My memories and resentment of the Old Army both go back almost to the inception of it in 1973. A few years after it came out, a dude showed up at the local percussion revolver match with one of these tricked out with a one pound trigger and snatched first prize away from me and my CVA 58 Remington. These things pitched the old black powder matches in to an equipment race. Pretty soon the choice became, get an old army or, quit in disgust. These meets are not nearly as popular as they used to be.
The Old Army is not a replica of anything or a relic of any time. Looked at independently though, it has a certain charm all its own and one very big time practical rason de etre ( a little frenchy-frog talk there.} I think I'll save that for last.
An Internet/ shooting gathering good buddy sent me one of these to elve and I checked it out today with a rip-roaring false start and then the sort of performance you might expect from the ruger. My first notion was that since the chambers held nine more grains of powder (struck off level) than my Colt and Remington copies, It would perform very well with substantially heavier charges. Reasonable, since my replicas respond well to full loads and substantial compression with Pyrodex or fffg.
So, I loaded up with a cylinder extremely full of .457" balls over a compressed 45 grains of Swiss fffg. Visions of ballistic sugar plums danced in my head as the first 6 chambers went across the screens at 1159 fps/ 66 fps spread and seemed to be hitting well enough down range for what I was doing- Shooting two handed over the sky screens. The same volume of Pyrodex P did 1267 but sprawled out at 211 fps extreme spread. Temperatures ranged across the 70s.
The bad part came when I sat down and tried to shoot some groups at 60 feet. They spasticated all over the target with five to seven inch spreads. I started working backwards and managed a 4" group with 40grain/equivalent of pyrodex-still not good and I didn't bother chronographing it. Guns and loads that throw smooth-bore patterns are not interesting regardless of power level.
The goodness set in at 35 grains of Swiss or Pyrodex. and the figures in the picture show that The extreme spreads were well managed and the foot poundage of energy is in the range of .45 Acp Ball and the common standard pressure 9mm loads.
This analogy holds up pretty well for the bullet loads too as they are spanning the 300+ foot pound range. The chambers would hold the Lee bullet and 30 grains of powder but 35 was too much. The best news was that once I had dropped into the 30-35 grain charges, accuracy set in. The largest group was an even two inches and the smallest was 1.5." with the bullets surprisingly, shooting as good as the round ball. These bullets were cast in a lee mold and came out a bit bigger than the advertised .452 diameter cast from wheelweights. Since the chambers on this OA measure .451-2, they gripped the walls well enough to avoid bullet creep.
http://www.gunpix.com/gallery/Muzzleloaders_and_Blackpowder/oldarmyleebp.jpg
Importantly, The Ruger is about as reliable as a caplock can be- which is to say, not quite as reliable as a cartridge revolver but a lot more reliable than a lot of the half-a semi autos people leave in their night stands or carry around with them. I shot about 100 rounds with no cap fragment jams and only a couple of cap fragment "Hesitations". I cleaned the bore between every cyliderfull but paid almost no attention to the base pin or other surfaces. The revolver never gummed up from black powder residue. I had one failure to detonate a cap on first strike. The adjustable sights, screwed all the way down brought the groups to center just above the sight picture at 60 feet. The bullet loads shoot maybe an inch and a half above the balls.
Now for its Raison de Etre, or whatever. In so far as the Federal Government is concerned, it is not a firearm. Under the penal code of the State of Texas and a number of other jurisdictions, it is neither a firearm or a handgun since it does not fire fixed cartridges. This makes purchase, ownership, transportation of it relatively free of restrictions. Some states go ahead and classify them as firearms with all restrictions applicable but you can still shoot them in England and if Texas regards it as a "replica of a pre 1898 firearm that does not fire fixed cartridges", you could probably carry it down the street. {You'd get arrested, of course, but you might beat the rap.}
The Old Army is not a replica of anything or a relic of any time. Looked at independently though, it has a certain charm all its own and one very big time practical rason de etre ( a little frenchy-frog talk there.} I think I'll save that for last.
An Internet/ shooting gathering good buddy sent me one of these to elve and I checked it out today with a rip-roaring false start and then the sort of performance you might expect from the ruger. My first notion was that since the chambers held nine more grains of powder (struck off level) than my Colt and Remington copies, It would perform very well with substantially heavier charges. Reasonable, since my replicas respond well to full loads and substantial compression with Pyrodex or fffg.
So, I loaded up with a cylinder extremely full of .457" balls over a compressed 45 grains of Swiss fffg. Visions of ballistic sugar plums danced in my head as the first 6 chambers went across the screens at 1159 fps/ 66 fps spread and seemed to be hitting well enough down range for what I was doing- Shooting two handed over the sky screens. The same volume of Pyrodex P did 1267 but sprawled out at 211 fps extreme spread. Temperatures ranged across the 70s.
The bad part came when I sat down and tried to shoot some groups at 60 feet. They spasticated all over the target with five to seven inch spreads. I started working backwards and managed a 4" group with 40grain/equivalent of pyrodex-still not good and I didn't bother chronographing it. Guns and loads that throw smooth-bore patterns are not interesting regardless of power level.
The goodness set in at 35 grains of Swiss or Pyrodex. and the figures in the picture show that The extreme spreads were well managed and the foot poundage of energy is in the range of .45 Acp Ball and the common standard pressure 9mm loads.
This analogy holds up pretty well for the bullet loads too as they are spanning the 300+ foot pound range. The chambers would hold the Lee bullet and 30 grains of powder but 35 was too much. The best news was that once I had dropped into the 30-35 grain charges, accuracy set in. The largest group was an even two inches and the smallest was 1.5." with the bullets surprisingly, shooting as good as the round ball. These bullets were cast in a lee mold and came out a bit bigger than the advertised .452 diameter cast from wheelweights. Since the chambers on this OA measure .451-2, they gripped the walls well enough to avoid bullet creep.
http://www.gunpix.com/gallery/Muzzleloaders_and_Blackpowder/oldarmyleebp.jpg
Importantly, The Ruger is about as reliable as a caplock can be- which is to say, not quite as reliable as a cartridge revolver but a lot more reliable than a lot of the half-a semi autos people leave in their night stands or carry around with them. I shot about 100 rounds with no cap fragment jams and only a couple of cap fragment "Hesitations". I cleaned the bore between every cyliderfull but paid almost no attention to the base pin or other surfaces. The revolver never gummed up from black powder residue. I had one failure to detonate a cap on first strike. The adjustable sights, screwed all the way down brought the groups to center just above the sight picture at 60 feet. The bullet loads shoot maybe an inch and a half above the balls.
Now for its Raison de Etre, or whatever. In so far as the Federal Government is concerned, it is not a firearm. Under the penal code of the State of Texas and a number of other jurisdictions, it is neither a firearm or a handgun since it does not fire fixed cartridges. This makes purchase, ownership, transportation of it relatively free of restrictions. Some states go ahead and classify them as firearms with all restrictions applicable but you can still shoot them in England and if Texas regards it as a "replica of a pre 1898 firearm that does not fire fixed cartridges", you could probably carry it down the street. {You'd get arrested, of course, but you might beat the rap.}
