Ruger Old Army chronograph data

[TexasAndy]

Good afternoon everyone.

I spent the early morning hours at my shooting club chronographing loads out of my "new" Ruger Old Army revolver. I thought I would share the information below. Please note these were 10 shot strings and I will be listing the string average. I was using Goex 3F powder that is at least 20 years old. Projectile was a Speer .457 roundball.


Please let me know if you have any questions.

25 gr. charge = 645 fps
30 gr. charge = 810 fps
35 gr. charge = 874 fps
40 gr. charge = 944 fps

I was also curious to test my favorite target load which consists of a 25 gr. charge with an Oxyoke wad over the top with the same roundball. This load chronographed at an average of 761 fps which is considerably faster than the same charge without the wad. I am intrigued to learn why this was the case.

Surpringsly this tank of a revolver shoots all of these loads very well averaging 2.5" or less with all groups. My target load still proved to be the best and will post a photo below of those groups. The distance was 50 ft and from an MTM pistol shooting rest.

The 40 grain charge was borderline unpleasant. Very much like a full house 158gr .357 Magnun load in terms of recoil and muzzle flip and significantly more recoil. If I was going to carry this thing I would probably choose the 35 grain load it was accurate and easier to shoot.

I brought a can of Pyrodex and intended to test it as well but there was something wrong with it. 20gr initial charges were failing to ignite and this was with RWS 1075 Plus caps. Therefore I ceased it's use after the first cylinder. What's odd is I bought this can back in the winter and it's now bad? It has been sitting in my hot garage since May but an older can 15 plus years shot up fine months ago.

Anyways I hope someone will find this information interesting or useful.

Take care everyone.

 

[sheriff john]

I. for one, find this information very useful. Thank you.

 

[DJH]

I too found this information interesting. I have an 1860 army clone that I used to carry in the woods loaded with a 35 grain 3F powder charge. Just goes to show that these old weapons are no slouch. A .44 cal ball moving at over 850 fps will get a lot of things done.

 

[TexasAndy]

Thanks guys. I wonder how my 20 year old Goex compares to my newer powder. I'm also still curious as to why my target load with a wad over the top chronographed an average of 26 fps faster than without.

 

[DJH]

My thoughts from what I have read over the years is that black powder does not deteriorate or lose it's power as long as it's stored properly. In regard to the higher velocities, perhaps the wad over the top is creating a stronger seal leading to slightly increased pressures and higher velocities.

 

[TexasAndy]

My thoughts from what I have read over the years is that black powder does not deteriorate or lose it's power as long as it's stored properly. In regard to the higher velocities, perhaps the wad over the top is creating a stronger seal leading to slightly increased pressures and higher velocities.

That is a possibility I had not considered.

 

[rodwha]

That is a possibility I had not considered.

Maybe there’s additional compression of your charge.

 

[Critter Getter]

Curious to know how the velocities would differ with 777 powder. Been thinking about carrying a ROA this year deer hunting for a close treestand type shot and heard 777 is a little faster. I have no experience with 777 at all at this point. Thanks for posting your results. Greg

 

[Treestalker]

I too found this information interesting. I have an 1860 army clone that I used to carry in the woods loaded with a 35 grain 3F powder charge. Just goes to show that these old weapons are no slouch. A .44 cal ball moving at over 850 fps will get a lot of things done.

A bullet @ 230gr moving at 850 fps will equate the standard specs of the premier American battle pistol load for decades.

 

[Bad Karma]

Curious to know how the velocities would differ with 777 powder. Been thinking about carrying a ROA this year deer hunting for a close treestand type shot and heard 777 is a little faster. I have no experience with 777 at all at this point. Thanks for posting your results. Greg

It ought to be on par with Swiss 3f and 40 grains of Swiss will give you 1150 with a wad and roundball.

 

[rodwha]

Curious to know how the velocities would differ with 777 powder. Been thinking about carrying a ROA this year deer hunting for a close treestand type shot and heard 777 is a little faster. I have no experience with 777 at all at this point. Thanks for posting your results. Greg

You’ll want to watch the other videos, but here’s #1:

 

[Critter Getter]

Thanks for posting the video! Greg

 

[rodwha]

Thanks for posting the video! Greg

Some things of note:

Triple 7 does not require the 15% reduction for safety. What Hogdgon’s said was were one to want to achieve a similar velocity as black powder to do such. This was well before Olde Eynsford was developed, and Swiss has never been all that popular here, nor has the French or South African sporting grade powders. If you look at velocity tests from identical loads Swiss and Olde Eynsford are always slightly faster than T7.

But note also that despite reducing his charges he was still well above the capabilities of standard Goex.

Also the need to use very slight compression is ONLY for cartridge loading. For loading any other BP arm they stated to seat the projectile “firmly” against the powder. Nothing more or less was mentioned about compression. Slight compression seems nearly impossible to duplicate 6 times, much more so then what I feel is quite firm. No gorilla strength leaning on the lever, but certainly quite firm. Nothing erratic can be seen at the 15 yds I shoot at, they look identical to the ones I used Olde Eynsford with.

 

[Critter Getter]

So is a 40 grain charge of fff Goex or 777 potent enough for close range Whitetails in a ROA? ( not trying to hijack this thread since it is about velocities). Greg

 

[jcs266]

Thank you for the info and doing the Chrono tests. I have a chrono again finally and will be doing similar black powder reports here on the forum when I do. We all wonder what performance we're getting out of these old classics, so it's nice to get solid numbers.

 

[rodwha]

So is a 40 grain charge of fff Goex or 777 potent enough for close range Whitetails in a ROA? ( not trying to hijack this thread since it is about velocities). Greg

If you use standard powders you can expect dismal results, use an energetic powder and it brings it up to a useful hunting tool. Sporting grade powders literally give you a big enough increase in velocity that the energy figures are about 1.5 times higher or more. To my thinking it’s only useful in muzzleloaders where the charge can be upped and the barrel much longer.