Help with ROA, please.

[bigbore442001]

I wanted to do some shooting with my ROA at the range. I really like the firearm but so far I have had some poor luck with it. I put on a higher front sight since I was shooting conical bullets ahead of a large charge of H777.

To make a long story short I was getting a lot of misfires. It seemed that the percussion cap needed two hits, and a couple needed three. Well, I shot off all of the charges I had made and ran out of some bullets. So I called it a day. It was very frustrating to say the least.

I drove to Bullseye Shooting Sports in Woonsocket RI to get some more supplies. They did not have any conicals but I bought a box of Hornady .457 diameter round balls and lubed wads. I spoke with the owner about my problem and the first thing he asked was," Are you using CCI magnum percussion caps? " I said yes. He told me that the metal was thicker and harder to ingnite. He said that I should try some standard percussion caps and see what happens.If you still have that problem, I'd box it up and send it to Ruger.

Anyways. I'd like some thoughts and opinions on this matter.

I plan to try it out tommorrow and see if the standard caps work better.

 

[JohnSmallTX]

I've got a ROA and it is particular about the size of the caps. I suspect your caps are to small for the nipple and aren't fully seating. That results in having to hit them multiple times. Try some other caps that are a little larger on the inside. I don't think magnum v.s. standard is the problem - just the size. If you can't find any larger caps I suspect you can turn down the outside of the nipple a little, but that would be only as a last resort. I'm not sure what brand/size I'm using, but they work great. I'll go dig around the shooting bag and see what I'm shooting and report back.

 

[R.M.]

I've replaced the nipples on both of mine with Tesro Ampco bronze nipples, which takes Remington #11's, and it fires every time. I find the Remington caps to have a softer material, which forms to the nipple easier than CCI. I don't know about the "Magnum" material part, but could be.
I've also found that mine shoot the .457" balls much better than the conicals.

 

[JohnSmallTX]

I'm using regular CCI # 11 caps. Absolutely no problem with them always going off on the first whack.

 

[bigbore442001]

Thank you for the replies. I have the standard factory hex head nipples on. The CCI Magnums are 11's.

I'll have to see what happens at noon tommorrow when I will fire the first volley.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

you might try useing a wood dowel to push the caps on nipples snugly. point pistol in safe direction of course. CCI's are no problem on my ROA w/factory nipples.

 

[mykeal]

Another cap/nipple interface problem.

The caps you have tried so far don't fit. Unfortunately there is a significant amount of variance in cap sizes, both between brands and even between batches within a given brand and size - you don't get precision for 4 cents apiece. Some people have good luck with CCI's, others with Remingtons; some can use No. 10's, others need No. 11's - that means what works for me may or may not work for you.

Like RM, my best are Remington No. 11's, although RSW 1075's work good also. But Blizzard of 93 and JohnSmallTX find CCI's are the answer.

You just try different combinations of nipples and caps until you find one that works, And rest assured you'll find that combination doesn't work someday in the future.

 

[FishDFly]

Mine became cranky about firing, mulitple hits on the cap to go off.

I called Ruger and ordered, two (2) sets of nipples. It goes off each time now.

My thinking is that the old nipples were flared just a bit from use and the caps were not fully seated on them.

RDE

 

[Blizzard of '93]

that's common to pistols that have been dry-fired much or fired a lot. easily corrected with a little time but most just install new nipples.

 

[bigbore442001]

I had taken the ROA to the range today with the standard caps. The revolver fired without a problem for the first three cylinders loaded up.

Then on the fourth cylinder loading I had two failures to ignite. A fellow club member who is SASS/Blackpowder shooter was there and he gave me some pointers. He owns two ROA's and has extensive experience with the gun.

He told me that the fouling on the nipples was now preventing the caps from fully seating. He also commented that he had better luck with Remington caps since the factory nipples tend to be a tad oversized.

I cleaned it up with some window cleaner and then had four misfires. It appears the window cleaner got into the nipples. Second round of caps fired without a problem.

I have concluded that I can shoot the gun without a problem for three loadings. Then I will have to brush the nipples clean to ensure a proper cap fit.

I really want to learn how to shoot this thing well. I did discover that it shoots very well. I had a nice 2" group at 25 yards.My load is 30 grains of H777 with a Hornady roundball and a lubed wad between the two.

Anyways. I really appreciate all of the help that you have offered.