The very first thing you'll need to get is the Lyman Black Powder Handbook - never been a better publication printed, IMHO. Being a 'book' it doesn't need turning on or charging up when you need to use it. Simply place it on a flat surface, or even hold it in one hand, and physically 'open' it using one hand. It doesn't go blue on you, suffer power outages either, and once you've bought it, you don't need to continually 'update' it. Great idea - might even catch on....

Next -

1. Unless you are rich, you are going to need to cast your own ball - get a Lee .457 mould- made for the ROA.

2. A powder meaure - we don't load directly into the chamber of ANY BP firearm for safety reasons, BTW, but use plastic phials containing your pre-measured charges. So, a powder flask with a suitable nozzle that you can trim to suit the charge you end up with - whatever that is, or a set of powder scales. Personally, I have a volumetric powder measure made for BP - non-ferrous brass and alloy, but that's just me, and make up a few dozen charges afore I go shooting. My ROA likes 26gr of Pyrodex P - same for Triple 7, strangely enuff. So it goes - powder flask to phial - phial to chamber. If you have a loading stand on which you can place the removed cylinder, OTOH, you might use a flask directly into it - that IS permitted. I don't, so I don't.

3. Some kind of gloop to go over the end of the chamber to keep the fouling soft. I've used a commercial preparation from Boots called E45 for 30+ years - being an emulsion, it just washes away, taking the fouling with it. Others use one kind of grease - water-pump grease or similar. Do NOT use any kind of hydro-carbon-base automotive grease - the heat and pressure cooks it into an almost rock-like substance that wil take hard work to remove. On the other paw, you might prefer to use wads - they are costy here in UK, but there's another thread here about how to make your own. The original guns used no wads, nor do I. The idea is to use a load, or a filler of some kind on top of the powder load, to bring the ball level with the mouth of the chamber. Different folks use use different fillers - some use cous-cous, other use semolina [not mixed up, just in case you were wondering]. The load that I shoot brings the ball almost level with the mouth of the chamber - good enuff for me.

4. Some kind of light yellow grease for the cylinder base pin - that's the part on which the cylinder rotates.

5. Percussion caps - #10 or #11, depending on the state of the nipples. Get RWS Hot if you can - they are better for the substitute propellants that you say that you will be using. Simple reason is that BP goes off at around 315-340F - but Pyrodex P [P for pistol] needs over 600F - I'll let you guess what Triple 7 needs for reliable ignition.

6. Hot water to clean up afterwards - a dishwasher is great if you have electricity - many folks these days do not.

More from others.....including casting your own.

I'm off shooting.

tac