Ruger old army

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35 gr by volume of fffg real black or Pyrodex P, a lubed felt wad (optional) and a .457 round ball, and optionally grease over the chamber mouth ir you wish. Remington No. 10 or No. 11 caps.

35 gr is a starter load; adjust up or down a few grains depending on how your gun groups it's rounds.
 
In your opinion,do you prefer the black powder or the pyrodex ? What type of grease over the chamber? Thanks,Willie.Any good mail order houses to buy from?
 
I've put about 500 rounds through the ROA. Got best accuracy with 30 grains of fffg black powder or Pyrodex P loose powder, .457 ball, a homemade lubed felt wad and size 11 caps. I never use grease over the chamber mouth but that's an individual choice. The 30 gr. load works in this particular gun, yours might be different. I tried the 30 gr. Pyrodex P pellets but they weren't as accurate for me. I can't see an accuracy difference between BP and Pyrodex P powder.
The Old Army is a pleasure to shoot. Mine is a stainless steel version, 7.5" barrel, adjustable sights from the mid-70s. With consistent loading it is as accurate as most modern handguns.
The ROA was discontinued by Ruger a year or 2 ago. I don't know if any new ones are still available but used ones can be found. If you get one, I would get a couple of spare sets of nipples from Ruger while they have them. The stainless nipples Ruger offers are excellent and last a long time.

Jeff
 
It's really difficult to recommend one stop online shopping because similar items can be priced all over the map. What one outfit has at a lower price another has it priced higher, and then for other products it could be vice versa.
There's often differences in shipping charges too that make it harder to comparison shop.
Anyway, here's a few choice outfitters:

Midsouth Shooter's Supply usually offers some fair prices and shipping if they have what you need. Many common items are listed under either muzzle loading accessories or ML components:

http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/deptsearch1x.asp?dept=Muzzleloading

Track of the Wolf is probably the largest outfit. Don't get too frustrated with their website because they do offer most everything:

http://trackofthewolf.com/(S(elry0e55r0ck5vefv355i3m2))/Index.aspx

Dixie Gun Works is one of the oldest outfitters in the country:

www.dixiegun.com

Cain's Outdoors always suprises me with how many great items they offer at fair prices, and they have a really nice website to boot. They've also been in business for a very long time.

http://www.cainsoutdoor.com/

And there's always Cabela's:

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...2&navAction=jump&cm_re=LeftNav*Hunting*032309
 
WRT grease for the chamber mouth: I don't use grease so I can't really recommend any specific kind. Crisco seems the most popular.
 
dont forget it takes a .457 ball. if you do not have a measurement tool for your powder just fill it to the rim with loose bp and put the ball on and then run it home. blow off all loose powder and remove lead shavin from ball insertion. procede to next chamber and repeat. if you don't get lead slivers when you load, double check your ball size and put some sort of flash retardent over the ball. ( bore butter, crico, and so on)
 
if you get that lead sliver when seating the ball you have created a seal. not using the patch give a little more powder room.
 
Patches are not used with revolvers, with exceptions. A lubed wad or grease cookie between the powder and ball acts to seal the powder from the hot gases, and a lube. When seating the ball you shave a ring of lead when you use to proper size ball, that seals the powder from hot gases. Lube over the ball seals the powder and acts as a lube. The main purpose of the lube is to keep the fouling soft.

There are several methods of loading the C&B revolver, the important part is sealing the powder charges in the adjacent chambers. You want tight fitting caps and balls that shave a complete ring of lead. Lube behind or in front of the ball is personal preference.
 
madcratebuilder has it right. The best protection against a chain fire is a proper fitting ball and a proper fitting cap. The various lubes, greases and wads are more for keeping the fouling soft, with the added benefit of some additional insurance against chain fires.
 
:banghead:my bad. I was thinking wad and my fingers typed patch.
 
I get my best accuracy from 25 grains of FFFG with just enough cornmeal over the powder to permit a home cast .457 ball to be seated 1/8 inch below the chamber mouth. (trial and error, corn meal measure made from cut down .38 case).
For grease over the chamber, I use a substance we used in the toolroom called "Old Bull".
Ditto on the Ruger nipples as they are Stainless with a hex shape and can be easily removed/installed with a 3/16" nut driver.
My Old Army is the most accurate handgun in my arsenal and I can routinely take Squirrels out to 20 yards with it.
 
HI!
You are going to REALLY Enjoy your Ruger!
I have shot many different type of Blackpowder handguns and the Old Army is hands down the most reliable of the Cap n Ball Revolvers....
I DO enjoy shooting the other flavors as well (1860 Colt clone, 1858 Remington clone, 1873 Percussion Clone), but the Ruger is the least frustrating to shoot in many ways!
The Old Army is not usually plagued with cylinder binding from either a cap fragment or residue build-up etc.
I generally shoot a "Replica" Blackpowder such as American Pioneer Powder, and I want to try the replica powder from Hodgdon called 777. Goex, well known for their Real Blackpowder, also makes a Replica powder
Many people prefer the Real Blackpowder and that is fine as well... just more time spent cleaning up, and the process is much more odoriferous than when one cleans up after using one of the "Replica" powders.
I personally do not mind the smell of real Blackpowder, either shooting it or cleaning up after shooting, but my Wife sure appreciates the lack of smell when I use the replica powders.

I have not tried the "conversion" cylinders as of yet, but they DO look interesting.

All in All, Congrats on owning a Ruger Old Army!!

Ed
 
Thumbs-up for Zeke/Pa's post. Back in the day when I shot black powder competitively I used that load and it came from the Ruger instruction manual. Won lots of loot.

If your a little lazy and don't want to mess with the cornmeal 28 grains under a Wonder Wad and a .457 ball works well also.

Ruger used to have a downloadable pdf of their manual on their web page, don't know if it's still there.
 
I just got the new "Midway" shooters supply flyer,and they have on sale,new cylinder conversions for cheap! I bought the R&D for my Ruger SS 259.00 on sale.
 
Knarled pin

Did some one post on the site about the release pin being knarled,so you wouldn't need screw driver to remove the press?Thanks, Willie
 
Pwillie...on both a mine I use my thumb on the right or sloted side index finger on the left side squeeze and turn about 3 times and the slot is horizontal...
I jus' use the standard cyl. pin removed from the rammer and loadin' lever with a Conversion cyl. in .45 Colt...works good for me. The Knurled cyl. pins can be bought but I say why?


"Sometimes you're the windshield sometimes the bug"
a quote from my youngest Brother Young Gun....
 
I use my ROA conversion cylinder same as Smokingun ...except I use a dime to turn the pin screw a half turn to lock the pin in ....no screw driver needed . I did have a pin get loose from me not turning the screw.
 
100% on what Mykeal said for loading .......I`ve only used a little crisco over the first chamber up just to soften the fouling in the bore ....for many years ...but I will cast perfect balls and go out of my way to always buy tight fitting caps ....I don`t pinch caps eaither ...I buy caps that fit .
I have tried to cause a chain fire with my loading and couldn`t do it ...even leaveing loose powder on top of the balls ........after my pistol is loaded I figure I can drop it in a bucket of water and bring it up fireing ........and I will take the grips off and test this sometime .
 
I went to my local gun-pawn shop today,and this guy was busy,man was he selling guns and ammo.Several Glocks and all kinds of ammo was going out the door. I got a box of 50 Magtechs 45s for 35.00.I will be testing my new found hobby soon
 
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