Tweet
Ola, Gents,
For 10 years I've been cleaning musket barrels by pouring hot water down the barrel followed with a plunging with drum jags draped with a cloth patch-both lubed and dry, and have gotten them stuck pretty regularly. I've become adept at pouring olive oil down the barrel to loosen the stuck jags, and more than once have put the musket stock in my workbench vice to hold it while I pulled on the greased drum jag. So far, I've always eventually gotten the little devil-drum out.
My question is were drum jags used by the boys from 1861 to 1865? I've never seen a reference to them, and even a search here for drum jags drew a blank.
Obviously, a slotted jag or slotted ramrod was available, and those are rarely stuck in the barrel. But I assume the slotted patch holders also are much less efficient. So what did the real boys use when they were campaigning for months at a time and loading and shooting daily?
Phil McBride
The Alamo Rifles
For 10 years I've been cleaning musket barrels by pouring hot water down the barrel followed with a plunging with drum jags draped with a cloth patch-both lubed and dry, and have gotten them stuck pretty regularly. I've become adept at pouring olive oil down the barrel to loosen the stuck jags, and more than once have put the musket stock in my workbench vice to hold it while I pulled on the greased drum jag. So far, I've always eventually gotten the little devil-drum out.
My question is were drum jags used by the boys from 1861 to 1865? I've never seen a reference to them, and even a search here for drum jags drew a blank.
Obviously, a slotted jag or slotted ramrod was available, and those are rarely stuck in the barrel. But I assume the slotted patch holders also are much less efficient. So what did the real boys use when they were campaigning for months at a time and loading and shooting daily?
Phil McBride
The Alamo Rifles
Comment