to clean & steel wool the bore.
One thing I noticed, It looked as if the breechplug was soldered or welded in! Sure didn't look like it was able to be easily removed.
Hessian

[Hungry Horse]

 Sounds like natural selection trying hard to its job. You just have to hope it gets the guy that did such a stupid thing, and not somebody else.
  I took one apart a few years ago that had pipe threads on the homemade plug, and JB Weld filling the thread gap, ahead of the plug. Interestingly, it wasn't the plug that failed, it was the touch hole liner that was made of aluminum. Go figure.

                 Hungry Horse

[Daryl]

I recall reading that some of the Japanese breech plugs were not threaded, merely tack welded or ring welded in place.

[Bob Roller]

I recall reading that some of the Japanese breech plugs were not threaded, merely tack welded or ring welded in place.

 There was a comment about the no thread breech plugs on some sort
of Japanese muzzle loader in the old and defunct Buckskin Report.

 Bob Roller

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Yup...remember that article well Bob.  And how about the one with the two piece barrel?

[Hungry Horse]

 I own a pistol, that I built to use in parades, where blank fire is allowed. It is a grand mixture of parts from several kit guns, and some hand made parts. The barrel is a round .68 cal. smoothbore, plainly stamped "Japan" on the left rear of the breech. I have examined this barrel every which way, short of having it X-rayed, and I find no signs of breech threads. I, in fact find no signs of a breech plug. My best guess is this barrel/breechplug is all one piece. I did a repair on a pistol that had a barrel that was outwardly the same as mine, but when I pulled the barrel, it had a standard breech plug threaded into it. So, I think there were a few Japanese guns made without breech threads, but they probably had no breech plug either.

                    Hungry Horse

[Kermit]

You guys trying to scare me? It's working! 

[Hessian]

Update:
I saw my friend the other day & asked him if he had cleaned the barrel & what did the bore look like. His response, "Oh, I havent gotten to that yet. I just put it away."

Nice enough fella, but about the only time I see him is when he's in a bind on something. Oh well . . .
 

[Stoner creek]

Your friend sounds like a guy who would be better suited with a New England Arms breakdown single shot. A barrel failure because of neglect makes us all look bad.

[Pete G.]

Update:
I saw my friend the other day & asked him if he had cleaned the barrel & what did the bore look like. His response, "Oh, I havent gotten to that yet. I just put it away."

Nice enough fella, but about the only time I see him is when he's in a bind on something. Oh well . . .

Sounds like you may see him again soon.

[WadePatton]

Update:
...
Nice enough fella, but about the only time I see him is when he's in a bind on something. Oh well . . .

Sounds like you may see him again soon.

and it could be at the hospital or worse. 

A fellow i know, who is into guns, tells me that he has a flintlock.  So i investigate.  Turns out to be a Miroku or similar knockoff of a Sea Service Pistol.  Gun looks reasonably sound until i shine a light down the bore-were corrosion is taking hold. Everything beyond a finger reach is fuzzy.  Still might clean up.

Then he shows me his cap and ball...and OH MY white/green/red corrosion all over, disgusting and dangerous.  I asked him about his powder and he couldn't produce the can or name the product (but i have susupicions).  I suggested that it's much more important to thoroughly clean the BP guns than pill pushers.

I thought about setting up his Pistol to work (after cleaning and inspection of lock and all), but then thought better of it.  I'm going to show him how my flinter works, but mostly to impress upon him the proper care and feeding of a rocklock.  I don't think he's going to change his ways, and I don't need to be a party to the blowup or bulging when it happens.

[yardhunter]

I had that happen to me once. I stuck a drill bit on the end of a open end ramrod & rolled enough  duct tape around the shaft to prevent the bit from scraping the barrel. I placed a cordless drill on the other end off the ramrod & drilled the ball out. No problem then. Went back to shooting…...

[blackjack]

I know this is an old thread, but I got a ball stuck in my fowler just this week.  I carry a bicycle emergency flat pump with a CO2 cartridge and a basketball pin screwed into it, the tip ground down to fit the slot on the vent hole.  Just a quick blast of compressed air and the ball popped right out.