Wipestick Basics

In this painting "Shooting For The Beef" by George Caleb Bingham (1811-1879), we see some shooters involved in some friendly competition for the prize cow in the background. Shooting muzzle loading rifles and pistols is a lot of fun, but requires the shooter to pay close attention to details, and believe me, there are plenty of them.

The wipestick, more commonly called a ramrod, performs many functions. It serves as a tool for loading, cleaning, and in rare cases, an unloading tool. Here are some basic facts you should know:

Threads: Most new muzzleloaders are provided with an inexpensive wooden wipestick. One end (or both) will be capped and threaded to accept cleaning and loading accessories. They are usually either 3/8" or 5/16" in diameter, the former being the most common. The threads in the cap will usually have 8x32 threads, but those provided by the Thompson Center company can be either 8x32 for the smaller calibers and 10x32 for the larger ones. Obviously, you'll want your rod to accept the accessories you buy for it, so be sure you find out which of the two thread sizes you have. Incidentally, there are adapters to convert 8x32 accessories to mate with 10X32 rods, and vice versa.

Materials: I personally use only nylon or Delrin wipesticks. My primary rifle has been the popular Lyman (now Pedersoli) Great Plains Rifle, and replacement wipesticks are available that duplicate the diameter and the length. In addition, the brass ends are treaded in 8x32 at one end and 10x32 at the other. I choose plastic over the traditional wood for one reason: safety. Wooden wipesticks can and do split, and I nearly impaled my hand when one broke while I was ramming a ball home.

I found these comments on wooden wipesticks in a post from the Traditional Muzzleloader website:

"...The main reason wooden ramrods break is because of the type of wood used and the way they are made.  A proper ramrod is constructed from a hard straight grained wood such as hickory.  The grain in the wood should be straight over the entire length of the rod with no areas where the grain runs to the outside. 

A run out of the grain creates a weak spot in the rod where it will eventually crack and break off.  Ramrods supplied with most production guns and pre-assembled replacement rods are simply sawed and cut in the same manner as dowel rods.  The odds of getting a rod made this way with no grain run out are very slim to none..." *

Because of this, I personally think that plastic wipesticks should be exempt from restrictions regarding "modern" items being used in "primitive" events. I can think of no reason to subject shooters to historically correct injuries if they're required to use wooden ramrods. If you're a purist and insist on using a wooden wipestick, you will seat your ball by using short stokes from close to the muzzle crown so the rod can't flex and possibly snap.

Wipestick As Dipstick: The wipestick can also be used as a handy "loaded rifle indicator". You cannot "clear" a muzzleloader as you would a modern firearm. You use your wipestick. Here's how.

Here's my Lyman Great Plains .50 Hawken rifle with a black Delrin replacement wipestick. Click here to see the ready-to-wear ramrods available at Track Of The Wolf. I've wrapped the top portion with white artist's tape to make the marks easier to see.

1. Drop the ramrod down the barrel of your EMPTY rifle. You can see that it has bottomed out with about 2" visible at the top.
2. Next, I use a marking pen to draw a line to indicate the low water / empty barrel mark. You can also scratch a line on the rod with a knife. You can deepen the mark later using a file or a fine-toothed saw.
3. Finally, you may choose to do the same thing with the rifle loaded on the range. This will be your high water / loaded barrel mark. 

Now you can use the rod to tell you when the rifle is empty. If you forgot to add powder, the low water mark will sit about 1/2" above the crown of the barrel. 

Just so that you know, I am simulating the loaded rifle position by dropping a pencil stub down the barrel. The exact location will vary depending on the load you find your rifle likes best. 

Wipestick As Cleaning Rod: My wipestick permanently carries a .50 caliber button jag, It doesn't stick out much, and allows me to swab my barrel with a moistened cotton patch between shots. This swabbing serves two purposes. First, the rush of air down the barrel will snuff out any embers that may still be in the barrel. This is why shooters would historically blow down their barrels between shots. Secondly, the moistened patch softens the black powder residue left after firing. This makes for much easier loading.

In a future post we'll talk about using the wipestick to correct a "dry ball" situation.

*Traditional Muzzleloader website. Click here to read the entire article.