Old school wiping stick ends.

[walks with gun]

  Anyone ever use a coil of wire turned onto the small end of your ramrod for cleaning with tow, or cutting grooves into the end of the wooden rod to hold a patch.  I'm just wondering about it's use and if either of these were more common than the brass or  iron pinned tips.

[wattlebuster]

I have tried the coil of wire an it worked ok but I just like having my steel end better so I can use a screw in tow worm. I think it a bit stronger. I have had the coil come off a time or two

[L. Akers]

I have whittled the end of my "wiping stick" into a jag on my .31 squirrel rifle.

[Chuck Pemberton]

A couple of my early style smoothbores have wooden ramrods with no metal ends.  I have successfully used the wire coil and tow to clean those guns many times with out problems.

[bkb]

I carved a jag on the end of my 36 cal. rod, used it for years ,works great.

[Rick Sheets]

Here is Sgt. York with an old family percussion rifle.
His wiping stick appears to be wrapped with cotton string.

[JohnnyFM]

Great pic of York.  A lot can be learned from this photo in re wiping sticks.  It's worked for me by tying the string to the patch and feeding down the muzzle with the wiping stick.  Give the stick a couple of twists at the breach and on the way up and it usually stays with the stick.  If not, just pull the patch out by the string.  Oh yeah, make sure the string is long enough so the standing end sticks out of the muzzle enough to give ya purchase to pull it out.
Don't know if York did it this way or not.  Maybe he just tied the patch to the stick with the string.  Maybe the string acts like the patch itself.  Experiment and see what works for you.  That's one of the fun things about muzzleloading, everybody has their own way of doing.  Key word: "doing".  Find what works for you.
Regards,
Johnny

[bob in the woods]

For my .40 cal rifle I wrapped the end of the rod with fine wire. It works fine as a " jag "
keeping the patch from slipping off.  The narrow end of the rod that resides in the stock
has a threaded rod tip which will accept a screw if I need to pull a ball

[bones92]

The rod that came with an old Turner Kirkland .40 caplock rifle has one end carved to a waist just under a short jag head.  In the waisted area, there was a short nail that protruded on either side, presumably to hold a patch.  I pulled it out immediately upon getting the rifle, but I suppose the nail was there for a good reason.

[walks with gun]

  The thought of that nail working back and forth up that bore, gave me the willies.

[Mike payne]

I cut rings on my whiping stick and it holds tow better than a patch when cleaning. When I do lose the tow in the barrel I install the tow worm the other end and fish it out.

Mike