New ramrod for Lyman GPR

[Winter Hawk]

The Lyman GPR I bought last year had a fiberglass ramrod which had definitely seen better days.  It must have been stuck quite often because it had been pretty well chewed up with pliers.  I was going to get a new RR from Lyman but this afternoon I decided to make one.  I got out one of the kerosene-soaked dowels I have.  I was able to remove the brass ends off the glass rod so they were reusable.  With some fiddling around, using a pipe cutter to incise around where the end pieces would go, then trimming the rod down to proper length and whittling the ends down to fit them, I got a presentable ram rod, AKA wiping stick.  Cleaned off the kerosene with acetone and epoxied the fittings on, then drilled and pinned them in place, it sure looks better than what was on there before!

~Kees~

[rollingb]

  

[PetahW]

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I've made RR's from fiberglass driveway markers a time or three, but wooden RR's look a lot better.

Please remember to take care when using your RR, as turned dowels can split out on the side, when a grain runs out - and stab your palm.

I know I may be preaching to the choir, but the best wood RR's are made the same way you did that one, but from split Hickory.

FWIW, after the ends are attached (epoxy) & pinned, my wood RR's get a 30-day kerosene bath in a 3' long section of 1/2" PVC pipe, capped solid on one end, with a loose cap on top.

I've never had a deer shy from kerosene odor, but when the kero evaporates in a few days, there's no odor that's discernable to me. (YMMV)


The most laughable RR's to me are those very flexible plastic (?) RR's issues by some gunmakers (mostly in-lines).


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[Nutnfancy]

I have one of those flexible Delrin ram rods and don't care for it. Still have the wooden ones that came with the guns but with my history of breaking them, I may get maybe 20 shots with one, I don't use them except for looks. I prefer the nylon ram rods, have used the same one for about 30 years and have had no problems with it.

[Winter Hawk]

PetahW,

Thanks for the reply.  When I selected the dowels I made sure that there was no run-out; then I have soaked them in kerosene in a PVC tube with end cap glued on and a screw-on top.  They have been in there for a year or more and are nice and flexible.  I wiped down the ends with acetone before epoxying the brass tips on and they seem to be holding very well.

I agree that split hickory would be better but I don't have any....

~Kees~

[BEAVERMAN]

I have one of those flexible Delrin ram rods and don't care for it. Still have the wooden ones that came with the guns but with my history of breaking them, I may get maybe 20 shots with one, I don't use them except for looks. I prefer the nylon ram rods, have used the same one for about 30 years and have had no problems with it.

Same here, although I do have a tesoro steel rod for the prom queen and the trade gun.

[Bigsmoke]

Sounds like you are all set to go, Kees.  Good on you.
And then, there is option C or D or whatever.  Over the years, I have sure made a lot of brass rods for people.  You really have to work on it to break one of those.  I have done both solid brass rod and also brass tubing, if weight is an issue.
It really takes a metal lathe to do a decent application, in order to perform the same thing on the brass as you did with the pipe cutter on the wood.  Treso makes some nice ramrod hardware, where you can have one end with a built in jag, silver soldered on and pinned, of course.

John (Bigsmoke)

[Bigsmoke]

Same here, although I do have a tesoro steel rod for the prom queen and the trade gun.

Jim, What the heck is a Tesoro steel rod?  Can't think of hearing of one of those.

[PetahW]

Same here, although I do have a tesoro steel rod for the prom queen and the trade gun.

Jim, What the heck is a Tesoro steel rod?  Can't think of hearing of one of those.

I believe they are Tresco steel rods.

A 44"x1/4" Tresco rod can be had from Starr (for one),  listed @ $28.35


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[Bigsmoke]

Yes, that is kind of what I thought.  I have one that I use with my flinter Tennessee rifle, Clipper.
However, the correct spelling is Treso.  Has to do with Don Miner's daughter, Theresa.  When she was just a wee one, the only way she could kind of pronounce her name was Treso.  And so Don named the company after her.  Incidentally, she is a very nice, soft spoken lady.  We spent the afternoon with her one day after they had moved from Pagosa Springs, CO to Thompson Falls, MT.  It is quite the facility, too.

[Winter Hawk]

Back in the late 1960s and 1970s Tesoro was a local gasoline company in Alaska.  Had their own refinery and everything, and sold their gas cheaper than Union or Chevron.  Maybe the rod has something to do with oil exploration? 

~Kees~

[BEAVERMAN]

Yes, that is kind of what I thought.  I have one that I use with my flinter Tennessee rifle, Clipper.
However, the correct spelling is Treso.  Has to do with Don Miner's daughter, Theresa.  When she was just a wee one, the only way she could kind of pronounce her name was Treso.  And so Don named the company after her.  Incidentally, she is a very nice, soft spoken lady.  We spent the afternoon with her one day after they had moved from Pagosa Springs, CO to Thompson Falls, MT.  It is quite the facility, too.

Hey, I'm getting old dammit, give a guy a break! you knew what I was talking about!

[Bigsmoke]

Jim, join the club.  I think most everyone here could be defined as "getting old".
I'm laughing with you, my friend, not at you.  Well, maybe just a little bit.

John (Bigsmoke)

[Doc Nock]

I love coming here and reading all these Tales...

I had a buddy with an aluminum RR for his T/C and he was at the range prepping for deer season and got to jabering with someone... then he left the RR in the gun with the powder ball and patch and fired it... said it made a gorgeious hole in the backstop board and about broke his shoulder...

He told me this when we went to that range a few weeks later as he awaited a replacement RR...I went to the 50 yard target and it'd rained hard enough I saw the RR in the dirt berm...it was all curled up like a pig's tail...

 

He'd avoided that since

[Bigsmoke]

I went to a rendezvous one time in Washington and they had a sponsor who donated a bundle of 3/8" dowel.  They put on a ram rod shoot.  One shot, highest score ring cut won the prize.  I think it was 5 silver dollars or some such thing.  Kind of novel, I thought.  Seemed to really make the flinters spurt out the flash hole, IIRC.  Good times.  But progress came to the rendezvous and they lost the site.  Bummer, it was a nice setting.  What was it called?  Seems like it might have been Camus Prairie or some such thing.  I think I won two of the events and I still have the silver dollars (2 each) wrapped up in nice little beaded brain tanned pouches.  They were Ike dollars.