Ruger old army

[gman10]

i just bought a ruger old army stainless. what is the max and min on a powder charge?

and how accurate are these pistols? are they a good pistol?

plus do i need a corn filler or can i just use a powder charge and a round ball with grease over the ball?

 

[David W.]

i just bought a ruger old army stainless. what is the max and min on a powder charge?

and how accurate are these pistols? are they a good pistol?

plus do i need a corn filler or can i just use a powder charge and a round ball with grease over the ball?

Use 40 gr FFFg as a max load. Using corn meal as a filler can make the pistol more accurate. Try mixing BP and corn meal 50/50 and work up from there.

Yes, the're darn good pistols.

 

[gman10]

thanks, that helps a lot

 

[zimmerstutzen]

don't "mix" black powder and corn meal, you'll just get a lot of smoke and little oomph.

The ruger is about the most durable cap and ball ever made. Although i understand a pistol made in Europe comes with about the same quality.

As much powder as will still let you seat the ball is the max I have done some groundhog and raccooning with mine.

I got my Ruger, used, in 1981 and love it.

Some folks try shooting conicals, but my sense is that they take up too much powder space to actually beat the round ball for power. I do have an odd wad cutter bullet in 456 which I shoot sometimes, although I don't think it is anymore accurate than round balls

 

[wattlebuster]

I have one with 5 1/2 inch barrel an with 30 gr fffg an a wonder wad topped off with a 457.ball it is very accurate :thumbsup:

 

[aeatwood]

I bought one used a year or so ago. I was able to get 45gr of FFg Goex and a greased felt wad in the chamber and still had room to seat a .457" ball.

It cut one ragged (and not very ragged) hole at 20 yards. It will give my pet K-38 S&W and .500 S&W a hard race for accuracy.

I'm going to have to drop back to 50 yards to do meaningful load development for it. Although if shoots that load well at 50, I don't see much point to doing ANY further load development.

 

[gl1200a]

Best target results will be found between 20-25gr's. Filler is not necessary however if it makes you feel good do it.
Max load is whatever you can fit in it.
You cannot hurt this gun.
The ROA takes a .457 ball.

Best way I can sum up the ROA, if it were the only handgun I owned, I wouldn't feel out gunned.

Your going to love it.

 

[M. De Land]

I picked up one from a friend in blue steel and I would never sell it.
They are strong and they are accurate! I have never heard anyone say different about them.
They usually do need a trigger job from the factor though to get the best out of them. MD

 

[BullRunBear]

You are gonna love it. They are tough, reliable and at least as accurate as any modern revolver. I have three, all with the longer barrel and adjustable sights. I've had as much as 40 grs. of 3F black powder which left plenty of room for a felt wad and a .457 ball. (I really prefer the felt wad to using cornmeal over the powder or crisco over the ball.) There would be room for a bit more powder.

I've found my ROAs are most accurate with 28 - 30 grains of 3F powder, the lubed wad (I make my own) and the .457 ball. YMMV

Jeff

 

[tv_racin_fan]

My ROA manual says I can use as much powder in whatever granulation as to still leave enough room for the ball to seat below the surface of the cylinder. I have been told by many not to use FFFFg no matter what the manual states and I believe the Lyman book shows stats for each and the FFFFg weren't enough more powerful to warrant it. (I may give it a try anyway and run it over my chrono just to see what I get)

If you don't have a manual I suggest you download one.
http://www.ruger.com/service/productHistory.html#

It appears I need to check the difference in the SS manual and the older Blued one since I have one of each and the only manual I have came with the SS.

Some claim that best accuracy is obtained with less than max load and enough filler to cause the ball to seat just below the surface of the cylinder. Something in the range of 20 to 25 grains of powder. I haven't worked out the best accuracy load for either of mine.

 

[aeatwood]

***************************************
* THIS IS NOT A LOAD RECOMMENDATION!!!*
***************************************
I think I recall an article discussing the ROA right after it was introduceD, and Bill Ruger was trying to test one to destruction. The load they put in the chamber they estimated at 60,000 PSI or so and the gun fired normally - and survived.

******************************************
* IF YOU ACT ON THIS INFORMATION IN ANY WAY
* YOU ARE AN IDIOT!!!!
******************************************

 

[Rifleman1776]

Except for the reccomendation of use of fillers, lots of good posts here.
Load to max that ball will seat for most power.
Load to most accurate for....uh....most accurate shooting.
Put grease over ball.
I sold my 1976 model in a moment of weakness after a shoulder injury. Even if it was just sitting in my gun safe, I wish I had it back.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

I don't oppose the use of fillers on top the powder. I just don't MIX them in with the powder. When I saw the advice to mix them 50/50, I could see some newbie putting a few ounces of each together in a bowl and stirring it together. :nono:

 

[David W.]

I don't oppose the use of fillers on top the powder. I just don't MIX them in with the powder. When I saw the advice to mix them 50/50, I could see some newbie putting a few ounces of each together in a bowl and stirring it together. :nono:

Thank you. I did not mean MIX, I did intend to say use it on top of the BP.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

try a .357 mag casefull of fff, a bit of filler atop (grits does fine) then a ball and grease atop.
mine opens groups up w/a max charge, just a 'medium' does great

 

[Blackpowdersmoke]

Have any of you fellas ever tried the round-nose conical (.455-.457?) bullet that Ruger used to offer a bullet mold for? I've heard they're very accurate in the ROA...BPS

 

[M. De Land]

I really should test some conicals just so I'll know what I'm talking about.
I've had cap-n-ball revolvers for 30 years and never have I tried a bullet.
Always was told these were designed to shoot balls and they were more accurate than bullets.
The reasoning suggested was that it was often problematic to get bullets seated squarely with the under barrel rammer that comes with the guns.
Mine certainly have been accurate shooting round balls ! MD

 

[TFoley]

I really should test some conicals just so I'll know what I'm talking about.
I've had cap-n-ball revolvers for 30 years and never have I tried a bullet.
Always was told these were designed to shoot balls and they were more accurate than bullets.
The reasoning suggested was that it was often problematic to get bullets seated squarely with the under barrel rammer that comes with the guns.
Mine certainly have been accurate shooting round balls ! MD

Sir - the Lee .457 conicals are heeled to make a somewhat easier fit in the chambers of the ROA. Using the same load as the ball, they certainly feel a whole lot different to shoot -as indeed they should, weighing half as much again as a ball. I let folks shoot them just to try, but the RB is still king of the heap for target shooting. No doubt that a good stiff load of 777 and a conical can do the biz on some four-legged ruminants, maybe even hogs in the right place aware from the chest-plate, but here in UK we are never likely to find that out.

If you look on YouTube - tacs trains, shooting the Ruger Old Army - you can easily tell when I'm shooting ball or conical from the arm movement.

tac

 

[tv_racin_fan]

***************************************
* THIS IS NOT A LOAD RECOMMENDATION!!!*
***************************************
I think I recall an article discussing the ROA right after it was introduceD, and Bill Ruger was trying to test one to destruction. The load they put in the chamber they estimated at 60,000 PSI or so and the gun fired normally - and survived.

******************************************
* IF YOU ACT ON THIS INFORMATION IN ANY WAY
* YOU ARE AN IDIOT!!!!
******************************************

I was reading about that.. supposedly he loaded as much (Unique I think it was) as the cylinder would hold and it did not blow up in testing.

I recommend following what the MANUAL says as they generally know what they are talking about and leave a bit of room for slight error.

As for conicals google big lube and try whyte leather works he has some the Cowboy action boys use. Dick Dastardly sells molds.

Those conicals range from about the same weight as a ball to about 220 grain I believe. They are heeled to make them easier to start straight and the ROA model is double heeled for use in a ROA OR other revolvers.

 

[tv_racin_fan]

Bah...