ruger old army loads

[whitetailsniper]

hi guys, i have a ruger old army i just got last yr. have not hunted with it yet, i was able to shoot it about 18 times,with round balls. my old army is 45 cal. with a 7 1/2 barrel. now i have lots of powder,round balls, #11 caps, tc lubed wads, just need the time to shoot it for deer hunting. i was told these guns can shoot even a 45 cal xtp bullet. so ive been told. id like to hear from the guys who has them,has there favorite loads for them,the bullets they use,or perfer,powder weights, ect and results. i just got it back from magnaport as i had them change out the factory rear sight with a ghost ring sight.,i got the holsters,gunbelts, many differant tresco nipples for differant powder weights for my powder flask,im all set to shoot,just like to hear opions,exsperiances,likes,dislikes,do's and dont's

[stubshaft]

I use the Lee 200gr boolit ahead of 35gr Triple 7 to hunt hogs. That is the max powder that I can still seat the boolit over. I would NOT use an XTP in my ROA for a couple of reasons. the first being that the chambers of my ROA measure .454" and there may not be enough tension to hold the bullet against the powder. The other is that while I have used the XTP in both my 45LC and 454 Casull I do not see any advantage in a ROA over the Lee 200gr or 45cal REAL boolit. The gun is definitely strong enough to handle the XTP's in fact I have load data from another shooter who used TrailBoss in his ROA. The only reason I use a BP sub is because it is almost impossible to get real blackpowder where I live.

I guess that what it boils down to for me is that I realize the limitations of hunting with a BP firearm and embrace them. If I felt a need to reach out further then I would choose a different gun.

[John Taylor]

Several years back I had a Ruger old army and found it was more accurate with 2F. Full loads and round ball worked great. Save the heavy bullets for hunting. No use using lots of lead to punch holes in paper, paper is thin skinned. I did find on another 45 C&B that it would go through both sides of a cardboard box with only 10 grains of powder and was like shooting a 22. Get lots of practice with a small amount of powder.

[whitetailsniper]

i am planning on using this for close incounters with deer here in michigan. id like to find whats better,, round or conical,,and powder weight used,,and results being used on deer,, the damage it did,how far they ran, recoil, ect. your insite is very greatful. once i find what ill use for deer, i will only use it for that. no plinking,or other shooting ,,just plain deer shooter. stored when not using it for deer. i have other guns to plink with, not much of a plinker,just like to find those sweet spot loads,and results. once i find them i dont stray. and go on to my next gun.

[missionary5155]

Good morning
Under 30 yards there is no deer going to walk away very far with a properly placed 220 + grain boolit and all the 2F under it that will fit. Any more power added either in lead weight or a more powerful substitute is just insurance in having complete penetration from any angle. The old Colt 45 BP Loading was THE best horse stopper made. So figure there are no deer that big even in the state of ILL where 300+ pounders are getting common.
A well placed 120 grainer out of a 32.20 will kill deer... That 45 Ruger is easily 3x and and will do the job.
I remeber fellers telling me some years ago... fill the cylinder with 2F and a RB and go shoot anything you want. They were right !

[whitetailsniper]

so do yous think the round balls are more accurate than conicals?? and if so, like missionary5155 do you think the round ball will do any angle,either quarting,side,and frontal will penatrate,and do quickest kills possable?? i think with this old army 45,and my encore 209x50 15 inch pistol= i will only be shooting max of 30-35 yrds max,,farther than that ill leave for the work of my 209x50 encore rifle,,or my 54 cal renagade for this distance shots... i know the limits of my encore rifle, found what it likes,and stuck with it. ive taken successful shots with it that even surprised me. example= sitting in the stand on a nice fall day,,out of the cattails comes a running big doe,she broke out and keep running aprox 170 yrds from me,,with in sec.,,, he come out the same run of cattails a real nice 185 pound 8 pointer,,trying to catch up with her,,, from my angle it all happend so fast,but i was ready for what spooked her out,,when i saw him,,i whistled loud enough for him to hear me,,he stopted,looked over his shoulder right at me with my only target of his butt with his tail straight up. i had no choice of shot so i parked the bullet dead center of his exit hole(pooper) and dropted him were he stood. my first reaction was yes!!! when i inspected were i shot,,it was dead center. now if i can get my renagade,and 2 blk powder pistols to shot that well,heck id be a happy camper!-lol

[StarMetal]

I use a 40 grain by volume load of Triple Seven with a RCBS 255 grain SWC. If that doesn't do it nothing is. I've chronographed some 200 grain SWC's well over 1100 fps with all the Triple Seven I could get under the bullet. When you pull the trigger you know you're not firing a standard BP load.

I've shot jacketed out of my Ruger. The cylinders are tapered and the bullet seated deep enough fits tight in mine and they shot quite well.

[rjehrhardt04]

Early in 2007 I purchased a Ruger Old Army for deer hunting here in Michgan during the Muzzleloading season. Since then I have been very impressed with the quality of the weapon. It is well built and accurate. Maybe the rosewood grips don't have a perfect fit to the frame but you really have to look to notice--nothing that affects the function of the gun.

Anyway, the best load I've found and one I've had to order the supplies for is the following:

45 grains of American Pioneer Powder, FFFg
190 grain, .457" diameter lead conical from Buffalo Bullets
Remington #10 percussion caps, new high volume variety.

I have the 7.5" barreled stainless steel version of the gun with adjustable sights. Best blackpowder firearm I've ever owned (third one). The gun will shoot 1" groups at 25 yards for me--offhand. Never even done bench shooting as this gun is plenty accurate for what I use it for. Also use bore butter for lube/protection for flash firing. #10 caps don't slip off like #11's do and the new Remington high volumes are much better quality than the CCI's I can find here.

The proof of the load is using it. I've shot 3 deer in four years with it, along with a couple of porcupines at about 25 yards. The deer ranged from 20 yards to 40 yards. Two of them dropped in their tracks and the other made it about 40 yards. Of the two I dropped one I shot in the neck as it was facing me and the other I finished off a deer that somebody else had shot and I hit it through the lungs on the run. The one that made it about 40 yards I double-lunged. Accurate gun with plenty of pop with that load. Don't have a chronograph but that load should be around 1100-1200fps from other loads I've read.

Great gun, and I may hunt with it in rifle season, over my Ruger SuperBlackhawk .44 mag. Just more comfortable with it. Most accurate handgun I've fired, blackpowder or not.

Hope this helps! Enjoy the Old Army!

Rob

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

The most accurate load in my Stainless Old Army is
20 grains (volume measured) of FFF Black
topped with 20 grains corn meal (volume measured) for a filler.
.457 round balls mostly.
Bear grease or Bore butter to prevent crossfire.

I mostly shoot Paper, offhand at 50 feet.
Jon

[Trapaddict]

Ditto on the corn meal as filler in the Old Army with round ball. The most accurate load I ever fired in mine was the Lee 220 grain conical made for the ROA with the rebated base. Would lube the bullets in a .458 Lyman sizing die to fill the grease grooves and load the bullet upside down as a full wadcutter over 30 Gr of FFFG Goex and RWS #11 caps. Fired Many 6 shot one big ragged hole groups at 25 yds from sand bags with that combination.

Jeff

[DIRT Farmer]

35 grns of powder and a RB will do the job to 35 yds. Indiana does not allow M/L pistols withless than a 10 inch barrel and has to be 50 cal. The 35 grn RB load is what I started my boys hunting with in a rifle, and when placed in a stand where their range would be limited, the load worked well. They could place their shots where they needed to and deer fell over.

[Alan]

Velocity is not necessarily your friend when trying to get a pure lead RB to penetrate - if they flatten out, penetration will decrease. A C&B revolver w/ a cylinder full of FFg is actually in the sweet spot, and will do a lot better than you think it will.

Just this last week, nitroexpress.com seems to have vanished - guess they didn't pay their bills, since there hadn't been much activity there. In one of the forums there was a picture of a RB with a bone chip embedded in it and a shoulder bone that had thoroughly been shattered. According to the poster, the ball was from a .54 pistol loaded w/ 30 gr. of powder, and it was found in off side ribs of an elk. It broke his leg then double-lunged him.

With a revolver, I would avoid quartering shots, or deliberately trying to break a shoulder w/ RB, but ribcage shots should give complete penetration, or close to it. Besides, it's a repeater - Give 'em the Mozambique Drill. }8^)