Ruger Old Army

[Windy Hill Mules]

Just thinking on getting a black powder revoler and was wondering about the Ruger Old Army ,, what can a guy expect to pay for one and any good bad or ugly stories about them?
I have owned alot of rifles and shot alot of deer with muzzel loaders and just been getting the itch for a pistol.

Thanks

Windy Hill Mules

 

[Shawnee]

Hi W.H.M....

I bought a Great-condition, 200th Anniversary .44 caliber Stainless Steel ROA last year for $400. Would definitely recommend stainless steel. Take the grips off, put it in the dishwasher and you're good-to-go. Good idea to remove the cylindar and put it in the silverware basket. Great gun !!!!

 

[mykeal]

The Ruger Old Army is without a doubt the consensus best black powder percussion revolver ever made by anyone at any price. Hands down. It is a superb handgun. Just my humble opinion.

$400 for a stainless steel version is an excellent price.

 

[pohill]

I recently bought an old (blued) Ruger for under $300, holster included. They are so well made, even the older ones are great. I used it today in cold weather - high 20s. They are good to use in the cold - the balls and cylinders are bigger and the nipple recess area is bigger, making them easy to cap.

 

[BullRunBear]

The Ruger Old Army is an excellent revolver and gets you into cap and ball shooting at the top. Mine is a pristine, stainless, 7 1/2 incher, adjustable sights from the mid-70's and got it from an estate sale for $325. with the original Bianchi holster. I got really lucky and haven't seen one at that price since. It is accurate and comfortable to shoot even with the heaviest loads. I find it easier to load the longer barrel length because the extra inches give the rammer more leverage. There is something about the configuration that keeps the spent caps from falling into the innards, at least it hasn't happened to me after several hundred rounds. The stainless version also cleans up easily. Highly recommended.

Regards, Jeff

PS: All of the above doesn't keep me from enjoying my new Uberti 1860 Army. Don't be surprised if you end up with more than one C&B pistol.

 

[stalkingbear]

The ruger old army is the best cap n ball revolver in existence! With a special short conical bullet and 40 gr of jim shockey select FFF it has power approching the .44 mag.

 

[Timthinker]

I discussed this topic during the summer with some of our members. Basically, the ROA is the finest mass produced caplock revolver on the market. Are more accurate "smokers" made? Yes, but they are customized pieces that will cost twice the price of the Ruger. So, if we confine ourselves to affordable percussion cap revolvers, then the ROA is the one to beat. I once owned a blued Old Army years ago and found it quite accurate. Believe me when I say it is a very wise choice. In fact, the ROA is the only caplock revolver I really want. I hope this helps.


Timthinker

 

[revolverman357]

I have to agree with all, the Old Army is the way to go.
I have an early 7 1/2" adjustable sight model (1973), it shoots
great and I love it.

 

[Norton]

I got one used that looked like it was NIB.....$200

I love it.....

 

[KevininPa]

Good deal on mine too

Got mine off Gunbroker for $300 + $25 for shipping. Excellent condition. One of these days I want to e-mail Ruger with the serial # and find out date of manufacture because I don't see too many like it. It's a 7 1/2 inch, high gloss polished stainless version with a red ramp, adjustable sites. I know it's not too old because it has the ugly warning on the barrel . It would be gorgeous without that. I got the ROA because I'm pretty much a noob so I wanted something as forgiving as possible to make up for my lack of expertise.

 

[BigBlock]

Old Army's are beautiful guns, but you might want to think about a Blackhawk in .45 Colt instead. It's the same gun, basically, for cartridges. You can still buy and/or reload black powder cartridges for it, plus, you can shoot high power modern loads as well if you feel like it. If you want it for the old timey feel, .45 colts have been around since the 1870s. You can even get it with the unfluted cylinder like the old army.

A lot of people buy ROAs and then a conversion cylinder - I don't quite understand that when you can just buy a blackhawk for a lot less.

 

[mykeal]

One of these days I want to e-mail Ruger with the serial # and find out date of manufacture because I don't see too many like it. It's a 7 1/2 inch, high gloss polished stainless version with a red ramp, adjustable sites. I know it's not too old because it has the ugly warning on the barrel .

KevininPA - go to www.ruger.com. Put the cursor on Product Service and scroll down to Serial Number History. Click on that option. In the next window click on Revolver (ignore the message about downloading a manual). Next, scroll down to Old Army Cap & Ball - Stainless and click on that. A window will open and tell you what serial number range was produced in each year of production. Alternatively, you can call Ruger Product Services at 1-603-865-2442 Mon-Fri 8-5 EST, ask for the Records Department and they will send you a letter telling you what the original configuration of your gun was and when it shipped from the factory.

 

[MCgunner]

I found one for $97.50 at a friggin' gun shop, about passed out! I'd gotten my stainless one ripped off and was looking around at pawn shops in the off chance I might run across it. The guy said he was getting out of black powder and just wanted to get rid of it. I couldn't get my wallet out fast enough.

This one's blued, my old one was stainless and had a Pachmayr Signature grip on it so I didn't even have to take the grips off, just pull the cylinder and stick it in the dish washer. The blued one shoots just as well, though (called very accurate) and I cast 220 grain conicals for it from Lee molds, one's a hollow point mold, but it ain't much of a hollow point. It's accurate and powerful enough to hunt with and can be made more powerful by boring the cylinders a tad larger, something I never got around to.

My one gripe is both my guns shoot high and I have to take a weird sight picture to shoot 'em. I've got the sights all the way down low as it'll go. I need a taller front sight.

 

[KevininPa]

Thanks mykeal! I appreciate that info.

 

[zxcvbob]

Do the new ones not have adjustable sights?

(I paid $245 for my stainless ROA about 22 years ago)

 

[Shawnee]

Anyone know when they changed the ROA from .44 caliber to .45 caliber ???

 

[Zeke/PA]

I have posted several times extoling the virtues of the Old Army.
I have owned mine for over 20 years.
I have 11 other modern handguns in my arsenal and the ROA is by far the most accurateof all.
I often use it for squirrel hunting and I once used it to harvest a large whitetail doe.
You can't go wrong with an Old Army.
Zeke

 

[mike101]

"Do the new ones not have adjustable sights?"

The 71/2" comes with or without, the 51/2" without sights.

 

[robert garner]

StalkingBear

The ruger old army is the best cap n ball revolver in existence! With a special short conical bullet and 40 gr of jim shockey select FFF it has power approching the .44 mag.
Please elucidate? thanks
robert

 

[dwave]

he ruger old army is the best cap n ball revolver in existence! With a special short conical bullet and 40 gr of jim shockey select FFF it has power approching the .44 mag.

Do you have data for that statement? That cannot be true because a Colt Walker holds 60 grs. and according to the experts. it equals a .357 mag, not a .44 mag. So 40 grs. cannot be greater than 60.

 

[mykeal]

Key words: "special conical bullet" and "approaching". Also unspecified: what bullet the .44 mag used and what gun it was shot from.

I could claim the following statement is true: "With special tires a Volkswagen Beetle can reach speeds approaching a NASCAR team car." In fact, it is true. And I'm sure you can see why.

 

[MCgunner]

The first ROAs had adjustable sights and ALL ROAs until recently had adjustable sights. The fixed sight guns are a result of CAS and demand for them. I don't play games, like adjustables. I have Blackhawks and no Vaqueros for the same reason.

The ROA, from day one, had a .457" bore, yet most called it the "ROA .44" for some reason. To me, it's a .45, but whatever.

 

[.44walkersabot]

Well, I can't let this pass and realizing while I type this that I really know nothing compared to ya'll and I mean that..However, I DO know a little bit about some things and there is simply no way this side of hell anyone is going to make me believe that 40 grains of powder out of a Ruger Old Army is anywhere in the same neighborhood as a .44 Magnum. I'm sorry, I'm just not going for it. I don't give a damn if the powder was soaked with pure 100% undiluted nitroglycerin. I ain't going for it, probably not tomorrow and certainly not today. I have owned and carried a .44 Walker for years, and I (now and then, not much anymore) sometimes knock down a nice deer or hog with it. When I'm using it for that I load it with 48 grains of Triple Seven fffg behind a .457 soft lead ball. (swaged round lead ball, .457 diameter) When that Walker is loaded with 48 grains it will shoot circles around the Ruger Old Army every day and twice on Sunday. It may not be as pretty (actually it's as ugly as a pig) and it may not have good sights 'til you get used to them, and it may not have coiled steel springs made out of piano wire, but by God it's a good one if it's made by Uberti. Even so,
you could cram it full of powder and you STILL would NOT have a .44 Magnum, although I PERSONALLY believe that you would have more KNOCK DOWN power than you would with that damn .38 Magnum. (.357)..Anyway, I can certainly understand someone being very exhuberant and overjoyed about something they like a lot, and I can certainly understand the word loyalty (just ask me about me and my Walker) but damn! Let's keep this s*** on the rails. Well, anyway...Okay...

 

[KevininPa]

Darn

And here I thought I could pierce tank armor with my ROA.

 

[pohill]

I have shot my Walker and my Ruger in the past few weeks. Either gun is as accurate as the shooter (me) is and no more. If the Walker shoots to the left, I aim to the right. If the Ruger shoots to the left, I adjust the sights.
The Ruger is trouble free, the Walker is Da Balls.
One interesting thing I noticed is that the Ruger actually handles 45 grs of BP better than the Walker; the Walker is louder and gives more of a kick. I wonder if the bigger ball and chamber size in the Ruger is the reason.
Any ideas?
Today my favorite gun is the 1860 .44 Army because that is what I shot today (I wonder if this is how the Mormon with 12 wives feels on any given day...)