The RUGER OLD ARMY Club

[Patocazador]

Originally Posted by Doak

Got the same problem. Only remedy that's worked for me, so far, is to tongue 'n' groove an extension atop the front sight. This on a blued ROA. Stock ramp on ROA's is way wrong for a good front sight picture anyway.

Stainless has a roll pin holding the blade in. Gonna see if it's easily removed, comin' up here soon. Anybody know?

Doak,

Because my SS ROA was shooting so high, I notched out my rear sight and used a drift punch to remove the front pin and put the front sight blade from my SS .45 Colt Blackhawk in its place. Ruger couldn't find a replacement for my Blackhawk so I put the original blade back on the Blackhawk and cut out a blade from 1/8" flat stock and drilled and pinned it in the ROA. I left it VERY tall and dressed it down to a manageable height. The 1/8" stock was a little under sized so I epoxied it in place and pinned it. With your machining skills (and tools) I'm sure it would be a piece of cake for you to do a better job without the epoxy.

[Doak]

Hey Thanks, Patocazador ~
That helps give me a sense of what I'll be wadin' into. I think epoxy is a good idea in any case. Can always release it w/a little heat.

I've never shot balls in my ROA's. I suspect, since they're lighter, they get down the bore faster, before recoil can lift 'em up as high as a heavier, slower bullet?

That's the way I do it too. Make the blade too high 'n' work it down to match the bullet/powder combo.

Yeah, piece o' cake...'til Murphy's Law kicks in. :-D

[CageDodger]

I'm waaaaay late to the party but hopefully there's room for one more.

Several years ago I decided I wanted a .45 caliber pistol. I saw a Ruger P90DC in a local pawn shop for $395. I was a perfect match for my Ruger P89DC. I shot it a few times but the cost of ammo was too high for my tastes. And it was too similar to my 9mm.

Then I saw an Old Army for sale in another pawn shop for $425. As luck would have it there was a gun show that weekend. I managed to unload (pun intended) the P90 and used the money to get the Old Army. So I ended up with a .45 after all.



I added a set of Corian appaloosa grips by Carey Chapman over on Ruger Forum. The case is made for a Walker or Dragoon. I also made a loading stand to make things a bit easier.



I've heard of people bending a loading lever on the Old Army and there are no replacement parts available. How hard do you have to pack a cylinder to bend a loading lever?

It would seem almost impossible to me. I don't seat a ball near that hard.

The Old Army is easily my favorite of all my Rugers.

Cage

[J-Bar]

Most of us bend the base/cylinder pin (not the lever itself) when we try to seat a ball without the locking screw being turned to the locked position. The cylinder pin pulls out a ways and then bends.

So make sure the base pin locking screw has the pin locked into position before trying to load the damn thing!

By the way, nice score on picking up an ROA at fine price. Nice case, too!

[Jim, West PA]

VERY nice setup there CageDodger.
Make it yourself ?

[HPBroker]

Hi Everyone,
I just found this link. Here's my Stainless Old Army. Have a second one but need a complete loading lever. Looking forward to the forum.
Henry

[mattusmc45]

Guys,
Can I play? here is the beginning of my collection...

[classicballistx]

For the Club -

I see my earlier post didn't hold, but CBX has had a price increase. Such is life...

For all of you here at ROA Club, just know that the $25 per cylinder discount continues for ROA Club members. See the site to order a cylinder and you'll get instructions for getting a discount invoice.

More importantly for the minute, for THR-ROA Club members, we will honor the pre-increase price - $224.95, and discount of $25 for paid orders received until the end of February, 2013. After that, the discount will be applied to the new price of $239.95.

Without making this a sales pitch, we do want you to know that being a member here and hurrying up just a little is worth $40 per cylinder and that's a lot of lead and powder.

Anyway, thanks again to the bunch of you who have become a loyal customer base for Classicballistx. We hope to bring some good things to market for you during 2013!

Best regard, all -

Wisent
Classicballistx

[303]

I got this Old Army yesterday, and it looks pretty good on the outside now with a fresh coat of Ballistol but apparently someone bought it about 20 years ago, shot it a day or two, and put it away without properly cleaning the cylinder... so there was some serious internal rust scale as well as some small areas of superficial rust on the outside... and the guy electropencilled his initials crudely on the frame, too. But the bore and workings are fine and I guess I'll be looking for a cylinder or two.

[Jaymo]

303, I'd be tempted to send that ROA back to Ruger for refinishing. It'd look good as new.

[303]

Originally Posted by Jaymo

303, I'd be tempted to send that ROA back to Ruger for refinishing. It'd look good as new.

Yeah, well... some of us can't justify getting a good-looking gun all messed up by shooting it, and I intend to shoot this one a lot... so probably not, but that is an intriguing idea.

Frankly, though, I just noticed that I've been a member of The HighRoad for 10 years but had made only 4 posts... so I got a sudden aspiration to inflate my post count all of the way up to 5.

[wap41]

if it makes smoke and puts holes where you want them thats the most important thing.

[ClemBert]

ROA Club Members:

01. ClemBert 02. Eights 03. kanook 04. kwhi43@kc.rr.com 05. mykeal
06. adaptandovercome 07. 461 08. junkman_01 09. lonewolf5347 10. rcflint
11. MCgunner 12.madcratebuilder 13. AbitNutz 14. eastbank 15. robert garner
16. philuk44 17. HUnter58 18. arcticap 19. BullRunBear 20. theotherwaldo
21. SC Slowhand 22. Prairie Dawg 23. wittzo 24. Tallbald 25. Smokin_Gun
26. OB One 27. jungle 28. plumbernater 29. daveinvegas 30. JanZ
31. George Mabry 32. Benmathes 33. Loosenock 34. higene 35. Rock Island
36. Erich 37. robhof 38. J-Bar 39. Nomad, 2nd 40. TAURUSBOB
41. martindl99 42. Vermonter 43. wasatch 44. fogg64 45. BConklin
46. Howdy Doody 47. bushrod2 48. rdstrain49 49. FirinFlatTop 50. rem1858
51. straight-shooter 52. edorfox 53. KevininPa 54. Ringo1234 55. pohill
56. The Don 57. jeepcoma 58. Dave Markowitz 59. Chazz 60. andrewstorm
61. Steel Wheels 62. Legionnaire 63. NineMilePete 64. 94RUGER 65. Acorn Mush
66. R.Ganister 67. Boom-stick 68. Buddy 69. Ghost Dog 70. BML
71. Cult of 1858 72. Jaymo 73. bigbore442001 74. Engineer Bill 75. azyogi
76. Dr. Leaky 77. Clermont 78. Indy4570 79. ozarkguy 80. Plastikosmd
81. mrdo1 82. bax504 83. Constrictor 84. BC Mosaic 85. clepidus
86. did 87. gunboat57 88. Malachi Leviticus Blue 89. Blue Hill 90. Power Keg
91. SUMIKITO 92. ChasMack 93. Larry Flett 94. RugerShawn 95. tdperry
96. Rettech 97. renoman 98. tk1971 99. Curator 100. Dan Carey
101. Old No7 102. Muddydogs 103. Oldnamvet 104. 6.5x55swedish 105. crazysccrmd
106. Jim, West PA 107. rodwha 108. Varmiter 109. Indian Outlaw 110. Patocazador
111. Fingers McGee 112. h0use 113. Huntingsaddles 114. GregP42 115. esims
116. Doak 117. BubbaGoose 118. FreddyKruger 119. Calvados 120. ruger357
121. wap41 122. DurangoKid 123. Yamavira 124. Onty 125. 4speed
126. legend 550 127. bri1462 128. regniflow 129. CageDodger 130. HPBroker
131. mattusmc45 132. 303

Welcome 4speed, legend 550, bri1462, regniflow, CageDodger, HPBroker, mattusmc45, 303! All fine entries. :-)

[SUMIKITO]

Been poking and reading around on another forum and was surprised, no floored! that there are some folks that claim to stuff their Old Armys with as much as 50-60 grains of FFFG!! Now, something is downright wrong here! Them folks must have forgoten to screw their nipples back on while commencing to drop so much powder into their cylinders, OR someone over there has started to snort some GOEX or SWISS!! Amazing what some folks can come up with!! Whew!! And to top it all, with a ball to ram ALL that powder in! Would give up one of my Old Armys just to see and touch one of those 'special' pistols in the flesh! All the very best to our latest members!!....Joe

[CageDodger]

Originally Posted by Jim, West PA

VERY nice setup there CageDodger.Make it yourself ?

If youre talking about the box, no I bought it, can't remember where. I do know it was sized for a Walker.

The loading stand, I did make. Very easy to do and I'm not a woodworker by any means.

I took a couple of measurements that are critical to getting the barrel as close to vertical as possible:



These are the dimensions I came up with:



(Sorry about the decimal inches - I'm in the Land Surveying field - I used an Engineer's scale - I don't like fractions)

Cage

[rodwha]

Sumikito: I wonder if they have deepened chambers like the ClassicBallistx cylinders, which hold an extra 5-10 grains.

I have stuffed as much as 45 grains of 3F with a RB, but I don't think I could have managed 50. 45 filled it up to the brim IIRC.

[woodnbow]

Originally Posted by 303

Yeah, well... some of us can't justify getting a good-looking gun all messed up by shooting it, and I intend to shoot this one a lot... so probably not, but that is an intriguing idea.

Frankly, though, I just noticed that I've been a member of The HighRoad for 10 years but had made only 4 posts... so I got a sudden aspiration to inflate my post count all of the way up to 5.

You're on a roll here 303, there's no stopping you now!

[Jersey Joe]

May I join the club?

[AbitNutz]

I've never gotten 50 or 60 grains of T7 loaded. I do routinely get 40 grains behind a BigLube 210 grain HP with a Classicballistx cylinder and an RWS 1075+ cap.

[SUMIKITO]

Hi there rodwha and abitnutz. We all know here on the ROA club that even with a classicballistx or bored out cylinder by David Clements you simply can not get that much powder into those cylinders. ( 50-60 grains claimed as mentioned in past thread #1188). And after that , top it with a round ball or slug!I And that is with ANY kind of powder, even instant coffee or table sugar! If that was true we would toss out all our other pistols and use only the ROA for everything from hunting the largest game to defending ourselves from a 400lb. nutcase with a pickax. Just dont see it happening at all. Like I said it is just a case of too much powder sniffing. or something like that. Going to google search and punching in "the ruger old army club thr" and clicking on 'why you like the ROA" would take you there on that discussion where a lot of "experts chime in on how much powder they manage to stuff in the ROA. Maybe, just maybe, they use a hydraulic press to get it all in there! YES! thats it, a hydraulic press! Now where on earth did I lay down my catalogs from Harbor Freight and Northern? Anyone here got a good used hydraulic press you can loan me to try this out. Should come with a welders face shield or some very good safety goggles, let me know please. Will have to conduct this experiment behind the outhouse, where its nice and safe, just in case. Will take the old dog with me, he likes to watch me do stuff like this. Should get him some safety goggles too.

[ClemBert]

ROA Club Members:

01. ClemBert 02. Eights 03. kanook 04. kwhi43@kc.rr.com 05. mykeal
06. adaptandovercome 07. 461 08. junkman_01 09. lonewolf5347 10. rcflint
11. MCgunner 12.madcratebuilder 13. AbitNutz 14. eastbank 15. robert garner
16. philuk44 17. HUnter58 18. arcticap 19. BullRunBear 20. theotherwaldo
21. SC Slowhand 22. Prairie Dawg 23. wittzo 24. Tallbald 25. Smokin_Gun
26. OB One 27. jungle 28. plumbernater 29. daveinvegas 30. JanZ
31. George Mabry 32. Benmathes 33. Loosenock 34. higene 35. Rock Island
36. Erich 37. robhof 38. J-Bar 39. Nomad, 2nd 40. TAURUSBOB
41. martindl99 42. Vermonter 43. wasatch 44. fogg64 45. BConklin
46. Howdy Doody 47. bushrod2 48. rdstrain49 49. FirinFlatTop 50. rem1858
51. straight-shooter 52. edorfox 53. KevininPa 54. Ringo1234 55. pohill
56. The Don 57. jeepcoma 58. Dave Markowitz 59. Chazz 60. andrewstorm
61. Steel Wheels 62. Legionnaire 63. NineMilePete 64. 94RUGER 65. Acorn Mush
66. R.Ganister 67. Boom-stick 68. Buddy 69. Ghost Dog 70. BML
71. Cult of 1858 72. Jaymo 73. bigbore442001 74. Engineer Bill 75. azyogi
76. Dr. Leaky 77. Clermont 78. Indy4570 79. ozarkguy 80. Plastikosmd
81. mrdo1 82. bax504 83. Constrictor 84. BC Mosaic 85. clepidus
86. did 87. gunboat57 88. Malachi Leviticus Blue 89. Blue Hill 90. Power Keg
91. SUMIKITO 92. ChasMack 93. Larry Flett 94. RugerShawn 95. tdperry
96. Rettech 97. renoman 98. tk1971 99. Curator 100. Dan Carey
101. Old No7 102. Muddydogs 103. Oldnamvet 104. 6.5x55swedish 105. crazysccrmd
106. Jim, West PA 107. rodwha 108. Varmiter 109. Indian Outlaw 110. Patocazador
111. Fingers McGee 112. h0use 113. Huntingsaddles 114. GregP42 115. esims
116. Doak 117. BubbaGoose 118. FreddyKruger 119. Calvados 120. ruger357
121. wap41 122. DurangoKid 123. Yamavira 124. Onty 125. 4speed
126. legend 550 127. bri1462 128. regniflow 129. CageDodger 130. HPBroker
131. mattusmc45 132. 303 133. Jersey Joe

Welcome Jersey Joe!

[Jaymo]

Hey, there's nothing wrong with having one reblued and then shooting the snot out of it.

[mykeal]

SUMIKITO - conduct the experiment IN the old outhouse. That way the folks who claim to load 50 grains will feel right at home....

[AbitNutz]

Might be lots of things but I'm not a liar. Here are an array of pictures. I guess I could take a movie to prove it

First range box full of essentials.


Next Show marked spouts and powders


Next case of cylinders, Classic Ballistics, Kirst Converter...maybe some Ruger w/David Clements deepened.


Next fill 40 grain spout



Next fill Classic Ballistics Cylinder


Please notice there is enough room for 40 grains of T7 with either the 150gr or 220gr BigLube bullet.


Here is a closer view of the BuigLube I had HP bullet service modify


Here's my ROA that I shoot with the Classic Ballistics cylinder that I shoot the HP BigLube with 40gr of T7 out of. Lee's action job, trued barrel face, 11 degree forcing cone, Clements Bisley hammer, Classic Ballistics Cylinder, beveled and serrated front blade, Power Custom Colt gripframe, Paul Persinger blind screw grips, Power Custom oversize bolt stop, Slixshot nipples and likely more that I can't recall.


And here's an old target pic that I shot at 25 yards with a HP BigLube, 40 grains of T7.


I guess I could take a movie of it but this is as far as I will go. So SUMIKITO quit going to Harbor Freight for cheap tools....just use a BigLube loader like I do. Am I an expert? I'll leave that to others to say. But I do know what I'm talking about. My ROA is pretty modded. It does shoot really well. I don't snort anything and I resent the accusation that I do. I do shoot 40 grains of T7 with a HP 220 BigLube out of a Classic Ballistics cylinder and I can prove all of what I just wrote. Wanna put your money where your mouth is? Come on down to SW Ohio for the "Guns of August" Cowboy shoot....

[ClemBert]

Originally Posted by SUMIKITO

Been poking and reading around on another forum and was surprised, no floored! that there are some folks that claim to stuff their Old Armys with as much as 50-60 grains of FFFG!!

From what I could tell SUMIKITO was talking about claims of 50-60 FFFg not 40 grains.