Driftwood Johnson
Member
Howdy
The cartridge conversion cylinder for my Ruger Old Army showed up this week.
I took it to the range this afternoon to try out with my Black Powder 45 Colt ammo. Shot about 25 rounds through it.
Accuracy was terrific. This was the best group shot from a rest at 25 feet.
But operationally it leaves something to be desired.
First off, unlike a Remington 1858, to remove the cylinder to reload the loading lever with the cylinder pin attached has to be completely removed from the frame. With the Remington you just swing down the lever and pull the cylinder pin forward to remove the cylinder for reloading. Everything stays attached to the gun. With the Ruger, the entire reloading lever assembly including the cylinder pin has to be pulled forward out of the frame. Then you have to be careful how you lay it down, because the parts are all loose, they are not attached. Spent a little bit of time a couple of times figuring out how to put the loading lever assembly back in.
The other thing was after only one or two shots it started binding up. It was difficult to cock the hammer fully to the full cock position. I'm not sure what the culprit was, I scrubbed the soot off the front of the cylinder after each five shots, but that did not seem to help. Needs further exploration to find where the binding occurs. It may be that the tolerances on the Ruger are so tight that a little bit of soot binds it up. I do not recall having this difficulty when shooting it Cap & Ball.
Anyway, I just cleaned it up and am attaching a couple of photos.
As I said, accuracy off a rest was very good, but I'm not sure I will want to mess with this thing at a match.
Too fussy.
The cartridge conversion cylinder for my Ruger Old Army showed up this week.
I took it to the range this afternoon to try out with my Black Powder 45 Colt ammo. Shot about 25 rounds through it.
Accuracy was terrific. This was the best group shot from a rest at 25 feet.
But operationally it leaves something to be desired.
First off, unlike a Remington 1858, to remove the cylinder to reload the loading lever with the cylinder pin attached has to be completely removed from the frame. With the Remington you just swing down the lever and pull the cylinder pin forward to remove the cylinder for reloading. Everything stays attached to the gun. With the Ruger, the entire reloading lever assembly including the cylinder pin has to be pulled forward out of the frame. Then you have to be careful how you lay it down, because the parts are all loose, they are not attached. Spent a little bit of time a couple of times figuring out how to put the loading lever assembly back in.
The other thing was after only one or two shots it started binding up. It was difficult to cock the hammer fully to the full cock position. I'm not sure what the culprit was, I scrubbed the soot off the front of the cylinder after each five shots, but that did not seem to help. Needs further exploration to find where the binding occurs. It may be that the tolerances on the Ruger are so tight that a little bit of soot binds it up. I do not recall having this difficulty when shooting it Cap & Ball.
Anyway, I just cleaned it up and am attaching a couple of photos.
As I said, accuracy off a rest was very good, but I'm not sure I will want to mess with this thing at a match.
Too fussy.