Legionnaire
Contributing Member
How about a thread dedicated to loads for the Ruger Old Army? I see lots of newbies (and I include myself in that category at this point) asking here and there about "what's your favorite load for ... ?" I'd welcome posts to this thread that detail what you're shooting and the results you've achieved. Pics, especially of other-than-round-ball bullets and targets would be particularly welcome.
I finally got one of my new-to-me ROAs to the range this past weekend. It was really a flintlock outing, but I brought it along to put a couple of cylinders through it. I discovered that #10 CCI caps are too small.
First six trigger pulls only pressed the caps down; second six fired every chamber. Went to #11s after that and had no further failures to fire.
My load:
30 grains Goex FFFg
lubed felt wad
.457 Hornady round ball
CCI #11 cap
I'm thinking I need filler, as the plunger bottomed out every time and I didn't feel the powder/wad compressing. That, or I need to load with a loading stand; I bought a Tower of Power but haven't used it yet.
Only shot three cylinders, and I wasn't shooting for accuracy per se; rather, just getting a feel for the gun. However, I shot the third cylinder standing with a two-hand hold. All six rounds hit slightly high and left of POA and grouped about five inches at 25 yards, so I'm pretty pleased (read that "big grin").
I finally got one of my new-to-me ROAs to the range this past weekend. It was really a flintlock outing, but I brought it along to put a couple of cylinders through it. I discovered that #10 CCI caps are too small.
First six trigger pulls only pressed the caps down; second six fired every chamber. Went to #11s after that and had no further failures to fire.My load:
30 grains Goex FFFg
lubed felt wad
.457 Hornady round ball
CCI #11 cap
I'm thinking I need filler, as the plunger bottomed out every time and I didn't feel the powder/wad compressing. That, or I need to load with a loading stand; I bought a Tower of Power but haven't used it yet.
Only shot three cylinders, and I wasn't shooting for accuracy per se; rather, just getting a feel for the gun. However, I shot the third cylinder standing with a two-hand hold. All six rounds hit slightly high and left of POA and grouped about five inches at 25 yards, so I'm pretty pleased (read that "big grin"
).
