Hi Justin, and it's good to see you building rifles and asking questions as you go along. Your post here says "what do other folks do?", and if you're asking what do other contemp stockers do, this is a good place to ask. If you want to know what the old gunstockers did, that's a different question - though some who post here are students of the old guns and guys as well.
IF interested in history, you need to narrow the place and time. And look for rifles in such good shape that the ramrods are or might be original. That really narrows the field of study pieces.
I began with mtn man rifles - Carson Hawken in current Muzzle Blasts ca 1850 has a heavy tapered ramrod, a brass wrap or cap at muzzle end scooped to fit the ball, and tapered iron tip at breech end to take a worm. I have seen a few fur trade Henry rifles and others with brass loops at muzzle end to strengthen the loading end. Most Lemans and similar had the tapered iron tip at breech end, threaded for worm , now a jag. If there was a wrap at muzzle end, it looks like they tried to use the same material as forend and same length for a good look. There are plenty that are just wood at the muzzle end, but bore sized and scooped to fit ball. On a contemp mtn man rifle I'd sometimes use both, tap one 8x32 and other 10x32 so whatever you grabbed would work somewhere (probably not traditional). Or I would copy the custom size and thread of the old rifle - usually larger and stronger.
Then many long guns 1770 to 1800 seem most often to have a tip at breech end and plain wood at muzzle. So i had to relearn, leave off the showy brass under forend cap. But not always = some makers used a brass loop at muzzle, and varied length of ramrod pipes, etc. Lots of details vary from maker to maker and over time.
Then when I got back to earlier records, the Bethlehem, PA shop repairs during 1750's often included putting brass loops on the loading end of the ramrods. OK - back to that again. Several Oerter rifles in near new condition and the griffin rifle all have brass loops or closed caps at the muzzle, usually same length as forend cap. Sometimes the tapered iron tip at breech end has broken off at cross pin, ramrod is shoved down and doesn't match - but did when new.
Going back a step or two earlier to German rifles, most had a horn forend cap and a horn tip on ramrod of same length. Sometimes same material, sometimes black and yellow mixed, but both there, so that may have been the tradition the early guys copied here.
To me, any of these questions have many answers, depending upon who, where and when. Re your patchbox question, there are historical examples of short, square, stubby pbox lids, wide and low, skinny and high - depends on what you are trying for. And we all have our own eye for what looks good that day.
keep on learning, and share back with us what you see. Bob
