Attach tip to ramrod.

[FlinterNick]

You would just unpin and then place the tip on a hot iron for a little while, once you smell burned rubber, it will slide off.

You just want to make sure the epoxy you’re using is not fireproof.

I’ve never been unable to remove a ramrod tip from a broken ramrod regardless of what epoxy I’ve used.

The point of using locktight is so that the tip can handle pulling pressure/strength.

In any event, replacing a ramrod tip or ramrod is not a difficult job, spending 20-50 dollars on parts and maybe 5 hours of labor is always worth a fresh ramrod.

 

[FlinterNick]

The best most proof ramrod tip you can possible have for a rifle or smooth bore is one that is not tipped.

meaning, the rod is just blank with a trumpeted or tapered final. Not impossible to do, I order a hickory dowel from Dunlap with an extra large end about 2-3 inches long and sand down to a tapper. The only thing abstract I do for that type of rod is I add a rear tip for attachments. However this is only for use in the field, I would never use that rod for cleaning.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

the rod is just blank with a trumpeted or tapered final. Not impossible to do

YEP
The first thing I do with a trade gun is to make a ramrod that flares wide at the tip, all one piece of wood. I get a 7/16" rod from Track of the Wolf, and shave it down close to the proper diameter, then finish with sandpaper, leaving the tip at it's original diameter.

LD

 

[FlinterNick]

YEP
The first thing I do with a trade gun is to make a ramrod that flares wide at the tip, all one piece of wood. I get a 7/16" rod from Track of the Wolf, and shave it down close to the proper diameter, then finish with sandpaper, leaving the tip at it's original diameter.

LD

Best practice for a wooden ramrod Dave. Its never failed me with rifles and trade muskets, I even used it on my TOW Long Land Bess, its much better than the traditional brass tip.

 

[rp77469]

A couple of days ago I made a comment about making sure you pin the tip cross grain. Well, today I proved how important that is, especially if you don't epoxy the tip on. A new to me CVA pistol was being reluctant. It came from a flea with no ramrod. At home I discovered it had two .50 caliber ML rifle bullets and a powder charge or two down the barrel with the whole mess semi rusted in place. Kroil and patience let me pull the two bullets after 24 hours and flush out the powder charge. It drained over night.

This morning I was going to brush the barrel...no brush, so tried a cleaning patch on my homemade pistol cleaning rod. This immediately got stuck at the breech plug. I gave the pistol rod a mighty yank and the rod immediately came free...leaving the ramrod tip, jag and patch firmly against the breech. The pin was still intact in the tip. I pulled the clean out screw and dribbled a few grains of 3f in. Took it out behind the garage (I live in Texas, but the Law still frowns on shooting in subdivisions) and dropped the hammer while it was aimed into a bucket half full of cardboard.

The picture shows just how far that squib charge moved the patch, the tip and the jag combination, with the pin still attached to the tip. It took no more than a pound or so of pressure to actually remove the jag from the barrel. I'm surprised it didn't fall out walking back into the shop.

Anyway, pin your tips cross grain AND use epoxy. I evidently did not glue this one at all and had the pin going with the grain instead of across it. The rod worked fine for over 10 years with my other pistols, but they don't have rust. Every other ramrod I own I know is epoxied and pinned correctly. Honest. My new pistol loading rod will have the tip secured correctly. This tip was 0.83 inches long. The next will be 1-1/4 or so for more glue area and to let me secure the pin further from the end of the wood.

None of this is a big deal and I had fun messing with it today.

.

 

[Mad Irish Jack]

There is a glue stick for archers to fasten tips to wooden arrows. It looks like a glue stick, you light it for about 10 seconds, blow out the flame, wipe it on the rod end and push the tip on. Wait until it cools the test that its snug, drill and pin the tip on. Ask an archery expert at their shop. I also use it for fishing gear and wader repairs.

 

[45man]

I made my own arrows forever and the glue is ferrule cement. It will hold 500# if used proper. Heat it to melt without it catching fire. have the rod end hot too. Slide it on and quickly wipe excess. Then pin.

 

[mudcreek]

I too have a .32 crockett. Made a ramrod out of a carefully selected spruce arrow. I coudnt stand that ugly thing they sent from traditions., and it had no tip to speak of.

 

[Dphar1950]

You can also freeze epoxy and it will crumble to pieces.

There are many different grades of Epoxy. Some are far better that others. Avoid the cheap crap in hobby stores. I saw an engine block on a tractor that was patched with JB Weld and it stayed for a number of years SFAIK. In Montana so I know it saw -20 and maybe -40 plus being heated for whatever the thermostat allowed. I use JB regular or Quick or Acra-Glas, usually the gel. For most wood, like chip outs and such or even major breaks I use one the yellow wood glues like tight Tiebond or Elmers Carpenter Glue.

 

[Dphar1950]

Before epoxying I put a dab of grease on the end and threads of a jag and screw it into the the ramrod tip. Keeps the threads clean.

Paste floor wax. Its the only really reliable release agent for Epoxy.

 

[tenngun]

The best most proof ramrod tip you can possible have for a rifle or smooth bore is one that is not tipped.

meaning, the rod is just blank with a trumpeted or tapered final. Not impossible to do, I order a hickory dowel from Dunlap with an extra large end about 2-3 inches long and sand down to a tapper. The only thing abstract I do for that type of rod is I add a rear tip for attachments. However this is only for use in the field, I would never use that rod for cleaning.

Pulled out to show, but I do clean with it with a tow worm screwed on

 

[Dphar1950]

Not exactly traditional. What happens if you loose the tow worm in the bore? Just asking. Here is a flared rod tip from the 1830s. Its formed from thin brass sheet. The other end has the typical small threaded iron tip. Note the cross wedges to flare the wood and secure the brass cover.

 

[Dphar1950]

A couple of days ago I made a comment about making sure you pin the tip cross grain. Well, today I proved how important that is, especially if you don't epoxy the tip on. A new to me CVA pistol was being reluctant. It came from a flea with no ramrod. At home I discovered it had two .50 caliber ML rifle bullets and a powder charge or two down the barrel with the whole mess semi rusted in place. Kroil and patience let me pull the two bullets after 24 hours and flush out the powder charge. It drained over night.

This morning I was going to brush the barrel...no brush, so tried a cleaning patch on my homemade pistol cleaning rod. This immediately got stuck at the breech plug. I gave the pistol rod a mighty yank and the rod immediately came free...leaving the ramrod tip, jag and patch firmly against the breech. The pin was still intact in the tip. I pulled the clean out screw and dribbled a few grains of 3f in. Took it out behind the garage (I live in Texas, but the Law still frowns on shooting in subdivisions) and dropped the hammer while it was aimed into a bucket half full of cardboard.

The picture shows just how far that squib charge moved the patch, the tip and the jag combination, with the pin still attached to the tip. It took no more than a pound or so of pressure to actually remove the jag from the barrel. I'm surprised it didn't fall out walking back into the shop.

Anyway, pin your tips cross grain AND use epoxy. I evidently did not glue this one at all and had the pin going with the grain instead of across it. The rod worked fine for over 10 years with my other pistols, but they don't have rust. Every other ramrod I own I know is epoxied and pinned correctly. Honest. My new pistol loading rod will have the tip secured correctly. This tip was 0.83 inches long. The next will be 1-1/4 or so for more glue area and to let me secure the pin further from the end of the wood.

None of this is a big deal and I had fun messing with it today.

View attachment 20409 View attachment 20410 .

You need a dedicated steel pistol cleaning rod..

Dan

 

[tenngun]

View attachment 20867 View attachment 20868 Not exactly traditional. What happens if you loose the tow worm in the bore? Just asking. Here is a flared rod tip from the 1830s. Its formed from thin brass sheet. The other end has the typical small threaded iron tip. Note the cross wedges to flare the wood and secure the brass cover.

Those sort of tow worms are know back at least to early nineteenth century, so I’m thinking they are traditional. I’ve never lost one in the bore. I’ve had to take pliers to twist them off more then once. Once you screw one on to a tip you won’t wonder about getting it lost in the bore

 

[Ames]

I told this on a thread when I was building a gun a few years back. Just a momentary lapse of judgment and.......
Was looking to see how deep the rr channel was in a precarved stock. The rod went in well but a bit snug. I sanded the last few inches to free it up a bit. The applied the brass end by hand, sanded to fit the rods profile. I wanted to check if the brass was thinned down to the point it would not hang up. It seemed to grab a little half way down, so a little emery work should fix that. It did.
I pushed the rod in checking for resistance and found little. All the way it went but could not tell if I had hit bottom, so....push. And I hit bottom. Snug. And pulled out a rod with no tip!
Well, I wasn't going to give the gun a C section to dig a tip out. And epoxy on the rod end and feeding it down the channel would epoxy the rod in place permanently. Had to take a break and think about it.
An hour latter I had it! I gently crushed the rr end in my bench vise in four directions. Then took the rod to the sink and ran the tip under water for a few minutes. Wiped it off, ran it down the channel, and pushed it into the brass tip. Left it overnight.
By morning the wood had swelled up to its original shape and size, if not more. Pulled it up and out first try.
I knew enough to pin it but it only takes a moment to loose a tip. Or a fingertip.

 

[Zonie]

I don't recommend doing this to recover a lost ramrod tip but it might work. The method has been used for centuries in carpentry to install round chair legs in blind holes.

Picture a chair leg with its upper end turned down to a round diameter with a size that will fit into a hole in the seat like a wooden dowel.
The hole in the seat for the leg does not go all the way thru the seat.

Now, taking a narrow saw, saw a slot from one end of the reduced leg "dowel" almost to the other end where the larger part of the leg exists.

Get or make a tapered, wooden wedge that is slightly narrower than the saw slot on one end and quite a bit thicker then the saw slot on the other. The total length of the wedge is just slightly shorter than the depth of the saw slot.

To assemble the leg into the seat, take the tapered wooden wedge and insert the narrow end into the mouth of the saw slot.
Now, place the dowel end of the leg into the hole in the seat and drive the leg into the hole with a mallet.
When the wedge reaches the bottom of the hole, it cannot move further down so it begins to be driven into the sawed slot in the leg dowel. That expands the dowel making it fit tighter in the hole in the seat.
Once the leg has been driven all the way in, the wedge will have firmly locked the leg into the hole.

I went thru all of this to say, you could saw a very narrow slot in the end of the ramrod using a hack saw and make a tapered wedge like the one I described above. If you were real lucky and the angels were smiling on you, the wooden wedge would bottom out in the brass rod end and expand the ramrod into the metal end's bore.
Then, you could pull the lost metal tip out of the hole.