Sheared off Carrier key, bullet stuck in barrel. help analyze

[thenodnarb]

Here are the pertinent facts:
I'm new to the 300 whisper. I've got a 16" barrel with the gas port in the pistol position. I was playing around with really light loads seeing how quiet I could get it.
The load that I fired when the problem occured:
168gr BTHP speer "Hot core"
7 grains of 2400
CCI 400 primer
PMC brass

Most of my brass is lake city and winchester. PMC seemed to be within spec when I measured the necks before loading bullets.

I have an A2 stock with a carbine buffer spring and a rifle buffer with all the weights removed.

I had previously in the day fired the same loads with as little as 5 grains of 2400. It cycled fine and even locked back on empty. I had shot 30 plus rounds of the above load(with 7 grains of 2400) on a previous day with basically no problems. I'm having some magazine issues but I think that is unrelated.




2 questions:
Why did the bullet get stuck?
Why did the carrier key shear rather than just cycle?

I have my theories but I was hoping someone with more experience could help me understand this failure.

EDIT:
additional question: Whats the best way to get the bullet out? Pound it out? Shoot it out with a bulletless load? Should I pound it out from the back or the front? The bullet is stuck about 3" into the bore.

[i8asquirrel]

Dont try and shoot it out ,you could bulge barrel. b urst barrel.....I would push it out from the rear. The bullet is already formed to your bore, I have had bullets stick in my 308 win. while working down sub loads and was able to push out with no damage to bore. your set up sounds just like my whisper, ( have not used any 2400) i have been using 1680 nat the advice of some of the guys here. Good luck

[thenodnarb]

well I've been trying to pound it out. It is REALLY stuck in there. I've had to pound out squibs before in a .45 and it was difficult but not THIS difficult. I even tried from the muzzle carefully so as not to damage the crown. I realized after trying a few times from either direction that there is obviously a bullet 3" past the chamber but there is also an obstruction about 3" from the end of the chamber as well. It COULD be just the several cleaning patches I ran down from either end trying not to mar the barrel, but worst case it could be two squibs. I think I would have noticed the first squib.

Crap. My only hope now is that the charge was so light that the carrier key is the only victim. Hope I didn't fubar my barrel. Its pretty heavy and doesn't look bulged but ya never know.

But seriously this thing wont budge. Currently I'm trying to use a cleaning rod from a mosin nagant. I've already ruined the rod a bit from pounding but I can sacrifice a cleaning rod for my barrel. The rod fits the bore pretty well but is loose enough to fit a patch around the end.
This really sucks. Any help on ideas would be appreciated. Is there any other way to get this thing out? Could a gunsmith get it out properly? What technique would he use?

EDIT: the more I think about this and the incident leading up to the failure, the more I think there could be several bullets in the bore. I was experimenting with some 220grain nosler partitions just prior to shooting this load. It was only around 6 grains of 2400 behind the 220grain nosler bullet. This load had several issues: I would get a failure to eject(a stovepipe), and the buffer spring made a strange noise. I cannot definitively recall rounds impacting on target with this load.
There is about a 6 or 8" long section of the barrel between the obstructions. They could be just lined right up in there back to back, expanded all to hell! I'm lucky to be unscathed! I guess all the pressure from these really light loads were venting out the gas tube! This could explain the strange noise in the buffer(overgassing).

So if I have 4 or 5 bullets lined up in the bore, what kind of gunsmith am I going to have to find that can remove such a cluster*%&^? Pounding them out has got to be out. Perhaps a big press, or drilling them out somehow?

[tp555]

Doesn't look good.You could heat the barrel to melt out the lead but the copper jackets are still a problem.Had a customer that put 5 rounds in after a squib load and it didn't work out.Put a rod in from both ends and see how much is clogged.If you can dissolve the copper you have a chance.

[BWE Firearms]

Ten to one you have multiple bullets in your bore. One bullet you can drive out with a rod. More then one bullet you just compact the bullets together making things worse. In a case like yours I usually recomend just getting a new barrel because of the cost of removing the bullets and the fact that there is a very good chance your barrel has a ring in it it is cheeper to replace the barrel. I usually only recommend removing the bullets if the barrel is irreplacable because of collectors value. I am more then happy to do the work for you but I just want you to be aware that we might remove the bullets and the barrel is no good.

This is a great example of making sure your bullets have left the bore after every shot when shooting light loads.

[Titleiiredneck]

nevermind, just get a new barrel!