Bill Calfee
Gun Fool
Modifying the old Parker Hale rod...
CYA accuracy fool friends:
There's more misinformation spread around the Internet about cleaning rods by self appointed cleaning rod experts, than just about any other subject involving proper bore cleaning of the stainless steel barrels we use in RFBR.........
Therefore.............
I'm going to give you folks some of my misinformation, too, since I'm also a self appointed cleaning rod expert.
1.....Stainless steel cleaning rods are not to be used in stainless steel barrels.....
2.....Never push a brush through a bore, never....pull it back through the bore....
3.....There is no such thing as a "safe" cleaning rod.....but, I'm going to show you the make-up of a rod that comes closes to being "safe"....
That rod being...
A properly modified, early, carbon steel based Parker Hale. The later Parker Hale rods are not the same.
______________________________
Note:
Modifying the Parker Hale is complicated.....
(Actually it's futile for me to be doing this since these fine rods are no longer available, but I said I would, so.)
So I'm going to start posting pictures and describing the process, which will probably take more than one posting to do..
But first, here's the properties of the old Parker Hale rods:
The rod is made of carbon steel and properly heat treated, and the rods are dead straight
They are coated, which is easily removed as it isn't actually bonded to the rod...
The rod uses an adapter to go from the metric thread on the end of the rod to the American 8x32 thread so American brushes and jags can be used......
Now to begin the modification....
The brass fitting on the end of the rod, with a shoulder that the adapter squares up against, has to be removed from the rod after the coating is removed...
This complicated aligning a jag on the rod so it is perfectly straight with the rod....
I told you this wasn't a picnic.....( but is it worth it, oh yes)
So before I go further here's some pictures:
Once the coating is removed the diameter of the rod is .180"....
I'm sorry, but I thought I had my metric micrometer at the top, but when I looked at this picture I saw they are both inches micrometers.....I should have put my reading glasses on before I took the picture...
This is the modified Parker Hale metric jag......the picture explains what I've done...
No, the rod guide isn't glued to the rod.....it's the kind of fit needed, if you can get it...
I believe I used a #15 drill when I made this rod guide......the guide is of nylon....
More later....
Like I said, modifying these old Parker Hale rods isn't a picnic.....
But what you wind up with is the only "safe" cleaning rod I know of for use in our stainless steel barrels...
Your pistol fool friend, Bill Calfee
CYA accuracy fool friends:
There's more misinformation spread around the Internet about cleaning rods by self appointed cleaning rod experts, than just about any other subject involving proper bore cleaning of the stainless steel barrels we use in RFBR.........
Therefore.............
I'm going to give you folks some of my misinformation, too, since I'm also a self appointed cleaning rod expert.
1.....Stainless steel cleaning rods are not to be used in stainless steel barrels.....
2.....Never push a brush through a bore, never....pull it back through the bore....
3.....There is no such thing as a "safe" cleaning rod.....but, I'm going to show you the make-up of a rod that comes closes to being "safe"....
That rod being...
A properly modified, early, carbon steel based Parker Hale. The later Parker Hale rods are not the same.
______________________________
Note:
Modifying the Parker Hale is complicated.....
(Actually it's futile for me to be doing this since these fine rods are no longer available, but I said I would, so.)
So I'm going to start posting pictures and describing the process, which will probably take more than one posting to do..
But first, here's the properties of the old Parker Hale rods:
The rod is made of carbon steel and properly heat treated, and the rods are dead straight
They are coated, which is easily removed as it isn't actually bonded to the rod...
The rod uses an adapter to go from the metric thread on the end of the rod to the American 8x32 thread so American brushes and jags can be used......
Now to begin the modification....
The brass fitting on the end of the rod, with a shoulder that the adapter squares up against, has to be removed from the rod after the coating is removed...
This complicated aligning a jag on the rod so it is perfectly straight with the rod....
I told you this wasn't a picnic.....( but is it worth it, oh yes)
So before I go further here's some pictures:
Once the coating is removed the diameter of the rod is .180"....
I'm sorry, but I thought I had my metric micrometer at the top, but when I looked at this picture I saw they are both inches micrometers.....I should have put my reading glasses on before I took the picture...
This is the modified Parker Hale metric jag......the picture explains what I've done...
No, the rod guide isn't glued to the rod.....it's the kind of fit needed, if you can get it...
I believe I used a #15 drill when I made this rod guide......the guide is of nylon....
More later....
Like I said, modifying these old Parker Hale rods isn't a picnic.....
But what you wind up with is the only "safe" cleaning rod I know of for use in our stainless steel barrels...
Your pistol fool friend, Bill Calfee