There are only two types of shooters: those who have had stuck bullets and those who will. If you shoot enough, and especially if you shoot handloads, odds are pretty darn good that you or someone you are shooting with will experience a stuck bullet. Fortunately, there's a simple and easy way to remove a stuck bullet when it happens.

Removal of a stuck bullet begins with determining just where the bullet is located. This is done by marking the shaft of a cleaning rod at the muzzle while it is resting against the stuck bullet.

A stuck bullet is generally caused by defective ammo. In most cases with handloads, there was insufficient powder to push the bullet all the way out the bore. More often than not, this shouldn't cause any major problems if it is dealt with properly. The problems arise when improper technique is used to remove the bullet.

The classic case for me occurred years ago when a fellow brought a .22 rifle into my shop. He had been shooting and noticed that he didn't observe a bullet impact after firing. He thought he might have stuck a bullet in the barrel, so he went back home and tried unsuccessfully to remove the bullet. I knew there was trouble when he brought the rifle into my shop because there was a piece of arc welding rod sticking out the barrel! I eventually cleared the bore of several pieces of assorted welding rods and wire along with a single .22 lead bullet. Incredibly, after all of that there was little or no damage to the bore. I have seen more damage done to barrels from attempts to clear the obstruction than caused by the stuck bullet itself.

This spring I was out on a prairie dog expedition with a group of friends. The night before we headed back home one of my buddies brought me his custom .17-caliber Ruger No. 1 with a bullet stuck in the bore. He had tried to remove the bullet with a cleaning rod but had been unsuccessful so he asked me to take at look at it.

I took the rifle back to my shop so I would have access to my tools. I had no idea where the bullet was located or if, for that matter, there was just one bullet.

Step 1: Locate The Bullet
The first task was to determine the location of the stuck bullet as that could affect how I would approach removing it. To do this I carefully ran a carbon fiber rod down the barrel from the muzzle until it contacted the bullet. I then made a mark on the rod at the point where it entered the muzzle. The rod was removed and laid along the barrel with this mark even with the muzzle. A mark was then made on the outside of the barrel at the end of the rod. This indicated the front, or muzzle, end of the obstruction. The same procedure was followed from the breech end to locate the rear end of the obstruction and to make a second locating mark on the barrel. Now I knew where the obstruction was and its length. In this case it was obviously a single bullet and was located about one inch ahead of the end of the chamber.

The rod is then removed, laid along the barrel with the locating mark even with the muzzle, and a mark is made on the outside of the barrel at the end of the rod. This mark corresponds to the front end of the stuck bullet.

Step 2: Drive The Bullet Out

My friend had tried unsuccessfully to drive the bullet out with a cleaning rod from the muzzle. I generally find that it's best not to apply force to the front end of a stuck bullet in a rifle especially if it's a bullet that is designed to easily expand or mushroom because what happens is that the rod expands the bullet and wedges it tighter in the bore.

If the knock-out rod is too small, the point of the bullet can force it off to the side into the wall of the bore. This could result in a scratch or other damage to the bore from the rod. Make sure your rod is as large in diameter as possible that will still move freely in the bore.

For that reason, I will tend to drive a bullet out the muzzle from the breech end.

A word of caution is definitely in order here. Many years ago I heard of an accident that took place in a gunsmith shop.

A gunsmith was tasked with removing a stuck bullet from a rifle. Using a steel rod that closely fit the bore, he inserted it from the breech until it contacted the base of the bullet. He then took a large hammer and struck the end of the rod to begin driving the bullet out the muzzle.