After a disappointing outing with my ROA last fall, I decided to try again. but with real BP instead of Pyrodex P. That session used a mix of home cast Lee .457" RB's and swaged RB's (Speer I think) + lubed felt OP wads + ~24gr. Pyro. P (thrown). As I said, results weren't very good, particularly since I know the ROA can shoot into 2" or less @ 25 yd. from a rest (pistol butt only rested).
Yesterday I tried Graf's (Wano) FFFg Shuetzen BP thrown with a 1.9cc Lee dipper, which theoretically means 30 - 31 gr. I also used the same cast .457" and swaged RB's as before. Ditto the lubed OP wads. Percussion caps were Rem. #10's (as before). One more thing, last year I purchased a set of Slix Shot nipples and I'm thrilled to pieces with them since they turned the ROA into a 100% reliable performer. (Both the factory nipples and Uncle Mike's nipples required 2 strikes of the hammer to fire, and sometimes 3: not a good thing!)
Anyway, what I learned is that the cast RB's are a better fit in my gun than the swaged ones, which resulted in much better grouping for the former. Additionally, the gun likes higher powder charges if I want to keep the groups 2" or less @ 25 yd. In short, I'm very pleased with the ROA, which now is as accurate as my [Ruger] NM Blackhawk and its bigger .44mag. brother.
Yesterday I tried Graf's (Wano) FFFg Shuetzen BP thrown with a 1.9cc Lee dipper, which theoretically means 30 - 31 gr. I also used the same cast .457" and swaged RB's as before. Ditto the lubed OP wads. Percussion caps were Rem. #10's (as before). One more thing, last year I purchased a set of Slix Shot nipples and I'm thrilled to pieces with them since they turned the ROA into a 100% reliable performer. (Both the factory nipples and Uncle Mike's nipples required 2 strikes of the hammer to fire, and sometimes 3: not a good thing!)
Anyway, what I learned is that the cast RB's are a better fit in my gun than the swaged ones, which resulted in much better grouping for the former. Additionally, the gun likes higher powder charges if I want to keep the groups 2" or less @ 25 yd. In short, I'm very pleased with the ROA, which now is as accurate as my [Ruger] NM Blackhawk and its bigger .44mag. brother.
