New to BP help please

[Night Stalker]

Hi as the tille says I'm new to BP shooting and have a ROA 45 on it's way to me.

Where do I start? I have some .457 balls and bullets, but what I would like advice on is what powder and weight should I start with what primers are best and can anyone recomend a load manual/data?

Thanks in advance

Rick

[davederrick]

About 18 to 20gr of real Black Powder or Pyrodex ought to be a good start for the balls. I doubt you will get any benefit from Minie bullets, tried them myself & found the balls to be just as accurate with less recoil. Bullets had similar sized groups a few inches higher Primers - try CCI #10 / #11 or Dynamit Nobel No. 1075 - depends on the nipples to what fits best, may be too small or too big.

[Smokeless Coal]

get yerself some vials/phials and pre-measure your powder before you go to the range.

[fcat]

Where to start...well nothing below is absolute but this may help:

Percussion caps: try Remington No 11. You may want to get a capper - a tool to hold caps and help you put them on the nipples, drum is better than in-line as it holds far more. Personally I just use my fingers. The pistol should come with a nipple key for unscrewing the nipples for cleaning etc.

Powder: Swiss#2 is probably the best but you need a licence for true black powder, so a propellant like pyrodex or 777 maybe be easier to obtain. I use around 17 grain of swiss#2. Either get a set of scales (e.g. Lee powder scales) and a set of small phials with tops so you can pre-measure out the powder before you get to the range or get a powder flask with a selection of screw in nozzles that will "throw" the required amount. The rules at your range may dictate here as some won't allow flasks of powder any longer on safety grounds. If you pre-measure, you may want a small funnel to help pour from phial into chamber.

Filler: some sort of inert filler is required to fill up the chamber on top of the charge so that the ball/bullet sits just a fraction below the top of the chamber when rammed in. If it sits too far down the chamber, it can affect the accuracy/consistency. I use Sainsury's ground rice, around 25-30 grain by volume, "thrown" from a powder flask.

It is fairly common to apply a lubricant to the top of the ball once rammed into the chamber. I use a small smear of Wonder Lube applied with an old ice cream stick, others use axle grease, etc. The point is to keep the fouling soft at the entrance to and along the barrel - if the fouling builds up it will affect accuracy and its a pain to clean during shooting. The lubricant also acts as an additional seal to reduce the risk of chain fire - flashover from fired chamber to adjacent chamber although the actual risk of this is slim given an over-size lead ball has been rammed into the chamber forming a pretty gas tight fit !

Cleaning kit: a tooth brush, some black powder solvent, a cleaning rod plus wire brush and/or nylon brush and/or wool mop for cleaning barrel. Some people use a pull through instead. Lots of WD40 and old rags.

Other stuff, small flat head screw driver for removing stuck caps, dismantling the gun. Small towel, kitchen roll as the whole business is pretty mucky and you may need to clean your hands to maintain a proper grip on pistol when shooting. Spare nipples. Very fine wire or pin for clearing blocked nipple.

No doubt others will have more advice and tips.

regards
Nigel

[Smokeless Coal]

As with all shooting safety is the key factor.

Get someone at your range to check/advise on your first few loadings.

First check your nipples are clear, if there is any trace of oil then cap off before loading (put a cap on each EMPTY chamber and fire it towards your target) This should burn off any residue and reduce the chance of a misfire.

Prepare the parts for all chambers in your loading tray. 6 phials of powder, 6 of filler or wads, 6 balls. That should reduce the chance of double charging.

There are two basic ways to load.

1, To load each chamber completely before moving to the next, charge with powder, add filler or wad, add ball, ram home, move to next chamber and repeat, after all cylinders are loaded go round with grease if you are using it.

2, Loading all chambers together, charge each chamber with powder, add filler or wad to each chamber, add ball and ram to each, grease.

I prefer 2 because after putting powder in I rotate the cylinder and look in to double check that I have not double charged or missed one, we are only human and it does happen.

[harricook]

Hi

Welcome to the Dark Side !!

There have been a few ROA threads on here recently if you do a search - it's worth a little time to read though

I have put a few links to the ones I felt most useful to you

If you need (or want) to go with vials for loading give me a shout - email address is on my contacts page if my PM box is full

If you were closer - I'd say come to the range & I'll get you set up !!!!

If you want an electronic copy of the ROA manual that should be with your gun - let me know & I'll email it to you

All the best

Roy
.
Links below to threads ...
http://www.airgunbbs.com/forums/show...ighlight=ruger
http://www.airgunbbs.com/forums/show...ighlight=ruger
http://www.airgunbbs.com/forums/show...ighlight=ruger
http://www.airgunbbs.com/forums/show...ighlight=ruger
http://www.airgunbbs.com/forums/show...ighlight=ruger
http://www.airgunbbs.com/forums/show...ighlight=ruger
http://www.airgunbbs.com/forums/show...ighlight=ruger
http://www.airgunbbs.com/forums/show...ighlight=ruger

[Jim McArthur]

If you want an electronic copy of the ROA manual that should be with your gun - let me know & I'll email it to you

All the best

Roy
.

Thanks for gathering all these ROA Threads together, Roy!

Please post the Manual here, so we can all have it.

Jim

[harricook]

Thanks for gathering all these ROA Threads together, Roy!

Please post the Manual here, so we can all have it.

Jim

Hey Jim !

Good to have you back

I have the manual as a PDF file - but you can download it yourself from the Ruger website here

http://www.ruger.com/products/_manuals/oldArmy.pdf

They also have a serial number database - so you can find out age info on your guns by punching in the number here

http://www.ruger.com/service/product.../RE-OAKBP.html (this is for stainless ROA)

http://www.ruger.com/service/product...y/RE-OABP.html (this one for blued ROA)

Cheers

Roy
.

[Night Stalker]

Thanks to everyone who replied, I'm going to give 777 a go first and due to how adictive it seems to be I have ordered 100 vials from evilbay. I have managed to get Roughshooter off here to say he will show me the ropes (like he did with C/F reloading).

I'll let you know how I get on, thanks Again,

Rick.

[martindl99]

Enjoy, happy shooting