Ruger Old Army Help

[a1parrothead]

Hello all,
I just bought a Ruger Old Army and am pretty excited to use it but I have a few questions. Bear in mind I am pretty new to this hobby having only a single shot .50 cal. rifle and a Philly Derringer.

My questions are around the loading. The manual suggests 20 grains of an FFFG and a .457 ball. Perfect, I have the .457 balls and I have Pyrodex-P FFFG. I also have the #10 and/or #11 caps.

Here is where I am confused. I have some Wonder wads. I was intending to load 20 grs. of Pyrodex, put in a Wonder Wad, seat the bullet, slap on some bore butter and fire it.

But...... I keep reading about more filler such as cornmeal. Will I need it? Will the Wonder Wad and 20 grs. be enough to compress the load and avoid an air space?

I would like to keep the loads light and simple like I outlined above, but if I need cornmeal (or some other filler) besides the Wonder Wad how would you suggest building the load?

Please weigh in and let me know if I have a solid plan or if I am headed in the wrong direction!

[Baltimoreed]

It’s been years but I never used a filler, just a wonder wad over the powder. If I was shooting on the range a dab of crisco works too. If I were carrying it afield in my holster i put a wonder wad over the powder and one over the ball or bullet to make sure I had no chain fires and not mess with any grease to keep the mess out of my holster. My ROA was very accurate. You’ll enjoy yours.

[G W Wade]

I really enjoy watching my friend who shoots C&B excusively.load. Pour in the powder, corn meal to about 1/2 the diameter of the ball then ram the ball down. Use a popciscle stick to smear some semi-hard lube ontop. Then runs his nipple pick thru the nipple, cap and make smoke. He shoots 30 rds thru 2 ROA"S with FTF a rare occassion. He is an artist. GW

[Bad Ass Wallace]

When was competing in comps, my standard load was 28.5gns of 3F Wano, capped off with cornmeal to 1/2 up where the ball sits, compress with the load plunger then seal off with grease using a popsicle stick to level off. Hint, take a pair of sharp sissors and snip the side of each cap before you place over the nipple. When fired this will ensure the used cap falls off and not go into the action.

I polished my RCBS mould out to throw 0.460" diameter. When you press this into the cylinder it almost doubles the bearing surface onto the rifling. Note:- a cerrosafe cast will show that the cylinders are tapered approx 0.0015" (to make stuck balls easier to remove) so the deeper you seat a ball the smaller it becomes.

Brings back fond memories, I won 11 state Championships with that combination.

[Castaway]

The only thing putting grease over the ball accomplishes is to make a greasy pistol. The way to prevent a chain-fire is to use a properly sized ball, one that leaves a ring of lead after seating. There’s a train of thought that the grease contributes to chain-fires by collecting powder grains in their goop. I’ve never had personal experience with Wonder Wads, but have seen plenty of shooters that use them while shooting next to me. After a few cylinders, theirs become stiff due to the fouling. Suggest you go to Salvation Army, buy a wool felt hat, punch your wads and lube with Gato Feo #1. By weight; 2:2:1, paraffin, mutton tallow and beeswax. Doesn’t run in Florida hot weather and works well in the cold also. Powder, wad, bullet. If your ram seats the bullet on top of your powder column without presence of a filler, you’ve saved an extra and unnecessary step by not adding cornmeal

[a1parrothead]

Thanks to all for your replies. I am curious if anyone has any other favorite loads for this ROA.
Jeff

[kaiser]

Favorite loads are like opinions, everyone who shoots has theirs; mine depends on whether I'm using "Black", Pyrodex "P", or Triple 7 fffg. The ruger Old Army is a very strong pistol and mine is very accurate when using just about any load listed in the manuals, but seems to like the "high end" loads "best". I use the method outlined by others with the powder load, followed by a "wonder wad", then the .457 ball firmly seated over the wad. (Using grease, particularly in the summer months, makes a mess and is totally unnecessary of a wad is employed IMO.) I've not ever had a "chain-fire" using either method in over 40 years. I've always heard and read the warnings about chain-fires and don't doubt someone has had that happen to them, but suspect it occurred because of inattention to details (sweat the small stuff!). Have fun with your "Old Army"; they are a hoot to shoot!

[ShooterAZ]

I use 30 grains of Goex 3F, and an ox-bow wonder wad. I cast my roundballs from a .457 RCBS mold using pure lead with just a touch of tin. In the hot months I use a 50/50 blend of beeswax and olive oil, in cold months I use bore butter over the cylinder. The lube seems to help reduce fouling, allows thing to function smoothly, and makes cleanup easier IMO. You have to clean it after shooting regardless. I purchased new ROA nipples from Track of the Wolf, and use Remington #10 caps. Hope this helps...

[Minerat]

I got one recently and use 35 gr 3F BP by volume, a home made thin card (magazine insert) over the powder, a felt wad soaked in a simple 50-40-10 mix of unsalted Crisco, bees wax and olive oil. Under a pure lead 0.457 ball. No filler and no goo cover. Very nice and no leading issue. I make paper cartridges too so I shoot more and reload less.

[warren5421]

I shoot a pair in SASS for 4 years. I used 36 gr voluum of FFFg of black or 777. Oxyok lubed felt wad and a .457 soft ball. Using 20 gr of powder the ram was not long enough to set the ball against the powder. Do not drop the hammer on a capped chamber with a loaded chamber not capped, you may send two rounds down range as the flash from the cap can set the uncapped loaded chamber off. Call chain fire!

[dondiego]

I shoot a pair in SASS for 4 years. I used 36 gr voluum of FFFg of black or 777. Oxyok lubed felt wad and a .457 soft ball. Using 20 gr of powder the ram was not long enough to set the ball against the powder. Do not drop the hammer on a capped chamber with a loaded chamber not capped, you may send two rounds down range as the flash from the cap can set the uncapped loaded chamber off. Call chain fire!

Have you ever done it? I have tried with no luck.

[Castaway]

ShooterAZ, with the Gato Feo (GF) lube, fouling stays goopy, the barrel amazingly clean and final clean up is nothing more than a tooth brush and water. All that, and a pistol that isn’t greasy. Sometimes a drop of dawn on the brush and patch, sometimes not. I’ve tried numerous lubes and after a four or so cylinders worth of shooting, the pistol is so fouled you have to rotate the cylinder by hand when cocking the hammer. With GF lube I’ve never had that problem. A tip for cylinder cleaning. Split a piece of bamboo slightly less than cylinder diameter and shape the end to contour the inside/bottom of cylinder. Place a wet patch on the bamboo and twist until clean. Popsicle sticks will splinter but the bamboo is tough.

[gunther]

35 grains of 3f, or equivalent volume of pyrodex, and the ball will barely seat on the powder. A hunting load of 43 grains of 4f black, and the ball will barely go into the cylinder far enough for the cylinder to rotate. .457 ball will cut off a very fine ring of lead when you seat it. Ford moly ep tube grease doesn't melt and always works. 20 grains of 3f black or pyrodex and almost filling the chamber with corn meal is a good, light target load that saves powder, but is more trouble. Capping all loaded chambers and that fine ring of lead shaved off the seated ball will prevent chain fires. The grease stops leading and keeps fouling soft enough to shoot 5 or 6 cylinder fulls.

[a1parrothead]

All great information!
Jeff

[John Taylor]

Several years ago I suggested using 10 grains of powder and the rest corn meal in a brass framed revolver to keep the pistol in good shape, every one laughed at me so I tried in a Remington. It was about the same recoil as a 22LR and did put a hole through the paper target. It doesn't take much to kill a paper target. Having said this I used 35 grains in my ROA and was able to nock the bear target down at 200 yards and the turkey at 175. A wonder wad under the ball may help with fouling. Sold the ROA many years ago and I miss it. If you'r using conical bullets try loading them backwards, make a great wad cutter. Never had a chain fire in the ROA but did have two go off in an original 1858, one went down the barrel and the other was stuck on the rammer. Never did figure out how the one at 12 o-clock set off the one at 6.