If I were to buy an old army...Metallic cartridge conversion

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Jager01

Bearcat
Joined
Sep 1, 2008
Messages
35
Location
SW Ohio
Is there anyway to convert the Old army to shoot 45LC? I was thinking maybe putting in a vaquero or BH cylinder??? I know nothing about them, only that they are gorgeous guns and BP is a pain in the rear to clean and want to avoid that situation. Thanks.
 

Driftwood Johnson

Blackhawk
Joined
Sep 25, 2007
Messages
699
Location
Land of the Pilgrims
Howdy

First off, Black Powder is no where near as difficult or as much of a pain as you think. Believe it or not, Black Powder is actually easier to clean up after than Smokeless. Yes, it is messier, but with the proper water based solvents, BP fouling melts right off the metal with far less scrubbing than conventional Smokeless powder fouling does.

Anyway, no you cannot fit a Vaquero or Blackhawk cylinder into a Ruger Old Army. Just not an option. However there are two companies that make conversion cylinders for percussion revolvers, and they both make a cylinder that will fit into an Old Army, and they are both chambered for 45 Colt.

One company is R&D. Their products are marketed by Taylors.

http://www.taylorsfirearms.com/prod...pl?subcategory=Conversion Cylinders&startat=1

The other cylinder is made by Kirst.


http://www.kirstkonverter.com/rugerarmy.html

Of course, you will notice that these cylinders are not cheap. But they are very precisely manufactured, and work very well.

For what it's worth, I have a couple of R&D cylinders that fit into my percussion Remington 1858 New Model Armies. They are very well made and make it extra fun to shoot 45 Colt or 45 Schofield rounds in my Remmies.
 

461

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jun 16, 2004
Messages
227
Location
Omaha, Ne. USA
I have one of the Kirst Konvertors in my Old Army and it works flawlessly. I actually enjoy shooting black powder but it's a non option at indoor ranges due to the smoke. I got the conversion cylinder and now when I just want a quick trip to the indoor range I can still shoot my old army.

I think it adds an incredible level of versatility to an already great gun. I'm considering getting another conversion cylinder to shoot .45acp as well, the neat thing there is that you can use the same tail section of the converter and only need to purchase the forward half.
 
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