I managed to purchase the wrong sizeround ballsfor my ML. TheRBs I purchased were too large. Needless to say one of them got stuck in the barrel. And so I had to resort to pulling the dang thing out.

After all sorts of fruitless pulling I finally got the idea to clamp a vise grip to the end ofthe range rod I was using to pull the ball out with and tie the whole thing to ladder. Then using my body weight, I would pull downon the barrel.

Here is what it looked like:
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-1/86657/ladderbarrel.jpg

Thankfully it actually worked. The range rod is a little beat-up, but the barrel is free of any obstructions.

Hopefully no one else will have to resort to such drastic measures!

~Robert