Shiloh Rifle Forums

This week I got to do some long range shooting and ran into an unexpected problem. I have a Hadley aperture and normally it nestles under the comb when down for barrel wiping. Was shooting at 300 and 600 hundred yards and the large disk was up the ladder and above the bore line of the rifle barrel and gave me trouble wiping without jamming the handle on the top of the sight. I need more than the 36” I currently have. Your retail store has rods but I can’t find the length of the 45 caliber rod. Long way around to ask how long they are; but, how long are your cleaning rods?

Long! My favorite rod is 48" plus the length of the handle. It was a 50 BMG carbon fiber rod. I like it a lot and would recommend it.

Sounds like my Ballard sight position, so I use a Delrin rod that flexes nicely around the tang sight. Cut it long enough that the handle clears sight, Grainger sells 5/16 or 3/8" x 48" rods.
kw

Delrin rods are the way to go. They are very flexible. They can be had from Buffalo Arms, Sycamore Stations.

Too flexible if you ask me. They snake down the barrel and can cause where spots in the rifling when used lots. There is also a difference in a cleaning rod and a wiping rod. The delrin might work ok for wiping (I won't use one, but whatever floats your boat) but they are not stiff enough to be used as a true cleaning rod when you want to run some tighter fitting patches down the bore. The OP will have to find whatever works best for him, but I just wanted to point out that not everybody loves the delrin rods.
FWIW, Cody

I have mostly switched from the Delrin ones to the Tipton carbon fiber ones. I have two lengths, one for 30&32" barrels and a really long one ( 44" I believe ) for my 34" barrels.

Chris.

I've been using the same .45 Delrin rod since 1995. That's 26 years for the math challenged. If you don't wipe the wiping rod from time to time I can see where it will pick up something abrasive. I suppose it "could" cause a problem, but I've never seen it in my limited experience. Any dirt is easily seen on the white Delrin rods. I like a brass jag on mine and have made them that way since the first one.

FWIW,
I have found a handle on my delrin rods to just be in the way for wiping.
Easy to just grasp the rod "up close" to guide in and run the patch or bore pig thru.
Flexible enough to bend around the tang sight and stiff enough for usual wiping.
Delrin plastic will not wear the bore in and of itself. And the white rod is easy to see dirt on it.
Just wipe the rod and keep it out of the dirt

For serious cleaning or deleading , I find the Tipton graphite composite rods to be Great
Their thru the handle construction allows using a rawhide mallet to drive really tight turpentine patches
thru for a serious deleading job.
beltfed/arnie

Thanks all for the input. Ordered one from Sycamore today. This distance shooting thing is addictive and am headed back as soon as I can wipe without banging the sight. As an aside, when I got to the 600 yard range, an off duty range officer told me I couldn’t shoot a 45-70 at 600 yards because it was too dangerous and could clear the berm, even though I’d been cleared previously to shoot 600 yards. Fortunately I had a friend working who not only let me shoot but spotted for me and in three shots got me on the gong. Rang it a few times and the off-duty guy learned something that day

I started with the white Teflon rods years ago, but found them to be actually too flexible. I’ve since tried the black delrin rods, and can’t imagine anything being any better. The white Teflon rods would ‘buckle’ too easily.
I like having a very small diameter bronze wire at the end of the black delrin rod to keep the wiping patch centered, and also a few cannalures cut on the tip of the rod to work the final cleaning and oiling patches back and forth through the barrel. Btw, I bought the 3/8” X 48” black delrin rods through Grainger.
Robert

You can also get rods of different flexibility to suit your needs. FWIW - My favorite go-to source is McMaster-Carr.

https://www.mcmaster.com/plastics/shape~rod-and-disc/

Hope that helps,

-Ron

Delrin rod for sure. my 40 70 ss with the MVA tang and Hadley will nip my fingers with a straight rod.
so...I bought a few, (get different sizes, they are cheap) and then tapped the end and screwed on a brass jag, epoxy it in place.
I bought a tool handle, wood and did the same at the other end.
this is my range rod. bends around the sight easily, easy to handle, and it's now two years old without a problem. I use white, but other colors are available..
for after shooting, I clean from the muzzle with a steel rod with the muzzle protector in place.
just me of course...
Ken

would there be anything wrong with a "pull through?"

Just a little tricky during a match;-)

rkcohen wrote: ↑Tue Mar 29, 2022 11:43 am would there be anything wrong with a "pull through?"

other than all the fouling ending up in your chamber and in your falling block...no.