bullet stuck in chamber

Stogies

Stogies

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We had an issue at the range today and had a bullet stuck in the chamber of an AR, apparently a light primer strike and when we pulled the charging handle back to chamber a new one the old one was not ejected. Any hacks on an easy way to get it out?
 
A cleaning rod and a few light taps might do it. It really depends on how hard it is stuck. If the primer detonated but not the powder charge (if it was charged to begin with), it might need more force than a few light taps.

Did the whole case extract and just leave the bullet or is the case still in the chamber?
 
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I used a cleaning handle and tapped mine out. It was on a 6.5 Grendel with a serious undercharge.
 
Howland said:
A cleaning rod and a few light taps might do it. It really depends on how hard it is stuck. If the primer detonated but not the powder charge (if it was charged to begin with), it might need more force than a few light taps.

Did the whole case extract and just leave the bullet or is the case still in the chamber?
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Case is still in. I think it was light primer strike and nothing happened at all.
 
Stogies said:
Are you just joking around or do you actually remember when I had that happen some ten years ago?
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ncav8tor said:
If you are reluctant to use a cleaning rod, you can go a Ace hardware or any such place and buy a wooden rod that won’t scratch the barrel.


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@Stogies
Don't know if it was you or not, but this issue provided many hours, days, weeks and months of mirth.
We are a simple people to please, we folks of CFF.
 
I tried a wooden rod first and it just splintered.
 
In my case it would have been around 2011-13 as best as I can recall.

While we are on the funny memes: Sometimes people have such great hacks. On my Cetme which has the famous roller delayed blowback system I had worked on cleaning it when the rollers popped out of the bolt and would not go back in. Pages of suggestions in the forum on how to fix it until somebody finally said "Please do none of that. Put the bolt carrier group back into the receiver backwards, make sure you are on soft carpet and give the whole thing one smack to the ground". Rollers popped right back out...
 
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If I understood your right you said nothing happened. Was that as in no noise at all and now the whole cartridge is stuck in the chamber. If so be extremely careful as you have what could be a live round stuck. Wouldn't want to set it off while trying to get it out.
 
Don’t use A wood dowel, it’ll split on the bullet and get jammed into the throat. The next step is then to add a lubricant which causes the wood to swell. Much hilarity follows for the rest of is, but you may not see it the same way.

brass rod is the best solution, cleaning rod is a distant second best. I’ve used a steel rod wrapped in electrical tape.
 
Schattenreiter said:
If I understood your right you said nothing happened. Was that as in no noise at all and now the whole cartridge is stuck in the chamber. If so be extremely careful as you have what could be a live round stuck. Wouldn't want to set it off while trying to get it out.
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You are correct, the round did not go off and the primer has been struck. We kept pointing it downrange once we realized it was a dudd. Do you think tapping it from the side of the bullet would be of any concern? I don't see how that should set it off.
 
Stogies said:
when we pulled the charging handle back to chamber a new one the old one was not ejected.
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Factory or reloads?
If reloads I'm thinking neck too long, got jammed in the chamber and the case rim failed when BCG was pulled back.
No seeing if it was fired as you said 'light primer strikes so be careful, it's still live.
 
Stogies said:
We had an issue at the range today and had a bullet stuck in the chamber of an AR, apparently a light primer strike and when we pulled the charging handle back to chamber a new one the old one was not ejected. Any hacks on an easy way to get it out?
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If the bolt is in battery I would seperate the upper / lower and cock the hammer and try to shoot the round a second time.

If the live round is stuck with the bullet, first thing is flip the gun up on it's stock fill the barrel from the muzzle side with oil.

Let some in and hopefully get the powder wet so it will not ignite.

Then take a brass cleaning rod, drop it in the barrel and hit with a hammer.

Repeat until complete
 
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Take it to a person/qualified gunsmith to first remove the case and powder, then work on removing the bullet if still lodged in the barrel. Safety first always.
 
Stogies said:
You are correct, the round did not go off and the primer has been struck. We kept pointing it downrange once we realized it was a dudd. Do you think tapping it from the side of the bullet would be of any concern? I don't see how that should set it off.
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You can beat on the bullet end for a month of Sundays. You have a very minor problem, try not to turn it into a major problem.
 
Alright, honest question and asking for my own knowledge. Thinking about this from a mechanical perspective.

Why couldn’t you fill the barrel with oil/water/liquid etc, insert a properly sized wooden dowel past the gas port and give it one good whack with a hammer? Hydraulic pressure should exert mostly even pressure across the entire bullet surface and pop it out, right? No risk in scaring the barrel and no risk in splintering a dowel.

Would that risk any kind of detonation?
 
hp468 said:
Alright, honest question and asking for my own knowledge. Thinking about this from a mechanical perspective.

Why couldn’t you fill the barrel with oil/water/liquid etc, insert a properly sized wooden dowel past the gas port and give it one good whack with a hammer? Hydraulic pressure should exert mostly even pressure across the entire bullet surface and pop it out, right? No risk in scaring the barrel and no risk in splintering a dowel.

Would that risk any kind of detonation?
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This would work, but I’d pour in heavy oil, follow that with a lead slug that fills the bore, and then use a brass rod and hammer. A properly sized wooden dowel has no advantages and lots of disadvantages.

You can also run a hollow tube down the barrel then use that as a guide to drill out the bullet. Pour out the powder the best you can and pour in thin oil in the hopes of deactivating the primer. Then tap it out with a brass rod.

As with most things in life there are plenty of hard/complicated ways to do this if that’s what someone enjoys.
 
^^^^6. Hold the rod tip 10-12 inches above the lodged bullet/stuck case and release the rod allowing gravity to accelerate.
7. For large calibers, severely lodged bullets or stuck cases, additional drops may be required.
DO NOT USE ANY OBJECTS TO HIT ROD HANDLE
AS DAMAGE TO ROD AND FIREARM COULD OCCUR

Sounds like a plan to me. Just use gravity & let it fall.
 
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Did you mortar it?
Is rim ruined or can claw still grab it?

What kind of ammo is it? Any steel case?
 
You might try inserting a small screw driver or some other object that does not mar the finish between the front of the ejection port and the bolt carrier to see if you can lever it back just a bit. That has worked for me on several occasions. You could also go up in through the magazine well to do the same thing. It may not work but is worth a try.
 
Hope it's not a 300blk jammed in there. If it the the light strike was a blessing in disguise.
 
NKD said:
Did you mortar it?
Is rim ruined or can claw still grab it?

What kind of ammo is it? Any steel case?
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The claw does not seem to be able to get it and it is steel cased TULA.
 
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Do like the guy on the video shows, called motaring. Compress stock, hold light pressure on charging handle and give a smack on table or floor. The sudden jar will dislodge round. Don't take much if you have not already snatched rim off. Steel case ammo is for commies, not AR-15.
 
So it turns out the round fired, all that came out with the help of the cleaning rod was an empty casing. So how did that happen?
 
Stogies said:
So it turns out the round fired, all that came out with the help of the cleaning rod was an empty casing. So how did that happen?
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So round fired, case failed to extract, efforts to retract the bolt caused the extractor to tear the rim?

Confirm that the extractor hook is still in good shape.
Clean the chamber then look in there for machining marks, but probably just got dirty enough to cause a problem.
 
The chamber could have been finish reamed with a dull reamer. Dull tooling "tears" the metal instead of cutting it, thus leaving small, sharp,torn, edges in the chamber finish. Dull chamber tooling also undersizes the chamber. The steel case probably went into battery in a slightly undersized chamber and got hung on the sharp edges. As @JimB mentioned, a dirty chamber magnifies the problem.

Got any good pics of the case?
 
Stogies said:
So it turns out the round fired, all that came out with the help of the cleaning rod was an empty casing. So how did that happen?
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Like the others said + steel case isn’t as forgiving as brass. A lot of folks have zero problems with steel case ammo in their ar15s and then there’s the occasional situation like you found yourself in.
 
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