Removing a stuck bullet
- Thread starter sy247
- Start date
8x57
Distinguished Member
You are thinking of the solution if it were a conventional percussion capped revolver. If it were there are kits that you can buy that include a replacement nipple adapted to take a CO2 cartridge.
The Westlake muzzle loading revolver utilises 209 shotgun primers and there is already one in place and it would be unsafe to attempt to remove it.
If the pistol were mine I would simply cut off the excess lead from the face of the cylinder and fire the gun. These bullets are normally very soft swaged lead so you won't have any difficulty cutting them. (I know the chap who used to manufacture and to supply Alan Westlake with the bullets, not sure if he still does though.)
Even if it were a double charge I doubt any harm would be done as Alan produces a very strong cylinder far in excess of what is necessary.
shakey jake
Well-Known Member
if you do fire it, have you got a hand you dont like? just in case
Thats always the concern... I have put a double load in it before and is something I'm not keen to repeat.
I am quite certain there isn't a double load in it now.
I did some trimming with a sharp knife last night and can get the cylinder into the pistol now and it cycles, so progress is being made. I'm going to put it in the loading press and see if I can seat the bullet a bit lower in the chamber because at the moment it doesn't look quite barrel shaped for me to be confident to fire it.
Len the dog
Well-Known Member
If you have double charged it then seating it lower is going to significantly increase the pressure. Don't take this the wrong way but if you have double charged it in the past and have doubts that you may well have done it this time, then perhaps you ought to review your loading procedure to one where you can see all of the powder charges are equal prior to seating the bullet.
I appreciate your advice. I am sure I haven't double loaded it because it was the second bullet I loaded and I have a case with all the loads pre measured. They are in plastic vials which i weigh individually. I was loading 3 grains of Herco powder.
As an extra check I check the level by eye in the vial before I load the pistol and I know how many loads were used by checking the row of vials in the box.
The cylinder is machined so that the bullets only seat to a specific depth. I think you can see that in the photo. What happened I think was that the club where I shoot had put some new thick carpet on the bench and the press wasn't stable when I loaded the bullet and it went in at an angle which is why it didn't seat properly.
8x57
Distinguished Member
When you fire it off just be careful where you do so. We had one club member who managed to jam a cleaning rod in his muzzle loading pistol. His solution was to remove the nipple, trickle a powder charge in and then replace the nipple. He then went into his garden and fired it off pointing down the garden. Unfortunately the neighbour's cat decided to jump the fence into his garden just as he was firing it off. The cleaning rod went wizzing down the garden just missing the cat. He claimed that the cat wasn't seen for a week but he did recover his cleaning rod.
Another old duffer (since passed) that we had at the club would regularly shoot his ramrod down range. It occurred that often that we kept a couple of lengths of wooden dowel at the range and would simply go and cut him a new length each time.
Another old duffer (since passed) that we had at the club would regularly shoot his ramrod down range. It occurred that often that we kept a couple of lengths of wooden dowel at the range and would simply go and cut him a new length each time.
I can't risk shooting the neighbours cat, got to wait until I go to the range on Tuesday...
Foxyboy43
Well-Known Member
I'll give that a try at the range and report back
Were it I, I'd carefully hacksaw the case head off, or at least enough to get the powder out, then continue cutting the head off. Then use a broken screw extractor (like a Irwin EX-3; which should be the right diameter to grip the case wall), and break it loose from the die. I had to use this method on a Mauser that had a case head separation, and it worked well (different size screw extractor of course).
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