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I had a 38 special bullet not leave the barrel and now it is stuck in the barrel. This is LAX .38 special ammunition, nickel coated, 158 grain. I've fired over half the can without any issues so the ammo has shown to be generally good? I've put Fiocchi, PMC, and Norma (.357 and .38) through the gun without any problems. As far as I can tell the cylinder timing is fine and it locks up great, and even now I see no visible damage but I'm not an expert; I found some marring and maybe a chip or worn spot on the barrel but that could be because I was looking so closely at the malfunction.

http://www.taloinc.com/ruger-firearms/wiley-clapp-gp100-1752 Here is the gun's product page.

If it matters, it was pretty cold today in the mountains, it was snowing. I clean the gun after every outing -- it was not dirty!

I'm hoping someone can tell me what could have possibly happened here for a bullet to not exit the barrel. If it was simply an undercharged round, the bullet would presumably still leave the barrel and hit low. I tried to ram a cleaning rod in there with no luck, the bullet is lodged tight.

Thanks for any help.

IMG_20220226_141748.jpg IMG_20220226_141813.jpg IMG_20220226_141819.jpg
 
I have had to pound two rounds through with a wooden dowel from a low powder round before. Contact LAX for sure since this is a quality control issue that could cause serious damage if say you were to fire another round.
 
Take off the furniture, point the barrel upright and put in 4 or 5 drops of Kroil, Marvel mystery oil, or some other penetrating oil, for a few hours, while you find a hard wood dowel one inch longer than the barrel that fits loose, but nice, and rap on the dowel using a non metallic mallet, (just incase the dowels does something you don't like), it should come out sooner or later. I agree with @VinnieBoomBah that it was likely a primer fired empty case.
 
There was a little bit of powder in there because there are some granules behind the bullet as well as in the chamber that it was in. So the round wasn't completely empty, but it must have been severely underloaded. I don't think primers project granule bits? Could be wrong on that.

This is the first time that this has happened to me, so I appreciate everyone's response here. I have already emailed LAX on the matter. I can update the post when I receive a response, just for everyone's benefit or curiosity.

In the meantime I will search for a dowel.
 
There are a lot of things that could cause it, Too little powder, a primer that fizzled instead of popped, a powder charge that was contaminated, etc.
Like has been said take a 3/8 dowel and drive the bullet out. For what ever reason there was not enough pressure to push the bullet through the barrel so not enough pressure to do major damage to your gun. Good Luck DR
 
How did it sound when you fired it? That's your first clue.
This is actually one of the most important things to pay attention to. When shooting if this happens and you are shooting an any type of auto feed weapon and the bullet goes deep enough to load another round you can blow the handgun up and even your hand. If the round doesn't make the right sound do no shoot again before inspection.
Sound advise.
 
If I may suggest.
Life Lessons to Learn.

S#@* happens.
So then.....Up To You.....
Fix it/Repair it/Replace it/Junk it/F it
And then, move on.

On the more serious side.
In my life.
I've had my share of squibs in my revolvers too.
I've had to carefully pound out the stuck bullet(s).
This helps.....
Wile_E_Coyote_Cerificate.jpg
After it was cleared. And after my inspection. It was back to shooting.


1645940312160.png


Aloha, Mark

PS........take a music break.
or the Hawaiian way.
 
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I watched a gunsmith put some thick axle grease down into a muzzle and then insert a tight fitting wad of cotton and then a hardwood dowel, and it took very little effort on his part to tap the squib back out of the barrel.
He told me that the grease puts consistent pressure on all of the bullets surface so it doesn't mushroom the lead.
 
Years ago at a range where I'm a member, the head RSO would shoot stuck bullets out of members guns. A single stuck bullet, not multple bullets stacked on top of one another. He would simply take a live cartridge, remove the bullet, then carefully place the charged case in the breech and fire the gun. So far as I know, he never blew up nor ruined a barrel. Since seeing this practice, I've thought that the sudden engagement by the propellant gases on a bullet already lodged in the rifling might subject the bore to undue stress and result in bulging (ringing).

So here is a better method, using water between the stuck bullet and the propellant charge. The water has compressability that allows it to absorb the sudden shock of the discharge but then propel the bullet on out:


If you use a brass or bronze rod to remove the stuck bullet, it's advised to do it from the breech end, if possible. Which it isn't always. The above method would be especially good for lever actions, semi-autos like an M1 Rifle, etc.
 
Is barrel swollen in area of blockage? If so you'll need a new barrel, so removing the bullet is beside the point.

Assuming barrel is not swollen, I would spray a little WD 40 down the barrel from both ends. Then leave gun for a day so WD 40 has a chance to penetrate around bullet if possible. WD 40 is mostly thin solvent and very small amount of oil. Much less viscous than most gun oils or lubricating products. I'm guessing it would be better at penetrating around bullet than more viscous lubricants. Then after wiping any lubricant off outside of gun I would wrap the section of barrel around stuck bullet and between stuck bullet and forcing cone in an electric blanket turned on high and leave for a few minutes. The idea would be to warm up and expand barrel a little without heating long enough to also warm up and expand bullet. Then use the wooden dowel and a mallet to tap bullet out. (This is using the basic method of opening a tight jar lid by holding lid under hot running water for a minute -- long enough to expand lid but not jar underneath. I'm guessing heating the gun barrel would take a few minutes since electric blanket won't be as hot as hot tap water nor will the air containing cloth of electric blanket transfer heat as efficiently as hot water right against metal.)

Then I would clean barrel and examine interior with a bore light. If it appeared undamaged I'd figure it was okay. You might want to get a gunsmith to check it. I wouldnt, unless my gentle efforts to remove bullet didnt work or the barrel appeared damaged. If I were going to take gun to a gunsmith anyway I'd just let him get the bullet out too.
 
Years ago at a range where I'm a member, the head RSO would shoot stuck bullets out of members guns. A single stuck bullet, not multple bullets stacked on top of one another. He would simply take a live cartridge, remove the bullet, then carefully place the charged case in the breech and fire the gun. So far as I know, he never blew up nor ruined a barrel. Since seeing this practice, I've thought that the sudden engagement by the propellant gases on a bullet already lodged in the rifling might subject the bore to undue stress and result in bulging (ringing).

So here is a better method, using water between the stuck bullet and the propellant charge. The water has compressability that allows it to absorb the sudden shock of the discharge but then propel the bullet on out:


If you use a brass or bronze rod to remove the stuck bullet, it's advised to do it from the breech end, if possible. Which it isn't always. The above method would be especially good for lever actions, semi-autos like an M1 Rifle, etc.
Water isn't very compressible. Way less compressible than air. Adding water behind the bullet would actually increase the blockage and cause a more sudden shock to blocking bullet. It may help or hurt the effectiveness of your RSO's method in removing blocking bullet and/or avoiding damage to gun or shooter. I think it changes the method fundamentally. I wouldn't want to be the first to try it.

I'd feel uncomfortable even with the unmodified method without water, as this sounds like it was being done with closed breech guns, not revolvers. In a revolver there is a gap between the end of the forcing cone and the cylinder. I worry that shooting a full powder load into a blocked barrel might cause much more than ordinary amounts of burning powder and hot gas to shoot out that gap and maybe crack or damage the forcing cone or cylinder.
 
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With a little luck this brass rod for removing stuck squib loads will have directions and tips too.
 
Water is NOT compressible, which is how 'hydraulics' got invented in the first place.
At least, not to a meaningful degree in this context. Plenty of websites, including the US Geological Survey can explain it much better than I can
 
Water isn't very compressible. Way less compressible than air. Adding water behind the bullet would actually increase the blockage and cause a more sudden shock to blocking bullet. It may help or hurt the effectiveness of your RSO's method in removing blocking bullet and/or avoiding damage to gun or shooter. I think it changes the method fundamentally. I wouldn't want to be the first to try it.

I'd feel uncomfortable even with the unmodified method without water, as this sounds like it was being done with closed breech guns, not revolvers. In a revolver there is a gap between the end of the forcing cone and the cylinder. I worry that shooting a full powder load into a blocked barrel might cause much more than ordinary amounts of burning powder and hot gas to shoot out that gap and maybe crack or damage the forcing cone or cylinder.
The video says "only an expert should attempt what is shown in this video".

Anyone even aspiring to become an expert (let alone live long enough to see tomorrow) would never-ever listen to the video guy.

I thought this was satire at first, but it is in fact a perfect example of a complete lunatic off his meds
 
Quote - 'Years ago at a range where I'm a member, the head RSO would shoot stuck bullets out of members guns. A single stuck bullet, not multple bullets stacked on top of one another. He would simply take a live cartridge, remove the bullet, then carefully place the charged case in the breech and fire the gun. So far as I know, he never blew up nor ruined a barrel. Since seeing this practice, I've thought that the sudden engagement by the propellant gases on a bullet already lodged in the rifling might subject the bore to undue stress and result in bulging (ringing).'

IMO, there would be TWO distinctly different ringings taking place here.

1. In the barrel, as that expanding mass of gas hit the apparently immoveable bore obstruction.

and 2. the one in the ears of the shooter.

I could, of course, be wrong, but I'm not going to be the one to try and prove it.
 

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