Old Army essentials and info

I recently picked up a stainless Old Army 7 1/2 adjustable sights at a pawn shop. It is my first black powder gun. I have been reading up on cleaning and loads. I thought I might ask.

What are the necessary things I need to have on hand for care and feeding?
What is some essential info in need to know?
Favorite loads?
Common mods?

I am making going to be picking up some stuff to get started on Wednesday.

I know there were some bisley parts floating around at one time, if anyone jade any they don't need let me know.

Thank you
Jimmy

Well, of course the essentials are black powder or a substitute, round balls of the correct size, and a over the ball lube. Add in the percussion caps & you'll be able to enjoy that gun. Many have found the load of 30 grns of BP or equivalent, over a round ball to be the best overall. Very few folks modify their OA's. I'm sure it's been done,,, but I don't recall seeing a Bisley g/f on one.
One thing a lot of serious BP shooters do is get a stand to prop the gun on to load it,,, OR,,, they get a cylinder loading tool to make it easier to load the chambers. One member posted a pictorial of a stand he built out of a few pieces of scrap wood that would be excellent to have. Having a stand that holds the gun while you pour in the BP & seat the balls is a HANDY item.
And another thing to consider is to clean the gun as soon as possible after shooting to prevent any rust & pitting from starting. I've seen way too may good guns ruined by not cleaning soon, or failure to clean properly.
Get a good manual on how to load & shoot it, as well as cleaning. The good thing about the Ruger stainless ones is you can remove the grips & completely submerge the gun into a HOT cleaning solution & it'll truly help it a lot. Some have even used their home dishwasher to clean their OA's.

jpdesign said:

I recently picked up a stainless Old Army 7 1/2 adjustable sights at a pawn shop. It is my first black powder gun. I have been reading up on cleaning and loads. I thought I might ask.

What are the necessary things I need to have on hand for care and feeding?
What is some essential info in need to know?
Favorite loads?
Common mods?

I am making going to be picking up some stuff to get started on Wednesday.

I know there were some bisley parts floating around at one time, if anyone jade any they don't need let me know.

Thank you
Jimmy

Click to expand...

3F powder, #10 percussion caps, .457 balls, Crisco, and you're good to go. "bout the only mod I've ever done to an OA is to add some sort of pacmeyer grips. Even that isn't necessary, just more comfortable.
CB1

After I clean mine in the kitchen sink with soapy water, I put it in the oven with the grips off and turn the oven to about 250*. When the oven reaches that temperature, I shut it down and let things cool off.

Disassemble, clean in HOT water, lube with Bore Butter. Key is to get the metal hot to dry it thoroughly! I find, for range use, that 30 gr Pyrodex pellets are great. I use Wonder Wads instead of lube but Bore Butter works good and one less thing to bring along. (PS: Mine are both blued).

In Washington, we are allowed to carry a muzzle loading pistol as back up during m/l season. Bears and cougars (?) will sometimes claim a carcass and a pistol is easier to carry while packing meat.

I'm so very happy for you! I love my Old Armys all of which are stainless too. Just love them. I clean mine with soapy (Dawn) water, do a hot water rinse in the kitchen sink, blow the inside and outside off well with compressed air in the shop then a dot of Remoil on the innards followed by another blow off and blowout. Remember to remove the cylinder nipples for cleaning too. This has always worked for me well.
The fun part of black powder revolvers to me are the accessories! Flap holsters and belt accessory packs (make them myself), loading stands, cappers, powder horns...... the fun list is as long as you'd like it to be! I even now cast my own round balls from scrap yard lead roof flashing. I prefer Triple Seven substitute myself. And I make my own waxed felt wads using a drill press and hard felt from Durofelt here in the South. Don't know how it is for others but my adjustable sight ROAs all had to have higher front sights installed. I've read frequently about the same need on other sites.
Have a great time with your ROA! Shoot with a friend and you'll likely find yourself talking and loading much more than actually pulling the trigger. Each and every shot is an event with BP revolvers to me.
Welcome to the club! Don

Great info above.
I prefer Remington caps, fit best.
A word of caution: ALLWAYS make sure you engage the Basepin lock. It's easy to forget because when the loading lever goes up the Basepin is "somewhat" locked.
Really not a problem when shooting,,,, the problem arises when you go to use the lever,
Applying force to a unlocked basepin will bend the basepin,
then you will try and straiten the slighty bent basepin and SNAP!!!
Followed by lots of cursing followed by even more cursing when you try and find a replacement. Replacements are getting harder to find and expensive.

A day afield with a Old Army is slowed down & enjoyable.

"what are the necessary things I need to have on hand for care and feeding?"

Time !!

I love the look, balance, and natural pointability of the cap&ball revolvers. Had some of them years back and finally let them go. They were a lot of fun. But I found them too time consuming for the amount of rounds put down range. I never owned a Ruger Old Army, but a friend has one that I shot. Superb! Every once and a while the "bug" still tries to bite me. But so far, I have been able to resist. Good luck, hope you have lots of fun with yours.

ODS

A book that I recommend on the subject is Sam Fadala's "The Complete Black Powder Handbook". Google it and you will find it available for $15 to $20 including shipping plus, a maybe legal, free download PDF.

I found Sam's book helpful too when I first got bit by the bp bug.

Hornady Speer make .457 balls, I like 40 -45 grs Pyrodex Pistol. Mine all shoot this load great. Last weekend, I used CCI Magnum caps, I also used the felt Wonder wads, over powder. Some use grease. Then go shoot until your hands turn black! Try Ballistol for clean up. And ALWAYS use anti-seize on threads.

Thanks for the info.
Another question
Is the grip frame/lockwork of the old army the same as a three screw(old model)? Same dimensions, hole locations, etc?

jpdesign said:

Thanks for the info.
Another question
Is the grip frame/lockwork of the old army the same as a three screw(old model)? Same dimensions, hole locations, etc?

Click to expand...

YES

The hammer is obviously unique to the OA, head and no 1/4 notch.

Noted; The OA was the final three screw in the Line-up, thus providing some innards for the others.
No OA parts available thru SR&Co now.

Tons of info out there, but "Gatofeo" has a great primer on Graybeard Outdoors:
http://www.go2gbo.com/forums/92-cap-ball-revolvers-pistols/2772-proper-use-cap-ball-revolver.html

G2 said:

jpdesign said:

Thanks for the info.
Another question
Is the grip frame/lockwork of the old army the same as a three screw(old model)? Same dimensions, hole locations, etc?

Click to expand...

YES

The hammer is obviously unique to the OA, head and no 1/4 notch.

Noted; The OA was the final three screw in the Line-up, thus providing some innards for the others.
No OA parts available thru SR&Co now.

Click to expand...

The pawl is also unique to the OA. You could make one from the BH/ Vaquero pawl but almost have to have a OA pawl to copy.
Eric

Shooting a ROA is like smoking a pipe. There's a lot of messing around before you make any smoke, and you tote some accessories. Both are pretty satisfying.