Hell even just puckering up and putting your mouth around the vent hole and blowing will confirm if it came out or not.
Brilliant! I will give that a try.
Shortly after starting this thread, I took a rod and using the corkscrew attachment, I "felt" around the breech. Sure enough it felt like the corkscrew was going in to some sort of narrow opening. So it seems like the ball did come out.
Semi the wedge with the problem is the forward wedge. Thank you for your suggestion, a few taps with the rubber hammer should fix it.
Thanks again everyone!
~Robert