Ruger Old Army?

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ROA's are the hot-potato of the percussion pistol world. The love for them on this site alone would fill a Valentine Day card factory. I have one and wish I'd been hoarding them for the last 30 years: I'd be rich! It's not uncommon have to pay a Grand for a new-in-the-box one. :)
 
I’m with @Coinneach . There’s an edge in favor of large square sights but people can still use the smaller sights to very good effect.

I have an old Uberti which is capable of honest 1” 6 shot groups from a bench at 25 yards. Maybe even better than that but it’ about as good as I can do with a hand held revolver. The sights are small, but i have very good vision for an old guy and in bright sunlight I find no handicap to speak of. As a practical matter, since 1962 I’ve fired tens of thousands of round ball and bullets through this particular revolver and finding those tiny sights is so close to second nature that I can aquire its sight picture and fire in less time than almost any other pistol I’ve used.

for the Ruger, the fixed sights are very good. Smaller than the adjustables to be sure but squared away and with a nice square post in an appropriately sized notch. You can black the stainless sight and have it all.

Here’s that Uberti (John Wesley Hardin model… ;-) and a six .465” round ball over 30 grains of 3f Swiss with a dry wool 50 caliber wad, Remington #10 caps. This was fired from the tonnea cover of my truck. 50 yards.
View attachment 146959
There’ a thread on another site asking people to shoot these old replicas at 50 yards as an exercise to see what is possible and realistic, with guns of this type. (Remingtons are welcome too!)
Here’s another group fired at 20 yards offhand with a box stock Pietta.

View attachment 146960
It’s a pretty good looking pistol but not that impressive so far and sights are way down the list of reasons it’s not a great shooter.

Purty huh?View attachment 146962
THOSE are an incredible set of grips!
 
(He’s not in the US of A) I’ll bet they were a hot seller in The UK and Europe generally, given the restrictions on firearms ownership over there.

And… they aren’t really hard to get in the US. They ARE expensive to get.
Like the song says, "If you've got the money honey, I've got the time." Ruger Old Armys abound, bargains-not so mych.
 
“Maybe it was one guy, with 12 guns…”
I have a difficult tome NOT buying guns that have been broken up for parts and reassembling them. It's kinda like buying a perfectly good Rolls Royce and breaking it up for parts (especially since the sum of the parts is usually of more value).
 
My quest for a ROA goes back to they first came out back somewhere around 1972 (I believe). My copy of the 'Black Powder Gun Digest' (copyright 1970) edited by Toby Bridges which back in the day if you shot anything black powder was a requirement to have and read has an article featuring Bill Ruger and shooters running a ROA through its paces. I think it was probably '73 before I got my copy, but read a friends. Anyway, just checked my Ol' copy, a ROA back at the time of the 'Digest' was $100-a chunk of cash back then.

By the time I was in a froth to get one they were $125, ordered one from a LGS but by the time it came in the $$$ were needed for something else. LGS owner just sold it to another ROA fan right away who wanted one. Think later when I was hot and heavy to get one they were around $175, but a new baby in the house diverted funds elsewhere. Fair trade! Sort of put a ROA on the back burner over the years as I had a pretty good stable of cappers to shoot.

As a retirement gift for myself back in May of 2016 I bought a blued ROA in excellent condition for 4X the price they were back in 1970. Have enjoyed shooting the big Ruger, just took it out the other day and was thinking I could have four of them at early '70 prices what I paid for this one. Looking at prices today that number possible has decreased. Oh well-good shooters.
 
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I have to I acquired for under $400 each. I will never, ever sell, even my Frankengun. It started as a stainless that someone thought you didn't have to clean, so now it wears a blued cylinder and action screws. The barrel looked like 40 miles of bad road when I looked through it at the dealer, but that was grey-green flakey lead and old founling. Cleaned up spotless when I got her home for $330. Did a tiny bid of accuracy testing and load development, but had to move back to 50 yards to get meaningful differences in accuracy. It was shooting about 1.5-2" at 50 with around 45 gr of 2F, home made greased felt wad, and Hornady .457" balls of a sandbagged rest. This is a full charge by the way, and back when I had eyes. I figured "Why mess with a good thing?".

The other is a n-i-b, never turned Stainless adj site one I picked up at Cablea's from the Gun Library for $400, plastic bag and all. It sits in the safe as a backup for Frankengun.

To answer your question, yes I would pay $600-900 for one, knowing that if it wasn't up to snuff, I could get my money back rather easily, but I would NOT pay any premium for the fixed sighted ones. For my use, they are less desirable, no matter that the CAS guys will give 4-500 more for one.
 
When they first came out they were the best BP revolver on the market. Also the most expensive. They have proven to be built strong, accurate to 50 yards and continue to be popular after 40+ years. Whether they are worth the considerable sums being asked for right now is up to you. There is something that i'm attempting to acquire right now but I dont want it bad enough to pay the prices being asked.
 
When they first came out they were the best BP revolver on the market. Also the most expensive. They have proven to be built strong, accurate to 50 yards and continue to be popular after 40+ years. Whether they are worth the considerable sums being asked for right now is up to you. There is something that i'm attempting to acquire right now but I dont want it bad enough to pay the prices being asked.

by which criteria are you defining 'best' ?
 
I look at my roa as a modern colt dragoon. A great gun. It would be interesting if another manufacturer made a new percussion revolver with modern ideas?
I also love my 2nd gen colt navy and uberti Remington new model army.
 
by which criteria are you defining 'best' ?
At the time I got the ROA many of my friends were also buying BP rifles and pistols. Several had revolvers. Most of those guns were from Spain or Italy and the quality difference was apparent. IIRC most of those wheel guns took a slightly less charge than the ROA, except for the Walker/Dragoons. None could out shoot the ROA in accuracy at a distance although at "normal" pistol range (20 yds) there was little difference. While each of us has our idea of "best" in anything, I generally look for quality to last long term and for something to function much better than its competition. Based on my criteria I got exactly what I wanted while some of my fellow shooters ended up returning theirs or selling them. Someone else's "best" might be different and that's OK by me.
 
This book cover intrigued me
 

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