Ruger Old Army

[markmahaney]

Hello all,
I have a chance to purchase a Ruger Old Army at the local gunshop. The revolver is in fine shape. I've read good things about these guns but have never owned one. So I'm reaching out to the Forum as I'm certain many of you have views and opinions from years of shooting these revolvers. Any info you can provide will be appreciated. By the way, the asking price is $399.00. Bet I can talk them down! Thanks for your response.

 

[ZUG]

Is it blued or S/S? Depending on condition Very Good blued - $250 to $300 is a good price. Very Good S/S $325 to $375 is also a good price. It also depends how "hungry" you are for it :grin: .

 

[wattlebuster]

I have'nt kept up with the prices in yrs so I cant comment on that But keep in mind ruger dont make it anymore so if its in very good shape you would have a very multi purpose gun. You can shoot cap an ball and with the purchase of a cylinder you can go 45 colt too. I have one in 5 1/2 and shoot both in it :thumbsup:

 

[Don]

Well, $399 is not a bad price but if you can talk them down that would be awesome. Old Armies are very good quality pieces and will last a very long time. One word of caution when loading with the rammer make sure the screw that keeps the rammer and cylinder pin in place is turned in the right direction. I didn't do this and ended up with a bent cylinder pin. I was able to straighten it out so there was no harm done. Good luck.

Don

 

[markmahaney]

It's blued in very good shape. And yes, I'm hungry for it! LOL!

 

[markmahaney]

Don, I've heard of that happening to others. I will certainly keep that in mind when loading. Thanks.

 

[gunsports]

Buy it! Best C&B revolver in the world!

 

[markmahaney]

Thanks for the thumbs-up Gunsports. I'm headed out to the Gunshop tomorrow to pick it up. What size caps does the Ruger use? Also, what powder charge would you recommend for accuracy? I know the Rugers can take more than the standard 25 grains usually used in Pietta's and Uberti's (Walkers excluded of course).

 

[Don]

Number 11 caps work fine. I load mine with 35 grains of Pyrodex P and get good accuracy. At some point you may want to up grade the nipples on that revolver with Ampco ones. They are better quality and you can use the standard wrench with them, they are worth the money.

Don

 

[markmahaney]

Don, if there is not a wrench included with the revolver will a standard socket wrench do? If not, I will do as you suggest and replace the nipples with ampco. I did that on my Pietta 1860 and have not had any more problems with caps jamming and not seating.

 

[Don]

I don't know if a socket wrench will work but you can try.

Don

 

[rodwha]

I'd spend the $400 on it. It is worth it.

A deep 3/16 socket will work, or what I ended up doing is buying a Craftsman nut driver and boring it a little deeper with a slightly smaller drill bit. Works great.

Track of The Wolf sells their version of replacement nipples which are $2 cheaper. They have the Ruger hex head, but are otherwise designed much like the Ampco.

I have tried both Remington #11's and CCI #11 magnums. The Remington's are slightly big and slide on a few of them. The CCI's don't always seat far enough and take a second strike to fire. This is with the originals and replacements.

I was told to try #10's, which I'll be doing shortly.

Without a wad I've seated 45 grns of 3F with a RB. It has a nice kick loaded heavy!

 

[rodwha]

Ditto on the be careful with the retaining screw! I bent my base pin as well. Too hard to find a replacement. I was fortunate enough to be able to bend it back.

 

[Sabotdart]

OK dumb question whats the diffence between ruger new army and old army. if none cabelas has the 1858 new army for 229.99 right now ganted its a repro.

 

[hawkeye2]

The Old Army is a copy of the 1858 Remington revolver and the Ruger New Army is a modern design rather than a copy of a period piece and is quite similar to the single action Ruger revolvers except it is a cap & ball revolver

 

[Sabotdart]

Thank you sorry for the dumb question. :redface:

 

[gl1200a]

The ROA is not getting any cheaper.
Prices have been going up on them for a couple years.
If it is in very good condition a blued model will
bring $400.

Best accuracy is achieved with a load of real 3f somewhere in the 20-25 grain range.

The ROA takes a .457 ball.

Best caps IMO CCI 11 magnums.

 

[markmahaney]

Thank you all for the replies. I am going to the gunshop today to bargain. If they won't budge I feel good about giving full price after seeing all the good reviews of this weapon.

If someone can explain how to post pics on this forum I'll be proud to post some up later today.
Thanks, Mark

 

[markmahaney]

Hey sabotdart, not a dumb question at all. I can see where it would be confusing since the Ruger, as was stated, is not a reproduction at all but a new model based on the old BP revolvers. The Beauty of a ROA is that they are built Ruger tough and stand up to heavy powder loads. Thanks for the interest and keep asking questions! Mark

 

[Coot]

OK dumb question whats the diffence between ruger new army and old army. if none cabelas has the 1858 new army for 229.99 right now ganted its a repro.

I am not able to find anything on a "Ruger New Army" model. The gun that Cabellas is selling for $229.99 is Pietta's replica of the m1858 'new army' revolver which is a Remington design used during the Civil War. The Ruger "Old Army" is a modern design by Ruger that has the top strap & some visual similarity to the Remington "New Army" but is not a copy of any historical model. The Ruger Old Army is a very good gun, (some would say the best cap & ball revolver ever made), but it is not a replica. Ruger simply decided to give it the name "old army".