Attaching brass ramrod tip

[Kevin M]

I tapered a couple of pistol ramrods and a rifle ramrod. I was trying to put a threaded brass tip on the end of the rifle ramrod. I spent a couple of hours shaping the rod and then fit the brass tip to the wood. Then I drilled a 1/8 inch hole through the wood. I took the nail I was going to use as a pin and laid the the rod on a flat surface and gave the pin a tap. Snap! The wood snapped! My wife who had not been in to check on me all day just happened to walk in right when the wood gave. Luck was with me and I didn't throw too big of a tantrum before I noticed the wife standing there. Next time I will start by fitting the rod tip before I taper the whole rod.
I wanted to do a tapered rod because the rifle I bought had a untapered rod with the brass tip towared the muzzle. I wanted a rod with a brass tip that goes into the forearm and flared end toward the muzzle. I used a 1/2 dowel and tapered it to 3/8 to match the old rod. (I think it was 3/8) Anyways I then tapered the end that was going into the forearm to 5/16.
How do you guys attach your brass rods to ramrods? I keep breaking mine. I usually do it when I am peening over a finishing nail to keep everything in place. I thought about epoxy, but would like to know how to do it in a more traditional manner. I would love to be able to use the 5/16 tip on some of my pistols so I don't have to have a seperate rod for my cleaning jags. Will I be ripping nails through wood with that small of a tip? I don't want to be halfway through cleaning and have wood in the tip break off.
Sorry to be so long winded! Thanks for any advice you can give me. Man if I can't figure this little thing out am I going to be agle to tackle an entire longrifle? AAGGHH!!

 

If I read Your message right, it sounds like you used a regular store bought dowel rod. They are really not the best wood for ramrods. Hickory is considered the best for it's strength, and flexibility. TVM is a supplier of Hickory for rods. I don't know if they stock 1/2 inch, but I know they haVE 7/16" Rod stock. Bill

 

[TANSTAAFL]

I also make my tapered RR where the brass tip is concealed in that manner, I prefer having the wood end exposed at the muzzle.

I make my own tips & fit snug to RR end, then epoxy in place, use a # 51 drill bit and a 2d finishing nail for pin, cut the pin so it is just a bit in length over tip diameter. Insert pin, then lightly peen ends and polish, never had one break or come loose, YET. (knocking on wood)

 

[Kevin M]

I think this rod is made of Alder. I have used Hickory with pretty much the same results. Maybe I need to make sure that I have a closely matching drill bit size and steel pin size. I think I may be trying to force things and that is why the wood keeps breaking. Frustrating.

 

[SCATTERSHOT]

Use hickory if you can. I also think you might have better luck with a smaller pinhole. I use copper wire for the pin, and find that it doesn't take as much hammering to peen the ends, and then file it flush with the tip.

 

[Zonie]

A 1/8 inch hole is way too large for the cross pin. If the wood is only 5/16 diameter, after drilling the crosspin hole there will only be 3/32 inch of wood left on each side.

I also don't recommend using a steel pin because IMO, they take too much force to peen them over into the little countersink you should have in the cross pin holes.

A steel pin also is quite noticable in a brass tip.

I have had good luck using a short piece of 1/16 diameter brass rod (wire) I bought at the local hardware store for the pin.
I drill the crosshole with a 1/16 diameter drill bit and form the little countersinks on each side for the pin head to form in with my pocket knife (it doesn't take much to peen the pin on each side).

After peening the pin, I file it flush with the ramrod tip and then sand and polish it.

Try to order a piece of Hickory if you can.
The wooden dowels they sell at my local hardware store are just about the crappiest wood for a ramrod that I've seen. I'm trying to think of the type of wood they are made from but I'm having a mental block. It's not Birch or Ash or even Poplar. If I see the name I'll recognize it
Although it is a hardwood, it has no strength at all and will break if it has to do anything a ramrod should do.

 

[sequoia]

I agree with zonie about not using a nail. I used a piece of brass welding rod for mine. Its held for 20 years. Too bad the rod didn't, it snapped in half a few years later and is now the range rod for my pistol! :grin:

 

[Kevin M]

Anybody have a online source for these brass rod / welding rods of say 1/16"? I went to Lowes and Home depot and to a hobby store and nothing. I called a couple of welding supply places and they said they don't carry that small of rod. Help!

 

[DrTimboone]

I do get mine a Home Depot. They come three to a bag about 12" lon. They call them Brass brazing rods or some such. They work great.

 

[54JNoll]

I picked mine up in the welding section at my local farm supply store.

 

[crockett]

Try Ace Hardware, they carry hobby material and have 1/16 brass plus a lot of other sizes.

 

[LRB]

If you are making this for a longrifle, you should be using a steel or iron tip. Most ramrods of the 18th C. had no tip at all. I have found that common dowels work pretty good, but give them a good flex test when no one is looking. If you clean the inside of the tip with sand paper, JB Weld will secure it very well in my experience. When going down to a 5/16" tip, I drill a 1/8th hole into the ramrod about an inch or so beyond the base of the tip and expoxy a 1/8th spring steel rod in it, which you can buy from ACE hardware, then use JB to anchor the tip on. I have never had a problem with a rod done in this manner. Ramrod tips, when found, are usually iron on a longrifle.

 

[Kevin M]

I will keep at it then. The tip I am making is going to go into the forearm an the part near the muzzle is going to flare. Anyone know of some good places for 1/2" hickory rods or even just 1/2" by 1/2" boards and I can round them off? I think that the rod I am making is going to snap. Its made of Alder. I guess I could soak it in Kerosene.

 

[gmww]

Grizzly Imports


You might check this site out. They have 1/4", 3/8", 1/2", 5/8", 3/4" dowels in birch, oak, walnut, mahogany, and cherry to 36" long.

 

[davy]

I will keep at it then. The tip I am making is going to go into the forearm an the part near the muzzle is going to flare. Anyone know of some good places for 1/2" hickory rods or even just 1/2" by 1/2" boards and I can round them off? I think that the rod I am making is going to snap. Its made of Alder. I guess I could soak it in Kerosene.

Mite try this gentlemen .. I saw Hickory rod material here in his catalog page .. diff sizes etc .. great price it looks to me! I have not ordered stuff myself from him yet.
[url] http://www.gillespierifles.com[/url]/

 

[neek]

And one more ramrod tip installation tip that I learned recently - use a small pipe cutter to make the cut around the base of the ramrod tip to the depth required. Makes a nice straight even cut all the way around the ramrod blank. This makes it easier to remove the rest of the wood required to get the tip on. To keep the pipecutter rollers from marking the wood, first protect the blank with a couple of pieces of electrical tape.

I also use a brass rod as a cross pin. I put a slight countersink in the cross pin holes, and cut the brass cross pin just slightly long. Then I tap the pin evenly on both sides with a small hammer and the brass fills the counersink. Then you can file/sand/polish it flush with the ramrod tip.

 

[DrTimboone]

In the Gunsmith of Grenville County book it describes how to chuck the tip in a drill and spin/push it on to a slighly oversized rod. It cuts its own mortise. very neat and tight. Then sand i all down. I have done about a dozen that way an it works very well.

 

[madstone]

Careful about using anything except hichory for ramrods! The sometime break and impale ones "paw" leaving a dandy puncture!
I cut little places in the tip of the wood where it slides into the tip, also rough up the inside of the tip so it is not so "slick" and use epoxy. Then drill the hole (very tiny) and use either brass or copper to pin it on. I have used 2 pins at right angles too! The steel pins might work out and scratch the bore and lend themselves to ruining their fit as one tries to upset them into the tip. copper and brass can be upset into tiny countersinks and filed off flush and round. A slight bevel at the joint where the tip meets the wood will help compress the wood rather than splitting it. :thumbsup: