Traditional wood rod

[spudnut]

I like to keep things traditional ,so the rod on my new tradegun is only a tapered hickory split. I use a friction wire tow worm for cleaning , or sometimes a toggle and string.
Ive shot bare ball for years with a paper cartridge so pulling a ball was no worry,Well this gun likes a patched ball and there wil probably come a time I will need to pull a ball ( luckily its a very thin patch and slides down like santy claus in a chiminey).
Heres the question , can I get by with a working tip that is carried in my pouch ,slipped on the rod and pinned only when I need it then put away when done? How did the old ones draw a load when the rod had no working tip? Not talking about shooting it out ,or pulling the breech plug, or the aboriginal practice of heating the barrel till the patch burns up ( shudder).

 

[Black Hand]

I suggest you make a long (~4") tapered metal end to add to the small end that resides inside the stock. As needed, I add a worm or jag to clean. These ends appear to have been used on period guns. I've also seen metal tips for smoothbore rods that would accept a worm or jag.

 

[Many Klatch]

I think you are going to have put at least one brass tip on the rod if you think you will need to pull a ball.

 

[jbwilliams3]

Period ball pulling was often "ball pushing" through the relatively loosely threaded breach. Modern barrel breaches are much tighter (can't blame the makers - I wouldn't want the liability)so pulling is almost always easier. If I were you, I would make a second rod for cleaning and potentially ball pulling. I'm like you, I prefer the tapered wood rods on these guns and I too have a trade gun with a bare wood tip. I don't think there's any set up on a bare wood tip that I would be confident could pull a ball that was patched (even a thin patch). Even on my rifles with one threaded end, I wouldn't want to pull a ball with a taper gun. Much less worry to use a stout rod specifically made for cleaning. I realize in a living history scenario (or woodswalk/primitive hunting) it's not feasible to have the extra rod with you. In those cases, there's always the tried and true method of shooting the ball out with a little powder through the touch hole.

 

[Billnpatti]

While I have pulled many dry balls in my many years of shooting muzzleloading guns, I no longer do that if it is just a matter of a dry ball. It is far easier to simply work a bit of powder through the touch hole and in behind the ball and shoot it out. But, this only works when there is no fouling or wet powder behind the ball that would foul the powder that you work in behind the ball. In that case, you have no choice but to pull the ball. For pulling the ball, if you insist on using a wooden rod to do it, you MUST have the fitting on the end of the rod cross pinned. If I were ever to need to pull a ball, I would use a metal rod, steel preferably, with a T handle to do the job. It would have 10-32 threads and the ball puller would have steel threads never brass. The 8-32 threads are just too small and weak and any brass threads are too subject to stripping under the stresses you often encounter when pulling a ball. Once you have the ball out, you can again hide your steel rod and go back to using the wooden one. Alternatively, you can buy and use one of the CO2 devices to blow out your stuck ball. There are just times when wisdom suggests that one must lay aside the HC/PC business and become a bit more pragmatic.

 

[George]

There are just times when wisdom suggests that one must lay aside the HC/PC business and become a bit more pragmatic.

Right on....I'm sure that's what the old boys did. :haha: :haha:

Spence

 

[mooman76]

I have the wood rods but just carry them for the looks. I use other material for practical use. I have a variety of different rod materials to use.

 

[Billnpatti]

There are just times when wisdom suggests that one must lay aside the HC/PC business and become a bit more pragmatic.

Right on....I'm sure that's what the old boys did. :haha: :haha: Spence

The "old boys" with whom I shoot do that. I don't know what grandpappy and the "old boys" of his time did in those cases but I'll bet that if he had the tools that I have he surely would have had used them. :haha:

 

[Mean Gene]

I would imagine "Grand pappy" used the powder in the ignition hole idea even in there time.

 

[azmntman]

I'm bettin great granpappy didnt have to worry bout NEEEAR as often as we do. Harder life/less distractions. Sure they practiced but mostly loaded for meat or battle.....(or x-x0ox--ooxx son-in laws) :rotf:

 

[Black Hand]

There are just times when wisdom suggests that one must lay aside the HC/PC business and become a bit more pragmatic.

And yet, wood rods have worked well for hundreds of years. I'll stick with experience and leave the "magic" rods to others...

 

[George]

....I'll bet that if he had the tools that I have he surely would have had used them. :haha:

I hear you. Reminds me of the first 'survival' weekend I went on many years ago. One of the survivors brought canned sardines instead of the allowed one potato. When asked about it, he said 'they'd have used them if they had had them'. :wink:

Spence

 

[Okie Hog]

I hear you. Reminds me of the first 'survival' weekend I went on many years ago. One of the survivors brought canned sardines instead of the allowed one potato. When asked about it, he said 'they'd have used them if they had had them'

.

They did in fact have them; sardines in cans that is.

i've prowled in dozens of Civil War garbage dumps. Civil War era sardine cans look much like the sardine cans today. They were made of tin.

 

[George]

My time period is mid-18th century, 100 years before CW. We didn't have them. :wink:

Spence

 

[Bo T]

How does one go about pulling a dry ball?

 

[hanshi]

My time period is mid-18th century, 100 years before CW. We didn't have them. :wink:

Spence

You're right, Spence; it was around 1807 when I saw my first can of sardines. :rotf:

 

[Black Hand]

How does one go about pulling a dry ball?

The easiest way is not to pull a dryball. Work a little powder through the nipple seat or touch-hole and shoot it out. If you can't, use a ball-screw on the end of your rod...

 

[Zonie]

How does one go about pulling a dry ball?

The easiest way is not to pull a dryball. Work a little powder through the nipple seat or touch-hole and shoot it out. If you can't, use a ball-screw on the end of your rod...

There might be a few new shooters here that need to understand, when he says "thru the nipple seat" he's not talking about putting a few grains of powder thru the little hole in the nipple.

With a flintlock, the vent hole is around 1/16" or a little larger so working some gunpowder thru it isn't a big deal. It just takes a little time to get 3-6 grains (by volume, not individual particles) thru the vent.

With a percussion style gun, the hole thru the nipple is only about 1/32".
This is smaller than the granules of powder so trying to shove a few grains "thru" the nipple is just about impossible.
The small cavity in the nipple above the restrictive hole inside it is much too small to hold enough powder to do the job so no, putting a few granuals of powder into the top of the nipple won't do it.

If a percussion gun is being shot, the nipple must first be removed. Then, getting 3-6 grains of powder down into the flame channel under the nipple is an easy job.

Once this is done, replace the nipple, cap it and shoot the dry ball out. :thumbsup:

With both the flintlock and the percussion gun, do not assume the ball was loaded without the main powder charge.

On several occasions I had what I believed to be a dry ball load.
I had tried to fire it several times and it totally failed to fire.

Thinking I had dry balled the load I worked 3-6 grains of powder into the gun and then pointed it down range and fired it.

Rather than the little "Poot" 3-6 grains gives the gun it fired with a full fledged BOOM! :shocked2:

It's a good thing it was pointed in a safe direction when it went off. :redface:

 

[Artificer]

There are just times when wisdom suggests that one must lay aside the HC/PC business and become a bit more pragmatic.

Actually there is HC/PC precedence for a long steel rod used particularly for extracting bullets and loads that goes back to at least the FIW and probably earlier, but I have not tried researching it earlier. British Ordnance supplied at least one, if not two, long steel rods to Regimental Artificers for each Regiment back when the Muskets still had Wood Rammers. These rods were often referred to as Armourer's/Armorer's Rods. I have not been able to find an image of a British one, but period French ones had a slot in one end that probably was for tow, but could also have been a "T" handle with the addition of a short length of flat steel bar. The Regimental Artificer used this kind of rod to pull the loads out of the muskets of the Sentries who had stood duty the night before. The balls were saved and recast and the powder was saved, "refreshed" and used again.

These "Armorer's Rods" were also used by at least some civilian gunsmiths, though we don't know how common they were. I imagine most gunsmiths made one, but have not had any luck yet in documenting one. That is not terribly surprising, though, because most people who did probate inventories were not gunsmiths and had no idea what many of the tools were that they inventoried.

Gus

 

[smo]

I hear you. Reminds me of the first 'survival' weekend I went on many years ago. One of the survivors brought canned sardines instead of the allowed one potato. When asked about it, he said 'they'd have used them if they had had them'

.

They did in fact have them; sardines in cans that is.

i've prowled in dozens of Civil War garbage dumps. Civil War era sardine cans look much like the sardine cans today. They were made of tin.

Bet you can still smell em' too.
I tell the Grandkids it's the can that stinks and I can prove it. After all the Sardines are gone the can still stinks. :haha: