Ramrod ends - Steel or Wood?

[FlinterNick]

Feel like I'm having a conversation with my enginerd friends (I'm an engineer, so I can make fun of my type).

My thought is....IF it was possible to generate a spark, I want to know how it would get past the ball and patch and ignite the powder? Low carbon steel tip on ram rod damaging the rifling? I guess that's possible...but wouldn't it be softer than barrel steel? The tip is not going to have knife edge to grab onto metal either if it did wander to the side a bit. Probably would take an awful lot of sloppy ram rodding to wear out rifling from an steel tip ram rod.

It depends on the barrel, most american made barrels are 8620 or 12L14 which is on the softer side, i don’t like it for rifles but it’s mostly what is available.

Italian guns tend to be much harder 4130-4150 ranges or EN28 or EN18.

I make my own steel tips from very mild steel that does not work harden and i keep them in an annealed state. But i generally shy away from steel tips because the rust and the threads in in ends get seized

 

[longcruise]

I have used some of the steel tips and found them to be soft and mild. Never any rust issues.

 

[ColonialRifleSmith]

although you are entitled to your beliefs

If there's any minuet possibility at all, why would one take the chance. To each his own. Keep using your steel rod tip. Let me know when you count your finger and you come up a few short.

 

[hanshi]

I load with the wood, underbarrel rod both at the range and in the bush. At the range I always have my steel range rod just in case. I've never loaded with a wood rod that didn't have a brass tip. All my ramrods are hickory and I've never broken one. I'd think a wood rod with a fire hardened tip would do just fine

 

[ColonialRifleSmith]

I load with the wood, underbarrel rod both at the range and in the bush. At the range I always have my steel range rod just in case. I've never loaded with a wood rod that didn't have a brass tip. All my ramrods are hickory and I've never broken one. I'd think a wood rod with a fire hardened tip would do just fine

When I shoot, I use a fiberglass driveway marker. lol. It's true. $1.50 any hardware store and comes with a tip. I can add brass tip if I want to and have a great cleaning rod for about 5$. Comes in all colors. I always use the orange when hunting. Goes with the Blaze Orange requirement. Semper Fi.

 

[longcruise]

If there's any minuet possibility at all, why would one take the chance. To each his own. Keep using your steel rod tip. Let me know when you count your finger and you come up a few short.

I think I'm pretty well grounded in firearms safety, especially with muzzleloaders. But when you put that minute point on it you lose me. Of all the poor choices and mistakes that are possible with ml guns, that one doesn't get any ranking at all.

 

[JamesT]

Why? I'd rather have a hickory splinter than fiberglass or carbon Fibre. Plus I would never have a florescent rammer in my rifle. Over complicating what works. Never understand why but hey be happy.

 

[FlinterNick]

When I shoot, I use a fiberglass driveway marker. lol. It's true. $1.50 any hardware store and comes with a tip. I can add brass tip if I want to and have a great cleaning rod for about 5$. Comes in all colors. I always use the orange when hunting. Goes with the Blaze Orange requirement. Semper Fi.

View attachment 191052

I’ve never had any issues with my wooden rods breaking.

Those who break a good hickory rod, ash or even oak are not ramming the balls down correctly, most of the rods I’ve seen that have broken have done so because of miss use.

Oh and i honestly thought you were joking about the road marker thing, well at least i know now that my dad jokes are ok.

 

[Dale Allen Raby]

I have a number of guns with wooden ramrods... mostly hickory. Got one or two made of fiberglass and had one a while back made from an aluminum arrow shaft with a carbon fiber arrow shaft epoxied inside it for stiffness (shot that one out into a field and never recovered it), but the ones I tend to use most are made of aluminum and often get used with a bore guide. Never had a steel ramrod or one with steel tips... don't want one, got enough trouble with rust as things are now.

Can't recall ever breaking one, but I HAVE had brass ends pull off the end of wooden ramrods with jags and brushes still attached and down the bore. This kinda sucks. I almost never use brushes these days and when I do, it is with an aluminum range rod and bore guide.

As to the question of steel sparking against a barrel... don't see how that would be possible. Scratching the bore? Yeah, I could see that happening, but unguided wood, aluminum and fiberglass rods that have somehow managed to pick up grit can do that as well... they might even generate a spark.

Most guns that have had steel ramrods were military guns and were mass-produced. A broken ramrod on a military mission is a serious logistical problem, something to be avoided in any military endeavor and I can see the old military industrial complex of that era being willing to accept a few deaths due to sparks.... if it could happen... over having hundreds of expensively made wooden ramrods being broken in every battle.

All in all, I think hickory ramrods with pinned threaded brass tips on both ends are the best compromise between functionality and appearance. That said, I will keep my aluminum ramrods for my heavy-use guns.

 

[flconch53]

Well, if I put a metal end on my ramrods, I use either brass or german silver. I only use steel if the customer insists. Steel against steel can spark. Can ruin your whole day. Have I ever heard of it happening, yes. Have I ever seen it happen, no. I don't want it to happen with one of my guns. If you use white brass instead of steel, 'Brass Black' does a great job blending it in with the rest of the steel furniture. I just finished a gun with steel furniture and a white brass rod tip darkened with brass black. I'm not one to attempt fate. Semper Fi.


View attachment 190849

View attachment 190850

Steel against steel is not likely to spark unless it is hardened. That being g said brass all the way

 

[Fly103]

So have I been doing it wrong all my life? On guns that only have one metalic end on the ramrod I have always used the metal end (threaded or not) to seat the ball.

Chris

 

[Lippy984]

On the Kibler SMR, Jim supplies you with a tapered steel tip that goes into the ramrod hole in the stock. Since it is an iron furnished gun, I would go with a steel tip on the exposed end of the ramrod if you want one at all. Brass does not look right on a SMR.

Stupid question, I just got my Kibler kit. This tapered tip he supplied in the kit, is that used to seat the ball? My other rifle I have a concave brass tip, but I mainly use a range rod with a cleaning jag.
That tapered tip seems nice for entering the rod thimbles, but seems awful small and with the threaded portion to be pushing on the ball…

 

[Toneloc]

Lippy, no that tip is for putting on a tool like a jag or whatever. The intent of the kit is to put a concave carving into the end of the other side. You can also put a metal tip on it instead. That's what this thread was about....what are pro/cons and peoples preference.

I just picked up a tip for the ball side from Track of the of the Wolf.

https://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/847/1

 

[mushka]

This is something that I have never thought, or worried about. I just use a steel range rod with a muzzle protector and a brass jag for each caliber. Simple, easy, trouble free. I rarely use the under barrel rod except under unusual circumstance.

 

[Lippy984]

Lippy, no that tip is for putting on a tool like a jag or whatever. The intent of the kit is to put a concave carving into the end of the other side. You can also put a metal tip on it instead. That's what this thread was about....what are pro/cons and peoples preference.

I just picked up a tip for the ball side from Track of the of the Wolf.

https://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/847/1

That’s what I thought. I have a good tip for my range rod. Otherwise I’ve heard of plenty of fellas using the blunt wood side of the rod in the field.

 

[FlinterNick]

If there's any minuet possibility at all, why would one take the chance. To each his own. Keep using your steel rod tip. Let me know when you count your finger and you come up a few short.

Well with that kind of thinking you might as well never drive a car or fly in a plane.

FYI don’t go bear hunting with muzzleloader if you miss you might be lunch but thankgod you’ve got an orange ramrod

 

[longcruise]

I made a ramrod out of one of those driveway markers. Used a white one and stained it with some MinWax stuff that is both a finish and a stain. It didn’t get much use but it would make up into a range rod as good as any metal and be economical to boot.

If you are an archer they make a good bow fishing arrow.

 

[user 48679]

No matter what type of RR tip is chosen, I would humbly suggest both adhering it to the RR and cross-pinning it through the seated tip.

It's a tad aggravating if a RR tip gets itself pulled off while attempting to pull a ball, or when a too-tight cleaning patch wedges itself down bore.

 

[Rifleman1776]

white brass

??? Nebber heerd of it. Watizzit? A type of brass or some other metal that got that name?

 

[tenngun]

I use a non-Ferros metal, Brass, Copper or bronze or aluminum, and i have a few steel tipped ones but i tend to avoid the steel as it wears out the rifling.

All except aluminum. Not because anything wrong with it but because during much of ml time’s aluminum was unknown and when it was known it was more expensive then gold