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Post by HighCotton on Jul 13, 2014 13:46:59 GMT -5
I will save the ramrod that came with the Pedersoli Hawken. However, I am looking to make another ramrod out of wood using better brass. My main question is what wood to use? I'm having problems finding a good dowel. I would love to have some walnut but seems to be rare.
I also think the original rod sucks as far as the stain. It was extremely dark and I never cared for the coloratoon from the start.
Any thoughts?
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Post by stevein on Jul 13, 2014 17:25:00 GMT -5
Walnut probably would not work, you want a flexible wood. Hickory, ebony, and baleen ( if you can find it ) were all used on muzzle loaders. Hickory is the easiest to get. I look for straight grain with few run outs I have used ferrules from almost all of the suppliers. For jags, ball pullers ( think wood screw on one end, threads on the other) and patch retrievers ( cork screw w/threads)get the ones with a steel thread. Brass breaks easy.
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Post by HighCotton on Jul 14, 2014 6:08:14 GMT -5
Walnut probably would not work, you want a flexible wood. Hickory, ebony, and baleen ( if you can find it ) were all used on muzzle loaders. Hickory is the easiest to get. I look for straight grain with few run outs I have used ferrules from almost all of the suppliers. For jags, ball pullers ( think wood screw on one end, threads on the other) and patch retrievers ( cork screw w/threads)get the ones with a steel thread. Brass breaks easy. Thanks for the input. I'll do a little more searching and nix the walnut idea. |
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Post by trapperdave on Jul 14, 2014 6:39:15 GMT -5
save the wood for show. get a good range rod. I use aluminums. I use these aramrod.com/if you go with wood, be extremely catious of grain run out. wont take much to break a bad rod and run it thru your hand |
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Post by Woody Williams on Jul 14, 2014 7:01:35 GMT -5
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Post by throbak on Jul 14, 2014 8:19:56 GMT -5
I wouldnd use any thing else but Fiberglass or Aluminum ' wood is for the mantle or show but IMO not for use now with better options
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Post by omegahunter on Jul 14, 2014 10:00:56 GMT -5
I used to really like the old "Rugged Rods" (they may not have been called Rugged Rods at that time) that T/C put out before changing over to the aluminum ones they have now. They used to be a polymer-coated, fiberglass core ramrod with steel bullet seater and threaded jag ferrules. They were pretty much unbreakable, but still had some flex in them.
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Post by cedarthicket on Jul 14, 2014 11:41:23 GMT -5
Roughly 35 to 40 years ago I would compete in ML rifle matches nearly every weekend. I used a fiberglass rod to clean, load, and swab my custom .50 caliber Hawken-style rifle. Typically, at these matches there was a loading bench where you could lean your rifle as you cleaned, loaded, and swabbed the bore. For several years everything was going great. Then one day I looked closely at the muzzle end of the rifling. To my surprise the lands at the 12 and 6 o'clock positions were significantly worn down compared to the other lands. No question that the fiberglass rod had done this. I had never used a bore guide, which some excellent competition shooters highly recommend, considering the relatively soft steel used in many ML rifle barrels.
After that I switched back to a good solid hickory ramrod -- and paid more attention to not getting "sloppy" with how I handled the rod during cleaning, loading, and swabbing chores. Nowadays, most of my ML rifle shooting is associated with preparing for and hunting deer (and hopefully an elk). So, I do not worry about the type of ramrod, even though I still am careful not to get sloppy and damage the rifling at the muzzle.
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Post by HuntMeister on Jul 14, 2014 12:31:05 GMT -5
I like aluminum for in the field use and I have a really nice solid brass range rod that a friend made for me.
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Post by HighCotton on Jul 14, 2014 19:08:16 GMT -5
Thanks for the info guys! I found a good oak dowel in the remnants of my Grandad's wood from his custom cabinet days. So everything for the rod was free. I've used the brass for now, cross pinned and J-B welded... but this will be the ramrod for show. Using a mix of Mahogany and Jacobean stains, the coloration came out pretty close to the stock walnut. At least its a lot better than the original rod! I've got 2 other aluminum rods that I will use as range rods.  |
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Post by HuntMeister on Jul 14, 2014 20:41:54 GMT -5
lookin good!!
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Post by dbd870 on Jul 15, 2014 7:07:20 GMT -5
Looks very nice - good job!
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Post by stevein on Jul 15, 2014 8:04:56 GMT -5
If all you use it for is hunting it should be OK. I was more fortunate than Cedarthicket my fiberglass "coned" the muzzle of my Douglas barreled .50. The wear was even and it does not affect accuracy. All my range rods are equipped with a brass muzzle guide, no wear in thousands of rounds through my Ole Ugly .54 and my .45 halfstock. My original 11 bore had badly coned muzzles from the wear of loading with wooden rods. Any rod that can pick and hold dirt and crud has the potential to do damage to a bore. |
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