The RUGER OLD ARMY Club

OK, I've now picked up a second one and used em both in a CAS match. They worked pretty good; but, I'm not gonna give up my Navies.

Here they are with some checkered faux ivory grips.

Primer Capsule News

New primer capsule material is S7. Was easier to obtain than anticipated. Came from:
www1.mscdirect.com : 3 foot drill rods 5/16'' & 1/4''

Special thanks to Jaymo for suggesting S7! There's a new set of specs & techniques to work w/this stuff. Prolly otta start a new thread to cover it all? 'Less ya want me to do it here? Any ideas?

Foto "S7 Capsules" shows 3 of a set of 9. The other 6 are in the stainless ROA successfully test fired Thurs. 18 Oct. Can fire both small pistol & rifle primers.

No more case hardening! Less time consuming to make. After I remake 'em for my ROA's, I'll make some sets for those who've already indicated they want 'em. For many reasons, unique to my existence here on the Planet, they'll be free of charge. If y'all don't mind being Guinea Pigs and post up what ya think of 'em. It'll be several months to get there. Can work out the details later.

Kindest Regards,

Doak

I'm more than willing to buy a set!

As would I!

Me too. I'd love to have a set. How much would a set cost me? You're machining skills are worlds beyond mine. I'm a rank amateur, with emphasis on"rank".
You're welcome for the recommendation. I just thought it would be good, since it's shock resistant.
The fact that it takes less time for you to make them and you don't have to case harden them is icing on the cake.

Doak,

I want a set bad but don't do it free. I have an IRA so I'm set. ;D

Seriously, I went to a machinist nearby and he said he wouldn't bother with it .. too much trouble to make the prototype he said.

Sorry, double posted by mistake.

And by "rank" I mean I kinda stink at it.
I'm very good at turning raw material int scrap metal and piles of chips.
Good thing I get all my metal stock for free.

Hey Guy's! Thanks for the consideration. There's no way to put a price on this stuff. It's so esoteric, nobody wants to even mess w/it. I've spent most o' my life makin' little stuff...seems natural to me. Might as well keep doin' it.

The cost of the materials is negligible, and I have to maintain the tooling anyway, for my own stuff. And my labor ain't worth "doodley squat". I'm too old to work!

And I don't want to be the only one to have these. That's no fun! Let's see what happens. Like I said, it's gonna take a few months to get these rollin'.

Gotta make the drivers & loading tools to go w/'em. Can't think of a better way to spend my time, at least until war breaks out! :-D

Kindest Regards,

Doak

Doak, now you done talked me into this idea of yours so better count me in as well. BTW your time and effort is worth something to all of us here so maybe we should at least provide you with a little recreational beverage money. Your offer is much appreciated and we here make some fine guinea pigs

If you won't take money for your time and effort...I'll make a donation to Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund. I hope you don't mind me using you as an excuse.

Count me in too please, I have five Ruger old armys. I will start saving for your
recreational beverage and dinner money....we will all pay you for your time (you
are the man). Thank you for making the ROA more fun to shoot.

Bob

Count me in. I would gladly pay for materials and your time.

Doak, your time and skills are valuable to us. Because of your creation, my ROA will be every bit as reliable with 777 as a modern, cartridge revolver.
That makes all the difference in the world when carrying my ROA as a backup to my TC Renegade while hunting deer and hogs with BP. During BP season, I'm not allowed to carry any cartridge firearm, not even as a backup.
So----I need the ROA to be as reliable as the Redhawk .44 mag. I'm betting my life that, should the .50 smokepole fail to stop a big hog, the ROA will keep porky from dining on my ample haunches.
Yep, pigs will eat you. An old girlfirend of mine had an uncle (farmer) who had a heart attack while feeding his hogs. By the time his family found him, the pigs had eaten his lower half nearly to the bone.
And these are domestic piggies, not feral hogs.

Your contribution to the world of ROA shooters is huge. We are grateful for your creation.
Bask in our appreciation, because you deserve it.
I seem to have seen a primer capsule made for a TC sidelock rifle, but NEVER for a C&B revolver.
You have made the unavailable, available. We are forever in your debt.

When I get mine, I plan on giving them a good workout, prior to hunting with them.
That way, I can make sure there aren't any defects in the material before I trust my hide to it.
I absolutely trust your workmanship.
I do not, and never have, trust any material not to have defects in it.
After all, the raw material comes from steel mills that are run by people and subject to human error.


BTW, you may have just created your own cottage industry/niche market. You seem to have the market cornered. That's a good position to be in.
If you can, I would seek patent/copyright protection for your design.

Reliability, certainly in a hunting situation, is really terrific but I'm also looking at containing the "cap trash".

Just to show how good the ROA is, I'm posting an almost deer kill by mine today.
I shot a small Florida 3 pt. with my Savage ML10 rifle using a Hornady 250 gr. HP/XTP in a sabot. The bullet blew up on his shoulder at 50 yards and he limped over and stopped 40 yards behind me not looking sick at all. I unholstered my ROA and shot him in the lungs with a handcast 255 gr. bullet. He ran 50 yards and dropped dead.

The 'autopsy' showed that the lung hit from the ROA is what killed him. The XTP was in pieces in his shoulder.





Just think what the small pistol primers would do to improve the performance ...WOW!

I'd be another one who will pay, trade, or donate for a set. those are just too neat to believe and your craftsmanship is extraordinary.

I had forgotten about containing cap fragments. Of course, that will help improve reliability.

Bob, I'm not looking at it as a way to improve the performance of my ROA. It's a fantastic revolver.
I just want to eliminate possibility of a fizzle, when hunting. Especially hunting hogs.
They're a lot more dangerous than deer. They're not like porky pig.
Larry Weishun calls them "poor man's grizzly bear".

Jaymo said:

I had forgotten about containing cap fragments. Of course, that will help improve reliability.

Bob, I'm not looking at it as a way to improve the performance of my ROA. It's a fantastic revolver.
I just want to eliminate possibility of a fizzle, when hunting. Especially hunting hogs.
They're a lot more dangerous than deer. They're not like porky pig.
Larry Weishun calls them "poor man's grizzly bear".

Click to expand...

Jaymo,

Of course reliability of the gun is number one. Yesterday the caps fired, the 3FG ignited and all was fine with the world. However, I have had many instances when things didn't work perfectly. The setup that Doak has should change that.

Especially with the subs.
Is that the .44 XTP wound, visible in the first pic? That looks like a nasty, but superficial wound.
I'm thinking about using the 270 grain .44 soft point with a sabot, in my inline. It's the same bullet I use in my .444 Marlin.
That XTP musta have been SCREEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAMMIIIIIIN'.

Jaymo said:

Especially with the subs.
Is that the .44 XTP wound, visible in the first pic? That looks like a nasty, but superficial wound.
I'm thinking about using the 270 grain .44 soft point with a sabot, in my inline. It's the same bullet I use in my .444 Marlin.
That XTP musta have been SCREEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAMMIIIIIIN'.

Click to expand...

It was screaming but also was very close ... about 45 yards. The lung shot was with the 255 gr .452 cast soft lead bullet from a Lee mold in the ROA. The entrance and exit wounds were the same size. The rifle shot didn't penetrate and fragmented on the shoulder blade. Both lungs were damaged by the cast bullet.

Do you have any suggestions for a .452 bullet in a sabot that will penetrate and expand when shot out of the .50 cal? If so, I can load that same bullet in the ROA and probably get better results.

I'm thinking about using a Nosler Partition .44 cal pistol bullet in a sabot for the rifle. What do you think?

Pato: A 44 mag bullet ought to do quite well. And I'd guess a 454/460 bullet ought to as well.

I'm not so sure you can get a bullet that expands well at low velocities to also work well at much higher velocities. But REAL's seem to work OK in revolvers too. Maybe getting away from a jacketed bullet designed to expand, which is at a specific velocity, is the key.

Others who are knowledgeable on using lead projectiles would need to chime in. I'm interested too as I've thought it would be nice to use my ROA bullets in a sabot from a side lock. What say you?

The dang bullet is already nearly half an inch in diameter, how much more expansion is needed? This is about the same diameter of the solids used on dangerous African game animals, and those are not designed to expand. If a half inch projectile plowing deep into an elephant will bring it down, how much more do you need for a whitetail?

I too would like to volunteer as a test bed for the primers.

J-Bar said:

The dang bullet is already nearly half an inch in diameter, how much more expansion is needed? This is about the same diameter of the solids used on dangerous African game animals, and those are not designed to expand. If a half inch projectile plowing deep into an elephant will bring it down, how much more do you need for a whitetail?

Click to expand...

The problem is I don't have the tracking skills of a Bushman. The half-inch hole will surely kill the animal but they don't leave much of a blood trail.