Why not use a metal ramrod?

[stevekl]

I'm a young guy and I've always been interested in history and I've found that the best way to gain insight into history is to ask "why didn't people back then do XYZ?"

Well then, basically my question is, why did people back then use hickory over iron or brass for ramrods? To save weight? Save money?

I own two rifles and four ramrods. The rods are brass, two hickories (well, ramin, probablly) and graphite. I don't use the graphite because that's disgusting. I used the wood rods for a while until I realized that the brass rod made it easier to load tight balls on both rifles. And this is what makes me ask this question.

Thanks for any insight!

 

[hanshi]

I often use a ss rod with muzzle guard while at the range. Any other time I rely on the hickory ramrod under the barrel. Metal rods were normally found on military longarms since absolute reliability was paramount on the battlefield and a broken wood rod couldn't be tolerated. Muzzle damage wasn't a factor, either, due to the massed volleys of musket fire employed which didn't require accuracy.

A good hickory ramrod is best for muzzleloaders whether a rifle or smoothbore. Accuracy destroying damage can result from metal or fiberglass rods rubbing against the barrel's crown. Some shooters replace their rifle's wooden rods with metal to get more weight out front. A muzzle guard is necessary in that case.

 

[roundball]

Well then, basically my question is, why did people back then use hickory over iron or brass for ramrods? To save weight? Save money?

Wood was readily available for the making and they were essentially free of cost in the dirt poor world of the settlers.

IMO strong brass or steel rods are best for many practical reasons but they do have cost associated with them and if even available to settlers I doubt they would have laid out the cash to buy them, instead of just making their own out of wood, as they made most everything else they needed.

Like you, brass rods with muzzleguides are all I use for their obvious benefits and they're readily available and affordable to us today

 

[BullRunBear]

I don't hunt anymore but when I did I used the hickory rod that fit the pipes. For many years now at the range I've used a single piece ss rod ALWAYS with a muzzle guard. The crowns and rifling are unmarked even after thousands of rounds.

Historically, metal was expensive and possibly unavailable on the frontier. A wooden rod could be made by anyone with a good knife and maybe a file for smoothing. I don't know if they had muzzle guards back then so a wooden rod would be less destructive.

This is not shooting related but if you want an idea of historic American attitudes toward wood and its uses, check out "A Reverence For Wood" by Eric Sloane. It's a fascinating and entertaining book.

Jeff

 

[ohio ramrod]

For rifles a metal rod requires a "bore protecter" (which is simple a tapered bushing on the rod to keep the rod centered in the barrel to prevent the rod from wearing on the sides of the barrel.) Smoth bores often used metal rods but on the frontiers wooden rods were readily made, metal rods were difficult to obtain.

 

[nchawkeye]

If you have to use a metal rod to load then your ball/patch combo is too tight...Metal rods simply aren't needed...I bought one of my rifles in 1977 and I'm still using the same hickory ramrod...My second flintlock was one I built in the late 80s and it still has the original rod as well...

Can you start your ball by using your thumb???
Can you shoot 4-5 shots without cleaning your barrel??? If you can't, you're shooting a ball/patch combo that's too tight...

 

[Stumpkiller]

A 44" long+/- metal rammer would have to be made heavy to resist being bendy, would be hard to grip in pushing a patched ball and would have been prohibitavely expensive for a gunsmith to fabricate. They were a military musket item.

Try a tapered hickory rammer for a treat if you've never had the pleasure and you'll see why wood stayed in fashion.

Also, early barrels were iron and a steel rammer would likely have worn down the muzzle in time.

 

[Zonie]

In the early days, iron was expensive and steel was used only for the things that iron would not work for. For guns, these steel parts included the frizzen that the flint strikes to make sparks, springs, sears, tumblers and other parts that required hardening. Iron cannot be hardened.

Both iron and steel were also fairly heavy.

Although brass and bronze were available they were also heavy and somewhat expensive.

Wood on the other hand was readily available and about as cheap as one could ask for.
Hickory is a strong flexible wood that is difficult to break and often grows with long thin branches that are easily split* and pared down to ramrod size. It historically has been the preferred material.

In applications where breakage was an issue such as with Military weapons, iron ramrods were often used.

* If the wood is split out of a long branch or block the grain will run from one end to the other without interruption. This makes it very difficult to break and it will never split if used correctly for ramming the ball.

Modern reproduction guns often machine their wooded ramrods without regard to the woods grain causing "runout" which is essentially the ends of the grain breaking out the side of the rod.
These are never to be trusted for ramming a ball in a muzzleloader.
They can shatter along the grain leaving a razor sharp edge that can go clear thru ones hand.

 

[ohio ramrod]

Or they can put a severe gash in your wrist when they split. I have the scar to prove it. Which is why I haven't used a wooden rod made from dowel rods for over thirty years! Except for cleaning or on those few occasions where I need to lap a barrel.

 

[RonT]

Runout. Precisely why I make my own RR's out of hickory splits. the only other wood that I would consider is Osage and Red Elm, both of which I've used in the making of self bows.
By following a growth ring the only runout I get is at the base of the swell that I commonly put on the muzzle end.
R

 

[roundball]

Or they can put a severe gash in your wrist when they split. I have the scar to prove it. Which is why I haven't used a wooden rod made from dowel rods for over thirty years! Except for cleaning or on those few occasions where I need to lap a barrel.

I replaced all mine with brass years ago...either solid or tubular depending on bore size and total ML weight. I keep several odds and ends wooden or coated fiberglass rods hanging on pegboard in the garage with various caliber size jags, patch retrivers, etc.

But I won't use wooden rods for loading at the range or while hunting because I don't happen to like the approach of inching a PRB down with several short little mini-movements to try and keep a wooden rod from breaking...I prefer a good long power stroke and seat the ball down right now.

 

[KHickam]

Are split hickory ramrods available from a supplier?

 

[stevekl]

No, my ball/patch combo isn't too tight to ram with a wooden rod. I just find it easier to do so with the brass rod.

 

[David W.]

Using a metal ramrod will affect the crowning of your rifle by wearing it down and affecting the acuracy of your rifle.