Ruger Old Army and 777.

[tim56]

After a long search i have at last got hold of a stainless old army with the 51/2" barrel. Went into Fenland Rural Sports in Warboys to get some 777 and there it was, being sold as second hand but to be honest i dont think its ever been fired. The bottom of the cylinders and the nipples have no residue or any kind of disscoloration what so ever and still in its box with all the bits. Although quite heavy it feels really nice in the hand, solidly built but not quite as much of a hand full as the longer barreled target version. Roll on Sunday morning.
What i want to know is, is there anyone out there shooting one of these with 777,?
The way i understand it from the guys in the shop is it is used by volume not by weight. So, if i measure the volume of my normal 18grn charge of Swiss and use that volume of 777 i should be about right. I know some folks use a lot more black powder than my usual 18grns so i should be well below any sort of maximum loading.
Secondly, iv read on this site about some guys replacing the nipples after having problems with bits of spent caps getting stuck in the hammer mechanism. I had this problem with an old army some years ago but never did cure it so would appreciate any advice from anyone whos got their old army running well. Especially what size /make of caps youre using.
Thanks in advance for any advice, Tim.

[John Bedford]

Triple 7 has more 'oomph' than BP so you should use less. Have a trawl through Hogdgon's web site for more info.

I find the whole 'volume' thing utterly confusing so do everything by weight.

For my .44 Remington (Pietta) 15 grains 777FFFG works best.

[Voodoo]

Ruger Old Army, I use Remington No 11 caps with standard nipples, the cap splits 4 ways but never falls off the nipple, I just flick them off with a lolly stick when i've finished off all six shots.
Used these for years and only had 1 missfire and never had a jam.

I use Pyrodex by volume but I have weighed it out of curiosity and im using 19 grains with a .457 ball and accuracy is good at 20yd

Voodoo

[timtriple]

Hi

I have 7 1/2 Ruger Old Army, I use 777 and aftersome trial & error I have found 21 grains measured from powder flask with interchangeable spouts, a thick wad and Remigton No10 caps ensure it fires everytime and hits target at 25m most of the time.

CCI caps I tended to get lots of misfires & cap jams.

I have also fitted Hogue grips which makes it more comfatable to fire.

I have Tresco nipples on order to see if CCI caps work better as they seem more available and cheaper

Regards tim

[tim56]

Thanks for the advice folks. Have measured the volume of my normal b/p loads and 18 grns of swiss comes out at 1.2 cc,s and 22 grns of TS2 comes out at 1.5 cc,s. Wanting to start lower rather than higher iv filled some phials with 1.0 cc/12 grns worth of 777 and 1.3 cc/15 grns worth as a starting point. Bloody expensive stuff though at about £27 a pound pot, Swiss being only a fiver more for a kilo. Mate Dave has offered me a conical bullet mold in .457" so many Thanks to him. Should be able to get some casting done on sat so Roll on Sunday morning.

[tim56]

Managed to get out on Saturday with the new Ruger, bloody brilliant. Probably the best hand gun iv ever used. Using 15grns (1.3cc) of 777 with a semolina filler and bought round balls with wonderlube covering them Dave managed a 4" group at 25yds with his 2nd round of 6. Mine unfortunatly wernt quite as good but then i do tend to shoot shot gun patterns anyway.
Sunday using 18grns of swiss with home cast conical bullets things are improving to me keeping 10 out of 12 in the black. Using remington no11 caps theres been no jams or missfires and im well chuffed with it. Others who had a go with it are now looking for one themselves so if your in the market for a black powder revolver go for it, you wont be dissapointed.

[DaveJW]

Sorry to be asking such a basic question but how does the scoring work on the 20/25 metre standard target. With the underlever rifle it's a simple ten rounds to give a maximum of 100. Do you shoot 12 rounds with the Ruger or ten?

[lucky trigger]

Managed to get out on Saturday with the new Ruger, bloody brilliant. Probably the best hand gun iv ever used. Using 15grns (1.3cc) of 777 with a semolina filler and bought round balls with wonderlube covering them Dave managed a 4" group at 25yds with his 2nd round of 6. Mine unfortunatly wernt quite as good but then i do tend to shoot shot gun patterns anyway.
Sunday using 18grns of swiss with home cast conical bullets things are improving to me keeping 10 out of 12 in the black. Using remington no11 caps theres been no jams or missfires and im well chuffed with it. Others who had a go with it are now looking for one themselves so if your in the market for a black powder revolver go for it, you wont be dissapointed.

Sounds like the new ruger is a cracker Tim, Dave was very impressed with it. Just sorry i couldnt make it on saturday.

Mick

[tim56]

Hi Mick. Sorry you couldnt make Sat mate. Dave loved the new Ruger and i didnt realise he was such a good pistol shot. We both know hes VERY good with the old rolling blocks as he prooves it every time we have a sat session but he was at home with the ruger straight away.
When we shoot for fun i dont count the scores i just aim to keep em in the black. If i do score with the revolver i will fire 12 shots and count the highest 10. Dont know if thats the norm for competition shooting with a black powder pistol as im not good enough to enter "YET". The comps i do shoot such Lincs light weight sporting rifle, postal gallery rifle and the postal long barrel revolver are all 10 shots per card with either 2 or 3 cards per round.