Custom Ram Rod

[kudzu]

Has anyone ever made a ramrod with a "stopper" on it to were you set it and pushed down until you hit "stopper". This should give you the same seatng and bullet preasures and better accuracy. In my mind this should take out at least one of the many varibles of front stuffers. Thought of sleaving a rod or threading one for adjustment. any thoughts on this. pros - cons stupid idea. If anyone has made. post a pic or a thread

[Harley]

Kudzu, I think this is one of those ideas that seems good but is not as safe or effective as the currently recommended operation: Witness marks.

A witness mark gives an error-free reading that assures you of the absolute height of the seated charge. A stoppered ramrod would only seat as far as the stopper, leaving the possibility that there is empty space between the ramrod and the charge; eg., you forgot to add a charge component.

Also, the witness-marked ramrod allows you to lean on a powder charge or wad for a few seconds to compress everything.

Keep the ideas coming; we learn as much from what doesn't work as from what does.

Harley

[kudzu]

My best accuracy did not come from hard packing the load. I have been stopping right as i feel the bullet seating. I have always in the past marked my rods which gets you very close. However with a custom adjustible rod you will be able to set and seat bullet to the exact same depth and presure every time, provided you don't forget or switch components. Anyother question is does the bullets NEED to be pack seated. On a centerfire bullet there is often space between the powder and bullet. Not reccomending leaving a space while loading but set ramrod as to haveing adequate presure and being the same every time. As i said my best accuracy has not come from a hard packed load. and if yours is with this process you can be assured of consistant presure.

[kudzu]

thought I would have gotten more feedback from the gurus on this.

[rossman40]

There was a rod that had like a slide hammer on it, never used one. The big thing is what pressure would you set it at? With a clean bore I already load at about 35lbs just to get it down the barrel. I lean on the rod till it stops and I already have a calibrated smack on the range rod or palm saver to double check. True you could pack it so tight that you could hamper the ignition or at least not be consistent.

[youp50]

I think it could be dangerous.

The 'rod stopper' could stop loading process prior to fully seating the sabot/bullet. Like maybe when you have a great buck hobbling towards a river, filled with ice flows, heading over a falls and into no trespassing area. You hit him pretty good with the first shot. You reload. In your excitement you dribble some powder in the dirt, but never see it. You ram the charge until it stops, short of seating the sabot/bullet. You slap in a primmer take a quick aim and wake up in the hospital. Or maybe get an image of your hand posted on the internet by some guys that think smokeless is dangerous.

If you find that you do not want to seat the charge firmly, don't. Develop your 'feel' to what you find best for you. Realize that you are an operator of your ML. And operate it.

[Jon]

Guys. I did have a custom rod made for my 6.5 and it has an adjustable stop but for a differant reason I use a chamber in this gun and I don't want to take a chance of ever pushing the bullet into the chamber. But the work was great and the stop does just what it is supposed to do. It was actually something the designer came up with thank you Tom.
Jon

[ET]

Interesting approach but if you want to slide your ramrod through the thimble and into the stock to carry with your muzzle-loader this stop may not be adaptable. Unless you have a separate ramrod for the range or carry ramrod.

I like a few others prefer to load with a specific resistance pressure applied to bottoming the load. I don’t mean trying to get the max for seating pressure, just a short lean on it.
Also I do some basic trials with different loads that alters the seating depth.

Your idea of a stop is interesting but I don’t see a practical application for my method of loading and being field friendly for me.



Ed

[boarhog]

When I go to the range, I usually have several loads weighed up to test. I would have to see how the rod stopper adjustment works, but I doubt that I would want another thing to fiddle with while shooting. I'm willing to keep an open mind about it though.
I have used a red or yellow paint pen to make my witness mark more visible, and used basic book loads, with a 250 gr XTP, in 50 cal to set the mark. In the 45, I used 60 gr H-4198, with a 200 gr XTP. I realize that hotter loads, or longer bullets, will put the witness mark farther out of the barrel, but nowhere close to as far out as a double load would be. If the mark disappears into the barrel, I realize I forgot to put the powder in.
Boarhog

[kudzu]

this application was more for a range rod for load development and long range shooting. Don't se e it being as practical for hunting, altho I would use it to load my rifle before I went hnting for my first shot, and have my factory rod marked.

[ramrodman]

Kudzu,
If you have woodcrafters neer you bring your ramrod in to them and they can find a drill bit stops made of delrin or metal . Also try the big blue boxes in the hardware section @ Lowes ,H/D has the big boxes. Also J. Dewey cleaning rods and also Sinclairs carry them.

Mac

[ramrodman]

Kudzu,
If you have woodcrafters neer you bring your ramrod in to them and they can find a drill bit stops made of delrin or metal . Also try the big blue boxes in the hardware section @ Lowes ,H/D has the big boxes. Also J. Dewey cleaning rods and also Sinclairs carry them.

Mac

[whyohe]

Kudzu, there is one major flaw i see. On mine if i shoot more than 3 shots with out a brushing or cleaning I just about have to hammer load in. so pressure mught have to increase to seat bullet on powder. you may get a false "Seat" due to fouling. Unless you plan on cleaning between every shot.