Lee R.E.A.L. Boolit in the Ruger Old Army

[Archer]

I seen a link that said the 45 cal.
Lee R.E.A.L. Boolit works good in the
ROA.
Does anyone know how you get it
down far enough to get it under the
loading ram? Maybe I'm missing something,
but it won't go in the cylinder far enough to turn
it under the ram.
Any help will be great.
Thanks.

[oldfart1956]

Archer I'm going to presume the bullet is too long to allow it to pass under the ram to seat so here's 1 option. Build a loading station. It means removing the cyl. from the frame to use it but any length bullet would be useable. A loading station is nothing more than a piece of steel plate with a pin sticking up that fits thru the cylinder where the pin of the gun normally goes. A simple lever attached to another pin allows you to seat the bullet. They actually make such a thing but they're easy enough to make. I'm sure someone here has a photo of one. The other option is to buy the Lee mould that casts a bullet specifically for the R.O.A. I forget the weight..might have to go find mine and check. I'll warn ya the recoil goes up considerable and the accuracy dropped in mine so I went back to the Lee R.O.A. .457 roundball mould. Audie..the Oldfart.

[docone31]

I think it will make loading difficult.
It could be done, I suppose, but RBs do the job effectively and simply.
.457 and off to the races.

[Maven]

Archer, You can do as oldfart1956 suggested; use a RB as per docone31 post; or look at mold #90384 on Lee Precision's website: http://www.leeprecision.com

[bubba.50]

maybe you need to back off on the powder a bit if the problem is you can't push r.e.a.l.s in farenough. ones i have used in muzzle loaders would push right into barrels with finger pressure to where it just took light tap with starter to send them home. just a thought, bubba.

[Archer]

Audie,
Thanks for the information.
I already have the mold for the
ROA #90384 it's 220 gr. I just read that
the 45 R.E.A.L. gave good accuracy in the
ROA, and had a few on hand to try, but couldn't get them loaded.
docone31, and Maven,
Thanks for the help, I have the round ball mold as well,
and have been using both roundballs, and 90384 boolits
with pretty good accuracy. I was just going to try the
45 R.E.A.L. to see if it was any better or worse then the others.
It has good accuracy in my Kentucky rifle, so I wanted to see if it
worked like I read in the ROA. If it did, I would use it in a deer load.
Thanks again everybody.

[Archer]

bubba.50,
We must have been typing at the same time :o)
I didn't have any powder at all in it, I was just seeing if it
would fit first, and it went down to the second lube groove, and stopped
hard enough, I think it would shave off a ring of lead. It just wasn't far enough down to
turn under the loading lever.
I got this from a link posted on here wrote by Ed Harris, where he said
that it worked really good in the ROA. Thats why I was going to try it.
Thanks for all the help.

[bubba.50]

if a little lead ring is the only problem, the round ball molds for the old army are designed oversize so that it will shave a little lead. also ruger recommends oversize to prevent chain fire i believe. for what it's worth, bubba. good luck and good shootin'. p.s. let me know if it works out, might like to try this in my old army.

[Archer]

The lead ring isn't the problem, I want it to shave off a lead ring
so it will be sealed. The problem is, it won't go into the cylinder
far enough to turn the cylinder under the ram so you could push it down,
and shave off the lead ring. In other words, it hits the frame of the revolver when it's in as far as you can push it with your finger, then it has to turn under the ram to push it the rest of the way, but it sticks out to far to turn it under the ram.
There is enough room in the chamber for it on top of 25 gr's of FFF.
I'll keep playing with it, and if I get one loaded, I'll let you know how it shoots.

[mooman76]

Which REAL are you trying. I believe Lee makes two different sizes in the 45.

[Archer]

mooman76,
I'm not sure, I thought they only made one,
but I haven't checked in a while. My brother
has the mold right now, so I can't check it.
The one I'm using is 5/8" long, and weighs
230grs.

[Hellgate]

They make a 200 and 250gr 45cal R.E.A.L. mold. I'll bet the 250 one has 4 driving bands and the 200 has 3. I have a REAL mold for my 44 Remington NMAs and it is the 44 cal REAL no longer made and is about 200gr and rams fine in the Remingtons.

[mooman76]

They make a 200gr and a 250gr. The 200gr has 3 bands and the 250 has 4. Mine is the 220 and is .560 long. I don't know if that would help or not.

[WildShot]

I have some 250 gr 45 cal REALs that I cast from pure lead. They neatly slide into the cylinder to the second band. They clear the frame and the loading lever makes a 15 to 20 degree rotation before the rammer makes contact with the nose of the boolit. I have yet to shoot any of these but don’t see any problem in my 7 ½” ROA. Can you post a pic?

[Archer]

Wild shot,
I could post a picture if I can figure out how to do it.
I bought this mold a good 30 to 35 years ago, so I don't
know if they even make it anymore. The ones I weighed
came out at 229 to 230grs. and have two lands plus the
front land.
I think I found the problem the one I was trying to load
was longer, I dumped the bag out, and all the rest were shorter.
I don't know where I got the long one, or how it got in the bag, but it was in there.
Anyway, I put one of the other ones in the cylinder and just like yours, it went in to the second land, and rotated under the rammer just fine.
All this fuss over dumping out just one boolit, and getting the odd one. I still don't remember
where I got it, someone probably gave it to me to try at a shoot years ago in my rifle.
That will teach me to check what's in my bag from now on.
Thanks everybody for all your patience and advise.
As soon as I can, I'll shoot them and let you all know how they work.

[curator]

I have both the 200 & 250 grain .45 Lee R.E.A.L. moulds and while both "can" be loaded in my ROA the shorter 200 grain slug is easier to load and more accurate. My load: 35 grains Goex FFFg and a felt wad. The boolit holds a generous amount of my 50/50 bee's wax/lard lube which keeps fouling soft and prevents the cylinder pin from getting stiff. It is actually a better choice (for me anyway) than the Lee .456-220RN boolit made for the ROA. The 220 RN does have a smaller "heel" designed to slide into the cylinder, but casts a bit too large for my particular pistol, and is difficult to load straight.

[Rio Grande]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=42448&page=2

[WildShot]

I got a chance to shoot my ROA yesterday. First time out since I acquired a 250 REAL mould and cast a few. I did not lube the REALs in the traditional sense. I just sprayed them with aerosol Ballistol and let them sit for a few days. I did experiment with several powders and loads. I was amazed when I tried Pyrodex P. The load was using a Lee 1.9cc dipper full of powder, then the boolit (no wad). I did use grease over the boolit. The result was six shots neatly inside of a 1 inch square. The center of group was 6” high and 1 ½” right from point of aim at 25 yrds using a sandbag rest. I did not take the time to set up the chrono and check velocities but from the other threads, I would expect around 900 fps. This should give just under 500 ft-lbs of energy. Is this going to be adequate for shooting deer at 30 yrds or less? What kind of terminal effect should I see at that range?