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Firing the ramrod down range.

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Mining the clubs 25 yard back stop for lead a few years back. Found several pieces of ram rod including the jag tip embedded in the dirt.
Fired from a gun??
Is that possible or would any one actually admit to it.
I’ve dry balled a few long guns and revolver cylinders, distraction pulled my attention away from what I was doing. But firing a ram rod. ??
 
Didn't one of the fellas in the movie "Mountain Men" kill an "Injun" with a ramrod? I mean, I know that was a movie, but I bet in the heat of battle more than one ramrod got launched at velocity! Thinking I would not want to be down range of it either!

Similar to multiple balls being loaded and not a shot fired.

Things happen.

RM
 
Mining the clubs 25 yard back stop for lead a few years back. Found several pieces of ram rod including the jag tip embedded in the dirt.
Fired from a gun??
Is that possible or would any one actually admit to it.
I’ve dry balled a few long guns and revolver cylinders, distraction pulled my attention away from what I was doing. But firing a ram rod. ??

TRUE STORY

In the 1990's I worked at the LGS for extra money and discounts. The Soviet Union fell and Poland also stopped being Communist, and we started seeing all sorts of Russian speaking and Polish speaking immigrants. So one customer from one of the old Soviet Satellite states had immigrated, and he came into the shop one Thursday evening. He fell in love with a TC Hawken, bought it and all that he needed to try it out at the range. He was back Friday evening saying in very basic English that he'd broken the ramrod, so I sold him a delrin rod, and off he went. He was back the next afternoon, saying the delrin rod lasted longer but broke too. 😶

So I asked him to walk me through how he was shooting. Sure enough, he was launching his ramrod seated on the TC Maxi-ball, each shot. He didn't believe that since the bullet would go down the barrel that it wouldn't slide back to the muzzle when he leveled the rifle after replacing the rod. I sold him another rod, and explained that he'd be fine, just ensuring the bullet was on the powder, and putting the ramrod back. (He claimed he'd read the manual that came with the rifle .....)

LD
 
Didn't one of the fellas in the movie "Mountain Men" kill an "Injun" with a ramrod? I mean, I know that was a movie, but I bet in the heat of battle more than one ramrod got launched at velocity! Thinking I would not want to be down range of it either!

Similar to multiple balls being loaded and not a shot fired.

Things happen.

RM
The movies will get you in trouble! I have seen several that had a pistol and rifles that hadn't been invented yet . One Clint Eastwood film that was supposed to Civil War times show him going to blow up a bridge with several sticks of dynamite? The problem was Nobel hadn't invented dynamite yet?
 
TRUE STORY

In the 1990's I worked at the LGS for extra money and discounts. The Soviet Union fell and Poland also stopped being Communist, and we started seeing all sorts of Russian speaking and Polish speaking immigrants. So one customer from one of the old Soviet Satellite states had immigrated, and he came into the shop one Thursday evening. He fell in love with a TC Hawken, bought it and all that he needed to try it out at the range. He was back Friday evening saying in very basic English that he'd broken the ramrod, so I sold him a delrin rod, and off he went. He was back the next afternoon, saying the delrin rod lasted longer but broke too. 😶

So I asked him to walk me through how he was shooting. Sure enough, he was launching his ramrod seated on the TC Maxi-ball, each shot. He didn't believe that since the bullet would go down the barrel that it wouldn't slide back to the muzzle when he leveled the rifle after replacing the rod. I sold him another rod, and explained that he'd be fine, just ensuring the bullet was on the powder, and putting the ramrod back. (He claimed he'd read the manual that came with the rifle .....)

LD
One can almost picture it Load, fire, walk out, retrieve ramrod,load,fire repeat. 😂 Wonder if they were sticking out of the target.
 
Never seen it, but I am new to shooting with other bp fans. That said, I have been told by several older more experienced shooters that many a stuck rod got..."unstuck" down range. I have to say myself, that in my earlier days I certainly didnt have a range rod, never a less a T handle which handles almost any "stuck" situation very easily.
 
Never seen it, but I am new to shooting with other bp fans. That said, I have been told by several older more experienced shooters that many a stuck rod got..."unstuck" down range. I have to say myself, that in my earlier days I certainly didnt have a range rod, never a less a T handle which handles almost any "stuck" situation very easily.
I am one of those older [ancient] shooters who has launched a ramrod down range..... on purpose. Ball was fully seated but rod was stuck :dunno: . I fired it down range with no negative results. It was still in use when I sold the gun several years later.... Polecat
 
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