marking ramrod,,,,,,,,,,

[Griz44Mag]

Why can't you use wooden rods ?

One reason I don't with some of my guns....
Older guns with original ramrods that I don't shoot much - I want to preserve the original wood rods.
The best way to eliminate the risk of breaking or damaging an older wood rod is to not use it.
The brass field rod is the answer to the question.

 

[cmyoung1956]

4-H rules. That injury potential if a wooden rod breaks and goes through a hand.

 

[Col. Batguano]

I only use stainless steel range rods (the wooden ones are mostly for show ), and that doesn't seem to work very well with those.

 

[tenngun]

4-H rules. That injury potential if a wooden rod breaks and goes through a hand.

That’s sad but I see their point.
Used properly wood rods don’t break, period. You can only break a wooden rod using it improperly and it’s real easy for green horn or grey beard to just slip up.
However if you teach loading with out teaching safe ram rod use what do you get. Some one who has learned to shoot and doesn’t know how to use the rod. One day he picks up a gun and tries a wooden rod because he wants to do it ‘like they did in the old days,‘ uses rod improperly, breaks the rod and thinks wooden rods are just not safe. And now you have a circle.

 

[Rich]

Mark your ramrod on an EMPTY gun. That way when you drop the rod in, you know the gun is empty if your mark hits the end of barrel. Mark above barrel, gun loaded.

 

[Carbon 6]

One reason I don't with some of my guns....
Older guns with original ramrods that I don't shoot much - I want to preserve the original wood rods.
The best way to eliminate the risk of breaking or damaging an older wood rod is to not use it.
The brass field rod is the answer to the question.

I just make a replacement wooden rod and spare the original.

 

[Leadball loader]

My ramrods are marked by a light score around the rod. The rods are flush with the muzzle in an empty gun and the score does not have enough length or depth when ramming a load to be a breakage hazard.
The mark tells me I have loaded consistently as I shoot and is a good way to monitor my loads.
LBL

 

[Carbon 6]

4-H rules. That injury potential if a wooden rod breaks and goes through a hand.

It is important to teach proper loading technique and rod handling. Otherwise you are just postponing the injury potential to a later time.

It's also good to teach rod inspection and evaluation.

 

[Grenadier1758]

Probably need two marks. One mark for the empty gun and the second mark one ball diameter above the empty mark.

 

[Tumbledown]

If you're scoring so deep it weakens the rod, you're scoring TOO deep. Only need a scratch, then fill in with paint or the tip of a sharpie. A millimeter is plenty deep.

 

[renegadehunter]

The original rod for my renegade has 8-32 threads on one end and 10-24 on the other. I prefer 10-24 at both ends, so I bought a Delrin rod for main use with 10-24 at both ends. The previous owner, possibly my dad, had also cut a pretty deep notch into the original rod that I don't like the looks of. I run a pretty tight PRB combo. I lightly scored the Delrin rod to mark my hunting load. Around 3 years later the rod broke while I was loading, after swabbing, right at the score mark. So I got another replacement and now just mark it with a thin strip of electrical tape. Obviously PC folks wouldn't be a fan. I think a very light scratch on a wooden rod would probably be fine, but it certainly wasn't with a Delrin rod.

 

[flntlokr]

how do ya'll mark a ramrod for your load? I just mark a ring around it when the ball is seated. it that the way it was originally done?

I marked the first wooden rod I had 30+ years ago; just felt pen. That wore off, and I have never marked a ramrod since, and have never used anything but wood rods; used correctly , they last a long time. I always have a blank soaking in a pipe full of kerosene, so I can replace a rod if it starts to show wear (usually at the outer end, from rubbing on the muzzle as you are seating the ball).

 

[Dibbuk]

As Rich pointed out, when I have a ramrod dedicated to a single rifle, I draw a line around the rod when it is sitting at the bottom of an EMPTY barrel. That way, anything preventing the rod from getting to the bottom means an obstruction of some type.