Ruger Old Army projectile/powder performance yest

[duelist1954]

This six-part series will be my most comprehensive test of both projectiles and powder in the Ruger Old Army cap and ball revolvers. In the series we'll test three different projectiles, round balls, standard conical bullets and Kaido's heavy hunting conicals using both Goex black powder and Hodgdon's Triple-7 substitute black powder. We'll shoot everything through a pair of Ruger Old Army revolvers, one with a five and a half inch barrel and the other with a seven and a half inch barrel. We'll test each load for accuracy, velocity, energy and penetration.

In this episode we'll be testing round balls and Goex 3Fg black powder.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WNYGs2_UZw

 

[Majes]

Very nice, and an excellent choice for a test gun.. Thanks Mike!

 

[AbitNutz]

I should send you some of my hollow point 210gr BigLube bullets. I had Eric at Hollow Point Bullet Mold Service modify my BigLube mold to drop Hollow Points. He did a fantastic job and the bullets work pretty well.

I also want to tell you how much I appreciate your videos. They're very well done, entertaining and informative.

 

[BADUNAME30]

Great info Mike. I truly appreciate that you take the time to compile this info and then share it with us.
Yer a great ambassador of our sport/hobby Mike.

That 5.5"'er is one sweeet shootin arn.
I don't know which got my attention more, it's looks or it's sweet finely tuned sound.

 

[Patocazador]

I just had a very unpleasant situation trying to deal with Kaido. I've been trying to get bullets I paid for or a refund for over a month and I haven't received either. He said it's a 'hobby' and he runs it on his own schedule. His "schedule" doesn't seem to include promptness or reliability.

 

[Vermonter]

I've had great luck with Kaido and his bullets don't creep like the BigLubes I had previously.

 

[rodwha]

It took an additional week or two to get mine due to him getting sick.
But I'm pleased with the bullets I received.

 

[Patocazador]

It took an additional week or two to get mine due to him getting sick.
But I'm pleased with the bullets I received.

He must get sick quite often then. I won't deal with him any more if I get my money back.

 

[rodwha]

If that's the case I ought to look into casting as there just isn't much available with a flat meplat for hunting.
There's a guy on Cast Boolits that makes a resized 210 grn 45-70 bullet. His prices are very good too.

 

[rodwha]

From a PM from Masscaster on Cast Boolits:

"Do you have any plans on making conicals/bullets for use in the Old Army?
I make a 210gr. RNFP Double Grease Groove boolit.
This boolit is actually a custom mould made for the 45/70 as a gallery shooter.
This boolit is sized to .458 & Unlubed. You can purchase these as cast. Pure Lead dia. around .459+."

 

[Patocazador]

I bought a 2-cavity mold from Lee that seems to be a clone (or vice versa) of the 255 gr. bullet that Kaido says he sells. It is very satisfactory and I received it from Graf's in less than a week. I don't remember the number of the mold but it is flat on top with 3 grooves. It is very accurate in my Old Army.

 

[rodwha]

He told me that Lee worked with their 255 grain mold to produce his. They increased the diameter to .456" on the 240 grn version and .460" on his 255 grn version, plus added the stepped base. It seems that without a stepped base (standard Colt bullet) it could prove very difficult to seat them straight.

But I've read of people resizing the bases of 45 Colt bullets so it makes a smaller base. I would figure the bullet could easily get stuck as it isn't meant to size only half of the bullet.

Do you do anything special to the Colt bullets to seat them straight? Isn't the .452" bullet just a touch too small for the chamber? Do they not easily slide under recoil?

 

[Patocazador]

When you use soft lead, the ramming rod in the Old Army compresses the bullet to make it conform to the cylinder chamber.
I have never experienced bullets moving due to recoil even when loading harder SWCs used for Colt cartridges that measured .454. I have used as much as 40 gr. of FFFG and FFFFG without any bullets backing out and causing the cylinder to bind. Accuracy is better with the soft lead Lee-cast bullets than the linotype-lead SWCs.