Shoulder stocking an Old Army black powder revolver?

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Tallbald

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Anyone seriously into black powder ever think about adapting a reproduction Colt Navy style shoulder stock or making one from scratch to fit an Old Army? I see shoulder stocks for repro Colts for sale in several catalogs and online. Would be a fun range gun and with heavy loads a practical short range deer gun. I don't want to be accused of shoulder stocking any other Ruger in my small single action collection (Blackhawk, SBH). I'm not looking to start a debate or flame post. Just think it would make a wonderful accessory if legal. Thanks, Don
 

Flash

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Don't support the gun, forward of the cylinder with your other hand when shooting. That is if you want to keep it. Chain fires can go off when you least expect it if you're not careful, especially when using black powder.
 
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I've got a stock for the 1860 Army. One of mine has a short three inch barrel. Looks really cool with the stock attached.

HANDGUNS12-31-07-0003.jpg


Too shoot it, use a modified two hand grip on the pistol grip, as mentioned, don't try and hold it forward of the barrel cylinder gap. You will do this only once, and after the pain stops you will have learned a valuable lesson.

By the way, it's kinda surprising the accuracy you can get using the butt stock.
 

JHRosier

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Don,
A permanently attached shoulder stock for the Old Army would probably be a manageable project.
A detachable shoulder stock would require a lot of very expensive machining.

Jack
 

lfpiii

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While it is perfectly legal to mount a stock to a black powder handgun I would be concerned that the grip on the Old Army is the same as other Ruger cartridge firearms. It is possible that you could end up with unfriendly local leo and get in trouble.
 

Flash

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lfpiii":3tl6fidi said:
While it is perfectly legal to mount a stock to a black powder handgun I would be concerned that the grip on the Old Army is the same as other Ruger cartridge firearms. It is possible that you could end up with unfriendly local leo and get in trouble.
No it won't be an issue since it is a black powder weapon. You put a conversion cylinder in it and THEN you have trouble.
 
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To reduce the risk of chain firing. (Something that can happen alot) After the powder I fill the cylinder full of regular old corn meal. Like you make corn bread with. It helps prevent chain fires and also gives you a consistent compression of the powder.
 

Tallbald

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Thanks for all the input. I'd better do more research I guess. Some of the accessory stocks I see for the Colt style are really handsome and their cost ($180 and up) would be good motivation to make one. I do wonder about the conversion cylinder question though. And I guess a sharp smith could come up with a design that would only fit a specifically drilled and tapped Old Army frame. Don
 

bluestraw

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lfpiii":1sisepwe said:
While it is perfectly legal to mount a stock to a black powder handgun

Not doubting this, but where could I find more info on this? Is a SBR legal in black powder then? Without all the paperwork I mean.
 

Tallbald

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Hi Bluestraw- Do a search for "black powder revolver shoulder stocks" or the like. Lots of the bigger retailers and makers sell stocks for the old Navy and Army style percussion revolvers but they are expensive. Hence the interest in making one instead. I suppose one could go to the ATFE website or give them a call. Don
 

edlmann

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lfpiii":128n6mhv said:
While it is perfectly legal to mount a stock to a black powder handgun I would be concerned that the grip on the Old Army is the same as other Ruger cartridge firearms. It is possible that you could end up with unfriendly local leo and get in trouble.

Wouldn't want to get caught with a conversion cylinder installed, either.
:shock: :oops:
 

Kanook

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I have wanted to put a stock on my Old Army for a long time. If I could get a stock for loan and compatibilty that would be the greatest.

As far as the stock be able to fit the other Rugers, I don't believe it to be a problem. Some modification will need to be done to the old army grip frame to make it fit. As long as you don't modify any modern you will be fine.
 

higene

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A Crossman 1399 shoulder stock ($25 when I bought mine) lines up O.K. and fires with no modification. I could post a picture but I haven't figured out how to do that on this site yet.

Hi Gene
 

lfpiii

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ATF has always followed the rule that if you own it you are in violation of the law. Owning a conversion cylinder or another single action makes you guilty. 20 years ago ATF came up with this idea for AR15s and ownership of any M16 parts and later expanded this idea to include all guns.

Call the NRA and speak to a gun lawyer before you get in any trouble. I would hate to see us lose a memeber.
 

wetidlerjr

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lfpiii":3flf4kxs said:
ATF has always followed the rule that if you own it you are in violation of the law. Owning a conversion cylinder or another single action makes you guilty...

I haven't seen anything on the arrest of numerous black powder shooters because of this. Do you actually know of someone being arrested for this ?
 

JimMarch1

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Yeah, what you want to avoid is a situation where you have a legally stocked front-stuffer like the Old Army, but the stock ALSO fits a "modern gun" like your Blackhawk in which case you're in "constructive possession" of a short-barrel rifle with no paperwork. In other words, they'll try and claim that even though an illegal recipe isn't bolted together when they visit (or confiscate), all the parts are present to bolt up something banned.

One solution is to make sure the stock bolts onto the grip frame through tapped holes that you drilled into the Old Army grip frame. And no such tapped holes are present on your Blackhawks/Vaqueros or the like.

You'd be even safer if none of your "modern cartridge guns" were Old Model Ruger SAs that could accept the Old Army grip frame as a bolt-on. An Old Army grip frame won't match up properly with a New Model (post-1973) Ruger cartridge SA...but it will match up with the older Ruger SAs (also known as "three screw" guns).
 

44-357

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this is crap ,we get in trouble for haveing an idea.its so good that they were not around during the 1800s when colt came up with the idea to stock their guns.
 

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