Ruger Old ARmy

[Hugh]

Good Afternoon -
I've been away from cap & ball revolver shooting for a long time. I've got a Ruger Old Army that I want to get the most out of and would like some advice.
Is a lighter hammer spring available? I don't see one on Wolf Springs website.
I'm interested in shooting 25 yrds to 100yds. In the past round balls have been fine up close. What do you experts think about 100 yrds. Would I be better off with the 220 gr. conical Lee mold?
What loads you guys been using? If I remember correctly I was using 20 grs 3f up close and 30 grs at 50. Never shot it at 100. What do you recommend? Can a round ball cut it?
Lots of questions, sorry. Thanks for any and all help or suggestions.
See ya at the range.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

100 yards is quite a distance for a C&B revolver, I guess if it's a big enough gong -OK! I have a ROA and love it, 'course I also love my Pietta '58 Rem 'Buffalo'. I use conicals cast from Lee molds in both. Every now and again I shoot RB's just for kicks, conicals definitely better past about 25 yds. And I use them for hunting with both and have got wild hog with both. Conicals have different POI than RB's.

 

[Hugh]

OK. Here's the deal. Brushy Creek Muzzleloaders (Lenox, GA) is having a match March 21-25th. Besides the usual rifle matches they're having a special pistol match. 25, 50 and 100 yrds. I've never shot at 100 - and rarely at 50. But, I'm going to give it a try....I'm just hoping some of you guys have tried it and I can save myself a lot of "re-inventing the wheel." The prize btw is a new cap & ball pistol. Ought to be fun. So, I should be using conicals, eh?

 

[renovato]

I'd try the round ball and conicals both and see which you are the most accurate with. You can compensate for drop, but you can't compensate for a big grouping. I've done a little round ball shooting at 100 yards and it's just a matter of getting the elevation right. The Ruger is more than capable of handling the accuracy part. Try to find your most accurate load. Power isn't going to matter much as it's going to have a lot of drop to compensate for either way. Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

 

[Robert an saa fan]

Wild Bill Hickok shot Dave Tutt in the heart at 75 yards with a Colt 1851 Navy .36. Hickok after being shot at rested his gun hand on his other forearm and fired hitting Tutt's heart.

It is said Hickok practiced daily and really knew what his Navies would do.

Either RB or conical you will have to practice a bit with hold over or get lucky to win that prize.

Best of luck! Be sure to let us know what happens, sounds like fun.

p.s. The most enjoyable rendezvous I go to is put on by Brushy Creek Rangers at Spenceville Wildlife Area here in Northern California near Beale Air Force Base up out of Sacramento. It is usually the first weekend in May.

 

[Doc Arroyo]

Yes a round ball will cut it at 100 yards. Colt's dragoons were actually pretty accurate to 200 yards.

Shoot the pistol once or twice at those distances to see what holdover you will need. And sign up for the shoot. Some folks get so shook up at the ideas of pistols at 25 yards :shocked2: that you might be the only competitor at 100 yards!

 

[John Taylor]

It's been a few years but I did knock down a target at 200 yards using an Old Army. I was using as much 2F as I could get in the chamber and still have room for a RB. I found that mine grouped better with the 2F. The targets at 25 and 50 yards were easy but at 200 the ball drops about 3 to 4 feet. I never tried with the conicals.

 

[Tight_Wad]

I ordered a Wolff spring kit my ROA from Brownells. Kit consists of reduced power hammer springs 17lb, 18lb & 19lb (factory Ruger spring is 23lb) plus reduced power trigger return spring. I found the 19lb spring was light enough for me and certainly smooths up the action. Too light and you'll start to get mis-fires.
Brownells pro-spring kit

I tried the LEE conicals but found them too fiddly and difficult to seat straight. Found no improvement in accuracy over the much easier ball (admittedly only tried at 25 metres)so stopped using them.

Regards

Tight Wad :hatsoff:

 

[Blizzard of '93]

"Tight Wad" :haha: who or how did you come up with that moniker? :haha:

 

[Hugh]

Thanks guys,
I'm eager to give it a try and your encouragement re roundballs is very helpful. I've always figured that practicing is pretty close to cheating so I'll sneak out and do some practicing and steal a march on the rest of those guys. I've shot a 45 auto at 100 yds often...this ought to be fun. :grin: Thanks very much!

 

[Hugh]

Tight Wad,
I took your advice and just ordered the spring kit for the Old Army...and one for another cap & ball as well. I'm eager to see the improvement. Thanks for the tip!

 

[John Taylor]

I remember an article about 30 years back where the author said he was loading conicals backwards and they shot great, made nice round holes like wad cutters. I don't think it would work for long range and I never had a chance to try it out.