Perhaps it’s just me and that I’m a clutz. Perhaps it’s bad luck at an inopportune time – like the day I was distracted loading and shouldered the rifle without taking the ram rod out of the bore. The recoil knocked me for a loop and I never did find the ram rod. There are just those days afield when things go wrong and, if you don’t have the right items in your pouch or pocket, the day is going to be a waste. Load a ball without powder, end up with a dull flint or a fouled vent, loose a cleaning patch down the bore, break a ram rod trying to use a ball puller, the possibilities for malfunction are many.
So, to be prepared for any and all eventualities, I always went out with the usual bag of “tools” which were perpetually adrift in some pocket, pouch, haversack, or patch box. Some of them were sharp and poked holes in everything else. Some were just small and easy to loose. After thinking about it for a while, I decided to combine anything and everything I might reasonably need into one tool small enough to be carried in a pocket and, when fully assembled, designed to prevent the loss of much smaller, separate components.
Obviously, when you look at this tool, it is not period correct, but then neither is the fact that I drive myself in a truck to where I shoot. Nonetheless, I tried to design it to be as “traditional” as possible in look and material. It is all brass and I used an old fashioned knurl design in rings around the body to make it easier to use but not looking like I picked it up at an auto parts store. I have seen some 18th and early 19th century European shooting tools that provide some of the features I tried to include here, just not all of them.
This tool combines ten features into a single unit. It includes; a "T" handle, a vent pick, a jag, a knapping hammer, a screw driver, a ball drill, a ball puller, a bore adapter, a ram rod adapter, and a worm. The functions the tool can perform include; clearing a vent, sharpening a flint, drilling a projectile to be removed, pulling a projectile to be removed, cleaning the bore, capturing and clearing a bore obstruction, providing a more positive grip on the ram rod for various operations, and removing, servicing, replacing a flint, a lock, or any other mechanical parts of the firearm retained by a screw. All of the individual parts of the tool are designed with common threaded interfaces so that they may be disassembled and reassembled in the many different required configurations.
Some functions of the tool require it to be, at least, partially disassembled and, in some instances, reassembled in a different arrangement to perform a particular function. Many of these additional functions require the components of this tool to be used in conjunction with and attached to the firearm's ram rod. My ram rods are all now configured with a 10-32 female thread on both ends for this purpose.
I went through several iterations to get to the one I like best. But, unless I need to forge a new mainspring or fresh out the rifling (or unless I just bloody well shoot my ram rod away), this tool has kept me from being stuck with a non functional muzzle loader.
The first versions:
The latest version:
Top end - "T" handle, vent pick (and knapping hammer), jag, ball puller, and screw driver
Mid section: ball drill, and bore adapter
End section: ram rod adapter and worm
