wad stuck in barrel

[JuliW]

Was duck hunting yesterday and returned home yesterday evening ... This morning, I was cleaning my shotgun and went to clean the barrel... the cleaning snake wouldn't go through. I checked to see if I could see light through the barrel and it was pitch black...Grabbed the cleaning rod and jammed it through - It also would not budge with considerable pressure on my part. Got my boyfriend to help me out and together we rammed the object through...a stuck wad.

I thought back to yesterday's shooting. I had one dud shell. I fired, the shotgun 'popped' - I have shot enough rifles and shotguns to know what a dud is so I ejected the shell - and as I recall it had not even opened. I don't recall my last shot yesterday, but am fairly confident the dud was not the last one.

At any rate, I feel lucky..maybe very lucky...that however it happened, that was my last shot of the day. I was shooting factory loads - 3" number 4's. Not sure of the brand, but off the top of my head, winchester.

What might be the cause of this, besides being an ammo issue? and can you tell for sure every time it occurs?

Scares me to think what would have happened on the next shot, because that wad was STUCK hard.

[4merguide]

Scares me to think what would have happened on the next shot, because that wad was STUCK hard.

Wow......that's a scary thought for sure. No help here other than like you say "and ammo issue". I'm curious as to where along the barrel it was lodged.....near the muzzle? For some reason I've only thought that this might occur shooting light target loads. Never would think it could happen with heavy waterfowl loads.

I think you got very lucky........extremely glad you and your scatter gun are still in one piece.

[.338WM]

Quite possible it was too light a powder charge, or incomplete ignition from the factory round. The shot having more weight/inertia and lower friction than the wad was able to clear the barrel, while the wad, having slight weight/inertia and high friction was unable, obviously, to clear the barrel.

Good to hear you are uninjured!

[AGL4now]

What Type of action does the firearm have.......??? If the wad did not exit then there shoud have been zero recoil......Right.....???

If it was me I would dissassemble all remaining shotshells rather than throw them away. However I guess they could be safely fired in a break-open type action, with a visual before chambering next shell.

[catchfish]

Could they have gotten real wet if you had one dud and then another possible low order ignition makes me think maybe they had gotten wet.

[JuliW]

I think you got very lucky........extremely glad you and your scatter gun are still in one piece.

yep...grateful for some Divine intervention!

Good to hear you are uninjured!

Me too! or my hunting partner for that matter!

What Type of action does the firearm have.......??? If the wad did not exit then there shoud have been zero recoil......Right.....???

If it was me I would dissassemble all remaining shotshells rather than throw them away. However I guess they could be safely fired in a break-open type action, with a visual before chambering next shell.

AGL4NOW - semi auto - I simply don't recall the recoil being different...but you are correct that one would expect less recoil, given the issue at hand. There were only 5 shells left, and I plan to run them through one at a time, checking the barrel between shots. Unless that is a bad idea. LOL.

Catchfish - I did have some shells fall to the bottom of the boat in the standing water, but they weren't there for long...I never considered it an issue, though your mention of 2 in the same box does give one to consider being wet as a viable possibility for the issue? For sure I will from now on make sure my shotshells stay dry.

[AGL4now]

don't think wet shells is the problem.........unless they are "Paper" Hulls, which I doubt. I am old enough that I remember when plastic shotgun shells were first invented. And to sell the idea to the public the first advertisments were......."You can soak them in water for a month and they will not fail" "If ONE shell ever fails, we will give you a whole case for free". And the advertisment showed three shells in a quart jar of water. Yep, I would do anything for a case of free shells, so I bought a box of "MARK V" and put six in a bucket of water for a month. I did not get any free shotshells.

Also water would most likely hurt the primer if anything and where-as it did fire that was not an issue. The reason I don't see water getting past the wad and into the power is that slug loads have no crimp, and are fully open.

[VernAK]

Check your bore for plastic build-up that may be hindering passage of wads.