Ruger Old Army with cast .457" 240gr RN?

[tja6435]

How does the Old Army work with conical bullets? I have .452, .454, and .457 sizers and a few .460" molds that weigh from 240gr up to 500gr or so. Some are round nose, some are hollowpoint (if I want).

What size is best? and if anyone had any other tips on shooting conical bullets from the ROA, including what weight of bullets I need to stay around, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks

[docone31]

Balls work best of all of them.
Simpler also.

[bubba.50]

I used the Lee 456-220-1R mould designed specifically for the Old Army & it worked great.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

No offense to Bubba.50 ,,,and probably some offense to myself :veryconfu

But I have the Lee 456-220-1R mould and I couldn't get it to shoot anywhere near as good as .457 RB. Maybe it's me ?

[bubba.50]

all I know is, they hit as close to where I aimed them & in as tight a bunch as I can hit with any pistol.

[Baja_Traveler]

I use the 210 grain Big Lube conical made for the ROA, and it shoots just fine.
http://www.biglube.com/BulletMolds.aspx?ItemID=09d6fdda-c105-4c87-b269-68ebfdaba982

Here is a quick picture of it as cast, and several from my range box pan lubed and stuck in a 45 ACP case with 20 grains Swiss 3F under it (more powder needs a 45 long colt case). Keeping them like this makes for easy organization, and super simple loading in the field - just pull the bullet, dump the pre-measured powder charge, and seat the conical quick and easy. The picture is kind of out of focus, but you can just see the steps in the base of the bullet for alignment in the cylinder - the top most step gets sheared off during seating into a little ring of lead. No wads needed, no over bullet grease - just load and shoot, and just as accurate as a ball in mine.

145083

[koger]

Cant go wrong with the mold Bubba quoted, mine shoots tight little wads at 25 yards, and took 2 deer with this bullet here in KY!

[True.grit]

Trying to load a long conical in the cylinder would be a problem. That lee 456 would be the one to try, BUT a 457 round ball will out shoot it any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

[Chill Wills]

If you shoot anything heaver than the RB you will find you will need a higher front sight - a lot higher in some cases.

[Baja_Traveler]

If you shoot anything heaver than the RB you will find you will need a higher front sight - a lot higher in some cases.

Even with round ball mine was shooting a foot high at 25 yards - a call to Ruger had a new higher front blade (from the Blackhawk) on the way. They seemed to know exactly what I needed and what to send - at no cost by the way...

[winelover]

My ROA prefers the Lee 220 conical, also a plus, since Arkansas requires them for hunting deer. Higher front site needed but that was an easy fix, mine being SS.

Winelover

[johnson1942]

in my ROA i take a .50 cal round ball and run it through a .451 swageing die. it trims the slight excess off and then forms a deep cupped base and a true round nose like a .451 roundball cut in half. their is plenty of bearing surface. they are easy to make and cheap to shoot. very accurate and the gun loves them.

[rodwha]

I've tried maybe 10 different types of conicals as well as ball, and offhand mine all do quite similarly at 15 yds. Maybe the ball would do that much better from a rest or with small amounts of powder. Mine does best with 35 grns of 3F Olde Eynsford or Triple 7. Group size is all nearly the same, but do shoot high with conicals. But I'm not a target shooter. Mine is meant for hunting with and uses my 195 WFN custom conical.

[wired]

I ran 335 grain gas checked hard cast bullets yesterday in one of my Old Army's. 40 grains of Triple 7 in a classicballistx cylinder. No felt pad, no grease over the bullet since I never use them on anything else. Grouped about the same as round balls or 220 grain Lee conicals. 870-900 FPS so in the 600 Ft/Lb category. Shot 5 inches high at 30 yards. About the same felt recoil as my standard Vaquero 45 colt load with 9.5 grains of Unique with 255 grain cast.

I will say that the "smoke" from the triple 7 was considerably less than usual. I think the smoke is just steam anyway but the heavier bullet seems to cut that down quite a bit. I'm finding more and more that the ROA works about the same as a blackhawk for bullet selection.