Which end of the ramrod to use?

[nemovir]

I have been using a range rod only, but I want to use the wood ramrod at least once.  One end has a metal tip with concave end, but it's smaller the ball.  The other is flat and is much larger surface than the metal end. So which end am I suppose to use?

[EC121]

Whichever end you use,  grab and push about 6in. at a time.  This will help to keep the rod from breaking.  Don't grab it way up like the range rod.  It will bow and snap.  Might go through your hand.

[MuskratMike]

 Take the muzzle end and add a ramrod adapter for that size of rod with a 10-32 thread and screw in a 10-32 jag for that size of ball. You might need to cut an inch or so off the rod depending on the sleeve and length of jag. May not be period correct but now you can use your wood ramrod when on trail walks or hunting and always have a jag with you. I can not agree more with the advise to push down in 6-8 inch increments after using your short starter. Especially if your rifle is a 32 -40 caliber as these rods are very small diameter.

[David R. Pennington]

I make my rods tapered. The little end that goes into the thimbles gets an iron sleeve with a female threaded bushing brazed in the end. This is pinned securely to the hickory rod and will take a jag, worm, scraper or ball puller. The rod抯 other end increases in size to nearly bore diameter and is flat on the end. I drill rammer holes as deep as possible and make rammers as long as possible. I screw on ball puller and put rod in bore. A hole is drilled through the rod in the section extending out of the bore that a nail or awl will fit through. This gives some purchase for pulling a stuck patch or dry ball if ever need be.
The big end is for loading. Hunting I start the patched ball with the butt of patch knife handle (antler crown) and use no short starter. Rammer is used gripping close to muzzle and send ball home a few inches at a time as previously stated.
I find heavily used rods will eventually wear out and require replacement after a few years.

[Daryl]

The tapered small end is the end I first put on the ball.
I set the patch one top of the muzzle, then the ball - orient the sprue, then smack it into the bore with the short starter knub, then down with the starter's 5" or 6" shaft. out comes the ros and straight into the bore, small end in to the top of the ball. Choke up and drive it down, 6" - 12" etc, until it is down. I like the larger end for the final push with my hand.
At this point, I usually put the hole in the starter's handle on the rod and give it a smack with my palm. Same pressure, every time.
When chronographing loads in my .40 and .45 cal bls.
I found giving the rod a smack to 'set' the powder charge with slight compression. This gave me 100fps average higher speed and closer shot to shot velocity variations, then if the ball was merely 'set' onto the powder.
BPCGT competitive (not merely competition) shooters do this for the same reason. More consistent velocities which contributes to better accuracy.
 

[bob in the woods]

I do the same as Daryl.  I don't find it necessary to switch ends on the rod. Less complicated, simple, and is kinder to my hand.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Yes, the big bulbous outward end of the rod is what the hand presses on the seat the ball.  The inbound end has a rod tip concaved to fit the ball more or less, and it centres itself automatically.  The bore supports the thinner part of the rod so it cannot bow and perhaps shatter, and a simple in and out motion without the baton twirling is how I do it.

[Old Ford2]

In most cases I would refrain from using a wood ram rod as a stuck ball puller.
Many times the ram rod will leave some part of it's self, stuck in the ball and complicate a bad situation.
If you are hunting and unable to bring your range rod with you, follow exact loading procedures and you will rarely get caught with the ball loaded without powder, or the ball half way down the barrel.
If your rifle is .40 cal. or smaller, extreme care must be used with a wooden ram rod.
As far as a wood ram rod is concerned, if you don't have a hickory ram rod, GET ONE!
A maple, oak, birch, pine, spruce piece of wood will leave you stranded. Straight grained hickory is about the best.
Perhaps someone here can recommend a similar wood to use.
Going out in the field with a .36 call or smaller, you are better fitted with a brass ram rod.
Fred

[rfd]

flipping the rod is a waste of fiddlin' around time.  up/down the tube/up/down the thimbles = much surer 'n' faster.  i tenon a brass ferrule to both ends, and the muzzle end gets a jag.  nothing to over think.  it all works fine fer me.

[hanshi]

Fessing up, here, I'm a flipper.  The tapered end of the rod is in the thimbles and either a threaded tip or an enlarged antler tip on the "big" end.  I also don't recommend ball pulling with the wood ramrod.  I tried it once and the rod twisted into.

[45-110]

"flipping the rod is a waste of fiddlin' around time"
think about that for moment.........all the worlds armies "flipped" their rod to load for centuries, every recruit was trained to do so. 3 shots a minute was expected?
kw

[Daryl]

Yes - they did - I prefer not to.

[OldMtnMan]

I'm a flipper. With years of practice, i'm pretty fast.

[rfd]

to each their own, as it should be.   but honestly, and not that it matters one fig for shooting, unless yer under attack by blood thirsty natives and rate of fire is paramount, but i can load and shoot up/down faster than any rod flipper.  it's just the pure physics dexterity of rod and thimble alignment.  but again, who really cares?  enjoy however ya load and shoot yer side lock muzzy's. 

[OldMtnMan]

How fast you load has a lot more to do with the rest of the loading than it does with the ramrod.

[rfd]

yes, of course loading is more than just manipulating the rod.  speed can be added with a ball board, loose patched ball, and using one horn.  but again, speed should not be of concern .... unless yer on a seneca run!  LOL!   

[OldMtnMan]

 Yes, I haven't been chased by any angry Indians for a while. My Lakota friend did chase me a month ago but he wasn't that mad.

[Pukka Bundook]

I always reverse the ramrod and use the wide outer end for ramming.
I grew up with sporting guns, (shotguns) and they are meant to be used that way and would not work the other way around.

It still comes as a shock than anyone would Not reverse the rod!....except on a captive rammer on a rifle or pistol of course!

[Mike from OK]

In most cases I would refrain from using a wood ram rod as a stuck ball puller.
Many times the ram rod will leave some part of it's self, stuck in the ball and complicate a bad situation.
If you are hunting and unable to bring your range rod with you, follow exact loading procedures and you will rarely get caught with the ball loaded without powder, or the ball half way down the barrel.
If your rifle is .40 cal. or smaller, extreme care must be used with a wooden ram rod.
As far as a wood ram rod is concerned, if you don't have a hickory ram rod, GET ONE!
A maple, oak, birch, pine, spruce piece of wood will leave you stranded. Straight grained hickory is about the best.
Perhaps someone here can recommend a similar wood to use.
Going out in the field with a .36 call or smaller, you are better fitted with a brass ram rod.
Fred

This man speaks the truth...

I already broke one tip off the rod on my .32

I was able to salvage and refit it with only a loss of about 3/8" but it spooked me. I have a design in the works that will look right but perform better. Of course nothing is unbreakable but a little extra insurance doesn't hurt.

Mike

[OldMtnMan]

I have a confession. I had an aluminum ramrod made up for a GPR a couple of years ago. It was anodized a brown color and didn't look that bad but hardly traditional. It was threaded 10/32 at both ends and could be setup with any fittings you like.

I know I should be hung from the nearest tree but it sure was comforting to know I could crank down on the ramrod and know it isn't going to break. It served as a hunting, cleaning, and range rod all in one. I wish I had kept it.

[David R. Pennington]

I agree about using range (steel) rod for pulling balls as being best, but I like the idea of having the ability to do it in the field hunting if it ever became necessary. If it works you are back in business, if not your hunt was over anyway if you weren抰 prepared. And as for nothing but good straight grain hickory for wood rods I would say amen. I still temper them in kerosene, may be unnecessary, but seems to me to make them more limber.

[Daryl]

I agree about using range (steel) rod for pulling balls as being best, but I like the idea of having the ability to do it in the field hunting if it ever became necessary. If it works you are back in business, if not your hunt was over anyway if you weren抰 prepared. And as for nothing but good straight grain hickory for wood rods I would say amen. I still temper them in kerosene, may be unnecessary, but seems to me to make them more limber.

Same here. Taylor spent some time and energy mounting a 'range rod' of stainless steel with a T handle at the 'fouling shot and tie-breaker station' at the start of our trail walk course.
On the side of the tree is a plastic bullet box containing centered ball screws and drills of various sizes to if someone 'dry-balls' then can walk back to this "station" and pull the ball.
When this has happened to me - (maybe once or twice,) I usually dribble some 4F though the vent, or remove the nipple and tap in some powder into the patent breech, then fire "foooooooot"
the ball out. That usually only takes a couple minutes at most. Walking back is not a problem, but does hold up the 'group' - if they wait, that is.

[MuskratMike]

A quality ramrod puller works on all sizes of ramrods. The one sold by Jas. Towns ends works well and looks period correct compared to aluminum ones sold by others.

[rfd]

IF ball pulling is necessary, a brass rod, with its weight, is best for the screw worm. 

IF not, a proper hickory or such wood rod with glued and pinned brass ferrules can work well particularly if one of the ferrules has an 1/8" or so hole for a drill bit (or some such hardened steel rod "pin") to slip in.  t'other end gets the screw worm.  twist the worm into the ball using the leverage of the drill bit "handle".  whence the worm has entered well into the lead ball, a loop of 'chute cord over the drill bit and over a fixture (tree limb, fence post, etc) allows a two handed grip on the long gun to commence pulling out that offending ball. 

getting the screw worm to best enter the ball can be helped by making a new tool fitting for the rod that has a small drill bit embedded/epoxied into an appropriate bore size jag (which centers the bit in the bore), to pre-drill a hole in the ball to better accept the screw worm without expanding the ball and making it harder to pull the bugger out of the tube.

[alacran]

All the ram rods on my rifles are steel reinforced. Mostly I use hickory, but I have used walnut and  curly maple. I try to use 5/32 stainless rod for the reinforcement. Lately I have been capping the end with hickory or ebony.  I find it most comfortable to use the bottom of the rod on the ball. I do not worry about breaking the rod.
As far as pulling out balls I carry a co2 discharger. It is the safest and most efficient way to remove a dry ball. Really comes in handy on a trailwalk, specially if you have a few cheechakos in your group.
As far as speed goes, I stay away from any event where speed shooting is part of the equation. With a muzzleloader speed shooting is an oxymoron.