Thinking of getting a Ruger Old Army from the Seventies

[Duncaninfrance]

OK MC I will let you off with a caution
I used to have a .357 Magnum S/A Blackhawk when I shot pistol in the UK. It was a very comfortable piece to shoot. It also had a holster, unlike my current Remington but I might make one for that sometime.
I also had a 1941 Lahti 9mm Parabelum made by Huskvana in Sweden and a Russian Vostok .22 target pistol with ALL the bits but the Blackhawk was my favourite.
Duncan

 

[MCgunner]

Hmm, .357 blackhawk, something like this? Okay, whadda ya think about THEM grips. Not exactly traditional, but they sure are comfy. I don't shoot CAS so traditional don't matter. I've shot a deer with this one.

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=36061&d=1140748446

 

[Duncaninfrance]

Look comfortable MC. I must say I have a liking for oiled, dark wood on guns not fancy colours or carvings but each to their own!
Duncan

 

[MCgunner]

ROFL, I figured you'd "appreciate" 'em.

 

[The Sicilian]

Man! That's a beauty! Where'd you pick that up at? In other words, did the engraving come special or did you have to get it done yourself?

-mario.

 

[MCgunner]

The old man that did the engraving was well known around here, Mr. Logan. Can't remember the first name, but he worked for Colt's factory as a custom engraver back in the day. He had a really interesting life, passed on now. He ran a radio show in Shreveport, Louisiana called the "Louisiana Hay Ride" back in the 50s and helped along many burgeoning young artists such as a kid named Elvis Presley.

He was 91 years old when he did this work. I sorta wish I'd paid the extra to do the barrel, but I was figurin' that warning label might mess it all up anyway. Was $250 for what I had done and adding barrel and ejector housing would have run it up to $400. He did a lot of firearms for Ducks Unlimited here in the Victoria, Texas area every year. At 91, he'd get up every morning before sunrise and wade fish near his home in Seadrift until mid morning before going to work. I'm proud to have met the man and proud of the work he did for me. I had him put my initials on the bottom of the grip, too, so needless to say this gun is not for trade or sale.

I had been wanting a stainless 4 5/8" .45 colt Blackhawk for a while when I found this one. Its accuracy was far more than I'd expected. Its power is quite useful afield. I've yet to shoot anything with it, just carry it afield.

 

[The Sicilian]

Good story to go with a nice revolver. I'm wondering how the other Old Army owners revolvers shoot. i know the one you have right now shoots high, I'm just wondering if that's common for Old Armys? I'm sure that some must shoot nice right out of the box, don't you think? How was that stainless that you had before it got stolen? I want a revolver that will hit a quarter at 25 yards without a problem, is that too much to ask for?

-mario.

 

[robert garner]

Old Armies DO NOT SHOOT HIGH;
Y'all are jus' shootin too close!
robert

 

[The Sicilian]

25 yards is too close?

 

[robert garner]

25 yards is too close?

sure is!
Round ball will consistantly hit milk jugs at 100 yards.
I believe The Manns bullets will go higher will see when I get the chance.

 

[The Sicilian]

I'm not debating that an Old Army or any other replica can't hit at 100 yards, just that the Old Armies were set up to shoot good at 25 yards, not 100 yards. Is there any literature to show Ruger Old Armies are set for 100 yards? It just doesn't make any sense to create a revolver that hits at 100 yards out of the box! I could see it hitting at 25 or even 50 yards out of the box, but 100 yards? I know, I know, Old Armies aren't replicas.

Anyone else have anything to add to this little debate?

-mario.

 

[MCgunner]

I've had two and they both shot/shoot high. I think it's just an Old Army thing. I'm going to get a taller front sight on mine. I don't care about 100 yard shooting. I'm interested in 50 yards and in and it shoots way high at those hog defense ranges. Not a biggy as I'm going to get it fixed and the cylinders bored to hold more powder for a very reasonable price Jule quoted me. Gotta box that baby up and get it off soon. I wanna get that done.

The old army is plenty accurate enough to hit milk jugs at 100 yards, but it wouldn't possess enough energy in a hunting situation to make such shots and I'd want a pistol scope on it to attempt it anyway in the field. I know for hunting situations with a scope on my contender (in .30-30 winchester, doesn't lack power ) 100 yards using field positions is about my limit. I won't shoot at game past that unless I have a rock solid sand bag like rest. I can hit at 200 yards with it just fine, off sand bags and a bench. While I've done some IHMSA shooting, I'm not real confident in my aging eyes with iron sights at those ranges. Plinking milk jugs at extended range is fun, but I've got other uses for this little cannon.

You can adjust your sight picture to do some pretty accurate shooting with an out of the box Old Army, but I've finally decided that fixing it isn't that expensive a deal and I want the gun to be right, why I'm going to send it off.

 

[frosty]

Sight on Old Army

I replaced the factory sight with one made from a pc. of 1/8 c.r. steel. It much resembles a s.a.a. front sight, and I added around .090 to the original height, which gave me plenty to work with for bullets. I would like to bore my cylinder out to hold more powder, because its not doing bad, but to improve the penetration even more:banghead:

 

[The Sicilian]

Can you put a pistol scope on an Old Army?

 

[frosty]

Scope Mount

I beleive that B-Square Had a no gunsmithing mount for rugers

 

[MCgunner]

Yep, it can be done. The only two scoped handguns I have, though, are both contender barrels, one in .30-30 Winchester and one in .22 LR (squirrel killin' machine ).

 

[RON in PA]

I shot many a pound of lead through my OA back in the seventies when I lived in Maryland. My impression is that they are set-up for target shooting (especially with the Ruger recommended starting target load of 20 grains and corn meal fill) and that only two clicks or so from bottom are necessary for a six o'clock hold on a standard 25 yard target at 25 yards. For 50 feet I went down one click. So they do shoot high.

 

[The Sicilian]

Ron,

Excuse me for this amature question...Is a six o'clock hold when the black of the target is just above the front sight? Please answer in detail.

-mario.

 

[RON in PA]

Mario, you've got it right, six o'clock hold: properly align front and rear sights and then hold so that the bullseye is sitting on top of the front sight with just a very small amount of white between the front sight and the bull. This is a situation where a picture would be much better than words.

 

[The Sicilian]

True enough. A picture is worth a thousands words. Just to be clear about what you said: The bulls eye, not just the 4" of black...correct? I'd imagine the sight picture of the bullseye should only be around the size of a quarter, not the size of a drink coaster? Sorry, just want to understand exactly what you're saying.

-mario.

 

[RON in PA]

Mario: Now you're confusing me. I'm talking about the whole black circle, which if my memory is correct, is 5.5 inches for a 25 yard target.

 

[The Sicilian]

That's interesting...I was thinking of the extreme center of the bullseye, not the whole 5.5 inch circle. So...I shouldn't aim for the smaller bullseye within the black 5.5 inch circle? I aim at the quarter sized smaller circle in the center of the larger 5.5 black circle. Am I doing something wrong by aiming this way?

-mario.

P.S.,

No need to be confused, you understood perfectly.

 

[RON in PA]

You're shooting center hold which is what one does if shooting at critters, bad guys and soda cans. Nothing wrong with that technique, in fact, I understand that's current USMC teaching as oppossed to Army teaching (talking M-16s here). What I described was standard bullseye target shooting technique that I learned about 35 years ago when I started pistol shooting. Also you seem to be using targets where the X-ring is of different color than the rest of the target. Standard NRA targets are all black.

 

[The Sicilian]

Got you Ron...I understand.

My Ruger arrived this morning!!! Beautiful gun...everything was fine with it, though MC was right about some minor pitting on the loading lever. I took it to the range today and it was an awesome experience compared to shooting an 1858! The Old Army is just a superior weapon, hands down. My first or second shot was a perfect bullseye!

One problem with the gun though...for some reason or other...after shooting it for awhile...the hammer would not set off the caps on the first trigger pull, I had to start hitting them all a second time...a real bummer. I though maybe the BP was fouling the nipples so I did a quick cleaning, no go, it still wouldn't ignite the caps properly. Later on I cleaned the nipples again...near sunset...and the gun started to shoot properly...or hit the caps properly. I'm using number 11's - CCI.
Does anyone know what might be going on? Why would things be working fine one minute then go all wrong the next? Maybe I caught a bad batch of caps?

I'm going to the range tomorrow to see how she handles, I'll give you a second report when I return. By the way, this Old Army just wouldn't stop shooting, the fouling didn't affect the gun at all! I think I could shoot it over 100 times without even noticing any cylinder bind-up. Amazing!!!! I was using real black powder too! No synthetics at all. I was shooting at 25 yards also and it shot perfect...not high or low...perfect...I must have gotten really lucky. Only problem is the caps not going off properly and I don't have a nipple wrench for it yet. I've heard that the older models had weird sized nipples...maybe that's the problem. I'll have to order me some newer nipples and see what happens.

Any suggestions would be very helpful. Man am I glad I decided to get a Ruger! What an awesome piece of hardware!!!

By the way, my Ruger is from 1973...approximately. I'll need to call up Ruger to get an exact date. Oh yeah, I loaded a ball without putting any powder in the chamber! :banghead: Looks like I finally busted my cherry! I got it out with a very thin drill bit. I just oiled the chamber a little bit and hammered the drill bit into the ball...then I slowly worked it back and forth, until I could wiggle it out of the chamber mouth...I got lucky! Especially not having a nipple wrench!!!

Take it easy fellas,

-mario.

 

[robert garner]

YOU GOT LUCKY?
Nooooo You got a Ruger!
As for not setting off the primers first go, maybe a piece of cap got in the action, happens. or Caps real tight on nipples not seating fully, first blow sets the cap, i will bet the second blow ALWAYS set them off? if so and be carefull doing this place caps on nipples CAREFULLY let hammer down on cap
and using your thumb press hammer down on cap. Two things about this
Extreme care in handling and the tight caps will prevent rain or just humidity from causing "duds, hang and or misfires!"
I've been shoting ROA's since the early 70's both mine haveing the brass grips.
The older I get the more I like them. Soon with the chamber enlarging and musket nipples they will truly be my "do anything" pistols.