I have a stuck round in the chamber of my 257WM Vanguard. The bolt is open and I tried tapping an alluminum cleaning rod on it from the muzzle but just flared the end of the rod. I should have put a tip in it in hind sight. Any suggestions? I am think a piece of 3/16 steel rod and then tap on it from the muzzle.

I would use a wood dowel ( biggest that will fit) before a steel rod.

Stuck round or stuck brass? How the heck did that happen?

is it a loaded round ? if its a fired case get a 24" or so piece of drill rod of the appropiate size and just drop it down the barrel a time or two should do it. if its a loaded roumd i'd head for a gunsmith.

Ed

Loaded round, made up some 7mmRM cases into 257WM, never again, allot after resizing dont want to chamber, some were virgin some 1x.

What is stopping it from being fired? You are looking at pulling the barrel and inerting the case then extracting it...real fun on a vanguard. I would lose the idea of pounding it out before bad things happen. You may have some luck by filling the bore with kroil and letting it sit for a day or so and pushing a jag into the oil.....or freeze spray the case, or both.

Betting he can't close the bolt.

Try soaking with Kroil for a day then try punching it out

The bolt is now open so I doubt if I can close it again over the extractor. I was thinking of a penitrating oil down the barrel and let it sit for a day then try and tap in out from the muzzle.

I would do the wooden dowel. Put the dowel down the barrel, then bump the whole gun lightly on the bench or floor. Tapping with a light hammer isn't the right stroke. A heavy, slow velocity thud is what you want, not high velocity tapping.

I assume the extractor pulled thru the case rim?

Safariman (Mark) told me he had problems with .257 Wby brass formed from 7mm Rem Mag brass. He said the neck was too thick and to use .264 Win Mag brass, instead.

Give us more details concerning what you have.

DF

+1 for the Kroil.

As stated 7mmRM brass resized to 257WM OS diam at the neck was okay, but the bullets may have expanded it out of specks. When I tried to chamber 3 2 were okay, the third stuck.
Dirtfarmer, I know what you mean about a slow push but confused on how to do it by your explenation. Sierra 90gr HPBT is what is loaded in it.

Try throwing it in the freezer over night and then try tapping it out with the wooden dowl. No luck ? I would think all of this tapping on the bullet should have pushed the bullet back into the case far enuf to spray spray som e lube into the barrel and killing the powder and primer and you should be able to get a little more serious about the tapping thing. +1 on the croil !!

I've seen a couple fired into the barrel when no powder was loaded in the brass. (don't ask- not me)They tap out easily with a bronze rod that I keep for this purpose. I wouldn't use a steel rod.

DO NOT USE A WOODEN DOWL. It will split on the bullet and most likley expand and any oil will cause it to swell tighter a snug fitting steel rod is the only way to go . I worked in a gun shop for a couple years and several guns came in with broken wooden dowls in them from people trying just that. take it to a gunsmith before you jam the hell out of it.

More than one has been killed pounding a loaded round out.
If you insist use a clean drill rod that fits and push
don't pound. best of all have a gunsmith do it.

Loaded round? I wouldn't do that.. All that'll happen is you'll push the bullet deeper into the case and compress the powder.. You have a very dangerous situation there....

BEST thing to do is take it to a smith who can remove the barrel and lever the case out.. Failing that, there are other things the smith can do but at least they'll be safer than what you're contemplating..

Provided you haven't already pushed the bullet way back into the case, AND if it contains a mild charge (thinking of the tight neck scenario here), why not remove the extractor from the bolt, replace the bolt in the gun and fire it? Then tap the empty case out with any old rod, replace extractor, and tear down the remaining cartridges.

Failing that, seek professional help.

55,000 pounds/square inch is more pressure than I would mess with in any of the tapping or firing solutions. There is nothing that will save you if during those operations, the case discharged. There isn't a gun in the world worth chancing that on, take it to a professional and let him do it...

gnoahhh has made a great suggestion !

Ed

Good advise guys, off the a smith it goes. I dont want to be posting here later, if I can, about the disaster and "what not to do".

I would try the kroil first. if you can get a few inches above the bullet filled with the oil and push a tight jag at it, it will try to hydraulically force oil around the case. do not hammer on the bullet, it is possible to set it off. the oil trick is nearly free and safe. just be sure there is something to catch the oil once it clears the chamber.

I dont have a clue on how to remove the extractor

Brownells sells a stuck case extractor. Works as a slide hammer and a collet. I have one and it works !!! Made for the trouble you are in. I found putting the action in the freezer will make it a slick operation to extract the live round. The collets are made in differnt sizes for the case heads. I think mine was about 100 bucks when I got it. Much much safer than being infront of a loaded gun, beating on it.........

Why in the freezer, doesnt it "shrink" the barrel and make it tighter instead of heat to expand it?

Thinking of soaking with Kroil oil, then a rod down the barrel and a bar clamp on the rod at the muzzle end and on the reciever end or butt plate and do a slow squeese.

Funny thing is the round that is stuck made up from 7mm RM brass mikes out at .284 OS diam on the neck after the bullets are inserted, the same as some new 257WM Hordany brassI loaded up tonight.

The brass will contract more than the steel

Not trying to be smart but.........Thats a loaded gun. Why would you put yourself or any part of you in front of it ? Even with the bolt out of the action. If it were to go BANG (dont you think for a second that it cant). I wouldent want to be any wheres near it. The case extractor is the only safe way to remove it yourself with out pulling the barrel. Snyper is correct. The brass will contract a good bit before the steel will.

Prolly the shoulder is jammed in there, not the neck. You didn't mention what went on when you closed the bolt. Guessing the round slipped in OK until the brass met the shoulder portion of the chamber? You must have pushed that bolt pretty tight and locked down? It must be tight as a tick if you flared out the rod on it. can't imagine there is a lot of surface area holding the brass in there considering the Weatherby neck design.

Let us know the outcome of this soap opera. powdr

I'm courious to see how heating the barrel would work !

How about compressed air?

Powdr,
here is the plan, soak in it in Kroil oil from the muzzle for a day, into the freezer over night, then a heat gun on the barrel/chamber area, with a bar clamp squeesing a brass rod from the muzzle and the other end of the action, the bar clamp has a turn screw on it for tension and just a slow steady push.

Be sure to wear hearing protection !

ONce upon a time, a gunsmith's customer did not set the headspace right on a loaded round, he had the bolt half closed on the loaded round. The loaded ammunition had been used on another benchrest rifle, but did not fit this benchrest rifle of the same caliber. So, he jammed a cleaning rod down the barrel and tried to tap out the loaded round and KA POW! The cleaning rod became a missle and killed his wife that was doing laundry on the other side of the room.

There is a learning curve when it comes to setting a full length sizer to size brass properly, which is the cause of this problem...an education usually costs money. Another lesson, when the bolt is hard to close, DO NOT FORCE IT TO CLOSE!!!

There is some very good news on this problem, most of us only have to learn this lesson once.



I would fill the barrel full of oil, and if the bolt will not open, then take it to a gunsmith to have the barrel removed.

Do you have a link for this?

One way to get rid of a wife he didn't want, wonder how long it took him to think this one up.

I was reading an early 70's gun rag the other night and there was a story in there about a fatality due to a stuck round.

Two guys with a stuck 243 put some welding rods down the barrel and then proceeded to push the muzzle with the rods in it against their basement wall. The cartridge discharged and drove the 243 case into the aorta of the man behind the rifle, killing him.

A stuck cartridge is never good but when you mix in abundant stupidity it can get downright dangerous.

Stop putting sticks, rods, oil, deep freezer, or anything down your barrel!! Most times when these types of repairs came into our shop the barrel is a total loss.

The extracting of the case from the breech end is easy if you have the proper tool. It is an extractor in two sections or split down the middle and a Phillips head bolt to tighten around the rim like a 99% extractor. A prize bar is used to slowly remore the case. It has never failed in 45 yrs. I have posted this tool on the internet on different forums and I don't know if anyone has made their own tool. Brownell's sell a similar tool.

I remember reading about the incident. If it ever happens to me, I will happily pay a gunsmith to remove the round in question.

Simply another good reason to never force anything when working with firearms.

LGB,
does the barrel have to be removed to use that tool?
Is the tool?
http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=972/Product/STUCK-CASE-PULLER

If I were going to be tapping on a rod placed in the muzzle, I would not want to be either in front of the barrel, or behind it.

If the rod held the bullet in place, that case could fly out of the chamber like a missle. At least remove the bolt so the case will have someplace to go. And make sure that no one is standing behind the breech. Make a secure backstock for the case to hit, if it does go off.

There is another incident where a benchrester was trying to remove a stuck cartridge with a cleaning rod. The one happened at a bench rest match. The shooter did remove the bolt from the rifle, and his wife happened to be standing behind the rifle.

When he tapped on the cleaning rod, the cartridge fired, the case went out of the chamber, striking his wife and killing her.

This was back in the 70s, I think, and IIRC, it was written up in Rifle magazine.

Here is the other view of the tool in use. No need to pull the barrel when you can get to the case from the rear.



The tool must be able to pop over the rim and spring back. Next tighten the bolt and wedge against the reciever to pull the case. It has never failed. I used old 8mm Mauser barrels to make my tools as they are close to spring steel. I make a short tool to pull cases stuck in Rem. 740's and 760 without pulling the barrel. These small tools are about 2 inches long and are split into. I place one part into the action and rotate to the far side of the action. Place the second half around the case and place the bolt to hold the parts together. Works so simple!!! I am going to make one this afternoon for 223, 204 Ruger, and 17 Rem. This will be for the small mini Mauser actions just in case I get a shell stuck in the field.

Cool! Kinda surprised that you'd see enough stuck live rounds to justify making the tool.

If I were going to be tapping on a rod placed in the muzzle, I would be in the next room.

Well I got my Brownells stuck case remover yesterday and looks like it will do the trick, a very nice setup. I will not have a safe place to do it until next Wednesday.

it will try to hydraulically force oil around the case.
Do you think that the hydraulic force will not pust the bullet back in the case first

read exactly what you posted. it WILL push oil around the case. the volume around the case is very minute, and with hydraulic pressure, it is pushing in all directions....so the case stands the best chance to move. if the bullet is engaged in the lands (not much chance on a free bored 257 roy that can't even close the bolt, but if it were, it will not push the bullet back beyond the point that oil leaks pat the bullet. the oil then migrates past the bullet to the neck, which will either be the restriction and move, or leak past to the body.....right up to the point it frees. if a guy was filling the bore and smacking it with a 2# hammer, I would worry, if he is forcing some kroil around the case, I would not worry a bit. not many gun guys have the specialized tooling to make a case extractor so there are some steps that can be effective up to that point, IMO this is one of the easiest to try.

Well back to this soap opera of mine!!!. I hate help me threads and then the starter never gets back to let you know if the advice worked. I had a death of the person I care give for, the week Saturday past, so I have been real busy with funeral and all.
I got a Brownels stuck case tool, Nice tool, but will not fit through the bolt hole in the rear of the reciever to get to the case. About a 1/64-1/32 to big in diam. So this week I will try the oil, 1 time, if that does not work off to a smith.

Ok It's been 5 days sience your last post. what happened???

BobnRoy,

Do not fire that stuck round! There are many things that can cause a stuck round and some of them can cause extremely high pressure and cause the gun to blow if the round is fired. I say take it to a 'smith. If you are successful getting the thing out without destroying the barrel, you might consider shooting only factory rounds. I'm sorry if that offends you but you don't always get a second chance, and I'm sure the people that love you would rather have you around.

Good advice big red, It was loaded with once fired 7mmRM case resized to 257WM, never again, I bought some new Hordany 257WM brass, to reload. BUT still have the stuck one, I found a great smith near me, and since I just got a NIB 799 Rem 22 Hornet and needs a touch of trigger and bolt smoothing, I turned the stuck round rifle over to him. He agrees, cant fire it to get it out. He is the metal/barrel man, has another guy at his shop for the wood work. I have complete confidence in him, I got his name from here when I posted looking for a good smith in my area.

Let us know what method he used to successfully remove that case.. Sounds like you had a really tough one in there..

Redneck I will, I was surprised he did not have a case remover already, Sent mine back to Brownells earlier that day. Just had to turn it down on a lathe to make it fit through the back of the reciever.

I made some .270 Weatherby from basic brass. I had to anneal the brass twice in the forming and loading process. First load was a reduced load.