Thanks for the help.

Wew!... got it out.

I shoved a rod of cold rolled steel down the barrel and whacked the cr*p out of it!..

...but then I wouldn't be sittin' here postin' if I did that now would I. You guys are smarter than that..

Few taps with the mallet and it came free. last time I ever use anyones reloads, that I'm not familliar with. I've had them things for bout 10 years.

Now my problem is bees. I was setting my 50 yrd target up behind the house and got stung, then 3 more came at me- I ran back in the house and they must have been on my arse, cause as soon as I got in, so were they.

They stung me 2 mores times til I could kill em'.

Just little yellow bees. We live in the woods in N. Cal, but I've never seen these before..

marlin:

You had me scared with that first sentence! WHEW!!

Them "little yellow bees", if they're bee-shaped, but not fuzzy, and are bright yellow and black striped - without the thin "wasp waist" - are probably yellowjackets, which infest Northern California. They live in the ground, eat flesh (they LOVE bacon in a campfire skillet!) as well as fruit, and are quite aggressive. They sting harder than bees, and can sting repeatedly, while a bee dies after one hit with her barbed stinger. I stepped into a nest of them as a kid; you're lucky you got away with as few stings as you did. You can get a yellowjacket trap at the local hardware or feed store, bait it with meat, and it will clean them out in short order.

Glad the bolt came free as easy as it did!

floodgate

The yellow-jackets are throughout here too (SW Virginia). Look for a 1" hole in the ground. Often the nest is just underground. I can tell some stories about mowing with a sidebar mower. Horse and all ended up in the pond. Nasty critters!

After the stings burning all day, one on my back, 2 on my left arm, they swelled up and have been itchin' all night.

These are different for up here.

We've got the yellow jacket wasp, that make their upside down nest under the eaves of the house- they don't bite.

We've got the meat eaters- yellow kinda long- they've never bitten.

We've got big black and yellow bumble bees- they are the pollen gatherers and they are completely dosile.

But now these ones that attacked me- are small short bodied, yellow with black stripes. They dive bombed me, and one did bite me twice.

I'm gona buy a bee keepers suit, and hike through the woods back their till I find the nest, the I'm gonna kill em'. Don't know how, but I'm gonna kill the little bastreeds...

I've got 2 nice M-1917 Enfield Sporters. One a Remington and one an Eddystone.



Well... the Remington I bought last year, and have had some work done on it (never shot it), the Eddystone was my first bolt action rifle.



The Rem was leaded pretty bad, and I had been trying to get it all out with Blue Wonder. It was taking forever, so I decided to shoot some out with some condom bullets. Couldn't find a box of factory loads so I remembered I had some re-loads a guy gave me.



I was hesitant to shoot them, but I did and the Remington fired them fine. I went in and grabbed my old Eddystone, chambered a round and the bolt wouldn't lay down. I had a hell of a time getting it back out, then like a dumb arse, I chambered another one and this time it stuck for good.



I can't get the bolt down to fire, and I can't get it out. I noticed the fired brass from the ejected Rem had gouge scratches 1/4" up from the rim, and the same with the one round I was able to get out of the Eddystone.



The cases weren't buldged and measured .470 on spec (30/06).



Never had any problem with my old Eddystone.



Any ideas on what happended?





I just found that the O.D. on the case heads are .468 and the book shows .473... problem?

It sounds like the rounds were a little long (from base to midpoint on shoulder) for your chambers. Could have happened that they were loaded for another iron that had more 'headspace' than your irons. Headspace is the clearance (needed) between the bolt head and the base of the bullet. If there is none, or less than none, the bolt will close hard or harder.

When one neck-sizes only, the shoulder of the round is not adjusted back at all. That is exactly what you want if you are loading for ONE chamber.

Can you get the bolt out and run a cleaning rod down the barrel to tap it out?

Nope.

I got the bolt out the first time, but after the second time I haven't been able to get it out.

Looking at my other M17, the bolt has to come straight back, so the only thing that could be holding it in is the cart case for what ever reason.



I think I'm going to gently tap the bolt back with a mallet, everthing being pointed down range of course and with saftey glasses... or maybe better yet my welding helmet..

Using the mallet is the method a gunsmith would most likely apply. Just be gentle. It is not impossible to break the bolt handle off, and have to reweld it. You have about the same odds as the gunsmith.

Thanks Ric...



But if you break off the handle, then what do you do?...



Remove the barrel?

I don't know if it would be possible to push in on the extractor to have the front bend out slightly? Maybe this will let the bolt come out without the cartrige. If the bolt is all the way up, then the mallet will probably pull the case out with the bolt. I believe the M17 bolt handle is all one piece with the bolt body. I'm thinking that you would have to pound really hard to bend it let alone break it.

HEY, DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES POUND ON THE BULLET WITH A ROD TO REMOVE A LOADED ROUND FROM THE BARREL! Get the bolt out and take the rifle to a gunsmith or take the whole thing to him. Pounding a loaded round out can make it fire with disasterous results both in front and behind the gun. If the bolt and round won't come out with a mallet, have an expert work on it.

Pour a little penetrating oil or WD-40 down the barrel and let it sit for a few hours to let the oil soak in around the case. Then, tap the bolt handle gently with a plastic or leather mallet. be bery sure to totally degraese that chamber after you get the bullet out.

On removing lead from heavily leaded barrels, keep it simple. The easiest method is most likely no longer available, thanks to the EPA. Plug the barrel and fill it with mercury. That's how us old timers did it.
Nowadays, probably the easiest way to do it is to go to the store and get a soapless scouring pad. I think the one wioth soap is called Chore Girl and the soapless one, Chore Boy, but as long as it it soapless and is either copper or brass, it will work. Take a bronze cleaning brush and wrap a few strands from the scouring pad and have at it. Make sure it's a reasonably tight fit. A really bad job might take all of five minutes, ten at the very most.
Trying to remove leading by shooting a few jacketed bullets just irons the lead into the barrel metal.
Paul B.