No32 Mk3 Thread question.

[bombdoc]

John Rothery (Wholesale) don't don't use dies, they roll the threads into the rods.

Yes, aware of that.. but it doesn't help me if I want to make custom jags or repro Martini Henry clearing rods..!

My post was semi-whimsical as many people do not know that the PH cleaning rod thread is an Enfield one! Peter Dyson used to sell the taps and dies for this thread, but has stopped..

Its all a bit chicken and egg.. you need a tap to make a die, and a die to make a tap...! The problem with the cleaning rod thread is that it has a rounded profile that is difficult to create using conventional methods. I think the only thing you could do would be to make a profiled form tool that would cut the thread on a lathe.. not an easy thing to do with such a small thread.

The loss of so many engineering firms such as AJP, PH and the way in which they happened is tragic. Like much of western technology the business has been hollowed out with the majority of the remaining firms being simply marketing shells for imported goods..

On the subject of threads, the two major organisations that stuck with proprietary thread systems were the RSAF Enfield and the Singer Sewing Machine company, although Enfield did standardise most of their threads in the 1920s when they made the No4.