Intriguing .50 BP idea.

[BADUNAME30]

Just for discussion sake....
Here in Pa were not allowed to hunt deer with C&B because BP handguns have to be .50 or larger.
Sooooo...my idea is to rebarrel a ROA with a true .50 Bbl.
( i wonder if you could even get a hank o' .50 Bbl with the correct twist for RB ?)
Then, have a 5 shot cylinder custom made that of course would have to mic larger than .500.
The Bbl theory is quite feesable. But i'm sure the cylinder would be costly.
Not to meantion....what would have to be done with the current timing of the pistol to enable it to operate a 5 shot cylinder correctly ?
I'm goin with a 5 shot because without goin and micin' an OA cylinder to see if there's enough 'meat' i'm just gonna assume from the pics in minds eye there isn't.
I know..costly and a long way to go just to be able to hunt with a C&B six shooter.
But wouldn't it jist be a way cool gun to have and shoot ?
Oh yeah, would probably have to have a custom .500 RB mold made too ?

So..whatay'all think ?
Jim's nuts ?

 

[tom e gun]

Jim my friend, there is a shop that does all you just mentioned, and its here:

http://www.clementscustomguns.com/rugerrevolvers.html

It is fairly expensive as you guessed. It costs $1195 for the conversion, $600 more if you want an extra cylinder fitted as well, and another $115 for a .50 bullet mold for the thing. Following is the section on the site for the ROA services:

.50 Cal. Ruger Old Army: This is a 5-shot conversion of the Old Army to .50 caliber. Gun will shoot .490" round balls @ 1250 fps and a 250 gr. .488" dia. bullet @ 1150 fps using Hodgdon's Triple 7 powder. Standard features include an oversize 5 shot cyl. made to fit your individual gun, 6 3/4" straight taper bull barrel made from a Kreiger blank with pinned blade front sight base, action job, and reliability modifications. Load data furnished. Cylinders are linebored for accuracy. $1195 on your gun. Extra .50 cal. cyl. furnished with conversion $600
For 6 3/4" octagon barrel with integral front sight base and dovetailed blade add $350.
Adjustable sight guns only for this conversion.
The 6 3/4" barrel is the only length available for this conversion.

.50 cal. bullet mold- $115

Notice: The .50 cal. Old Army conversions are only available on a limited basis. I only commit to build these when I have orders for a minimum of 4 guns. I will consider building them on blue guns with blue barrels and cyls. if demand warrants. Call me for details on ordering.

Other .45 Old Army services available on blue or stainless guns:
Rebarrel with round barrel- includes pinned blade front sight or dovetail sight, $375
Rebarrel with octagon barrel- includes dovetail front sight, $700
Deepen chambers for extra powder capacity- $60
Action job- $110

 

[arcticap]

One problem is that the Clements conversion isn't truly a .50.

 

[tom e gun]

As usual arcticap, you are indeed correct, it is a .490 RB but is that not considered .50 caliber? I have a .50 cal ML rifle that uses .490 RB's and its still called a .50

 

[arcticap]

The bore would need to be .50 to it to be a .50.
Besides that, for less than the cost of the custom conversion, it would be far easier to simply travel to the closest state where it's known to be legal to hunt deer with a conventional cap & ball revolver.
And it hasn't been determined to be legal to hunt deer with a .50 cap & ball revolver in PA.
See this thread, particularly page 2.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=606998&highlight=PA

 

[BADUNAME30]

Hi Tom, after seein Zimm say there was a ROA converter i googled it and found Clements' site.
As Steve pointed out.......

One problem is that the Clements conversion isn't truly a .50.

..that was the first thing that i noticed.
In reality tho, neither is a .50 Hawken.Well, that's not entirely accurate, the Hawken is truly .50 but the projectile isn't.

 

[BADUNAME30]

As usual arcticap, you are indeed correct, it is a .490 RB but is that not considered .50 caliber? I have a .50 cal ML rifle that uses .490 RB's and its still called a .50

Tom, the bore in you .50 ML is indeed a true .50. It's the .010-.015 patch around the .490 ball that makes up the difference.

 

[mitchz]

If you want more than one shot over .50 cal get ya a Howda in .58

 

[bubba15301]

jim, i have an email from the pa game commission that says they are a manually operated firearm therefore legal firearms for hunting ,just not in muzzleloading season. pm your email and i will forward it to you. i plan on carrying my ROA during deer season.

 

[arcticap]

That's good news.
Is there a way to paste a copy of the important parts of the email here so that other folks could make use of it too?
Any personal info. could be redacted.

 

[bubba15301]

here is the email - GM, Comments GM, [email protected]

Send email

Cap and ball revolvers are not considered muzzleloaders and not legal for those seasons. They are however considered a manually operated firearm and legal to hunt with during seasons that manually operated handguns are allowed. Caliber restrictions apply for small game hunting.


Sent: Friday, July 20, 2012 10:34 AM
To: GM, Comments
Subject: cap and ball revolvers


question- are cap and ball revolvers legal hunting arms? are they considered muzzleloaders, centerfires, other?if legal what are they legal to hunt? i would like an answer to this please .thank you

 

[arcticap]

Thank you very much for posting the text.