I have a 6933 Commando with a broken shell stuck in the chamber. I'm the Dept armorer and was given the rifle by the issued officer. He was firing frangible ammo at training when he encountered a failure to feed/seat problem. He realized it was a broken casing and took the rifle out of service.

We had to order a broken shell extractor from Brownells, which came in on Monday. I just spent the last 2 hours trying to remove the case with this tool with no luck. We had this same problem with our Team rifles at training and I was able to fix it by using a chamber brush and/or bore brush, but this guy wouldn't come out.

What else can I do? Does anyone have a "little trick" they have used? We were able to trace the problem back to a bad batch of ammo from the manurfacturer. They said they received brass that was out of spec "with thin wall casings." They replaced all of our frangible.

Do you have a CO2 fire extinguisher nearing its hydro date?  Use it to blast the chamber, just a single blast, then quickly use the extractor.

If not, get some dry ice.  Wearing heavy gloves, chip off a small piece that will fit into the broken shell.  Let is chill for a few minutes, then remove the dry ice pellet and use the extractor.

Or, do you have a CO2 inflator?  The kind used for bicycles?  That might work, discharge with the neck pointing down, it has about 5 grams of liquid CO2 in it.  Prechilling the cartridge in a freezer also helps.

These methods will not harm the chamber.  Remember, that extractor needs the case mouth to be a bit shorter than the chamber.  If the sharp lip somes out with tiny shavings of brass, it might not work.  Then a chamber brush is about the only way.  Using a rapid chill method will still work with the brush.  Chill the brush in dry ice pellets, this also helps.

Thank you, I'll try those tomorrow and see if it will work.

good luck

This may sound crazy but I've used it for other things that needed some 'shrink' using cold... There are 'freeze' wart remedies (yes, wart) that have a little can of some sort of liquid that when sprayed evaporates very quickly and 'coldly', if that's a word. That might work in a pinch though I've never tried it on a stuck broken shell...

Quoted: I have a 6933 Commando with a broken shell stuck in the chamber. I'm the Dept armorer and was given the rifle by the issued officer. He was firing frangible ammo at training when he encountered a failure to feed/seat problem. He realized it was a broken casing and took the rifle out of service. We had to order a broken shell extractor from Brownells, which came in on Monday. I just spent the last 2 hours trying to remove the case with this tool with no luck. We had this same problem with our Team rifles at training and I was able to fix it by using a chamber brush and/or bore brush, but this guy wouldn't come out. What else can I do? Does anyone have a "little trick" they have used? We were able to trace the problem back to a bad batch of ammo from the manurfacturer. They said they received brass that was out of spec "with thin wall casings." They replaced all of our frangible.

Does the broken shell extractor not get a bite?

Or is it that you can not pull back on the charging handle like it is stuck?

If it is the latter then I assume it is stuck in there and if so use the pull and pound method of pulling back on charging handle and pounding the butt stock down on something.

If the broken shell extractor is not getting a bite you might have to have it machined out.

It might be easier to disassemble the rifle remove the barrel to work on this sucker to give you more options on where to hit it with that bigger hammer.

if nothing works you can always ream it out with a chamber reamer. doug

I've removed broken cases using a bore brush a couple times.

I'd try soaking the broken case and chamber with penetrating oil (I like Kroil) for a day or so, so it can get around the case walls. Get a good sturdy cleaning rod and screw a .40 brush on it. Run the brush straight into the broken case and pull it back out. It should work. The bristles on the brush will get bent back going into the case and will grip the case walls when you pull back on it.