is this a RAMROD

[Matchlock]

Hi Richmond,


This definitely is a 19th century ramrod, and, as the thickened grip denotes, it also acted as a muzzle plug; ramrods of that type were primarily used on shooting ranges.

The threaded iron finial (German: eiserner Setzerkopf mit Innengewinde) should show traces of copper or brass welding over its length, and is geared up to receive small tools for cleaning the barrel, like a scourer, or to extract a ball with the help of a worm.
Such iron finials on wooden ramrods have been in use for at least 500 years, and right up to the late 19th century.

Please see attachments of such finials for various little tools to screw in, on 16th century matchlock muskets in the Graz Armory in Styria, Austria, where those tools still are preserved in the 'patch' boxes of the buttstocks!, and on some wheellock pistols.
I also attached an early 16th century drawing, from the Löffeholz ms., '#2' - this being my own temporary assignment) - , obviously authored in either Nuremberg, or possibly Swabia, in about 1520-30; and depicting a wooden ramrod with an iron finial to both ends, together with various tools to screw in.
Furthermore attached are images of an incredible number of those rare 16th to 17th century worms and scourers in my collection, some scourers even being combined with a turnscrew!

Now please don't expect me to explain, let alone prove how that might have worked, both possibly and actually - especially when that little tool was screwed to the short iron finial of a wooden ramrod that was at least 120 cm long. For that was the average length of a wooden ramrod for a 'military' long gun of the late Renaissance period of ca. 1600 - like a matchlock or wheellock musket ...
Furthermore, may I impress you with the fact that an average musket of that period was about 160 to 170 centimeters (63 to 67 in.) long, meaning a - usually attuned - barrel/ramrod length of about 126 to 135 cm (ca. 50 to 53 in.)!


Have fun studying!
Best,
Michael