Possible Clues:

• Inflexible person making charge stick
• Rigid fellow
• Rifleman's tamping device
• One should be able to get through a barrel
• Pole for pushing charge into a gun barrel
• Stick used for cleaning gun-barrel
• Device for charging gun, proverbially stiff
• Shoot animal before having possibly used this?
• Shaft for loading or cleaning gun
• Gun-barrel tamping device