Primitive Worm and Tow for Muzzleloader Cleaning

Back in the 18th Century and into the 19th, fabric was too expensive to waste as cleaning patches so people swabbed their gun bores with tow, which is fiber left over from processing flax, hemp, or jute.

I am expecting an order with some supplies to go with the new Jackie Brown smoothbore I bought last weekend. Among them is a primitive tow worm that screws onto the end of a ramrod and allows you to run a ball of tow up and down the bore to scrub it out. It can also be used to retrieve a lost cleaning patch.

Naturally, since I ordered one I found one I already had and forgot about. Doh.

This shows how it goes onto the outside of the ramrod. I had to open up the coils a little with pliers.

And this shows it with a tow ball threaded onto it:

So basically, that's the 18th Century equivalent of a bore brush. If it's not too dirty you can rinse it out and reuse it.

It's my understanding that Russia used tow for cleaning rifle barrels into the 20th Century, possibly as late as World War 2.