What size

[GOPHER SLAYER]

What size round ball do you need for the Ruger Old Army?

[1Hawkeye]

Normally a .457 for an old army.

[fcvan]

Yup, .457 for a R OA, I shot my first one in the mid 1970s. In the Mid 1980s, I bought a Brass Frame 1858 Remington copy and the accompanying .454 mold. Along the way, I picked up 2 conical molds, both 200 grains, one a 2 cavity RN the other a single cavity RNHP back when Lee made such things. I used to shoot the conical boolits a lot but now just RB over 25 grains of Pyrodex with ground corn meal between the ball and powder. Love shooting that thing, so did my brother but it took him 30 years to buy his own. THe only down side is the indexing pawl needs replacing again. Cheap part, easy to replace, easy to time the cylinder.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

Thanks guys.

[Outpost75]

Lee 200-grain R.E.A.L. also works well.

[onelight]

Lee 200-grain R.E.A.L. also works well.
Yes it do.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

The Ruger Old Army shoots best with a slightly larger ball. I polished an RCBS 0.457" mould out to 0.462" and found that the bearing area in the rifling was nearly double the width of contact.
The cylinders have a slight taper in them so the deeper you seat the ball, the more they are swaged undersized. Most important to use a filler and just seat the ball flush with the chamber mouths.