What is Your Favorite 'Range Rod'?

[Mattole]

Store-bought or home-made, what has worked best for you?

[Don Getz]

Stainless steel with a bore guide is the absolute best for loading and cleaning.  Lacking one of these, a wood rod long enought to do the job will work, but will be hard on the bore over a long period of time............Don

[Harnic]

I bought 4 feet of 3/8" stainless rod about 35 years ago, drilled & tapped #10-32 one end & attached a cube with rounded corners made of Ebony on the other.  I made several jags for it & a brass muzzle guide.  I use it exclusively, the wood rod under my barrel has never been used.

[Kermit]

Made one up from one of Track's 48" x 3/8" synthetic ramrods with 8-32 threads. Pinned a small antique brass doorknob I had laying around onto the end for a good grip. Use it with a brass bore guide and an 8/32 to 10-32 thread adapter, also from Track. Works for everything but my .25.

[Daryl]

I have a few - one of drill rod - 3/8" and 2 of stainless in 5/16". They all work perfectly for loading or cleaning.

[Roger Fisher]

Range rod is one of those super hard and smooth stainless rods with a nylon bore guide (short starter is nylon w/a guide)  Have a seperate similar rod fitted with a worm to help get the fouling off the plug face (which in turn is polished)  Jags all have steel studs NO brass studs for me.  Only use a wood rod when I have no other choice! Wears the
 muzzle....

Now enter safety into the man's question about 'range' rods.  How often have you heard, witnessed or done the deed yourself snapping the rod and shoving the beastie into or thru your grimmy hand or wrist    Or were you lucky and only split the rod and noticed it prior to causing a blood trail?

More than a couple or three years ago on a Seneca Run I was doing well til I gripped my wood rod a bit too aggressively and snapped the thing and that rod had an iron core....
That ended my 'run' there and then.....

[Dphariss]

Store-bought or home-made, what has worked best for you?

I like this one but I am prejudiced



Dan

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I have two cleaning rods that occasionally get used for loading while working off a bench.  The first is my 3/8" drill rod threaded 8 x 32 with a cigar type handle, and the second, a 5/16" stainless rod with a similar handle, and again threaded 8 x 32.  I use the ramrod almost exclusively for loading,  but like Harry, never for cleaning.  I don't use a muzzle guide because I can't stand the water squirting past it when I clean the barrel in a pail.

[hanshi]

I have several that get used from time to time including a .50 BMG cleaning rod.  The one I most use for cleaning and range loading is a 48" ss rod with a nylon bore protector.

[Harnic]

Taylor, I use my s/s rod for loading & cleaning.  I have a pair of those neoprene fishing gloves I wear when cleaning & I cup the left one around the rod when withdrawing it, funneling all the water down the outside of the barrel into the pail again.  Works well for me. 

[smylee grouch]

Unles I missed it, no one used a brass rod. Are they no good or some other reason for not using them?     Gary

[roundball]

Most of my range rods...and all of my ramrods...are brass...either solid brass or strong rigid tubular brass...they all have nylon muzzle guides on them, and even hunting, I carry the jag in my pocket with a nylon muzzle guide already slid on it.

[Harnic]

The potential problem with brass, fibreglas, & nylon is that they're softer than stainless steel & it's possible to embed grit in their surfaces, creating a file or sandpaper like effect to the bore of your barrel.  They're also more flexible than steel so the rod can flex under stress contacting the bore part way down.

[roundball]

Must depend on what type of brass rods you're referring to...mine are as rigid as a piece of rebar.

Also, Muzzleblasts Bevel Brothers ran an article about testing ramrod material, and actually, brass rods came out with the best score...least abrasive/abusive to a muzzle...wood being the worst by far.

[Daryl]

I've been using wooden rods, stainless rods and tool-steel rods for many years without bore protectors & without hurting the accuracy of my barrels. At this time, my .69 is perhaps the rifle most shot, since 1986 and it's accuracy is unchanged - indeed, it is shooting identical groups today with my poorer eyes than it was back in the late 80's. Perhaps accuracy has even improved probably due to the better powder today.

I had a brief excursion with a 7/16" diameter fiberglass rod - brown in colour, back in about 1975.  I thoguht the larger size would reduce crown abrasion - not much, if any.  I started with a 38" barrel and cut 1/4" off and recrowned it every 200 shots for a year.  At 30" or 32", I retired it.  That was the soft steel Bauska .50 with the 38" twist that I shot short slugs from.  It's accuracy maintained 1" to 1 1/2" for about 100 to 150 shots, then the accuracy would gradually degrade to 2" around 200 shots, with no groups under 1 1/2". When that happened I'd cut off 1/4" and re-crown it.
I once showed a guy just how abrasive the rod was, by filing a groove on the corner of one flat with 10 strokes as if it was a file.

[Dave Faletti]

I use a 7/16 wood rod and a bore guide. The guide is a bit different than  most but works on all my rifles.

[Leatherbelly]

   Mines the one the gun comes with. SS rod for cleaning.(at home)

[Roger Fisher]

The potential problem with brass, fibreglas, & nylon is that they're softer than stainless steel & it's possible to embed grit in their surfaces, creating a file or sandpaper like effect to the bore of your barrel.  They're also more flexible than steel so the rod can flex under stress contacting the bore part way down.

Sameo, sameo with wood..

[Dphariss]

Must depend on what type of brass rods you're referring to...mine are as rigid as a piece of rebar.

Also, Muzzleblasts Bevel Brothers ran an article about testing ramrod material, and actually, brass rods came out with the best score...least abrasive/abusive to a muzzle...wood being the worst by far.

Worse by how far? Did they rub till they removed .0005 or .001" and if so how long did it take?
I would suggest that anyone thinking they can wear out a bore with a wood rod should as a question or two.
 
The first question would have to be "how many wooden rods were worn out?" The wooden rod will wear many  faster than the steel. So if the wooden rod has been in use for 10 years and is still serviceable and the bore is screwed up its not likely from the wooden rod.
Yes wood is abrasive to some extent. But not that abrasive. Especially given the pressure exerted on the bore when loading which is minimal.
Having lapped a few barrels I can tell you removing metal in this manner even with lapping compound is not a rapid operation. If a significant change (.001") needs to be made it can take a LOT  of work. Like all day and into the next.

Dan

[roundball]

You'll need to contact Muzzleblasts and ask them about all that.
Maybe they're all just confused and you can straighten them right out.

[westerner]

Back about 1990 I borrowed a TC Hawken rifle from a friend at work.  I was invited on a BP elk hunt and didnt have a proper rifle. The friend said it was his dads.  The bore was egg shaped. It had a brown fiberglass RR that looked like it was well used.  Couldnt hit a barn from the inside with that rifle.  I cut a quarter inch off the end of that muzzle to get to fresh rifling. Rifle shot very good after that.

Many woods have silica in them. Some more some less. It's abrasive. I use hard drill rod rods for everything but hunting rifles.  I dont worry about wear on the muzzle with the hunting rifles and wood rods. Takes a lot to wear the bore. Oh, fiberglass?  Nope, wont used it.  

             Joe.

[bgf]

I'm hesitant to post on this, but my recollection is a reference to a Bevel Brothers test in which steel caused the most damage.  I remember taking note, because fiberglass actually wasn't the villian it is usually made out to be.  Perhaps I remember incorrectly.  With wood, fiberglass, and other softer (than steel) materials, I don't see how they can do any quick harm to a steel barrel unless they are old and heavily embedded with grit.  Fiberglass might also have the potential to abrade if the smooth exterior coating is badly damaged, exposing the coarse fibers, but I don't know what the relative hardness is there, and the cost is so low that regular replacement is not that big a deal.  Once again, I'm not trying to start an argument.  In fact I am curious about this topic, because I've avoided a steel range rod based on what I gathered from whatever it was I read.

[Dphariss]

You'll need to contact Muzzleblasts and ask them about all that.
Maybe they're all just confused and you can straighten them right out.

Whatever.
Get a piece of hickory and rub it one some steel till you get bored or wear out the wood then measure how deep the groove is.

Dan

[Collector]

Get two (2) USGI .50 BMG (5 piece) cleaning rods and add or delete sections to accommodate longer barrels or shorter barrels.  Of course, you'll have to consider the bore diameter, but it should accommodate quite a range.  All steel, threaded rods with a tip that has female threads for brushes or jags (CF or ML) and a slot for patches.  The rod rotates in the handle (grooved and pinned) so that brushes or jag, rotate with the rifling (if you have a rifle.)  You can break it down to carry on hunting forays in the event you forget the powder and have to pull a ball, etc.  Just darned handy and with a little looking, you can be in this set up for around $20.00.   Sorry, I don't have access to mine to provide more information.  Good luck!

[54Bucks]

 I can't imagine what "grit" people have down the bores of their rifles that could be picked up by a fibreglass or wooden rod, that would not be picked up with any other rod. A pure lead roundball is the hardest substance that touches my bores. It sure seems to me that a steel rod,even when used with a muzzle guide/protector, to pound down a tight load in a long barreled muzzleloader would  have a better chance of coming in contact with the bore somewhere.
 Personally I'll continue to use a " super rod " for all rangework. Regardless if it's fibreglass or not. Mine absorbs nothing that I can't wipe off its surface with a dry paper towel. And there is no evidence that the bore is scrubbing off anything from the smooth outer surface of the "super rod" itself. I think someone for unexplained reasons gave the fibreglass rods a bad name way back when?? Perhaps way back when there was something in fibreglass rods  to be concerned with?