wiping sticks....danger!

Got a couple of new T/C Senecas on the used market. Got out my 20 year old 45 cal "wiping stick" to help clean out the bore. A patched round ball loaded for a back yard low power test shot got 'tighter' at the barrel mid point. Pushed with both hands of the kerosene soaked wiping stick and 'crack'! I've read about how some have run a sharp broken wiping stick or ram rod into a forarm and this COULD HAVE been what happened with me except somehow I avoided the needle sharp broken section

Read up a bit and learned that many have purchased "hardwood dowels" to make their own WS's - as I DID! Don't do it. They will never be safe enough to be trusted. Running a sharp stick inches into your arm could be deadly if not very incapacitating!

Hickory seems to still be 'the wood' for making wiping sticks and I have to agree. I also thought about fiberglass or even steel but weight could be a negative aspect.

What have you made your wiping sticks from? I keep mine in the bore.
I also see how some use a 'T' handle threaded device to thread to the gun's ramrod making it longer and much easier to grab [a sectioned wiping stick?

I have a longer fiberglass [?] ram rod from a Kentucky rifle I no longer have. It extended about 8" out of the T/C Seneca's bore and is MUCH handier than the shorty factory ram rods the Seneca comes with. I will measure it, and then search to see if even longer 'ram rods' come in synthetic materials [fiberglass, plastic, etc].

I'm just getting back into traditional muzzle loading. I'm 62.

If you want practical,use brass,delrin,other synthetic,or steel. If you want traditional use hickory. Any material is okay for range use,I really like brass. If you go to a gathering of traditional muzzle loaders,you might want your hickory rod on the rifle,and your range rod close by.

My fancy ramrod is for looks. I use steel to load. Also, if I uses the wooden one, I only grab a few inches above and work it down slowly. I never try to use the whole length. Good way to get stabbed.

Discarded the wooden rods long ago....
I use synthetic range rods for target practice, and used an old
2216 Easton Aluminum (camo) arrow shaft for hunting .........The
2216 just fits in the brass rod holders on my 54 cal Hawken...
I sanded a dowel rod to fit snugly inside the arrow shaft and
glued and pinned the brass ends on it.....20+ yrs ago..........

I made a range rod from a 3/8" aluminum rod about 32" long #10-32 threaded on both ends. I keep the pretty hickory rod in the rifle for looks.

I use stainless T handle rods for range use and delrin for hunting. I have hunted with hickory rods, but you need to be careful to not let your gun get crusted up real bad with fouling. If its so hard to load after one shot that you're afraid of breaking a wood rod, you need to lap your bore. Some 0000 steel wool or bronze wool or even some scotchbrite pad on a tight jag will slick one up.

BTW, steel rods are quite traditional-they've been in use for at least a couple hundred years.

I guess the steel rod does not need to be close to full bore diameter as when using a hickory rod?
BTW: this is a 'range rod' in other terms. Not the rod stored in the rifle as a ram rod.
That could be another discussion all together!

And, if you are shooting a medium length barrel, not a longer Kentucky or Pennsylvania rifle, an aftermarket fiberglass/Delron ram rod made for those longer barrels might suffice for a Hawken/Seneca/Cherokee style T/C rifle as a range rod if a T handle is added [like I have for a backup rod].

transfusion if it was hollow!

I'm glad I didn't grab this range rod too high. I purchased it as a hardwood dowel and soaked it in kerosene years ago.
From now on only HICKORY, or maybe stainless steel!

Glad you weren't hurt

Thanks.
I still like an almost bore diameter wood rod for a range rod but if I make another one it will be straight grain hickory. I think Deer Creek has some hickory dowels but I don't know if the grain is straight in them..... Will ask this week when I can stop by. No more "hardwood dowels" from Home Depot or Lowes!