Dennis and the moderators?
? Nail me if I'm doing something wrong or in the wrong place....but I just want to give a shout-out to my fellow gunmakers..... and a totally shameless plug for my friend and ramrod supplier.......Dan Putz of Missouri.
A while back Dan bought out the ramrod business of Steve Bailey. For quite a while I got all of my rods from Steve and he made some of the very best! Now Dan is continuing this business with great, genuine pignut hickory ramrods and excellent service!
Dan is also an arrow shaft supplier and his work is awesome! He knows wood and can read grain to produce superior strength and straightness. Being an arrow shaft maker demands it.
I bought several dozen rods from Dan with my last order and just recently used the last one and have now re-ordered. Every one of those rods made a great ramrod, and all of them were hand tapered as I made the gun. They were all very straight-grained and I felt like I could almost bend them double! A really good hickory rod will also straighten much easier, when necessary.
As everyone knows there are a lot of junky ramrod blanks out there and price is always a factor. It's true that you get what you pay for and
I will gladly pay Dan's fair price for high quality every day of the week! I've had no "throw aways" from Dan!! He probably culls better rods than many of our long-time suppliers are now selling! All parts suppliers should be selling Dan Putz ramrods!
I understand Dan will be adding
gunstock blanks to his business. He lives close to Chuck Edwards and they talk about the gun business. Obviously, Chuck also knows a ton about wood and what makes a great stock blank!! Watch for this, hopefully in the near future.
Quality barrels $200.00 - 300.00/up.....locks $200.00 and up.......stock blanks 150.00 to 1000.00/up for the finest.........$3.00 won't get you much of a ramrod any more.....
Without a good, dependable ramrod/loading rod, a muzzleloading gun is useless.
Bottom line?.....Dan's the Man for hickory ramrods!
Dan Putz 573-768-6920 (and Dan also sells his ramrods and other products on ebay....)
