Ruger Old Army 44 cal revolver

[MrChipShoulder]

Hi,

I've been offered a used stainless steel Sturm Ruger Old Army 44 cal, 7 1/2" barel revolver in nice condition.
I have a slot on my certificate for it and I belong to a target shooting club, so am in a good position to buy this gun.

I have felt it and it feels and looks nice, with everything feeling solid and smooth.
Feels and looks of a better quality than the Uberti and Remington revolvers.

I have been given a price that 'seems' OK, but what do you guys think these guns are worth and are they in fact better quality than the above brands?

Thanks.

[loiner1965]

Hi,

I've been offered a used stainless steel Sturm Ruger Old Army 44 cal, 7 1/2" barel revolver in nice condition.
I have a slot on my certificate for it and I belong to a target shooting club, so am in a good position to buy this gun.

I have felt it and it feels and looks nice, with everything feeling solid and smooth.
Feels and looks of a better quality than the Uberti and Remington revolvers.

I have been given a price that 'seems' OK, but what do you guys think these guns are worth and are they in fact better quality than the above brands?

Thanks.

not sure on price as ive seen them flunctuate but i think £500 is about right.
quality wise i think they are better than the rest but that shows in the price too as they can be twicw as much
make sure it says .44 / 45 on your ticket as ruger old army revolvers say .44 and .45 even thought they are the same calibre

[MrChipShoulder]

I have 44 on my certificate and the shop said it was 44, but I forgot to look myself, so that's a good point and I'll call over Monday and check :-)
Your suggested price is favourable to what it's been offered to me for, so that's good news :-)
The price does feel right to me, but it's worth checking as I know the value of these things can vary quite a bit.

Thank you.

[loiner1965]

I have 44 on my certificate and the shop said it was 44, but I forgot to look myself, so that's a good point and I'll call over Monday and check :-)
Your suggested price is favourable to what it's been offered to me for, so that's good news :-)
The price does feel right to me, but it's worth checking as I know the value of these things can vary quite a bit.

Thank you.

they are quality revolvers and in my opinion the best even though i have the remington nma 1858.
you certainly get your money back if you decide to sell unlike the other revolvers

[Abasmajor]

The Ruger Old Army was Americas attempt to provide a rugged muzzle loading revolver utilising modern materials and engineering innovation. Apart from the normally fitted fully adjustable sights, it uses coil rather than flat springs which are the part most likely to fail on the Italian reproductions. The Old Army is based on a fine range of powerful breech loading revolvers and should provide a lifetime of trouble free shooting. The downside is that it is a heavy revolver that doesn't easily lend itself to single handed, precision shooting and is ineligible for some formal competition. However, if you just want to shoot it informally or in club competitions it would be a great choice. Unfortunately, the Ruger is no longer in production and consequently spares are not easy to source especially here in the UK. I've owned mine for over twenty five years and have never experienced a single breakage or reliability issue.
Finally I've seen many on offer at around the £500 mark, so in the condition you describe, that would seem to be a realistic price to become the proud owner.

Brian

[MrChipShoulder]

Hi,

Thank you for the info, looks like I'm all lined up for a good gun at a good price :-)

I'll get the correct ball mould, I now have a nicely growing ball mould collection !

I have these powders, I expected to be using 4Fg for pistols?
https://ibb.co/tKQTSWq

I use the 3Fg in my 50 cal Hawken.

[loiner1965]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WNYGs2_UZw

always interesting to watch this chap

[MrChipShoulder]

Thanks for the YT link.
I had started watching the Ruger videos, but not this guy yet.
I have seen loads of his other black powder content and some of his builds :-)
He's a good guy to watch, I like the black powder gun shows he covers

How I would LOVE to go to one of those shows, never guna happen though :-(

[Turnup]

Hi,

Thank you for the info, looks like I'm all lined up for a good gun at a good price :-)

I'll get the correct ball mould, I now have a nicely growing ball mould collection !

I have these powders, I expected to be using 4Fg for pistols?
https://ibb.co/tKQTSWq

I use the 3Fg in my 50 cal Hawken.

Swiss #2 is the preferred powder for any revolver but it won't hurt to try #1. I echo Tac's comments re conicals - they just don't seem to work well.

The ROA is a well made and strong gun so enjoy. For a grin fill it right up with BP (won't be hugely accurate but it will put a smile on your face).

Small warning. Be careful that the arbor pin retainer is in the locked position before ramming. Quite a few folk have attempted ramming with the arbor pin unlocked - it allows the arbor pin to move forwards a little and then bends it, usually at the locking notch. Usually it can be straightened again but I guess there is a limit to the number of times you could get away with that. Don't ask me how I know

[Turnup]

When it happened to me I was on the Gallery range (now alas the much inferior Winnans) so I popped over to Fulton's. It was only a little bent but I was muchly surprised when they simply put it in a vice and bent it straight again - no heat just cold. I guess it is worth a try 'cos if it breaks it was anyway scrap so nothing to lose by giving it a go. Mine has been none the worse for the experience.

[MrChipShoulder]

So just to confirm, Swiss Powder

No1 says FFFFg for pistols (4fg)
No2 says FFFg for rifles (3fg)

https://ibb.co/tKQTSWq

I think Swiss have mixed up the 'F's ???

I'm to use the bigger FFFg No2 rifle powder for the pistol.

[MrChipShoulder]

Tac,

Have you clicked on this link ?

https://ibb.co/tKQTSWq

[MrChipShoulder]

I really do think you NEED to look at my picture!
I'm sure they sell swiss in the US?
If you refuse to look at my link, you are just going to confuse me even more than you are!
It's only a link to my own picture, there is no spam on it.
https://ibb.co/tKQTSWq

No1 says FFFFg for pistols (4fg)
No2 says FFFg for rifles (3fg)

These are not my words, this is how 'Swiss' sell there powder.
It is the powder I use and I'd like to know how their grading system is working.
You are suggesting I'm using priming powder in my pistols.
Swiss sell a 'Priming Power' No1 FFFFg (4Fg) is sold for pistols.

Please help me to understand what's what.

[MrChipShoulder]

"I don't need your link to tell me about Swiss BP"

You do need to know what GP I am using if you are going to tell me what to put in my gun.

"Swiss - European - BP 4fg = British and US 3Fg"

When YOU say use 3fg (GoEx) I can use my Swiss 4fg cos it's the same and presumably I can use Swiss 3fg as your 2fg ?


If the above is correct, surely you can see my confusion when you TELL me to use 3fg in my pistol when I'm using Swiss and the Swiss bottle tells me 4fg is correct for pistol.

Or is it just me being thick?

[loiner1965]

i use 20 gns of swiss 3fg in my pietta 1858 revolver with .454 round ball but i use to use 25gns......i weigh mine rather than measure but each to their own.

i use 70 - 75 gns of swiss 3fg in my martini henry pushing a 500 gn cast bullet .
some use 2fg with good results.

with my pietta i can use .457 ball too like your ruger old army but i prefer .454
next time at the range i will use .452 lee conicals with 20 gns of swiss 3fg
only issue is with 777 which is good powder to use but doesnt like compression as it can pressure spike