How did they clean their rifles, if.......

[Ugly Sauce]

I have a very old .38 caliber percussion long rifle that's been in the family since 1845. It is a very basic, no frills, "poor boy" type rifle. (percussion) It has an Oak stock and ramrod.

My question is...this rifle is all original, and the ram-rod is very simple. Just a stick, with no provision to attach any kind of jag, worm or attachment. The end that goes into the stock is heavily tapered, the ramming end is completely plain. This rifle was carried on horseback during the "Indian wars" of early Oregon settlement, so I'm pretty sure a range rod or three part rod wasn't carried around. Or, would something like that be carried by a man living off horseback?

I was just shooting this rifle yesterday, it's bore is good and it's accurate, so I can't believe it wasn't cleaned often. ?? How did guys clean their rifles when the ramrod had no way of attaching a jag or worm?

 

[weeniewawa]

probably a little patch of cloth and a stick off of a tree, maybe some kerosene if that was available. just keep pushing it through

 

[glockgod]

Good old hot water worked back then and works well now. A little dish soap helps too. The key is use HOT water.

 

[MEHavey]

Since it's patched ball/closed breech, "just pushing it through" doesn't apply.
And since no jag/worm is evident, no way to withdraw the patch.

I have a feeling the OP doesn't have the complete rifle "kit" as did the original owner/user.

 

[Jeff62]

Ezekiel Baker wrote; “If a man can make urine he hath no need of a fouled bore” paraphrased

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Cutting a stick makes sense. Then drink a couple of beers. !!! I don't think any kind of kit came with this rifle. The owner before it came into the family had an ox die, heading out west from Missouri, and so an ox was traded for the rifle. From there it went to Oregon, then Idaho, back to Missouri, and then back to Idaho and Oregon.

Was it customary to provide a "kit" with a lower priced type rifle? This is a very plain-Jane rifle. And by "kit" do you mean some kind of sectioned cleaning rod, that would break down to be carried in one's saddlebags or whatever? I realize that often a bullet mold came with a rifle.

Don't think the guys chasing the Cayus around after the Whitman "massacre" had much dish soap with them. It's true you can plug the nipple end, pour in water, put your thumb over the muzzle and tip the rifle up and down, shake it around, and get most of the fouling out, but you still have to wipe the bore to get the remaining moisture out.

I like the "cutting of a stick" for a temporary cleaning rod. I think that would work. If one cut the big end of the stick just the right diameter, you could even whittle sort of a jag on the end, which might work pretty good.

 

[HoploDad]

Mr. Zeke:

"For the application therewith mine eyes wish not to see."

 

[MEHavey]

"Kit" means anything you make or carry w/ you in a Possibles bag.
Hence I don't believe you have the original 'kit' that the original owner did.

As to just 'cutting a stick" improvising a jag -- you could. I suggest cutting a slot, not a jag per se.
You haven't lived til you've stuck patch down bore having dropped it off the end of a knurled jag ... and not had a worm.

So I'm suggesting that your ancestor had both Possibles bag -- with a lotta "stuff in it that you no longer have -- and another rod of some kind that he carried in hand/gripped alongside the rifle in the field -- that you no longer have either.

Probably thrown away in both cases.

 

[MJD]

No frills or not, I want to see a picture! How fortunate to have a family heirloom from that long ago, let alone a rifle.

 

[mjsdwash]

you can run water down the barrel to get the salt out, and a wet patch with some kind of hook. Most people of that area sewed, and those tools could be made to work. If you keep it loaded, you can just jam the grease patch down to the end and leave it, and I'm sure people did. Not recommended now of course.

 

[stevekozak]

Ezekiel Baker wrote; “If a man can make urine he hath no need of a fouled bore” paraphrased

Some Nancys here are going to think this is gross, but it is also very correct.

 

[webrx]

Maybe a stick with a hole in it like a cleaning patch holder we use now. Push a patch through the hole etc.

the idea for what we have now came from somewhere.

 

[Col. Harrumph]

I watched a couple of docents at the recreated Jamestown site clean their matchlocks with a plain stick of a ramrod and a length of stout twine with one end tied around a bunch of tow fibers. Push the wad down with the ramrod and pull it out with the string... a 17th century bore snake! Just be very sure you can trust the string not to break.

 

[unklebuck]

I'm with you, Col. Harrumph. The string that they used was made from braided mule tail hair. Early surgical suctures were generally made of mule hair, too.

 

[Norton Commando]

Are you sure that the ramrod is original to the gun?

Jason

 

[Geordie]

A tow worm, twisted iron wire like a coil spring tapered to screw over the wooden rammer. Will hold tow or a cloth patch.

 

[Flycaster1977]

Cutting a stick makes sense. Then drink a couple of beers. !!! I don't think any kind of kit came with this rifle. The owner before it came into the family had an ox die, heading out west from Missouri, and so an ox was traded for the rifle. From there it went to Oregon, then Idaho, back to Missouri, and then back to Idaho and Oregon.

Was it customary to provide a "kit" with a lower priced type rifle? This is a very plain-Jane rifle. And by "kit" do you mean some kind of sectioned cleaning rod, that would break down to be carried in one's saddlebags or whatever? I realize that often a bullet mold came with a rifle.

Don't think the guys chasing the Cayus around after the Whitman "massacre" had much dish soap with them. It's true you can plug the nipple end, pour in water, put your thumb over the muzzle and tip the rifle up and down, shake it around, and get most of the fouling out, but you still have to wipe the bore to get the remaining moisture out.

I like the "cutting of a stick" for a temporary cleaning rod. I think that would work. If one cut the big end of the stick just the right diameter, you could even whittle sort of a jag on the end, which might work pretty good.

most users had some form of kit to clean their rifles. A clean rifle meant dinner on the table or the ability to defend ones-self and every rifle owner had that equipment.
Plain jane would have no bearing on that as the rifle was a tool that was depended upon in daily life

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Are you sure that the ramrod is original to the gun?

Jason

The ramrod is original to the rifle.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

No frills or not, I want to see a picture! How fortunate to have a family heirloom from that long ago, let alone a rifle.

 

[MJD]

Set triggers and all! Wow. Thanks for sharing. What's the barrel length?