Help! My cleaning rod is stuck inside my 223 bore!

stiff neck

stiff neck

New member
My cleaning rod is STUCK in the barrel of my 223. I mean STUCK. I use "22 cal" patches that I cut down because they're too big. I wet a patch with cleaning solvent and put it on a brass jag like I always do. Then I pushed it thru the bore. About 1/4 of the way in it got pretty tough to push. I had to lightly hammer the rod handle with my fist to get it all the way thru. When the jag exited the muzzle, there was just a torn piece of patch hanging out. Now I can't get the rod to budge either direction. It's stuck really tight!

Any ideas?

I put a different tip on the rod and tried lightly tapping the tip to get it to reverse out. It will not budge. I tried several hard taps using a block of wood but it will not move at all. I tried pulling the rod out from the other side but it just will not move at all. If I unscrew the jag, the end of the cleaning rod is about 1/4 inch into the muzzle end of the barrel.

I'm pretty frustrated! I don't want to screw up my bore by doing something dumb. Any ideas on how to get this thing out? (the gunsmiths around here are a 6-8 week wait just to get it looked at, so that's a last option)

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Try dripping some thin oil down the bore to saturate whats left of the patch. Some Pam cooking spray may also work. I wish you the best of luck. I've been close to getting one stuck before, but I got lucky!
 
Not sure if it will work but. The rod must be going through the patch. Have you tried putting the butt of the stock against something solid. Then pull it back out and keep good, hard, steady pressure on it. If you have a spray can of kroil or similar you could try shooting some around the rod from the muzzle to get some lube down the barrel. If it is a 1 piece rod, there shouldnt be anything to hang up on the patch.
 
My suggestion is to put a little kroil oil down the bore and let it set for a little while, then put a little more in and let it set again, then try to pull it out.

Greg
 
Stiff Neck,
Here is what I would do. Soak a little of that Kroil from both ends like the guys said. You realize that those jags are made with grooves and then is tapered thinner toward the threaded end. The purpose of all that is to have space for the patch to fill in as it gets tight. What you have is part of that patch along side the full dia. of the rod which is only a couple thousandths between it and the bore.
I would take the scope off...don't want to compound your troubles damaging your scope. Then I would get soft jaws for your vise (large vise). Turn gun upside down horizonally and place the handle of the rod in the vise as tight as possible without damage. You should have a helper on this. As your buddy is holding the rifle get a large rubber mallet and keep striking the heel of the stock not the toe, you could split that. Also if you have a plastic butt plate you might want to take it off. I think you will see it ever so slightly start to back out.
So what your doing iws holding the rod handle and driving the rifle forward. Hope this helps. Don't forget to soak first. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
If the photos is the rifle in question then screw the jag off and soak the bore with Koil or Breakfree and pull the rod back out of the barrel , it will come back out if you pull hard enough. One you get the rod out use a smaller rod to push the patch on out. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
Part of the problem is that the rod is so far in, it's hard to get much leverage when trying to pull it back out. I'll try soaking and pulling with the stock removed.
 
If you are having trouble getting a grip on the rod this is what I'd do. Wrap a parachute cord around your rod, I'd use two, one on each side to try not to bend the rod. After the Kroil or I suppose liquid wrench would work as well .... really any penetrating oil will work .... treatment wrap the cords around your hands and pull as evenly as possile for all your worth. If that doesn't work, you could use the same arrangememt but subtitute a come-a-long for you and put some strady mechanical pressure on the rod. Good luck on this one ... I see very bad things in the rods future though.
 
Auto body slide hammer's work great . That is what my father used 30 years ago and I used one on a friend rifle a while back. After soaking put a small zip tie in front of the handle then a larger one through that to attach the slide to then start with light taps and it will slowly work out to where it will come out easily . It works for me anyway!!!! Mark

Gunsmiths actualy have a very similar tool for that purpose.
 
After soaking in oil, tap the rod from the back with a hammer... don't whack it, just keep hitting it medium hard until it cones out.

.
 
+4 on the kroil

also, as stated, a slide hammer design is a good way to go. Take a 2x4 or whatever scraps are around,..drill a small hole in it with a small channel to the edge, so that you can take the block of wood, and set it down over the rod body. Now move it back and forth smacking it against the handle, forcing it backwards. You can also place the wood directly up against the handle, and smack it with a hammer,....it will back the rod out eventually.

or,..once it comes out enough to take a vice and grab the rod shaft,..clamp the rod in place and grab the rifle and yank it off the rod. The rifle provides better leverage than the rod does.

don't ask me why I know some of this stuff
 
Get a really light viscosity oil like Hoppes weatherguard in the black bottle or WD40 spray. Stand the rifle up on the buttstock and fill it with one of these oils till you can't get anymore in. Let it stand for about five minutes and it will come right out.
 
None of that workeked. This thing was STUCK in there good! I soaked it with penetrating oil and let it sit. Then I removed the stock and scope. I figured out I could remove the handle from the cleaning rod, so I took it off. I drilled a hole in a 2x4 and put the rod thru it, then reassembled the handle. First I tried using my feet to push agains the 2x4 while pulling on the barrel. No way that was going to work. Next. While holding the rifle muzzle up, I gave the 2x4 several whacks with a hammer. Nothing. Several harder whacks budged it a little. It took about 20 whacks to get the whole rod out. I don't see any apparent damage and after shooting it today it's ok. Lesson: if the rod ever starts to get tight, stop! Back out and fix it from the other end.
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The cleaning rod still works. It was bent a little down by the handle but I was able to straighten it out. I had to sorta break the handle when I took it apart. It fits back on fine, but now it slides up and down the rod instead of being fixed in place. So when i push on the rod, the end of the rod protrudes out the handle and pokes my palm. It still works, but I'm going to get a new one.
 
Quote:
Were you able to save the cleaning rod?



Well....while that would have been an added perk, I wouldn't have been concerned about the cleaning rod if it were ME in that sutiation. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
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