I am not sure whether you intend to carry the Ruger as a back up or as the only weapon you intend to use but the first thing you need to do is check your hunting regulations. Some States prohibit the use of any muzzle loading pistol, while some prohibit the use of cap and ball revolvers.
As you may know, the Ruger requires a .457 dia ball or bullet. That is so it can be swaged into the cylinder during loading and I'm not sure if the "Power Point" bullets come in .457 diameter. If they do, then you could probably use them.
Buffalo Bullets makes a 190 grain Pistol bullet (.457 diameter) just for this application.
If you can hunt with the "Old Army" whether you use a bullet or a round ball you should be aware that the powder charge for the bullet will be less than with the round ball. Why? Because the limiting factor for the powder is the available room in the cylinder under the ball/bullet and the Pistol bullet is longer thus it uses some of this valuable space.
Although the table is for .40 cal round balls, The Dixie catalog table for Pistol Velocity indicates a 30 grain charge of FFFg (which is about all I think you can get in an Old Army even with a round ball) will give a velocity of 872 FPS.
Using a rounded off formula of Energy=Velocity(FPS) Squared X Bullet Weight (in grains) Divided by 450000 and using 144 grains (for a .457 ball) the energy at 872FPS will be about 243 Foot Pounds Muzzle energy.
In my opnion this is good enough to finish off a dieing deer with a head shot from 4 feet away but it is not enough energy to use as a primary weapon to hunt anything larger than a Coyote with.
As you may know, the Ruger requires a .457 dia ball or bullet. That is so it can be swaged into the cylinder during loading and I'm not sure if the "Power Point" bullets come in .457 diameter. If they do, then you could probably use them.
Buffalo Bullets makes a 190 grain Pistol bullet (.457 diameter) just for this application.
If you can hunt with the "Old Army" whether you use a bullet or a round ball you should be aware that the powder charge for the bullet will be less than with the round ball. Why? Because the limiting factor for the powder is the available room in the cylinder under the ball/bullet and the Pistol bullet is longer thus it uses some of this valuable space.
Although the table is for .40 cal round balls, The Dixie catalog table for Pistol Velocity indicates a 30 grain charge of FFFg (which is about all I think you can get in an Old Army even with a round ball) will give a velocity of 872 FPS.
Using a rounded off formula of Energy=Velocity(FPS) Squared X Bullet Weight (in grains) Divided by 450000 and using 144 grains (for a .457 ball) the energy at 872FPS will be about 243 Foot Pounds Muzzle energy.
In my opnion this is good enough to finish off a dieing deer with a head shot from 4 feet away but it is not enough energy to use as a primary weapon to hunt anything larger than a Coyote with.
