The "Unbreakable Ram Rod"

[rchas]

Years ago I snapped a ramrod which cut the web of my hand (yes, I was doing it wrong ). I looked around and found a guy on the internet who was selling "Unbreakable" steel cored ramrods for far more than I was willing to pay at the time. I thought about how he might have made the rods, and came up with this method.

You will need a table saw with a zero clearance insert. Cut 3/16 thick strips of hickory or white oak, then cut a 1/16 rabet down the center.

I use a feather board to help cut the rabet

Sand 1/8 cold rolled steel rod to clean off any preservatives and slightly scratch the surface. Mix up some epoxy (I like to dye it with some brown oil paint) , apply epoxy to the strips and lay the steel rod in the rabet

Use lots of clamps!

Trim to 3/8 square, and knock off the corners with a block plane

I use a home made tool mentioned in Buchele's Recreating the American Long rifle to finish rounding and tapering the rod

If you are very lucky (or very good) when drilling for pinning ramrod tips you may hit the rod dead center. More likely the drill bit will deflect a bit. I have never found this to be a problem in securing tips. When done, except for being a little heavier, you can't tell one of these rods from an all wood rod.

I hope this is helpful!

 

[leadhoarder]

Nice work. I would wager there is a market for those. Would be good on a hunting rifle.

 

[Sam squanch]

Now don’t forget and shoot that rod down range!!!!!

 

[LRB]

Nice work. I would wager there is a market for those. Would be good on a hunting rifle.

Apparently they do not sell very well because of the necessary increased pricing needed. There was someone advertising them on this forum not too long ago, but I have not seen the add for a while now. Hardened and spring tempered steel would be better than simple cold rolled. If you know the size you need you could temper the ends down even softer than spring steel to make it easier to drill through. If, you can find music wire rods long enough for your needs. Here is what can happen with a poor ramrod. I was in Ga. deer hunting 4 years earlier and camping alone, and my hickory rod broke. the best I could do in a hurry was drive 20 miles to the nearest ACE hardware and buy a common dowell rod. I picked the straightest grained one I could find and it lasted 4 years of shooting regular on most weekends. But here was the end result. YES, all the way through. The pain was not what one would expect but it did hurt some. I soaked it in Epsom salts that evening and the entire next day and was back in the shop the day after using the hand with no pain. I was lucky, it could have been worse.

 

[Johnny Too-Tall]

I have also put a wood rod through my hand - we should start a club designated to us survivors and support each other haha

 

[Col. Batguano]

This should be a sticky.

I've used the same technique when making wooden handles for 5 gallon buckets, but with those I don't bother to round them. Just run them through the router with a rounding bit. And I don't glue the metal in the groove because I want it to spin. WAY more comfortable than wire, or even the plastic handles they come with. And they don't break either.

 

[azmntman]

Nice work! But I would pay the man his $$ before I went to all that trouble, I have a hard time finding time just to get out and shoot these days! Maybe in 10 years when I reture (I hope) I would be willing to make my own. For now I am just real caefull.

 

[airiest-falcon0n]

While reading, I thought, “How’s a dowel rod gonna fix his hand?”

the best I could do in a hurry was drive 20 miles to the nearest ACE hardware and buy a common dowell rod.

 

[Mgbruch]

For those who don't have the equipment, a straight grain hickory rod, used properly, will not break. When loading, never grab the rod more than eight inches above the muzzle. And don't use a load so tight that you have to bear down on the rod to put the ball down. Rods break because of grain run-out; or when grasped a ways up the rod and used with excessive force, causing the rod to bow. In over 30 years, I haven't broken a rod. I did once... It was the maple rod that came with my TC (not) Hawken. It had grain run-out, and I gripped it up too far.

A steel reinforced rod won't break. But neither will mine. If you use a proper rod, and proper loading technique... no worries!

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

Split your rods from a hickory log and you won't break them anymore. No run out this way.

 

[New Hampshire]

This is Great! What a nice high quality rod and a cool project.

 

[Rob M.]

For those who don't have the equipment, a straight grain hickory rod, used properly, will not break. When loading, never grab the rod more than eight inches above the muzzle. And don't use a load so tight that you have to bear down on the rod to put the ball down. Rods break because of grain run-out; or when grasped a ways up the rod and used with excessive force, causing the rod to bow. In over 30 years, I haven't broken a rod. I did once... It was the maple rod that came with my TC (not) Hawken. It had grain run-out, and I gripped it up too far.

A steel reinforced rod won't break. But neither will mine. If you use a proper rod, and proper loading technique... no worries!

Well said ....

 

[oldwood]

Use a short starter also.

 

[deerstalkert]

and if you don't have a hickory log handy, old (or new) axe, or maul handles , or baseball bat's are pretty fine hickory.

 

[1950DAVE]

I have also put a wood rod through my hand - we should start a club designated to us survivors and support each other haha

If you only watched our local TV stations you would have already memorized at least a dozen personal injury lawyers phone numbers that could get you the just compensation you deserve for your pain, etc., from the man who grew the timber, cut and hauled the log, sawed the billet, milled the dowel, wholesaled the item and the retailer that failed to inform you of the potential dangers that you might incur in using it.

 

[Rendezvous Valley Trading]

I soak mine in coal oil for years before I use them. I don’t know if it helps but have never broken one. I read it in the back of a Dixie catalog 25 years ago and thought I would try it. Now I just do it. I usually buy a few at a time of different sizes for when I build guns or for replacement rods when I fix someone’s rifle. I built a long tube from pvc with caps on it. I haven’t looked in it for some time but there’s probably all different sizes in there that have been in there for years. Still on all the originals for the rifles I have built myself over the years. I don’t know if it works or not because I am careful loading anyway. I think the reasoning in the catalog was it made them more elastic. They stink for a couple days then air out and have no smell and turn a color that looks nice.

 

[LRB]

While reading, I thought, “How’s a dowel rod gonna fix his hand?”

I broke my hickory RR on a hunting trip and had no replacement. The dowel I bought lasted 4 years of use before it broke and skewered my hand. I was just giving the history of why I had a common dowel as a ramrod and why such rods are not recommended to be used as such.

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

and if you don't have a hickory log handy, old (or new) axe, or maul handles , or baseball bat's are pretty fine hickory.

I tried those but they don't fit down the bore.

 

[IT47]

I keep my wood ramrods "oiled" with Ballistol, just like I do for all the wood on the arm. If the bore is clean, you should not have to take a "sledge hammer" to seat the ball. Coming up with the right ball/patch combination would be your first step. When hunting, I use a delrin rod (Track of the Wolf) that is durable and flexible for seating. I use the wood for show and the delrin for go. It does not make sense to me to try and break the "Guinness Book of Records" to see how many shots you can get before swabbing the bore.

 

[dracer]

good idea and nice work thanks for the pictures