Ruger Old Army

[2ndovc]

All those hours spent on gunbroker pays off sometimes.
This Old Army popped up with a buy it now that was surprising for as scarce as the fixed sight, Vaquero style is.
I've been chasing one for some time, but haven't owned one before. Used to shoot a lot of BP as a kid, still have the Italian '51 Navy that my dad bought me when I was about 12, but haven't had it out for a decade or more.
I have plenty of caps, .457 RB, Pyrodex and Triple 7, but haven't found any good load data(yet).
I'd appreciate any suggestions and if any of you guys have experience with the Kirst converters, I'd love to hear about those too. Along with anything else I need.

One of the auction pictures. Should have it sometime next week.


jb

[Griff]

Replace the nipples with the ones from Slik-Shot, they fit Remington #10 caps like a champ. Secondly, do your new-to-you gun a huge favor and keep the Pyrodex for fertilizer. .457 balls over anywhere from 30-45 grains of 3F will give you lots of options for power levels.

[2ndovc]

Replace the nipples with the ones from Slik-Shot, they fit Remington #10 caps like a champ. Secondly, do your new-to-you gun a huge favor and keep the Pyrodex for fertilizer. .457 balls over anywhere from 30-45 grains of 3F will give you lots of options for power levels.

Thanks!!
I'll look up the Slik-Shots and get some ordered.

jb

[AJMD429]

.
I have an 1858 Navy replica and it sure fun. I always thought the rugers were even better though.

I remember back in the early '70s thinking that someday I would start buying Rugers and I would buy one of whatever model they brought out. Needless to say, that never happened, although I did manage to acquire a fair number of their revolvers and rifles over the years, although I never really had the interest in their semi-auto pistols other than the Chargers in both calibers are kind of fun. Unfortunately the latter are likely to become NFA items before long, as they are way more fun with a folding brace.

[wvfarrier]

I really want a pair of 5.5" but I refuse to pay those prices.

[Old Savage]

What are the prices these days?

[wvfarrier]

1500-2000

[2ndovc]

A few years ago, a nice old guy at a show in Toledo had a pair of 5 1/2" stainless fixed sight Old Armies for $950 for the pair. I looked at them, put them down, walked a couple tables and thought, get back there! By that time they were gone. Wasn't thinking.

I bought this one for $900, cheapest I've seen for a long time.

jb

[.45colt]

Jason, From the Old Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook; .457 round ball over 40grFFG=770fps...... .457 round ball over 40grFFFG=920fps .
I have a 1851 Navy .36cal I haven't shot in some time but when I did I used treated wonder felt wads under the round ball. Elmer Keith talks about this in Sixguns. .

[Old Savage]

Wow, bought a pair of SS 7 1/2” for $800. One unfired, the other with a cartridge .45 cyl.

[blackhawk44]

10-4 on Pyrodex! Never get it near anything you care about. Will even attack stainless. Don't even give to an enemy. He will then have cause to hurt you.

[DaveInPA]

Great find. Back in the 1970s my father shot a ROA in competition with the Marriottsville Muzzleloaders outside Baltimore and often brought home prizes in their meat shoots. Sometime back in the late 80s or 90s I traded a Savage 99T in .30 WCF to him for it.



When shooting for max accuracy he used it as a single shot using the chamber that he determined gave the best accuracy. His load was 22 grains of 3Fg black powder, a .38 Special case of cornmeal, and a .457 round ball.

The ROA will handle up to 40 grains of powder under a .457 ball. 25 to 30 grains, a lubricated felt wad, and a .457 ball should give good accuracy. The wad can be either a commercially product like a Wonder Wad, or home made if you cut them from 100% wool felt. I make my own with 1/8" thick wool felt from Durofelt and lube them with 100% pure neatsfoot oil (NOT neatsfoot oil compound) to keep the fouling soft. I've lubed them with Gatofeo's No.1 lube and 50/50 beeswax/mutton tallow, but neatsfoot oil seems to work as well and is easier to apply.

[Ysabel Kid]

The wad can be either a commercially product like a Wonder Wad, or home made if you cut them from 100% wool felt. I make my own with 1/8" thick wool felt from Durofelt and lube them with 100% pure neatsfoot oil (NOT neatsfoot oil compound) to keep the fouling soft. I've lubed them with Gatofeo's No.1 lube and 50/50 beeswax/mutton tallow, but neatsfoot oil seems to work as well and is easier to apply.

Hi Dave -

Do you make up a batch of the wads, lubricate them with neatsfoot oil, and store them - or is this something you have to do close to the actual shooting session?

Like you, I make my own from Durofelt, using a 1/3rd beeswax to 2/3rds lamb's tallow mixture. These store for darn-near ever (properly sealed). But I'm always interested in easier!

[2ndovc]

Cool!!

Really enjoying all of the knowledge you guys have!

I was finally able to pick up the Old Army yesterday. Looks even better in person. It has definitely been used, but well taken care of.

Hoping to get out to the range tomorrow.


jb

[DaveInPA]

The wad can be either a commercially product like a Wonder Wad, or home made if you cut them from 100% wool felt. I make my own with 1/8" thick wool felt from Durofelt and lube them with 100% pure neatsfoot oil (NOT neatsfoot oil compound) to keep the fouling soft. I've lubed them with Gatofeo's No.1 lube and 50/50 beeswax/mutton tallow, but neatsfoot oil seems to work as well and is easier to apply.

Hi Dave -

Do you make up a batch of the wads, lubricate them with neatsfoot oil, and store them - or is this something you have to do close to the actual shooting session?

Like you, I make my own from Durofelt, using a 1/3rd beeswax to 2/3rds lamb's tallow mixture. These store for darn-near ever (properly sealed). But I'm always interested in easier!

Sorry for the delayed reply.

I make up a batch of wads, lubricate them, and then store them in tins.

[Old No7]

Looks great -- I really love Ruger's Old Army!

Mine has 'heavily modified" (to say the least), and here's a list of possible mods if you feel so inclined;

* New springs added (from Brownell's)
* Removed the grooves from factory trigger (nice & smooth now)
* Stoned the hammer for a crisp 2.25# trigger pull
* Polished all of the pivot pins
* Made a new "partridge" style front sight blade (for target work)
* Installed a Millett rear sight (wide, flat blade -- better than original)
* Installed a trigger-stop (aluminum tubing) behind the trigger plunger (this works really slick, but it takes some trial & error to fit)
* Added Elk Stag book-matched grips
* Added Treso bronze nipples
* Recut the forcing cone (removed the rough machining marks)
* Added a custom brass "seater" to the loading plunger (seats target loads better)

Somewhere online, there's more details of the above posted; I can look if you want more info.

Darryl

Old Army Stag Grips 02.jpg

[2ndovc]

This is as far as I've gotten with the ROA.


The Belt Mountain quick change base pin got here last week. Finally had a chance to put it together.
Still getting together some more BP stuff. A box of 1000 CCI caps was delivered from Midway last Thursday.
Want to have all my ducks in a row when I take it out to shoot the BP cylinder. I want to take my time and do it right.
It's been a really long time since I've had a BP revolver out.



jb

[Ysabel Kid]

The wad can be either a commercially product like a Wonder Wad, or home made if you cut them from 100% wool felt. I make my own with 1/8" thick wool felt from Durofelt and lube them with 100% pure neatsfoot oil (NOT neatsfoot oil compound) to keep the fouling soft. I've lubed them with Gatofeo's No.1 lube and 50/50 beeswax/mutton tallow, but neatsfoot oil seems to work as well and is easier to apply.

Hi Dave -

Do you make up a batch of the wads, lubricate them with neatsfoot oil, and store them - or is this something you have to do close to the actual shooting session?

Like you, I make my own from Durofelt, using a 1/3rd beeswax to 2/3rds lamb's tallow mixture. These store for darn-near ever (properly sealed). But I'm always interested in easier!

Sorry for the delayed reply.

I make up a batch of wads, lubricate them, and then store them in tins.

Thanks Dave!

[Lastmohecken]

I have a polished stainless Ruger Old Army, bought new, many years ago. I think it was limited run. I have always loaded it with 40gr of FFF behind a roundball. It shoots pretty good up to about 40 yards. Accuracy seems to fall off past that, some. I use a felt Ox yoke wonder wad between powder and ball. I always carried it as backup for my blackpowder rifle. I always felt more comfortable when I carried it as back up in bear country, as opposed to only having the single shot available in the rifle.

About the only thing I ever killed with it, that I remember, was a wounded doe, shot by my nephew. I remember it kept jumping up on us, when we were trailing it. Finally, I just laid my rifle down, and chased the deer on foot with only the pistol so I could move faster and managed to get in range to finish it off with a couple of shots. Normally, I wouldn't have kept chasing a wounded deer, like that but it was getting dark, and we didn't think it was going to die on its own, very soon. The ROA worked fine for the chore.

At a gun show, one time, I saw a ROA which had been converted to a 50 caliber 5 shot revolver. I almost bought it but fooled around and let it get away from me. It was kind of pricey if I recall, but I kind of wish I had bought it.