Ramrod

[Tenmile]

Finding suitable ramrod material can be more difficult than finding good stock wood. If you live in an area where it grows, you might find a sapling that works. It should be straight-grained on the face and edge. This is sometimes hard to see until you split it. You may be able to get a hardwood supplier to let you look through his inventory, although large places aren’t keen on this because of liability. They can only say no. The odds of finding a good piece in one of the craft stores is small. Any good hardwood will do, but hickory is usually favored because of its strength and flexibility. Hickory would not normally be rift sawn but that is what we’re looking for. Hickory is often mixed with pecan commercially. Try to find a good piece of 8/4 that appears straight. Be sure to look at the ends. Start by splitting it larger than you think it should be and then splitting it again. When you get a piece split, you should see a continuous grain running from end to end on adjacent edges. Square it up and then make it octagonal. Keep shaving the corners off until it is round. I use a scraper like the one shown to take it down to fit the rifle. You should be able to flex it pretty far without breaking. If it does break it won’t break into sharp shards. Remember that our fathers actually loaded with the wooden rod in the rifle.
Lynn

[Daryl]

Taylor always loads with the rifle's tapered rod on the trail shoots. I do do for the .69 as well. Have a new rod for that one in Osage Orange. Terrific rod material  imho. The original hickory for that rifle was repaired with ca glue many years ago when I split it, still going strong and now it's  a spare.
Osage, good material for a rod.

[Tenmile]

You’re right about Osage orange. In Texas we call it bodark (bois d’arc) or horse apple. It makes great bows and fence posts.
Lynn

[J.D.]

I would think white ash would also be good for ramrods. I have a ready supply of straight ash, but not so much with hickory.

[Hudnut]

Commercial dowels are sawn then rounded without consideration of grain.  Splitting out blanks insures that the grain structure is correct.

[rich pierce]

Now you guys have me thinking about splitting out an Osage orange ramrod. Allowed to add they turn a mellow color.

[Hawg]

Now you guys have me thinking about splitting out an Osage orange ramrod. Allowed to add they turn a mellow color.

That stuff is hella hard especially when it's dry.

[Clark Badgett]

I would think white ash would also be good for ramrods. I have a ready supply of straight ash, but not so much with hickory.

Europeans guns often enough used ash as well as other hardwoods.

[Daryl]

Seems to me that a lot of English guns had Green or Purple Heart ram-rods.
Ramin (we call it Asian Hickory) can also be used, but it is good only in sizes 7/16" or larger  imho, due to poor every-whichy-way grain structure. It usually breaks straight across, never splintering.

[Clark Badgett]

Seems to me that a lot of English guns had Green or Purple Heart ram-rods.
Ramin (we call it Asian Hickory) can also be used, but it is good only in sizes 7/16" or larger  imho, due to poor every-whichy-way grain structure. It usually breaks straight across, never splintering.

Yup, I’ve seen Walnut, Holm Oak, Ash, Purple heart and Ebony in documentation. I wonder if any European guns ever originally had imported hickory rammers. I’m sure they did as the English took hickory wood back to England, but did they actually use it for rammers?

[FlintFan]

I wonder if any European guns ever originally had imported hickory rammers. I’m sure they did as the English took hickory wood back to England, but did they actually use it for rammers?

James Purdey imported hickory from the U.S. to use for ramrods during the muzzleloading period.

[James Rogers]

Hogsheads of hickory splits were shipped out of the James River in Virginia to England for gunrods during the 18th century. There are also manifests showing gunrods being shipped out by the thousand so i wonder if they must have been at least partially made prior to shipment.

[Habu]

My shotgun range rod is hedge; one of a baker's dozen I made in '81.  The problem was finding a 48" piece of straight-grained hedge to split them out of.  It is black with age and fouling, and has loaded most of my 20 gauge and larger range loads since it was made.  I've seen a hedge ramrod on an original rifle marked ".H. E. DIMICK St. Louis", but that thing is almost .70 caliber. 

White ash works for a ramrod, but tends to split when used with a tight patch-ball combination (works great for a shotgun).  Black ash splits along the grain lines when flexed; I had one last a summer but it was fraying by August.  I had an M. Fordney rifle that came with a white ash ramrod, but have no idea how old it was. 

Split walnut and white oak work OK for a shotgun, or maybe a range rod for a larger-bored rifle.  When worked down to fit a rifle they break easier than hickory. 

Greenheart and purpleheart make great pistol ramrods but I've not tried making longer rods from either. 

[Clark Badgett]

My shotgun range rod is hedge; one of a baker's dozen I made in '81.  The problem was finding a 48" piece of straight-grained hedge to split them out of.  It is black with age and fouling, and has loaded most of my 20 gauge and larger range loads since it was made.  I've seen a hedge ramrod on an original rifle marked ".H. E. DIMICK St. Louis", but that thing is almost .70 caliber. 

White ash works for a ramrod, but tends to split when used with a tight patch-ball combination (works great for a shotgun).  Black ash splits along the grain lines when flexed; I had one last a summer but it was fraying by August.  I had an M. Fordney rifle that came with a white ash ramrod, but have no idea how old it was. 

Split walnut and white oak work OK for a shotgun, or maybe a range rod for a larger-bored rifle.  When worked down to fit a rifle they break easier than hickory. 

Greenheart and purpleheart make great pistol ramrods but I've not tried making longer rods from either.

Yes, most of the European rods were for smoothbores of various types, which were not a loaded very tightly. I would not want to load a patched RB in a rifle with anything less than good straight grain hickory.

[steven baker]

My Daddy was not happy when I cut up his sledge hammer handle for a hickory ramrod , I was only 14years old then .As for a shotgun ramrod ,I found an old golf club at a flea market that hosted a hickory shaft ,used it ever since.
Take care Steven,

[Hudnut]

I have split implement handles to make ramrods.  Most likely ash.  If the handle splits nicely, full length, you know the grain is correct.

[Jim Kibler]

You can go to this trouble, but it sure is a lot of work.  I'd just pick out a straight grained turned rod.  They aren't all that uncommon.

[Tenmile]

It seems that most people load with a range rod at the range, but if you plan to load with a wooden rod it’s worth the trouble to have one that hopefully won’t snap on you. It’s really not that much trouble and I enjoy it.
Lynn