A gun that looks like that can only make you wonder what it's story is. 100 years from now if it doesn't get cut up for parts it will still provoke thought and interest. Not being nosey, what it set you back?
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A Very Unique Ruger Old Army
- Thread starter Rum River
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For a lot less money you could use triple 7 and kaido cast bullets out of a standard Ruger. I get it. I’ve looked longingly over the fence at the Clements modification but that’s a lot more than I’m willing to spend for the extra horsepower.
I haven't been active on here of late - thought I'd get caught up.
I know this pic from my phone is blurry - but you get the idea.
Top with a 7 1/2" barrel: 3 lbs. - 3 1/2 ozs.
Center is a 5 1/2" barrel: 2 lbs. - 15 1/2 ozs.
Bottom is a 6 1/2" barrel measured to the front of the cylinder: 2 lbs. - 8 1/2 ozs.
Not "light", but a very manageable weight. Have to dig around and see what holsters I have that will work best.
Rawhide 67's post made me curious what this new arrival actually weighs in comparison to other ROAs.
I know this pic from my phone is blurry - but you get the idea.
Top with a 7 1/2" barrel: 3 lbs. - 3 1/2 ozs.
Center is a 5 1/2" barrel: 2 lbs. - 15 1/2 ozs.
Bottom is a 6 1/2" barrel measured to the front of the cylinder: 2 lbs. - 8 1/2 ozs.
Not "light", but a very manageable weight. Have to dig around and see what holsters I have that will work best.
I would agree that as far as accuracy is concerned inert filler could get you to the same level. In my case I just get to skip the filler. You're also correct that the loading lever is too short. Whatever type of competition this revolver was used for (if any) I'm guessing reloading on the clock wasn't necessary. Either that or the RO replaced his stopwatch with a calendar.
Half the going rate of the ROA in the center of my blurry pic on post #63.
Bob McBride
54 Cal.
I love it. Nice catch. Id’ve bought it too.
zimmerstutzen
70 Cal.
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Saw photos of two other Ruger old armies altered for target work. On was altered to a 38 caliber. with a short cylinder and new barrel. The other I think was altered to 36. One of them, was in a collection down in Tennessee. I had also heard of lining the chambers to reduce the powder capacity for target shooting.
Chris Haygerman use to reline ROA cylinders to .36 Cal and re-barrel it with a 7" Shilen 9MM barrel. The front sight is an integral part of the barrel and he changed out the rear sight.
He removed the loading lever, you have to use a loading press.
If and when they come up for sale, they bring a fancy price.
He removed the loading lever, you have to use a loading press.
If and when they come up for sale, they bring a fancy price.
The NMLRA has some classes that are "muzzleloading" but allow a lot of innovation. A friend of mine had a single shot barrel that mounted on a 1911 frame. He only used it at Friendship. So this revolver, although it looks shocking, does not surprise me.
NMLRA has revolver class, at least the last regional match I participated in. Buck puts on that shoot, sound off with the correct info Buck. I need to get back up there and take home some more of your medals!
zimmerstutzen
70 Cal.
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A little muzzle loader club near Annapolis Maryland had numerous defense dept engineers and consultants as members. When they had a match, there was always a relay for "space guns" A well know cantankerous gent named Ron Griffie would show up with some of the most outlandish guns imaginable. One day he came with a thumb hole half stock, hook butt gun. Painted the ugliest loud yellowish green imaginable. Barrels were turned and tapered way down and then large again at the muzzle, just enough to mount a front sight. Never saw him with a pistol, but I know his buddy Hoppy would rework and rebarrel Remington style revolvers.
Yeah, I think even I would buy that one just because. And the setback on the barrel makes it a nice looking length. I expect some one did it just because they could. Looks like it would be fun to load and shoot. Truly unique, fun, well done. What else is there?
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You can find longer loading rams in the aftermarket... cowboy shooters use them to seat projectiles way deep since fine accuracy is not their game.
Been awhile since I said I'd get back to the range with 'Crossbreed'.
This test was with the Rush Creek .457" ball from Track of the Wolf I mentioned in an earlier post. I measured and weighed all 100+ and found diameters ranging from .454" to .462". Most common were .455" to .458" - so that's what I used this time around. Weighing those four diameters showed an extreme spread of barely 3 grains from the lightest .455" to the heaviest .458". With that in mind I discounted the weight as a parameter.
All shots were hand held from a well-bedded leather bag rest at 25 yards using 15 grains by volume of Goex FFFg and Remington #10 caps. At first I tried using a wonder wad over the powder, but with the reduced chamber capacity on this custom cylinder so much effort was required to seat the ball deep enough to clear the barrel I can't believe I wasn't distorting the ball. Instead I seated the ball directly on the powder. A healthy lead ring was evident every time and I had no chain fires at all.
The trigger has definitely received some attention - crisp and a very consistent 1 1/2 lbs. I learned early on to not prep the trigger. Cock the hammer with no finger near the trigger at all, do the final settling into the rest, and then insert finger into trigger guard. Barrel and chambers were cleaned after each five shot 'for record' string. Did not try and see which chamber was most accurate, but always loaded just those same five.
Tools and stuff everywhere.
View from opposite direction, proving I was not about to shoot my ATV.
All four diameters left lead rings such as these.
.455" and some vertical stringing.
.456" was all over the place. I don't feel like I flinched, but certainly can't rule that out.
.457" was less sucky, but nothing special.
This was the best I could manage, showing I have work to do. Note: The lower left holes are two shots, what looks like a third hole in the middle is just a tear in the target.
All I can say is that at least from this bag labeled as .457", segregating by size cut groups to less than half what they were before. Even sorted by size these are still cast from multiple molds. One other thing I notice was that even within the same diameter the amount of effort required to seat the ball varied quite a bit, maybe the alloys were different?
Anyway, the next attempt is to find some .457" swaged ball, confirm the specs and try that. Once I know what the Crossbreed is truly capable of I'll just take it out plinking and have some fun with it. But first I want to know how well it can do.
This test was with the Rush Creek .457" ball from Track of the Wolf I mentioned in an earlier post. I measured and weighed all 100+ and found diameters ranging from .454" to .462". Most common were .455" to .458" - so that's what I used this time around. Weighing those four diameters showed an extreme spread of barely 3 grains from the lightest .455" to the heaviest .458". With that in mind I discounted the weight as a parameter.
All shots were hand held from a well-bedded leather bag rest at 25 yards using 15 grains by volume of Goex FFFg and Remington #10 caps. At first I tried using a wonder wad over the powder, but with the reduced chamber capacity on this custom cylinder so much effort was required to seat the ball deep enough to clear the barrel I can't believe I wasn't distorting the ball. Instead I seated the ball directly on the powder. A healthy lead ring was evident every time and I had no chain fires at all.
The trigger has definitely received some attention - crisp and a very consistent 1 1/2 lbs. I learned early on to not prep the trigger. Cock the hammer with no finger near the trigger at all, do the final settling into the rest, and then insert finger into trigger guard. Barrel and chambers were cleaned after each five shot 'for record' string. Did not try and see which chamber was most accurate, but always loaded just those same five.
Tools and stuff everywhere.
View from opposite direction, proving I was not about to shoot my ATV.
All four diameters left lead rings such as these.
.455" and some vertical stringing.
.456" was all over the place. I don't feel like I flinched, but certainly can't rule that out.
.457" was less sucky, but nothing special.
This was the best I could manage, showing I have work to do. Note: The lower left holes are two shots, what looks like a third hole in the middle is just a tear in the target.
All I can say is that at least from this bag labeled as .457", segregating by size cut groups to less than half what they were before. Even sorted by size these are still cast from multiple molds. One other thing I notice was that even within the same diameter the amount of effort required to seat the ball varied quite a bit, maybe the alloys were different?
Anyway, the next attempt is to find some .457" swaged ball, confirm the specs and try that. Once I know what the Crossbreed is truly capable of I'll just take it out plinking and have some fun with it. But first I want to know how well it can do.
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My ROA blue steel Centenial has adjustable sights which I think makes it the standard model , No?
If it has the 7 1/2" barrel, I believe that does make it the standard model.
