Fiberglass range rods?

[Scota4570]

But coated with adhesive shrink tubing to negate the abrasive concerns.   

I made such a rod out of 3/8" fiberglass electric live stock fence post.  I made  steel threaded and tapered ends with 10x32TPI threads .  The ends are epoxied in place and cross pinned.   Seems pretty nice for 45 cal and above.  It is very stiff and apparently strong.   

The reason for choosing fiberglass is weight, cost and strength.   I do not like floppy rods.  Brass is expensive.  A 1/4" rod with black shrink tubing would not look horrible under the rifle.   

I already have a T-handled steel rod coated with shrink tubing for pulling bullets and range loading.  I was using a hickory rod for wiping but it broke recently, the grain layout was poor.  Brass is expensive and will bend. 

I need a thinner rod for 36 cal.  I was thinking of the 1/4" sidewalk stakes used in snow country or the ones for tomato stakes/ bean poles.  Does anyone have experience with those fiberglass rods? 

[Bob McBride]

No experience with the thinner rods. I know the white FG tomato stakes are nearly indestructible. I manage to run over one with the bush hog from time to time, so I say “nearly”. If they’re long enough for your application I say,  “Great idea”. Sand them down to fit and shrink wrap them. I like to get the immersive experience so I reload from the bag, even at the range (private range on my farm), so I use the piped rod on the gun I’m shooting and a keep a steel rr setting off to the side for semi-regular unmentionables.

I walk my rod down the bore hand over hand from just above the bore so I haven’t had a break in a looong time. But it seems I always dry ball at least once when I have an audience. Record is twice twice.

Do what works, until it doesn’t, then try something else....

[WKevinD]

I have been using 3/8" dia Black acatiel plastic rods. They don't break, are not abrasive, and don't have splinters like fiberglass rods. I get them from MSC. They are cheap enough (about $5.00 ea) and machine well so putting a cross pinned 10-32 tip on is fairly easy. I drill a hole and put a leather lace for a wrist strap on the opposite end for pulling power in case someone dry-balls.
   https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/63383798
Kevin

[Frank]

Log cabin sport shop Super Rod.

[Scota4570]

Is "acatiel plastic" the floppy stuff or stiffer?   I see acetal and derlin listed as the same thing elsewhere.  I see there are two types of acetal plastic.  I am confused.
 Homogeneous polymer is good, a noodle rod is not my thing. 

[Old Salt]

I have used DELRIN RAMRODS for years, they are non abrasive. The only time I put a wooden rod in the pipes is when I put then no display
I do not know how long a barrel you have. The folks I deal with have them out to 41 in.

 
                                       www.octobercounty.com


Old Salt

[Scota4570]

46" 36 caliber.

Noodle rod not so good. 

[WKevinD]

Is "acatiel plastic" the floppy stuff or stiffer?   I see acetal and derlin listed as the same thing elsewhere.  I see there are two types of acetal plastic.  I am confused.
 Homogeneous polymer is good, a noodle rod is not my thing.

Yes derlin / acetal stiffer than those white rods but still flexible. They have lots of different diameters all 48" long
Kevin

[hanshi]

My actual range rods are stainless steel but I've made several more out of fiberglass rods.  The rods are coated and I use them from time to time.  In the brush while hunting and at the range I mostly use the wood underbarrel rod.  I want to be sure the load I shoot can be conveniently seated with the wood stick.  Out in the wilds of nature is no time to find what your stick can't accomplish. 

[Daryl]

I have two stainless rods for range rods and cleaning purposes. These have muzzle protectors made from ctg. brass & are held captive on the rod, by the jag.
I use a plastic coated spring-steel cleaning rod often for the .36 rifle's cleaning and range loading, although this rifle is very easily loaded with it's hickory
rod, even with .360" balls and .020" to .022" patches. Small calibers are easiest to load tightly as there is very little lead to move to conform to the bore.
Fiberglass rods, if not coated with something will rapidly wear the muzzle's crown. Use of a bore guide is quite necessary. They are like loading with a rat-
tailed file.
I did a test some years back and posted the results here. I cannot find it nor the photo now, however I will repeat what the basic results were. In the test, I
took a piece of octagonal barrel and clamped it in the vice.  I rubbed one flat's corner with a variety of different materials, making 40 strokes with each.  I tested
uncoated fiberglass, stainless steel, drill-rod tool steel, hickory, ramin, nylon, brass and aluminum.
The fiberglass cut a groove easily felt and seen, even in the picture I made of the test with a "new technology digital camera"if I remember correctly, the groove was over .025"
and looked like rifling groove in my Don Getz barrel, the stainless cut barely .003" deep,  IIRC, the tool steel cut .001" and the brass, aluminum, hickory barely rubbed off the
blueing (TC). The brass rod cut ,001" same as the tool steel.
So - if using a hard rod, use a muzzle protector.

I recall reading that the military had "noted" some rifling damage from the issued steel rods in their muskets, rifled muskets and rifle muskets. The comments did not note wear, but
battering of the lands at the muzzle, most likely due to the loading orders of "Throwing" the rod onto the "ball" 3 times to ensure it's being seated on the powder.
I do see quite a number of people doing this at the rendezvous, but I have never seen any of them in the winner's circle, aside from the odd women when there were only 1 to 3 of
 them shooting that contest.

[Darkhorse]

I use an old "tried and proved" hickory ramrod for all shooting from the bag and hunting. I have also used a couple of "Ramin" rods from TOW, they worked fine and never broke. I just trust a good hickory stick more.
I have a 3/8" brass range rod w/muzzle protector I bought way back when I was just shooting .54's and I have a newer 5/16" coated stainless rod w/muzzle protector I bought for a .40 but I use it for both .54 and .40.
As long as I can get a good Hickory stick to use as my "in the pipes" rod I'm not quite ready for fiberglass.

[Scota4570]

"The fiberglass cut a groove easily felt and seen, "

That is a real good reason to put adhesive shrink tubing over the rod as I suggested. 

[Darkhorse]

I agree.

[hanshi]

While I don't use my glass rods that much they all have muzzle protectors and they are coated.  My one rifle with a steel rod carries a muzzle protector on the rod.  I like hickory rods and that's what the majority of the wooden ones I use are made of.  That's what I use most of the time whether hunting or at the range.  The stainless rods are used for cleaning and occasionally seating recalcitrant prb as well as the rare pulling of loads.

[prairieofthedog]

Hanshi,how are your fiberglass rods coated? Only coated ones I have seen are TC ramrods and are not range rods.

[msellers]

I need a thinner rod for 36 cal.  I was thinking of the 1/4" sidewalk stakes used in snow country or the ones for tomato stakes/ bean poles.  Does anyone have experience with those fiberglass rods?

I haven't tried them for a loading/range rod, but with the abuse we put in hem through here in NV winters and hot summers. I do believe this will be a very good option for a smaller caliber gun. The ones I prefer at work are all one thicknes with reflective bands applied on it not thw large plastic reflectors attached. Seem to be more durable and forgiving. Plus might be just a slight bit smaller overall thickness. Last ones we bought were all orange,  which would make for a good safe indicator at a regulated range also.
Mike

[hanshi]

Hanshi,how are your fiberglass rods coated? Only coated ones I have seen are TC ramrods and are not range rods.

The fiberglass rods were purchased over 20 years ago from DGW.  They were blank material with a smooth "sleeve" permanently bonded to the rods.  A photo in their catalog showed one being bent almost double without breakage.  I cut the long pieces to length, mounted various end tips/jags and put a handle on the other end.  I also added bore protectors to them.  They are not quite like any other fb rods I've seen.  I had a supply of the other kind but was afraid to use one on a gun.  They're still going strong and are unmarked.

[prairieofthedog]

Hanshi,I got some of those rods from Dixie,mine were brown in color,fiberglass,but the add did not say they were coated.I really liked them until I learned about fiberglass being abrasive.I didn't hurt my bore with them tho,as like most do I use rod sleeve.But I use my other rods more just to be safe.

[hanshi]

Hanshi,I got some of those rods from Dixie,mine were brown in color,fiberglass,but the add did not say they were coated.I really liked them until I learned about fiberglass being abrasive.I didn't hurt my bore with them tho,as like most do I use rod sleeve.But I use my other rods more just to be safe.

Yep, those are the ones.  I can rub my hands on them and they feel smooth and have no scratches even after all these years.  Try that with other fiberglass rods and embedded glass splinters is what you'll feel.  When I need to use one I don't hesitate; they do as well as metal rods.  Of course muzzle guards grace everything - except the wood underbarrel rods - that go into the bores of my guns.

[Daryl]

Hanshi,I got some of those rods from Dixie,mine were brown in color,fiberglass,but the add did not say they were coated.I really liked them until I learned about fiberglass being abrasive.I didn't hurt my bore with them tho,as like most do I use rod sleeve.But I use my other rods more just to be safe.

I also bought a brown fiberglass rod from Dixie - in about 1975. It was raw - uncoated & VERY abrasive.

[Dennis Glazener]

Hanshi,I got some of those rods from Dixie,mine were brown in color,fiberglass,but the add did not say they were coated.I really liked them until I learned about fiberglass being abrasive.I didn't hurt my bore with them tho,as like most do I use rod sleeve.But I use my other rods more just to be safe.

I also bought a brown fiberglass rod from Dixie - in about 1975. It was raw - uncoated & VERY abrasive.

I have one of those sitting in the corner of my shop, un-used!
Dennis

[Daryl]

Hanshi,I got some of those rods from Dixie,mine were brown in color,fiberglass,but the add did not say they were coated.I really liked them until I learned about fiberglass being abrasive.I didn't hurt my bore with them tho,as like most do I use rod sleeve.But I use my other rods more just to be safe.

I also bought a brown fiberglass rod from Dixie - in about 1975. It was raw - uncoated & VERY abrasive.

I have one of those sitting in the corner of my shop, un-used!
Dennis

COOL! the make nice long files, Dennis for cutting smooth grooving in steel, like on a lock plate.

[hanshi]

I also bought a brown fiberglass rod from Dixie - in about 1975. It was raw - uncoated & VERY abrasive.
[/quote]


Interesting, Daryl.  I bought mine way back in the 1970s, as well.  They weren't abrasive but rather very smooth.  With the muzzle guards in place they don't actually touch the bore; they're quite rigid.  I've kept them around for occasional use ever since.

[Daryl]

Oh yes, Hanshi, they are very smooth.  Just take the rod and rub it in the same spot 40 strokes on the corner of a barrel flat. The groove produced will likely be nice and smooth and about .020" deep(or deeper) & the rod will still be nice and smooth, no damage.

[Pukka Bundook]

For a "range rod" I buy hardwood dowelling, and oil it up a bit.

Also cut a jag in one end.
Never broke one yet, but check for straight grain when buying them.