I have a Confederate musket from the War Between the States that I was cleaning yesterday, and got the metal slotted ramrod with cotton cleaning patches stuck deep in the barrel with only about 6 inches of the very small (about 1/4 inch diameter) ramrod protruding. I cannot budge it. Any ideas about how to free this ramrod would be appreciated. Is there anything that could dissolve the cotton that could be poured down the barrel without damaging the barrel?

A lot of time the fowling jn the barrel,on the patch got the thing stuck. In the past when I get a ramrod stuck, I pour dishsoap water down the barrel. This floods the patch and area that got stuck. I then wrap the ramrod exposed endin masking tape and put that end in a vice. Then start to jerk the rifle away from the vice and normally it will come free. Once you get it moving do not stop. Keep pulling until you get the whole thing out of the barrel.

Normally this happens when the fowling is bad, the patch is too big, or the cotten patch is not wet enough.

I guess I would heat some water up to boiling, and pour it down the barrel with the gun pointed upwards. If the breech is sealed and the water doesn't run out, let it sit for 10 minutes and then pour out the water and try to pull the ramrod out with a vicegrip type of pliers.

Be careful when you handle the gun after the boiling water, it will be hot!

Other people may know of a better solvent, but you won't hurt anything trying that

I had this happen once when I was cleaning my Poorboy, took forever to get it out. I put a rag on the end of the ramrod and then put some vicegrips on it. Just be sure to turn it to the right when trying to get it out or you'll unscrew the jag. Pour some Mobile 1 or any other oil down the barrel first then let it soak in for awhile then try it, it should come out. A tip....next time when you go to clean it, first run some hot soappy water through the barrel to get some of the fouling out, then run some patches through it. Dont go all the way to the breech on the first try, work your way down the barrel a little at a time, and keep changing patches. That's why I like remeovable breechplugs! Good Luck!

When it gets stuck that far down it often has got some of the cleaning patch stuck in the hole between the nipple and the barrel; take the nipple out and use a wire or a pipe cleaner to push any cleaning patch thats jamed in that hole out the pour dish soap in the nipple hole and twist to the right with a padded pair of vise grips as you pull it out. Lee

Thanks for all the helpful replies. There is no jag to unscrew, as the ramrod is a single piece with a slotted tip at the end that pushes the bullet down. I'll try some or all of these this evening after work.

There is a fabric solvent that eats cotton, google "Schweitzer's reagent"and you'll find a couple of recipes. Sounds like some fairly wicked stuff though.

Thanks to everyone again for the advice. Last night, I poured some very hot soapy water down the barrel twice, let it soak a while (some water very slowly trickled out of the nipple),poured the dirty water out of the barrel, then started trying to move the ramrod. After several minutes, the ramrod came loose, but left the cleaning wad in the barrel. I did not have a rod with the ability to accept a "worm" that was long enough to reach the obstruction and the original ramrod had no threads for adding such an accessory, but only an end that could be used with a cleaning patch. I dismantled the gun, then repeatedly tapped the muzzle end of the barrel on carpet over a concrete floor and the wad finally moved down the barrel far enough to grab with a "worm" on one of my shorter ramrods. This was after trying to shoot the wad out by firing several caps, without any success. After all this, I gave the gun what may have been its most thorough cleaning since the 1860's then coated everything with bore butter. Hopefully, if I ever shoot this gun again, I won't have as much trouble cleaning it.

Glad to hear you got the wad out of the bore.. As for using bore butter to protect it.. well its your rifle. Personally I would boil that bore butter out of there and put a high quality gun oil down there.

Why you ask? Are you sure you have that bore bone dry before you applied the bore butter? Was there any pitting that could have held moisture as you covered that moisture with wax. Because now you have metal, water, and wax sitting there. Granted no oxygen to make the process work. That is if the bore butter coated every part of that bore.

I just had real bad luck with bore butter. I am sure you applied it properly, and it will be fine. Next time you patch the bore butter out with some Windex on a patch you will know.. Sounds like an excellent weapon. I like old firearms.

If you have a digital camera, I'd like to see a photo of the gun. Sounds like a neatold musket.