Abused Ruger Old Army

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you can rent a forcing cone reamer off of the internet. even with my new revolvers no matter who makes them i recut the forcing cone. it wont cost a arm and a leg. you ruger old army will shoot holes in holes. i had one once and tuned it good and put a howell 45 long colt cylinder in it. sold it to a shooter from penn. he said of all his rugers it is the best most accurate one. carries it every hunt for back up. if you send it to me, no cylinder, i can do it for you for nothing. just send money so i dont have to pay the return. i have all the tools to do it. ive done dozens of revolver for me and my friends. money enough for postage. if you want to know who im am go to pine ridge black powder. thats me. look at the bench gun i built, i still have that one.
 
He has too much backlog. Isn't accepting new work at this time, so I need to find another smith. So far nobody near me that I called twists barrels. I'll be moving down near Clements next year, and may be able to get him to do it then. For now I'll just shoot it as is.

It would seem to me that a barrel change would be a pretty common repair for anyone who calls himself a gunsmith. I don't see anything much different about changing a ROA barrel compared to a SAA barrel. However, maybe you can find a gunsmith who does a fair amount of revolver work not too far away.
 
I had one a few years back, not forcing cone but looked like it hung in a safe on a peg wet, and it had a rough spot in the barrel. Shot just fine.
 
Ebay has some parts. Paw spring with plunger amongst them.
Jack first gun parts has paw and several others.
 
Correct me if I am wrong but I think the Ruger Old Army uses a standard Ruger Blackhawk .45 Colt barrel. I figure there may be minor differences that a good gunsmith would have no problem working out.

If I were in your shoes I would decide if I want a perfect looking Old Army or would I be happy with a good shooter that is not aesthetically perfect. If the latter is good enough I would try shooting it first (providing it's safe to fire of course) before wasting any time or money working on it.

If it turns out to be one of those type of guns that are tack drivers despite having a pitted sewer pipe for a barrel (there seems to be known cases of this) then I would avoid tampering with it whatever the case.
 
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a ruff barrel doesnt mean a bad shooter. thanks for bringing that up.

But a rough forcing cone has more impact than a rough bore. In the case of my barrel, the forcing cone damage is extensive, but uneven around the circumference of the cone. That will impact accuracy. Plus, I just don't want to have it that way. Just need to get a smith to spin on the new barrel, but not in a hurry.
 
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But we all have a morbid curiosity as to how well it will shoot in it's present condition. Finding out how lousy it will shoot can be just as exciting as finding out how good it can shoot (hmmmm did I say the same thing twice using different words oh you know what I mean.) What about you are you just a tiny bit curious ?
 
But a rough forcing cone has more impact than a rough bore. In the case of my barrel, the forcing cone damage is extensive, but uneven around the circumference of the cone. That will impact accuracy. Plus, I just don't want to have it that way. Just need to get a smith to spin on the new barrel, but not in a hurry.
Reread Catman42's post about having the capability and equipment to do it for shipping.
 
look guys im not trying to make money here. i dont need it. if you have bad forcing cone on your revolver and want it done right . send it to me and i will do it for the postage in returning it as a friend on this site. if i get a large amount to do i may have to change this but at this time it is a friend helping a friend. also if the muzzle is dinged up i cant redue that also. remember a ruff barrel means nothing as to accuracy. im almost 80 years old and time on my hands.
 
Reread Catman42's post about having the capability and equipment to do it for shipping.
No offense to Catman42, but he has offered to fix a bad forcing cone, not to re-barrel. No matter what he does to this forcing cone, there will be a huge rough patch just beyond it. Fixing a forcing cone is not rocket science, and I could do it myself with a reamer / chamfering set that would cost less than $100. I would do that if it was the problem. I intend to have it re-barreled next year (when I'm retired), and shoot it as is for now. Re-barreling is not a task I want to do myself, as there could be issues with B/C gap and sight alignment. Might need a lathe. My plan is to have the new barrel cut to 5.5", have the sight re-installed, and either remove the rammer or shorten it.
 
Reviving this old post to let you know what I did. I never did shoot it with the pitted barrel. I sent the gun and the replacement barrel off to Gary Barnes (hoof hearted) and he set the replacement barrel on it. Looks great, and I highly recommend you check out Gary if you need a pro to do some smithing. Pic of my two ROA below. A blued and a stainless.

20200205_193753.jpg
 
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