From: Norman Johnson <njohnson@nosc.mil>
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Re: bore stuck bullets
Date: 30 Aug 1997 21:58:15 -0400

Hi Tom,

At 08:03 AM 8/29/97 -0700, you wrote:

#In the summer of 1988, I had a 4" blued GP100.  I loaded up 100 rounds
#of .357 ammo using WW 125 grain HPs and (I think) about 10 grains of
#AA#7, max in the AA manual being 12 grains...

#A few shots later, a ground squirrel provided a nice target at about 10
#feet.  pop.  But the squirrel just stood up and looked at me.  So I
#fired again.  KA--BOOOOOOOM.  Definitely hit him, so I went to check him
#out.  Two bullet holes, one in the neck and one in the lower abdomen.
#
#"Lightbulb" time.
#
#Finally got it through my thick skull that I was alternately sticking
#bullets in the bore and blasting pairs of 'em out with the next shot.  I
#confirmed this by visually checking after each of the remaining 10 to 15
#shots.  (Heck, if it hasn't blown up after 85 screw ups, the next 15
#might be ok.)
#
#1) There was no apparent damage to the GP100 ... a TOUGH little gun! 2)
#I quit using AA #7 for light loads in the .357.

Sort of ironic -- I stuck one today.

As you know, I do lots of off-the-wall experiments, some of which result in
stuck bullets.  With lead bullets, I am not concerned because they are
easily driven out with properly sized brass rods, a number of which I keep
for that very purpose.

However, jacketed bullets that do not exit the bore are a real bear if one
tries to drive them out.  As a matter of fact I have not ever been
successful in doing so.

I have developed my own method for clearing a jacketed bullet obstructed
bore.  To date this has worked well with no bulged barrels.

Start by charging a fresh case with the original powder charge plus one
grain.  This is held in with a small tuft of dacron fiber or kapok.  I set
up a hard 4x4 and fire the charged case towards it.  This usually results in
a "foof" sound which does nothing.  Then, each time increasing the powder
charge by one grain, I repeat the above scenario.  The "foof" is repeated
until the critical charge is reached, at which time the ignition sounds like
a lightly loaded round going off (and my wife comes out to the shop to see
if I have shot myself).  When this happens, the bullet is propelled out of
the barrel at a speed which imbeds it into the 4x4 anywhere from about 1/3
its length to about a quarter inch below the surface.

The amount of powder varies quite a bit depending on bore size and how far
down the bore it is lodged.

A .38 that was lodged about 2" into the bore required 8.6 gr. of 700X to pop
it out.  The .45 auto rim bullet that I stuck so that its nose was just
flush with my 6" Model 25 barrel muzzle took 17 gr. of 700X.

How did I get 17 grains into a .45 Auto Rim case?  I didn't.  When I could
get no more powder into the shorter case, I switched to some shot load cases
that I made up for the gun several years ago.  These are made from .308
cases and the neck portion (swaged down with a .41 Magnum die) protrudes
into the throat of the Model 25's cylinder throats so that they are nearly
flush with the front cylinder face.  Worked great.

God Bless!

Norm