A lesson learned

[Levy]

A few years back, I was squirrel hunting down on the Aucilla River here in FL with my original J. Young percussion rifle in .27 cal.  I dry balled it, took the nipple out and got a little bit of powder in the barrel and sent the ball about half-way down the bore.  Next time, I got a little bit more powder in the barrel, re-seated the ball and was about ready to fire it out when I saw a squirrel on a tree about 15 yds. away.  I said what the heck and fired at the squirrel.  I couldn't believe that I managed to get the squirrel cleanly with that small a charge of powder.  I guess it doesn't take much.  James Levy   

[Top Jaw]

Last summer I dry balled my 40.  And only had my 50 ball puller.  A guy at the range had a CO2 discharger.  Had never used one before.  It made quick, quiet, clean work of the situation.  A worthy item to invest in - in my opinion.  Especially for a guy hunting far from home.

[Brokennock]

Oh yes, a piece of paracord is also very useful in pulling a ball.  If you have a double ended ramrod with threaded ends, you can attach a jag or handle, wrap the paracord around it, then tie the opposite end to a tree, and have some leverage pulling the ball.  Same with a range rod.  Just tie the paracord to the rod under the handle, tie it to a tree, and pull away. 

Some ranges have a convenient pair of heavy nails driven for just this occasion.  The gaps between boards of a picnic table can suffice as well.  A plain wooden ramrod end is pretty hard to hold onto in pulling a ball. 

God Bless,   Marc

With a junky rifle I had in the past,, that would frequently get stuff stuck in the bore,, I had good luck with just some cordage tied in a timber hitch to the plain straight ended rod,, then tied to a branch or other fixed position. I preferred a fixed point above head high so I could pull down on the rifle.

[smylee grouch]

I had one of those ball puller drills fit on a button for about a 45 cal. It worked well and if I was using a larger cal. I would just put a cleaning patch or two over the button/drill to keep it centered.