Thread: Stick a bullet in your muzzle?

When I was a kid I saw some old blokes (when they were looking at .303s), hold a loaded .303 cartridge and push the bullet ogive into the rifle's muzzle.

Over the years I've seen it done a few other times on .303s... guessed it was to check how good the barrel was due to how much rifling had been worn down by the bullet.

However I know now, that a bullet going down the barrel isn't what causes a barrel to wear out. It's the heat generated by the burning powder ahead of the chamber. So it's only the throat and start of rifling that 'burns out', not the rest of the barrels rifling.

So has anyone seen this 'bullet in muzzle trick' done before?... and what is the actual reason for it?

because many barrels were poked by inproper use of a pull through...constantly sawing away on edge of barrel plus corrosive ammunition... the theory was if bullet would fall in the end..it wont get much help on way out..surprisinly some of them still shoot.

Well, possibly minute of barndoor.. My brothers had a Rem .308 semi on their commercial boat and that would allow a bullet in the muzzle to the base of the neck. They still shot deer with it occasionally!


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303 corrosive ammo is very acidic


The muzzle end always got wet in the rain and the acidic sludge in the barrel ate the rifling to the point you could fit a projectile in there by hand

Seen some horrendous 308 barrels on cullers rifles

You physically can’t see the rifling in the first inch back from the muzzle

It’s rain plus corrosive residue

It was a basic way to see if that barrel is poked

Reminds me of a story which I think I posted a couple of years ago.
In my teens I used to stay at a mate's place. His father was a farm manager. Hanging on the back of the wash house door was the classic cut down wood 303. His father used to tell us stories about super long range kills with this rifle.
Father went to town one day so mate and I got the rifle and first of all checked the barrel. It was shocking. So, we cleaned it with brasso. Then we set up a target at 100yds. We could not hit the target. Moved up to 50 yds and we got the odd shot on paper, sideways.
Then did the old bullet in the muzzle check and it went in right up the projectile and was only stopped going further by the brass.
The rifle was put back on the back of the wash house door. We never said a word to my mate's father.

Looking at it from the other end. I measured the freebore on a martini Enfield I was interested in, dropped a projectile in the breech then ran some of that plastic coated spring curtain wire up behind it. It kept going and going finally stopping 18 inches down the barrel. The projectile however didn't fall through from the muzzle.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

Looking at it from the other end. I measured the freebore on a martini Enfield I was interested in, dropped a projectile in the breech then ran some of that plastic coated spring curtain wire up behind it. It kept going and going finally stopping 18 inches down the barrel. The projectile however didn't fall through from the muzzle.

an old hunter at Wangamomona got me to look at his early BRNO 270 and give him a value - bugger me the barrel was munted and rusty -so I suggested around $500-600 for action and woodwork - old boy was quite put out and claimed it was a highly accurate rifle - yeah maybe in 1957 when new

From "The British Service Lee" by Ian Skennerton: it would seem that an Enfield .303 could be .303 over lands, and a bore up to 0.314" at the breech end and up to 0.316 at the muzzle. (The British Army had a muzzle bore diameter that was the acceptable upper limit of wear for a military .303.) Gundoc?

if it was .316 in groves and still .303 on lands it would still have plenty of spin capability...if it was .316 in grooves and .310 on lands however...its rooted LOL.

This was the first thing I did when I brought my 303 a few years ago, the barrel seemed to be in good condition. Took it out and had a bit of a play with it , found it was all over the place but I put it down to the bedding of the stock and because it was a sporter. Looking back on it I think I need to spend more time shooting it and getting used to the old girl. Practice my trigger pull and all that good stuff.

I have .303 barrels you can drop .312 bullet in and they fall all the way through.. the pic is is one said barrel off a Lee Speed with the bullet sitting about 6" from the muzzle..
Checking a muzzle like that is a rough indication that the barrel might still shoot.

Oil does not compress. I had a number of shooters discover this the hard way. A lot of shooters belief that it is possible to shoot the oil out of a barrel.

It ain, what will happen is that the bullet will catch up to the oil, pass over it and since there is nowhere but OUTWARDS to go, the barrel get stretched.
Thats 1 reason.

Using a silencer amd not cleaning regularly is another.
Shooting a dirty/dusty barrel will also do this.(dust enters the muzzle and settles within the first few inches, fire enough bullets over the dust and you'll be able to drop a bullet down the muzzle.