T handle for ramrod

You'll get the same "fire extinguishing" qualities from a whetted wool mop run through the bore, plus its "cleaning" the bore between shots. Just remember to run a dry patch through immediately afterwards because of rusting.

I usually fire the last round, go to 1/2 cock, use a tube to breathe through the nipple to moisten & soften the powder residue, & look at the target & only then do I start the next reloading cycle. By the time I've sorted out the components, measured the powder charge into a measure & patched the ball I figure the bore is pretty much extinct anyway.;)

Single-shot muzzle loading is not supposed to be a fast sport:D
 
Sorry I posted on the subject. In my ignorance of the "expert" way of doing things, I thought the idea was not to have the ramrod bruise your hand, or go through it. I haven't done much muzzle loading shooting lately, but at one time I did know how to go about it safely, unlike a friend who had the ramrod and a .58 caliber "minnie" ball go through his hand while he was demonstrating how fast he could reload a musket. Not pretty, and his hand was not "bruised"; he had to have his middle three fingers amputated and a good part of his palm.

As far as we could tell, the charge was down almost all the way when it went off, probably because some spark remained in the barrel and flamed when the air went past it. (He always cocked the hammer after firing, saying reloading was faster that way.)

Jim
 
There's no way to do it without getting your hand over the muzzle but I won't put it directly over it as in using the top of the rod. I use the wood or steel rods that come with the guns and grip them eight inches or so from the muzzle. The only time I have my hand directly over it is whacking a short starter and I use the side of my fist instead of my palm. As slow as I load I'm more concerned with breaking a rod than a cook off.
 
Not what you use but how you use it !!!

There's no way to do it without getting your hand over the muzzle but I won't put it directly over it as in using the top of the rod.
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This is very true and "most" of us that have been involved with this Great-Adventure", have developed techniques that limit the amount of time spent pointing the muzzle at ones favorite body-parts. ...... ;)

There are times when a little bell goes off in you head that warns you of possible problems. I use T-Handles as there is a time and place for them. Most problems are encountered in loading and not extracting. We never load with a "T", only extract. Lately, I use the Co2 pusher, more than pulling miss-fires or dry-balls. ..... :rolleyes:

I was told by a guy at the range that when you have a stuck bullet and want to pull it to first remove the nipple and pour water in the hole to wet the powder so it cannot ignite, is this a safe thing to do ?
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Yes, this is good advice and Remington lists this in their website, or did. There are times when we pull the nipple and give the bore a good soaking from both ends. We may lay the rifle to the side, in the grass for about and hour or so, before we pull, with the T-types. .... :)

Listen for the bell and;
Be Safe !!!
 
I was also told by a guy at our shooting club that has a T handle that he had a stuck ball twice and he put the T handle in the crotch of a tree to hold the rod and pulled on the rifle to pull the ball. The muzzle is pointing away from him. He also said he pulled the nipple and poured some water in to wet the powder. This sounds like a very safe way to me.
What is your opinions ?
I ask a lot of questions because I always want to be safe and everyone around me safe.
 
I have clamped the ramrod in a vice and pulled a ball before. If I get a contaminated powder charge in a rifle I will remove the nipple and stuff as much powder behind it as I can get and try to shoot it out. A co2 discharger would be the safest way to do it. If that wasn't available wetting the charge down is the safest way to do it but honestly it's not something I personally would do. I'm not recommending you do as I do by any means, I'm just sayin.
 
I broke down & bought a stuck ramrod puller.
It lets me pull a dryball without putting anything over the muzzle except for a minute amount of time.
 
My worst stuck RamRod

If you would, allow me to share my latest adventure with a stuck RamRod. This one was my forth and most challenging. This wooden rod was not only stuck but broken about four inches from the muzzle and had been sitting like this for a "long" time. ....
The previous owner had attempted to clear it with not much success and inflicted more damage. He finally gave up and was going to trash it and in conversation, offered it to one of our M/L instructors. In turn, he asked me to see if I try and clear it. It came with missing nipple and cleanout screw. Some one had attempted to pull the breech-plug and broke off the hook on the plug.
After a number of soakings and attempts to clear with the CO2 discharger, out she came. My last soaking with 50/50 Ballistol and here is what I found.
The previous owner had inserted a dry patch into a fouled bore and stuck the rod. On extracting he twisted the rod and it broke. He tried to extract, did the damage and eventually gave up and let it sit, to rust. What came out was a tarry mess and clumps of nasty multiple patches. No powder or projectile. One the bore was clear of obstruction, I cleaned out a bunch of rust. Fortunately, the lands came out very clean and shiny. the grooves do show minor pitting but once again, it's a shooter. ......

Interesting to note that it sat so long that rust had actually grown into and around the trapped the patched jag. I've never seen this before and hope I never do again. .. :eek:

Be Safe !!!
 
Old timers loading muskets "threw" the rammer, so the hand was out of the way as the charge went down the barrel, or used the little finger (the one that could be most easily spared) to drive the rammer
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.

i have hundreds of Minie type bullets in .58 and .69 caliber and round balls picked up from Civil War era firing ranges and battlefields. Many show damage from being "whanged" with ramrods.
 
The purpose to throwing the rod is to hear the bullet seating fully on the charge. There's a noticeably different sound when the rod strikes a fully seated ball.
 
How do you calibrate a bounce/throw ???

The purpose to throwing the rod is to hear the bullet seating fully on the charge.
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I know many loaders that do this and that is their technique and choice. There might just be a better, more precise and safer but there again, is just another technique. ...:confused:

I often demonstrate this during our classes. Some can hear the difference and some cannot. Also I don't want to be pounding or bouncing on a ballistic tip.

Be Safe !!!
 
Good point, but I only shoot PRB, so it's no biggie to me.
Interestingly my hearing is so-so at best & its very distinctive to me. Maybe the PRB behaves differently to a saboted bullet, so makes a different sound?
 
For best accuracy a round ball should have 30-40 lbs of pressure applied to it
after it is sitting on the powder charge. When I shot bench I made a device from
a piece of pcv pipe which fitted over the ram rod and was calabriated to show me when 35 lbs was reached. I practiced pushing the rod down on a bathroom scale to 35 lbs. I could do this without the device anymore. Won a lot of bench matches. A lot of things are involved to shoot 5 shot one inch groups at 100 yards. Light, wind, loading. And most of all the stuff between your ears.
 
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