Which end of the ramrod to use?

[Daryl]

I always reverse the ramrod and use the wide outer end for ramming.
I grew up with sporting guns, (shotguns) and they are meant to be used that way and would not work the other way around.

It still comes as a shock than anyone would Not reverse the rod!....except on a captive rammer on a rifle or pistol of course!

I used to as well, Richard, with rifle and pelter, but I got over that habit with rifles. I do like the larger end for pushing with my fingers when seating the ball.

[AsMs]

"flipping the rod is a waste of fiddlin' around time"
think about that for moment.........all the worlds armies "flipped" their rod to load for centuries, every recruit was

trained to do so. 3 shots a minute was expected?

Yes but they used metal rods.  A thick end to cradle the ball and the thin end was threaded to accept worms and ball pulled.

AsMs

[AsMs]

If you have a tapered wood rod with a metal end on the thin end that is concave to accept the ball that is what you use to push the ball down.  If you do as I use to do and flip (learn to flip because my first experiences with muzzleloading was not hunting but as a reenactor with miltary metal rods) to push with the flat thick wood end and you get the ball almost seated and then it sticks.  You push a little harder and your metal end will snap off.  Trust me I know from experience.

AsMs

[thecapgunkid]

This is an interesting thread because I just started putting the female threaded tip at the base of the ramrod inside the stock.  Too many of the pre-rev guns I have been looking at show the front end as bare wood well before the taper starts, and I have grown to preferring the wood seating the ball and with a closer fit to the bore.  Never liked those sleeves for the muzzle and feel better about not having any metal hit the bore on the way down.

[OldMtnMan]

Brass shouldn't be able to do any damage to a steel bore but it rubs me the wrong way too.

I made a pun.