Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Air Guns Could use some help, your thoughts on this one?

Nice young family behind us, asked if I had any issue if he bought a pellet gun for his boys. With the essential advice of be careful where you shoot, of course I said no problem. Seen them out a few times. Dad's not a gun/outdoor guy at all, and the few times I saw them out, all seemed frustrated. Today, he came over and asked if I could help them, because none of them could hit the target, and wondered if I could adjust the sights, etc. I said sure, stuck a pellet in and shot at a shoe box at 25 paces......nothing. Then I got that uneasy feeling, looked down the bore......yep.....plugged with pellets. (Yes, I'm already embarrassed that I didn't do a good check out before I fired it.)

His Baggie of pellets was unmarked. It's a .177, went and grabbed by calipers, .177 pellets. Not sure where he picked up the air rifle, it's not new.

So, not wanting to discourage him, I'm thinking order a .177 cleaning rod and try to tap it out from the muzzle end? Probably 25 pellets in there! I know squat about pellet rifles, so thought I'd throw this up here?

Your thoughts?

Maybe a .22 cal pellet mixed in causing the back-up?

Not enough air to get the pellet out? Is it a spring and piston gun or a pump up? If a springer, it's defective, if it's pump up maybe they didn't give it enough pumps, some will say in the instructions to always pump at least twice.

It's a one pump, springer.

The first thing that came to mind, look for a local welding shop and see if they'll sell a single filler wire for tig welding, .125" diameter steel. It'll be copper coated.
Deburr the end of the rod and roll some masking tape around it at the end to not mar the rifling.
Slide it in from both ends and mark the rod so you can measure and see if the blockage is 3 pellets or 15.

Using the rod to pound them out may compact them into a lead block.
I'm thinking of a ball puller for muzzleloading, a drywall screw (head removed) tig welded to the filler wire.
screw it into one pellet at a time and pull them out?

Sorry, that's all I've got.

If rodding doesn't work. Lead will be impacted and spread into any rifling or other in the barrel, see if you can find a nylon or plastic screen, maybe a jag, of right diameter, something hard enough you can screw it down the barrel, not hard enough to damage the bore.

Thanks for the input, guys. With the possibilities of not being able to get them out, or ruining the bore/barrel trying, and then maybe a worn out/defective spring......I think I'll just landfill this one and pick them up an inexpensive plinker.

If she was likely blocked up when purchased by your neighbor that didn't look things over first, she's probably already got lead splattered in the bore from the subsequent pokes. Try loading the bore up with PB Blaster or Liquid Wrench penetrating oil so that it can drain towards the muzzle and not the compression cylinder. Swab out any remaining liquid to prevent blow-back, seal the aft end with a piece of rubber inner tube and use your air compressor nozzle pushed up against the rubber seal to squirt the blockage out.

Plan B would be using a brass brazing rod to lightly tap said lead slug toward the shorter travel route of the lubed bore to see if it will budge at all.

May The Force be with you....

Bear in mind that rifling in an airgun barrel is way thinner, or not cut as deep as conventional firearms. It doesn't take much to bugger the rifling sometimes.

Kroil down the bore several days before doing anything.

Maybe from on end and let sit, the the other.

Just a thought

Got it soaking in Kroil now. Can't hurt to try.

Picked them up a Remongton AirMaster77 for 30 bucks at a local swap meet. Adjusted the sights and everyone is now happy. Thanks for the help guys.

Good on you for helping out and spreading the love of the sport.

Not sure if this works or not, but found this on the innanet, so approach with caution:

Check this out:

http://home.sprynet.com/~frfrog/homemade.htm#Lead

Lead Removal

For really stubborn lead removal try a 50/50 mix of Hydrogen Peroxide (the common drug store variety) and white vinegar. Plug the bore, fill it up using a dropper or syringe and let it stand for 5-10 minutes. (Do not let it stand for too long.) You may get some foaming so protect the barrel's external finish as this solution is not kind to bluing--so take appropriate precautions. Drain and wipe out the black muck that used to be lead and then immediately clean well with bore cleaner.

I agree. I'd stick with a hard wooden dowel for any driving. Pellet lead is soft and should be fairly easy to drive out.

Kroil and a small hardwood dowel worked just as recommended! 8 pellets in total. It apparently won't produce enough air pressure (for lack of a better description) for the pellet to clear the bore. Tried it 3 times, had to push them out.

It's a Cometa-300. Don't think it had ever been out of the stock or seen a drop of oil. Oh well, they seem to be doing fine with the little Airmaster.

Probably has a broken spring. You should be able to get a replacement reasonably. The kids may of dry fired it, which is a big no no for springers. The gun gets a pretty good review.

Good luck finding a hardwood dowel in 17 caliber that won't splinter on the first wack and just add to the misery.

If gently tapping with a 1/8" rod per stxhunters suggestion doesn't work, I think you're looking at drilling out the works and then making some sort of puller.

The seals on spring piston guns will dry up over time which causes a loss of power. Also some times kids think it's neat to shoot 2-3 pellets at a time, combining that practice with a gun down on power will definately stick pellets in the bore.