period ramrods

[nwtradegun]

how much is it worth not having a ramrod go thru your hand if it breaks.

 

[Black Hand]

how much is it worth not having a ramrod go thru your hand if it breaks.

Considering how infrequently this happens, I am unwilling to pay $59 for a gimmick. This is a variation of Pascal's Wager, and I will not be subject to fear-mongering...

I have been shooting a muzzleloader for over 20 years and in that time, I've not personally heard about or met ANYONE in my area that has put a broken ramrod through their hand (Yes, people have broken ramrods, myself included). It stands to reason that even if this was an infrequent/rare occurrence, there should have been at least 1 person in those 20+ year. And yet...nothing.

In that time, I know of at least one person that flash-burned their face playing with black powder. Perhaps we should have everyone put black volcanic sand in their powderhorn just in case they might do something stupid....

 

[Black Hand]

Good judgement comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgement.

Life gives the test first and the lesson afterwards.

And my favorite:
You can't fix STUPID...

 

[tenngun]

I pull off a thimble take a rod and a knife. Just scrape until it almost fits. Use sand paper to smooth. Slide the thimble up and repeat until it gets tight, then scrap and smooth. Leave a swollen end a little fat. No special tools.

 

[Billnpatti]

I pull off a thimble take a rod and a knife. Just scrape until it almost fits. Use sand paper to smooth. Slide the thimble up and repeat until it gets tight, then scrap and smooth. Leave a swollen end a little fat. No special tools.

Now that is an idea similar to one I had a while back when I was making a ramrod. I didn't think of using one of my thimbles, so I just used a piece of steel barstock that was laying around. I drilled a hole in it the desired size of the diameter of the rod I wanted to build and used that to size the rod. I use an electric sander to start rounding up my rod and then switched to hand sanding and a bit of scraping. I used the hole in the barstock to check the size of my rod as I went. When it all just passed through the hole, I was done shaping the rod and was ready to add the tips and some gunstock finish. Making a ramrod ain't rocket surgery. :haha:

 

[Rick Boylan]

Maybe I'm blessed or something but I've never had a ramrod break. I have a CVA that I've used since I was in my late 20s and it still has the original rod. Same with my Pedersoli Kentucky rifle, still has the original rod. I believe it depends on using the ramrod correctly and not holding it so that a long part of the rod is between your hand and the muzzle as you try to move the load down the barrel.

 

[Claude Mathis]

This has aways worked for me...

When using a ramrod, never grab it more than 8 inches above the muzzle. To do so could cause side stress, break the ramrod and, possibly, puncture your hand.
http://www.mossberg.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/500-12-gauge-Muzzleloader.pdf[/quote]

I've seen guys grab the rod up high and try to drive the ball home with one long stroke. :shake:

 

[Rick Boylan]

Yup, I only take short strokes with it and never try to grab the rod further up to get a long stroke. Doing so seems to be asking for the rod to be taking a lot of stress. I've been doing the short stroke loading since I got my CVA back in the early 80s.

 

[tenngun]

That's a big deal. Should you only have six inches or so above the muzzle you would have to bend it sideways hard to break. Held two feet or so above the muzzle you don't have to go to far before you can break it.
I think that one long push comes from military ideas where the load was very loose and rods were iron.

 

[nwtradegun]

I will pass on to the 4 shooters I have seen have a rod brake and go thru there hand. I am sure they wish they had gotten one.

 

[tenngun]

I would have like to see how they did it. The only time I have ever seen one bend was from grasping too high. I broke one back in the 70s doing that. Grasp low six eight ten inches or so and you won't need a fancy rod.

 

[Black Hand]

I will pass on to the 4 shooters I have seen have a rod brake and go thru there hand. I am sure they wish they had gotten one.

If you do something you shouldn't, you'd expect there to be some consequence. Short strokes - this isn't the movies...

 

[coloradoclyde]

I will pass on to the 4 shooters I have seen have a rod brake and go thru there hand. I am sure they wish they had gotten one.

4 shooters?.... :shocked2: ....Through the hand?.....Really?
That would make a great article for "How to properly use a ramrod"

Did they by chance, all have the same teacher/mentor?

Are we sure the problem is equipment related?

 

[Claude Mathis]

I will pass on to the 4 shooters I have seen have a rod brake and go thru there hand. I am sure they wish they had gotten one.

4 shooters?.... :shocked2: ....Through the hand?.....Really?
That would make a great article for "How to properly use a ramrod"

Are we sure the problem is equipment related?

As with many things, without confirmed details, it's hard to know the cause of these injuries.

Did the shooters grab the rod way up high and try to seat the ball with one, long stroke? If so, that would be operator error.

If, on the other hand (no pun), they were grasping the rod 6-8 inches above the muzzle and it broke, it's more likely a faulty rod.

I've searched the Internet quite a bit and can’t find one case of hand injury due to a broken rod. For someone to have personally witnessed 4 people injured by a broken rod is statically interesting.