I messed up
#1

I had my Bergara B-14 HMR out the other day to dust out the bore. Shooting steel out to 300 yards was a piece of cake. I'm still trying to find a place to shoot out to 600 or 800 yards with it.
However when I got it home I removed the bolt and put the bore guide in the action. put my 6.5mm jag on the cleaning rod and a solvent patch. I pushed the jag into the bore and it got a bit tight so I tapped the handle of the Dewey rod so the patch would engage the rifling. WRONG. The patch, jag and rod got stuck! I could not get it out nohow. I even put vise grips on the rod and tried tapping it out and it was stuck.
After about an hour of trying I took it over to my local gunsmith. He called me last night to say he got it out my using different lengths of bore size brass rods and a press then polished the bore. Going to pick it up this afternoon. I just hope I didn't cause any damage to the bore. He said it looks fine.
My thought is how did that patch/rod get stuck so quickly. The only thing I can figure is the patch rolled over on itself and formed a wedge.
However when I got it home I removed the bolt and put the bore guide in the action. put my 6.5mm jag on the cleaning rod and a solvent patch. I pushed the jag into the bore and it got a bit tight so I tapped the handle of the Dewey rod so the patch would engage the rifling. WRONG. The patch, jag and rod got stuck! I could not get it out nohow. I even put vise grips on the rod and tried tapping it out and it was stuck.
After about an hour of trying I took it over to my local gunsmith. He called me last night to say he got it out my using different lengths of bore size brass rods and a press then polished the bore. Going to pick it up this afternoon. I just hope I didn't cause any damage to the bore. He said it looks fine.
My thought is how did that patch/rod get stuck so quickly. The only thing I can figure is the patch rolled over on itself and formed a wedge.
#3
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 2,743

well I hope its all good, and should be, I have seen this happen many times over the yrs, with customers and friends
and your about right on how it happens,
it normally happens when a person pushes rod forward then slightly backs things up and then goes forward again,
as its amazing how strong a small patch can be when things bind in a bore or tight place!
as for fixes I think your smith did it right
I have also see some guys spray solvent (or likes) down the bore and light it on fire to burn the patch free!
NOT so bad maybe if you use brass patch pullers or jag's, but if you use them plastic one's could make for issue cleaning the bore free
I had a fun game like this 2 weeks ago
but a gallon of HD greaser, placed it on the floor in the back seat of my truck, wedged it between two large bags of cat food(for my mother)
on the way home the plastic jug the seam cracked, dumping the whole gallon out, NOT a happy camper with that got home shop vac'd what I could, but ended up having to remove the passenger front seat as a pool of the stuff was under the caret and would never dry
Well as in life, 3 of the 4 bolts holding the seat down came out OK, the last one, snapped 1/2 way out
tried heat, and vice grips, but not enough to grab,
so, time to drill it out
drilled first hole thru center fine, second fine tired Bit broke off in things< ??
knew I had a hole thru bolt, OK< tried tapping broken bit out from bottom, NO go
then , tried to drill from bottom up thru things to clear broken drill bit!
well was working could feel drill bit spinning, then SNAP< broke another drill bit off when things bound up as I was drilling
WHAT fun, , cut bolt flush and re tapped a center hole and drilled things out again, then tapped things out and got that fixed
But this darn degreaser just won't dry, been two + weeks now,(ran a hair dryer on things for 8 hrs a day for 5 days too trying to dry it out) and things still wet, its all sucked up in the factory foam on the bottom of the carpet, tried baking soda and water to thin it(as it already ate the paint of the seat bottom, )
what a mess, this turned out to be,
these dam trucks ain't cheap for this crap to be happening either! ,
BUT man fun like that will make you use a lot of foul words and make you want a stiff drink! or a few ! HAHA!
and your about right on how it happens,
it normally happens when a person pushes rod forward then slightly backs things up and then goes forward again,
as its amazing how strong a small patch can be when things bind in a bore or tight place!
as for fixes I think your smith did it right
I have also see some guys spray solvent (or likes) down the bore and light it on fire to burn the patch free!
NOT so bad maybe if you use brass patch pullers or jag's, but if you use them plastic one's could make for issue cleaning the bore free
I had a fun game like this 2 weeks ago
but a gallon of HD greaser, placed it on the floor in the back seat of my truck, wedged it between two large bags of cat food(for my mother)
on the way home the plastic jug the seam cracked, dumping the whole gallon out, NOT a happy camper with that got home shop vac'd what I could, but ended up having to remove the passenger front seat as a pool of the stuff was under the caret and would never dry
Well as in life, 3 of the 4 bolts holding the seat down came out OK, the last one, snapped 1/2 way out
tried heat, and vice grips, but not enough to grab,
so, time to drill it out
drilled first hole thru center fine, second fine tired Bit broke off in things< ??
knew I had a hole thru bolt, OK< tried tapping broken bit out from bottom, NO go
then , tried to drill from bottom up thru things to clear broken drill bit!
well was working could feel drill bit spinning, then SNAP< broke another drill bit off when things bound up as I was drilling
WHAT fun, , cut bolt flush and re tapped a center hole and drilled things out again, then tapped things out and got that fixed
But this darn degreaser just won't dry, been two + weeks now,(ran a hair dryer on things for 8 hrs a day for 5 days too trying to dry it out) and things still wet, its all sucked up in the factory foam on the bottom of the carpet, tried baking soda and water to thin it(as it already ate the paint of the seat bottom, )
what a mess, this turned out to be,
these dam trucks ain't cheap for this crap to be happening either! ,
BUT man fun like that will make you use a lot of foul words and make you want a stiff drink! or a few ! HAHA!
Last edited by mrbb; 09-21-2021 at 11:04 AM.
#5

This is the first time this ever happened to me. I was always able to get a tight patch out. I'm going to look around for a 1/4" solid brass rod about 3' long. Cut 12" off and have a 1' and a 2' piece to use in case I have to tap a patch/rod out of the bore.
#6

Leave the rod full length. Seams between the rod ends, if you ever have to drive a bullet farther than 2ft, are still able to damage the bore. Throwing an egg at a window can still break a window if you throw it hard enough. Same same.
#7

I hope I never have to go through this again but it would be good to be prepared.
#9