A little maint. today

[Macon Due]

Thanks to Roundball & Daryl
I pushed the pins out on my .36 flintlock and cleaned it in a bucket of water.I had always cleaned my caplock guns that way and liked the way I could be sure they were really clean.I was hesitant to remove the barrel on my .36 Tenn.rifle though.
Anyhow everything went smoothly and while I was at it I opened the touch hole to 5/64" and very lightly outside coned it. I cleaned up a couple of screw slots that were 'burred' when I got it as well. Then I made 2 new flint leathers and finished a new Ramin wood ramrod.I put a TOW iron tip on it and drilled and pinned it as well as sanding the wood to size and staining and oiling it. Guess I'll go grease my moccasins now [or read more in my book 'The Frontiersman' about Simon Kenton]
Anyway.....thanks to everyone that helps folks out on this site.
Macon

[mjm46@bellsouth.net]

Be careful of that ramin wood Rammer. I've found that ramin breaks much much easier than hickory.

I always remove my barrel to clean it, While you're at it remove the lock and clean and oil the works of that as well. When you're done you can put it away confident that you've done all you can to prevent rust and future problems.

[Macon Due]

Micah
Ok,I'll be carefull with the Ramin rod.I thought maybe it would be better than hickory? I bought one of each from TOW and the hickory one [$12.00+] is the poorest ram rod I have ever seen. End grain out the side in at least 4 different places! I reckon you'ed have to buy a half dozen to get one or two decent ones.
I did remove the lock and clean and oil it as well.
Macon

[Habu]

I think you've almost always had to buy half a dozen hickory blanks to get a couple good ones.   It's just the nature of production--sawn rod blanks are going to have runout.  Watch for someone selling blanks split from hickory instead of sawn.  More work to make the ramrod, but you can do it without runout. 

As for ramin ramrods, I've had no luck with them.  I even broke one while loading a shotgun, and the wad wasn't that tight.  I wouldn't trust one scraped down small enough to use with a .36.

Ramrods have always seemed the bane of smallbores to me.  The times I've had one, other than when hunting I'd load and shoot with a steel rod. 

[Daryl]

Sounds good, but, as the guys noted, the Ramin rods can be bad for breakage. Too, they break straight across, rarely splintering, so the 'flat' break is unlikely to skewer you like a hickory rod will.

Choke up on it and shove the patched ball down very deliberately, straight down - concentrate on it every time and the rod might last. A split-second's inattention, a bit of sideways thrust and it will break, especially in small sizes.

Careful of the tang. Taylor cuts a chunk of wood, ie: 2X4 a bit longer than the tang, then splits it in the middle and inlets 1/2 the tang into both sides, then makes the hole just a tich longer than the tang. The breech of the barrel sits above the end of the wood block, resting on it.  Epoxy the 2 halves together and you have a 'bracket' that fits your tang, but causes no stress to the tang when it's on the end of the barrel in the water. Easy to make and will save a bent tang if the screw holes weaken it a bit too much. You could even use a router with 1/2" bit to hog out the shape of the tang (I would).

[mjm46@bellsouth.net]

Micah
Ok,I'll be carefull with the Ramin rod.I thought maybe it would be better than hickory? I bought one of each from TOW and the hickory one [$12.00+] is the poorest ram rod I have ever seen. End grain out the side in at least 4 different places! I reckon you'ed have to buy a half dozen to get one or two decent ones.
I did remove the lock and clean and oil it as well.
Macon

Buy your ramrods unfinished without the tips installed @ $2.50 each the tips are about the same and are easy to install cross drill and pin. Or use them without the tips. put the tips on your cleaning rod. I usually buy them in bunches of 6 to 10 at a time, then you can pick and choose the good ones and use the bad ones for dowels.  It's not a lot of money when you're talking about the convienence of a dependable rod and the safety aspect as well.

For range shooting almost always use a range rod, still hickory but longer and easier to handle.

[Daryl]

I like at least one 8x32 or 10x32 threaded & pinned tip installed. That way, if I have to pull a load, I can. When we shoot the trail, it isn't often anyone carries a range rod - we use the rod that's in the gun.

[William Worth]

I thought split would produce fewer runouts than sawn, it did with tobacco sticks.

[hanshi]

I've broken three in my lifetime; none was hickory.  I bought a bunch of blank and tipped unfinished rods a couple years back and finished one for each of my guns.  I tapered the blank ones and made a deer antler tips for them.  They are great for regular use but of course can't be used to pull dryball.  They were all hickory except, I think, for the small ones.

[Macon Due]

hanshi
May I ask where you purchase your rods? I was a bit disappointed in TOW's.
Thanks.......Macon

[Richard/Ga.]

Steve Bailey sells good split hickory rods in various sizes.  He can be reached at 573-547-4540 (work) or 573-547-1647 (home).

[hanshi]

Macon Due, I have been getting mine from TVM.  They've had both tipped and plain rods that are long enough to make a nice tapered rod for a 42" barrel and have enough left over for a pistol rod.  I like the plain.

[Macon Due]

Thank you guys. I have TVM sending me a spare with my .45 when it's done so I might just get another for my .36. I'll also check into Mr.Bailey's as well.
 
Macon

[Macon Due]

hanshi
What do you mean by a 'tapered' rod? What is the advantage to a tapered one?
Thanks......Macon

[Daryl]

A tapered rod allows a skinnier forend.  ie: 3/8" tapered to 5/16" or 1/4" allows a VERY skinny forend on a fine little small bore- .40 or so.  A .32 might get a 5/16" rod tapered to 1/4". Thusly, a 7/16" rod tapered to 3/8" for larger calibers - same deal, or even 1/2" rapid tapered to 3/8", like the rod for my 14 bore.

With the larger end sticking out of the pipes & taper starting after the first rod pipe, but the time it gets to the second  pipe & then the entry pipe a very strong 7/16" rod for a .50 can be tapered to 3/8"- smaller entry pipe from the rod's taper means less wood  needed under the barrel.  this slims up the stock, making for a slimmer, trimmer looking rifle, one the barrel and parts grew into, so to speak, not merely added or stuck on.  Too, the taper gives the strength of the heavy rod, without it's bulk.

 Of course, the gun must be made for the tapered rod as it's being built - in order to take advantage of the rod's profile.  Soem folks have difficulty with this, as they just can't go into a shop and 'buy a new, finished rod for their ML gun.  With custom guns, it gets more complicated with parts, of course.

[catman]

Steve is only one to get rods from, good man to deal with & great product..

Steve Bailey sells good split hickory rods in various sizes.  He can be reached at 573-547-4548 (work) or 573-547-1647 (home).

[Ky-Flinter]

Steve is only one to get rods from, good man to deal with & great product..

Steve Bailey sells good split hickory rods in various sizes.  He can be reached at 573-547-4548 (work) or 573-547-1647 (home).

I agree with all of the above.

-Ron

[Macon Due]

KY............Both of those numbers are 'disconnected/no longer in service'
Anyone else have contact info for Steve Bailey?
Thanks........Macon

[David R. Watson]

When I first started shooting I saw a guy a Friendship that stored hickory rods in diesel fuel (?) for about a year. They were in an iron pipe with plugs on each end.
I remember one of the rod being bent until the ends touched.
There was one that was not in the pipe and apparently had been allowed to "dry" which gave it an oily look, but apparently had been finished with some sort of wax(?) It was extremely flexable.
Has anyone out there heard of or seen this done? I only saw it at Friendship in 1976.

[Daryl]

Heard about it, David - but the smell of diesel would be on your hands too as well as your rifle, I'd expect.  It's not a smell I particularly enjoy at all and to me it's as bad as gasoline odour would be.

[David R. Watson]

After I wrote this I thought that it was coal oil rather than diesel. The "dry" rod was coated with something flexable and wasn't wet or slippery to the touch. I don't remember the odor, but after being around the rod that came out of the liquid I'm not a bit suprised that I couldn't smell anything.
One thing for sure - this site really brings back thoughts/memories that haven't been around in ages.

[Daryl]

We ALL remember stuff that happened 40 years ago, when reading some posts. Ain't it great!

[Ky-Flinter]

KY............Both of those numbers are 'disconnected/no longer in service'
Anyone else have contact info for Steve Bailey?
Thanks........Macon

Macon,

Sorry for the delay, just saw your post.  Here's the number Steve Bailey has in his ad in the August edition of MuzzleBlasts.....  573-547-4540

I didn't think to check the numbers posted earlier by Richard/Ga... I was just echoing the fact that Steve sells a good product at a fair price and he's a nice guy to boot.  I corrected the work number in Richard's post.

-Ron

[Macon Due]

Thank you Sir.
Macon

[Rasch Chronicles]

Ok, something is wierd around here.

I could have sworn I made a comment about Coal Oil and ramrods, and I can't find it. And what is totally wierding me out is that David made a comment about it too to me.

Wonder what's up? Internet gremlins!

Albert