Ruger Old Army

GroovyJack · Member Joined: May 21, 2005 Posts: 621 Location: Bama

I have had one for about twenty years , someone gave it to me , and I put it on display for all that time , well today I bought some caps , balls , and Goex cleanshot FFFg ..
Ruger's manual states a good starting load is 20 grains , by volume , of course , seems I have seen somewhere that 35-40 was tops ..
Anyone know ??
Jack

Flint54 · Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2006 2:47 am Post subject: Re: Ruger Old Army

1. My Ruger works best with a .457 or .458" size ball, not the .454". My conicals come out of the mold at .457".

2. Always seat the ball to compress the powder charge...with smaller charges, that means the ball will be well down into the cylinder. Never shoot with any space between powder and ball.

3. Some people like to use treated felt wads on top of the powder (these ae sold specific for that use)...some people like to seat the ball directly on the powder without wads. Each and an argument for why it is better and why the other guy is crazy.

4. Will grease over the top of the seated ball. tradtionally this is to guard against flash over from neighboring chambers when fired, but it keeps the fouling soft and lube the pure lead ball's passage down the bore. They sell various subsdtances for this I like the Wonder Type lubes, old timers will just use crisco.

5. Companys make two common sizes of pecussion caps, #10 and #11. My Ruger will take #11's, but only buy one tin of them until you are sure.

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Now becasue of #2 above, the MINIMUM load would be how ever little powder lets the ball seat and compress it. the max. would be how ever much allows compression the powder and seating the ball below flush to allow the cylinder to turn. Can settle on anything inbetwen those two. I load mine to where the end of the ball is slightly below the end of the cylinder.

I have read that the Old Army has been tested with as much FFFFg that could be loaded and still be able to seat the ball with no problems. I would not go that far but I will say that I do not believe that there is a Stronger Percussion Revolver made anywhere than the Ruger Old Army. Personally in mine I have used nothing but good old black powder, 30 - 35 gr of FFFg and both balls and conicals. I use lube on top of all cylinders after loading, this does keep the fowling soft. Cool

GroovyJack · Member Joined: May 21, 2005 Posts: 621 Location: Bama

I got 457's , and No.10 caps ( mine is OLDER gun ) , newer maybe 11's , but an 11 wud probably fit ok .. Already knowed about No.'s 2 , 3 , and 4 above , Thanks ..
So hows it do with conicals and wich didja use ??
Jack

Flint54 · Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 3:11 pm Post subject: Re: Ruger Old Army

Lee mold, see link.

www.outdoorsuperstore....MOULDS.htm

Crackshot · Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2006 9:10 pm Post subject: Re: Ruger Old Army

Groovyjack, my Old Army tops out at 30grains FFF, after that you realy have to strain to seat the ball far enough, I use over powder wads as well though, so that probably eats up 10 or 15 grains of space.
But 30 grains of Goex and she shoots ragged hole groups at 35 yds with Buffalo Ballets.