Good Ram Rod ?

[Hylander]

Looking for a good replacement Ram Rod for my new Lyman GPR.
Maybe this ?

Ram Rod

 

[City Rat]

I bought mine from Track of the wolf. I believe it is made of delron. It works great and they say unbreakable. They make their own rods.

 

[patocazador]

I've never seen that particular one before. Sounds like it's just the ticket. Looks good too.

Like rebs I have bought delrin rods in the past and they have held up well. I like the "real" look of that phenolic resin impregnated rod.

 

[City Rat]

The delrin rods are the same color all the way through and never scrape off. Plus they are only 16.99
I liked the first one so much that I bought a second one for another rifle.

 

[Hylander]

Thanks,
are the delrin rods stiff or flexy ?

 

[patocazador]

In between. One of mine is short so it's kinda stiff. The longer one has more flex.

 

[DakotaElkSlayer]

One way to help onesself is to always use a shorter grip on the rod when driveing it home. Eliminates a lot of flex. That's why you have a broken one.

 

[Hylander]

One way to help onesself is to always use a shorter grip on the rod when driveing it home. Eliminates a lot of flex. That's why you have a broken one.

No broken one, Want a good to keep the original one original

 

[DakotaElkSlayer]

Well one thing is for sure ,your idea will work. What are you doing to get the patina for it.

 

[Buck Conner1]

I see this subject line every few years referring to ramrods. One of the biggest causes that ramrods break or splinter is they have dried out. Never try and use an old ramrod, they hurt like hell when you run one through your hand (worst part is the removal with the small splinters).

That said, how do you care for your ramrod? First make sure its a good one made of straight grain hickory, if buying a new one sand to fit your ramrod thrimbles (not to tight as we will be adding a finish). Everyone is thinking of the different finishes used on the stock, wrong (looks nice but doesn't help with breaking another rod).

This is so simple you won't believe you hadn't thought of it earlier. First get a 4 foot piece of PVC (I use a 3 inch diameter one) also pickup an end cap and PVC glue. HO, purchase a small can of kerosene too. Now drill a small hole on the side of the pipe near the end so you can attach a wire for hangin your tube. Next glue the cap to the tube (pipe), not over the hole just drilled. Find an out of the way place to hang your soaker tube, I use a nail in a wall stud with a small tin can under the tube in case of a leak. Fill you tube with the kerosene and place your ramrods in the tube for a few days then check that they still fit the thimbles on the gun.

What you have just done was lube the fibers of the wood so they slide against each other being flexible, now your ramrod will last for years. An old gunsmith that had been messing with muzzleloaders for decades told me this in the late 40's, I thought he was full of it then after breaking several ramrods I remembered what he had said. Damn it worked ....  :Red tup:

 

[patocazador]

"purchase a small can of kerosene too."


Buck, will diesel <a href='/tags/2' rel='nofollow' title='See all tagged subjects with: #2'>#2</a> work instead of the kerosene?

 

[Buck Conner1]

"purchase a small can of kerosene too."


Buck, will diesel <a href='/tags/2' rel='nofollow' title='See all tagged subjects with: #2'>#2</a> work instead of the kerosene?

I can't see why it wouldn't work the same, we want the good penetration of these type of liquids to give us the slipping we are looking for.  Good point as many of us already have diesel fuel.  :Red tup:

 

[DakotaElkSlayer]

Pato, yes it will . That's what I use. It'll stink a little more but  after a couple days , it's gone.I use it at least a couple times of year. Axe handles also.

 

[Buck Conner1]

I soak anything with wood handles, along with ramrods. 

Csitas mentioning wood axe handles here another trick we used when working for a lumberjack when a kid. We would drill a 1/4 inch hole about 6 inches into the end of the handles where your hands will hold the tool when its in use.  :ttups: 

When finished work on Saturday night one of "my cleanup jobs" as the boss called it, was fill all the wood handled tool with kerosene in the mentioned holes. Then before leaving while the kerosene can was still in hand, fill the lanterns. My boss stayed at our mill in a slab shack and used the lamps at night, my dad would send magazines for Joe to read. I was 12 years old when first starting to work at the mill, part of my pay was my board, Joe feed me and gave me a place to sleep in his wonderful slab shack. He would tell customers " his slab shack was one of the best lumber mill shacks around, it even had a hard wood floor".   The hard wood floor was the walnut saw dust from the mill we had put in the shack to keep moisture out as much as possible.  

 

[Hylander]

I bought a Delron one, talk about flexy, it is so flemsy and I can almost bend it in half.
Waste of money.

 

[City Rat]

I bought a Delron one, talk about flexy, it is so flemsy and I can almost bend it in half.
Waste of money.

Mine is not that flexy, just grab it shorter when running the ball down the barrel like mentioned earlier.

 

[brownisdown]

I have always used a ball starter to start the bullet down the barrel.Have not broken a ram rod as of yet.

 

[Muley Hunter]

Buck........Isn't it coal oil that they soak ramrods in?

 

[strong eagle]

buck conners has a good post reply. i can go one step more with his idea. it isnt mine but a man and wife shooter from bismark n. dak. this is what they do. the man got a 3 inch steel piece of pipe about 4 ft long. welded a flat piece of steel plate on one end to seal it and make a stand so it could be stood up and stay that way. then on the other end he welded a flange. then he made a plate to fit the flange with the proper holes drilled in the plate to match the flange. he then drilled a hole in the center of the plate that fit the flange. he tapped it for a fitting that would accept a fitting on a air compersser hose. he filled the pipe with kerosene put a bunch of wooden ramrods in it capped it off and put a bunch of air pressure on top of all that. i believe their was a valve to seal it all between the air reciever fitting and the flange plate. anyways you get the idea. he let them sit for 2 weeks. the pressure drove the kerosene into the wood to the center. the ramrods were really tough after this treatment and never got brittle. canada did the same thing to the beech wood stocks on many of the world war 2 rifles they built. those stocks last forever and never ever take on water. the key is pressure over the liquid you want into your wood. ive though about build this for my self to fit a stock into. i would use tung oil as the liquid in the tube and maybe just a tiny amount of hardener.

 

[Smokin' Joe]

I have no experience putting ram rods in Kerosene or Diesel fuel but I would think the smell would linger quite awhile.  My question: "how long would it take before the smell disappears?"