Post-flint cap n ball...Ruger Old Army

[Bad Karma]

Apologies for raining on your parade, Sir, but the whole point of many posts on this forum over the years is the night-on TOTAL LACK of spares for the ROA. Back in 2010 I called up the spares department from here in UK to get some rear frames screws and was offered the last four there were. I also asked about a replacement cylinder pin - it has a half-moon cut-out where the locking screw locates and is a weak spot where the pin can bend if somebody forgets to turn the screw and then tries to load up. The answer was that there are none. And this is from a very nice lady at Ruger themselves. You'll note that my phone-call was just two years after production ceased in 2008 - so much for Ruger's promise to support OOP firearms for a full ten years.

There ARE after-market cylinder axis pins of the short quick-release kind - for those people who reload off the frame. I don't, and over here, where the ROA is hugely popular and much-sought-after, I don't know anybody who does, bearing in mind that here in UK a spare cylinder counts as another firearm.

BTW, a pal is coming over to collect me and his new to him ROA from our LGS tomorrow. It is the high-shine version, and is MIB - for just over $1150. A plain stainless steel/target sights version, used but very fine, is going for around $850.

I have no parade... but if you follow me to this site, https://jack-first-gun-parts.myshopify.com/collections/ruger-old-army you’ll find some help, triggers, hand, and those rear frame screws are common to ruger old model Blackhawk. As are XRed grip frames, cylinders are available aftermarket, classicballistx.com and any competent smith could build a hammer from an old model Blackhawk or super Blackhawk.
I’m in the middle of fitting a Super Blackhawk grip frame to a fixed sighted stainless old army, it bolts right up and all I need to finish is filing it to the OA frame dimensions. Trigger, hammer and screws all fit.

 

[TFoley]

I have no parade... but if you follow me to this site, https://jack-first-gun-parts.myshopify.com/collections/ruger-old-army you’ll find some help, triggers, hand, and those rear frame screws are common to ruger old model Blackhawk. As are XRed grip frames, cylinders are available aftermarket, classicballistx.com and any competent smith could build a hammer from an old model Blackhawk or super Blackhawk.
I’m in the middle of fitting a Super Blackhawk grip frame to a fixed sighted stainless old army, it bolts right up and all I need to finish is filing it to the OA frame dimensions. Trigger, hammer and screws all fit.

Thank you for the correction, but of course, this being the UK and NOT the USA, the vendor might not not send most of these components to an address outside the USA. I've found that this is the case in around 95% of your CONUS businesses.

I note that both s/s and blue cylinder base pins are available at a mere $75. this compares VERY favourably with the £100 EACH that I was quoted at a local CAD machine shop using mine as a pattern - so long as I bought fifty of them.

Without doubt, after the 1997 handgun ban affected 3/4 of the UK, the ROA almost instantly became THE #1 best seller in the C&B arena, and has remained so ever since. We are, however, bound by night-on incomprehensible laws when it comes importing parts, no matter how easy they might be to obtain stateside. I was aware of the commonality of certain parts like screws et al, but the young lady to whom I spoke back in 2010 was quite clear - she told me that there were no more stainless screws to be had. Perhaps she was just looking in the ROA bin - I will never know. The general consensus is that there are none of the parts that are unique to the ROA - I would not care to try and acquire another cylinder, given that it counts as a full firearm here.

 

[Bad Karma]

Thank you for the correction, but of course, this being the UK and NOT the USA, the vendor might not not send most of these components to an address outside the USA. I've found that this is the case in around 95% of your CONUS businesses.

I note that both s/s and blue cylinder base pins are available at a mere $75. this compares VERY favourably with the £100 EACH that I was quoted at a local CAD machine shop using mine as a pattern - so long as I bought fifty of them.

Without doubt, after the 1997 handgun ban affected 3/4 of the UK, the ROA almost instantly became THE #1 best seller in the C&B arena, and has remained so ever since. We are, however, bound by night-on incomprehensible laws when it comes importing parts, no matter how easy they might be to obtain stateside. I was aware of the commonality of certain parts like screws et al, but the young lady to whom I spoke back in 2010 was quite clear - she told me that there were no more stainless screws to be had. Perhaps she was just looking in the ROA bin - I will never know. The general consensus is that there are none of the parts that are unique to the ROA - I would not care to try and acquire another cylinder, given that it counts as a full firearm here.

I am sorry to hear all of that. As an American living in a moderately gun friendly state it’s difficult to understand. As you say, even for a law abiding citizen such as yourself “incomprehensible.” I nearly said we take for granted the freedom to own things that much of the world has reserved only to their governments. I hope I never take this freedom for granted and if there was any way I could help a fellow shooter across the pond I’d be first in line.

 

[TFoley]

WUXTREE!!!!!!!

Update, folks. I've found a supplier here in UK for cylinder base pins of the original format - NOT the quick-release versions. Here is the UK E**y reference for anybody interested - 303116549616

Mine will be here at the end of the week - I'll let you know what it's like when it gets here.

 

[TFoley]

Well, it arrove yesterday morning just 24 hours after ordering it, and it is beautifully made in every respect. In fact, it has a very high polish, presumably to match the similar-finish ROA that one sees from time to time. Another buyer I spoke to this morning on another forum got one in blued finish, and that was all he had hoped for, too. When I opened up the package, the first thing I did was to measure it, and by golly it was spot-on in every dimension - a tribute to CAD, methinks.

I've just gotten home from shooting it and TBH I'd fogotten it was there - of course, that's as it should be. Dismantling it and wiping the necessary grease off revealed absolutely no indication that it had ever been used.

IF you live in the UK or the rest of Europe then I 100% recommend this vendor.

 

[TFoley]

Just been giving my ROA its six-monthly deep clean - a complete break-down apart from the rear sight, that is - and I found a small beetle inside the grip. They are Pachmayr's and fit very closely, so I'm at a loss to figure out how it got in. And BTW, for those interested in such things, it was definitely dead.

 

[springfield art]

I am sorry to hear all of that. As an American living in a moderately gun friendly state it’s difficult to understand. As you say, even for a law abiding citizen such as yourself “incomprehensible.” I nearly said we take for granted the freedom to own things that much of the world has reserved only to their governments. I hope I never take this freedom for granted and if there was any way I could help a fellow shooter across the pond I’d be first in line.

Like the tale of the Frog in heating water, the "antis" are nipping slowly at our heels, and more and more states will trend gun un-friendly over time as new populations come up to replace us old-timers. Yes, take nothing for granted.

 

[user 34300]

Perhaps a state side vendor could place the Blackhawk parts in an envelope marked ROA?

Those kind of laws are insanity. I would come to the USA if I was a Brit and serious about a firearms hobby.

 

[Bad Karma]

I’ve met quite a few Brits over the years. They love their country as much as we do ours, they may hate some of the laws enacted by their governments but so do,we. Eternal vigilance my friends. Semper Fidelis.

 

[springfield art]

Perhaps a state side vendor could place the Blackhawk parts in an envelope marked ROA?

Those kind of laws are insanity. I would come to the USA if I was a Brit and serious about a firearms hobby.

Yes, but you'd have to choose which State very carefully!