The RUGER OLD ARMY Club

IansROA : on your ROA.....remove the cylinder. Once removed, cock the hammer back all the way. Now feel the cylinder lock 'notch' that is protruding upwards. It should be springy but stiff. Pressing it down all the way should be a hard thing to do. Check it well to see that it has no burrs and is sharp and clean and not binding at all, so it inserts nice and tight into the cylinders cut-outs. Check your cylinders cut-outs for burrs too. This damage can occur, [burring] if the cylinder was forced into position without 'feeling for' that insertion position when returning the cylinder back into the receiver. It could just be a burr or two. A small burr is all it takes to slip and skip a cylinder notch. Don't worry about a spring, ROA springs are built like hell and should last a lifetime................ all the best to you !
 
J bar, it may be how your cocking it. The Ruger uses a coil spring and plunger system for actuating the hand which lends itself to over rotate if you hesitate in your hammer pull. I can do it at will. That's one thing that the Co!t style flat hand spring has over the coil. It can be set to almost free wheel but put the brakes on at the last instint, allowing lock up. That's how I set up my El Patron Competition. I took out the wires and replaced them with flats and the hand is traditional flat spring and tuned. Nice GUN !!!!!
 
G,day i have a problem with the cylinder over rotating sometimes when i cock the hammer.... ive looked at the cylinder catch and spring all seems ok and also the catch indentations around the cylinder seem fine .....am i just cocking the hammer to fast ?? causing the loaded chamber to go past the hammer slot
Now every time i cock it i,m paranoid about it and now find myself looking through the hammer slot to see if the cap is lined up properly and hand indexing the cylinder backwards until its in the proper position....
any ideas would be great.

Thanks in advance
Ian
Ian,
Do you have access to another cylinder? If so, does it respond the same way?

No extra? Get some Prussian blue and apply it to the cylinder. This may give you a read on the latch's drag if that's the case.

Next, mix a little glycerin with some paraffin and fill the notches with this soft mix. If your latch isn't denting it without your help, the spring is likely the culprit. You can also get an idea about how your latch's geometry corresponds to you cylinder.

There's not much that can happen with the pawl to cause this, but it CAN - we've seen it enough.

Let us know if you decide you need/want to try different parts.

Ruger certainly should provide you satisfaction if nothing else works.

Here's wishing you luck 'til we next hear from you.

Edo.
Classicballistx
 
J bar, it may be how your cocking it. The Ruger uses a coil spring and plunger system for actuating the hand which lends itself to over rotate if you hesitate in your hammer pull. I can do it at will. That's one thing that the Co!t style flat hand spring has over the coil. It can be set to almost free wheel but put the brakes on at the last instint, allowing lock up. That's how I set up my El Patron Competition. I took out the wires and replaced them with flats and the hand is traditional flat spring and tuned. Nice GUN !!!!!
Hi 45 dragoon i checked it out at the range your correct its me thats causing the problem of the cylinder over rotating.
the way i was shown to cock the hammer holding the gun in my right hand after firing was to use the left hand to cock the hammer whilst tipping the gun to the right to clear the spent cap when i pulled the hammer back i was hesitating and also depressing the trigger slightly causing the cylinder latch to drop at the same time i was tipping the gun to the right to clear cap ....the cylinder was in free wheel just going past its position hard to explain easier to do , so ive changed the way i do it and it seems to have rectified the problem.
regards Ian
 
Thanks to you both...I learned something.

I also appreciated Classicballistx tip about using glycerin/paraffin in the cylinder notches. That might be useful if I ever have to tune an open top again.
 
My Ruger Old Army

RoA.jpg


First started using Black Powder pistols back in the 1970's with CVA kits. This is my first ROA.​
 
loading press

G,day Members,
Had a bit of spare time yesterday so i thought id knock up a loading press
out of some 316 stainless i had laying around and brought a toggle clamp of ebay to use for the press.

As we do a lot of 40 shot competitions ( 20 shot precision) and (20 shot rapid fire/3 second duel),
its far easier to take out the cylinder for cleaning and reloading.

14 dollars cost as i already had the stainless but you could make out of mild steel.
click the link for pics.

Also machined some 1" ss rod for a bore illuminator when cylinder is out for cleaning
Just angle the disc towards the light up the barrel from cylinder cavity as you look down works a treat
you could use aluminium as well

Cheers ian

http://s42.photobucket.com/user/parkernet/library/ruger old army loading press

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Very clever these Auzzies! Love the idea of the floating base plate. Simplify, simplify. Good onya Mate.

Where do I sign up for your engineering school? :-D

Kindest Regards,
Doak
 
I just fitted mine with a stainless bird's head grip frame and pearlite (Ajax) panels.

I left the long barrel and I don't really mind. I find the birds head grip comfortable.

Standard fitting it to the frame and polishing was the hard part. I used a diamond coarse grit knife sharpining stone ( 60 or 80 grit or something around there) to wipe out most of the casting lines, thin out the grip frame, shape and shorten the portion that goes around the sides of the hammer. Then I used a progression of 120, 150, 220, 320, 400, 600, and 1500 grit sandpaper for polishing. I was going to go for mirror polished but settled for a shiny high gloss brushed finish. The pictures don't do it justice sorry but I am using my computer's camera.

Modifying the grip frame designed for the newer model blackhawks with the transfer bar (a $110.00 midway oem part special) to house the Old Army trigger spring and plunger was the easy part (that is an overstatement it's really a breeze.) Newer Blackhawk frames are VERY easily modified to be used on the Old Army and probably the older three screw model blackhawks too. You do not need to find an old spare.

The Ajax pearlite grip panels may need to lose a little play but I am sure I can work something out with a little epoxy. The fit is also not perfect but good enough for me. If I see fit I may make the fit more closer to perfect but I am satisfied for now.

What are your thoughts on this creation.
 

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Some more pictures. Comment if you like.
 

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yet more

Is it better with a stainless cylinder ?
 

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It looks like you did a darned good job.

My personal preference is all stainless or all blue. I also think pearl grips should go with a stainless, short-barreled rig.
But if everyone were the same, there'd only be one brand of beer. ;)
 
I just fixed the problem with the slightly sliding Ajax grip pannels from mediocore barely acceptable to good.

I used a short piece of wood rod (oak I think I got the rod a while back) layed length wise shaped to the contour of the back strap with a hole drilled through it for the grip screw. This presses the grips forward against the actual gun frame and behind the trigger guard and makes another securing point by acting as a wedge between the grip frame screw and the back strap

No more movement it's thickness (the wood) also makes overtightnening these Pearlite grips more unlikely which have been said to crack when people attempted to gorrilla torque them to compensate for their tendency to slide because of a less than perfect fit. Now they stay in place even when the screw is not very tight.

It seems that the holes (in the Ajax grip panels) made to accomodate the grip pin in the grip frame were made a little to wide.

I hope I filed enough wood to allow for expansion (I think I did.) Even when it was wedged between the main spring and back strap (great temporary method to hold wood in place while carefully drilling using the grip frame screw hole as a guide) before I filed the wood down so it would not touch main spring it did not seem to impede the function of the mainspring, but if it any problem arises it should be fixable with minor filing.

How is that for an old fashioned fix ?

I think the setup is durable enough since a black powder cap and ball muzzleloader is not going to generate anywhere near the recoil of magnum load levels of modern smokeless powder that have been known to destroy anything less than perfectly fitted grips made of very durable materials.

The birds head grip frame shouldn't beat your hands when used on a black powder revolver either since it has low recoil.

Now I am really begining to enjoy this ROA. It seems the birds head grip frames are back in stock as well as stainless plow handle grip frames (both plow and BH are for new model black hawks but that problem is an easy fix.) I always wanted a steel grip frame and now that I have one I like the feel and looks of it.
 

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ROA Club Members:

01. ClemBert 02. Eights 03. kanook 04. [email protected] 05. mykeal
06. adaptandovercome 07. 461 08. junkman_01 09. lonewolf5347 10. rcflint
11. MCgunner 12.madcratebuilder 13. AbitNutz 14. eastbank 15. robert garner
16. philuk44 17. HUnter58 18. arcticap 19. BullRunBear 20. theotherwaldo
21. SC Slowhand 22. Prairie Dawg 23. wittzo 24. Tallbald 25. Smokin_Gun
26. OB One 27. jungle 28. plumbernater 29. daveinvegas 30. JanZ
31. George Mabry 32. Benmathes 33. Loosenock 34. higene 35. Rock Island
36. Erich 37. robhof 38. J-Bar 39. Nomad, 2nd 40. TAURUSBOB
41. martindl99 42. Vermonter 43. wasatch 44. fogg64 45. BConklin
46. Howdy Doody 47. bushrod2 48. rdstrain49 49. FirinFlatTop 50. rem1858
51. straight-shooter 52. edorfox 53. KevininPa 54. Ringo1234 55. pohill
56. The Don 57. jeepcoma 58. Dave Markowitz 59. Chazz 60. andrewstorm
61. Steel Wheels 62. Legionnaire 63. NineMilePete 64. 94RUGER 65. Acorn Mush
66. R.Ganister 67. Boom-stick 68. Buddy 69. Ghost Dog 70. BML
71. Cult of 1858 72. Jaymo 73. bigbore442001 74. Engineer Bill 75. azyogi
76. Dr. Leaky 77. Clermont 78. Indy4570 79. ozarkguy 80. Plastikosmd
81. mrdo1 82. bax504 83. Constrictor 84. BC Mosaic 85. clepidus
86. did 87. gunboat57 88. Malachi Leviticus Blue 89. Blue Hill 90. Power Keg
91. SUMIKITO 92. ChasMack 93. Larry Flett 94. RugerShawn 95. tdperry
96. Rettech 97. renoman 98. tk1971 99. Curator 100. Dan Carey
101. Old No7 102. Muddydogs 103. Oldnamvet 104. 6.5x55swedish 105. crazysccrmd
106. Jim, West PA 107. rodwha 108. Varmiter 109. Indian Outlaw 110. Patocazador
111. Fingers McGee 112. h0use 113. Huntingsaddles 114. GregP42 115. esims
116. Doak 117. BubbaGoose 118. FreddyKruger 119. Calvados 120. ruger357
121. wap41 122. DurangoKid 123. Yamavira 124. Onty 125. 4speed
126. legend 550 127. bri1462 128. regniflow 129. CageDodger 130. HPBroker
131. mattusmc45 132. 303 133. Jersey Joe 134. Psycho 135. Cast of One
136. sammass 137. jgray 138. bothenook 139. keybuck 140. davepool
141. whitetailbob 142. eddie56 143. wklaus 144. cane 145. dickydalton
146. Sumika 147. woodnbow 148. DMZ 149. white smoke 150. karlthev
151. The-Reaver 152. Beetle-Bailey 153. cwo2lt 154. snakeman 155. BHP FAN
156. grter 157. aHFo3 158. Joe Meyer 159. Wild Tom Hipshot 160. mntns2oceans
161. Btc624 162. kendak 163. pardiniman 164. d-a 165. toolslinger
166. imforguns 167. EmGeeGeorge 168. MRRAGPICKER 169. ALJS 170. Nelg_Kir
171. Head Space 172. mbpennin 173. blfuller 174. gifford 175. BullSlinger
176. jannas1258 177. wkfg 178. rockdc 179. Nite Ryder 180. AmateurSharpshooter
181. fossil 182. rclark 183. Arganoc 184. sword14 185. Chili_pepper917
186. Rodman579 187. avatarshots 188. BowerR64 189. raa-7 190. Aaron871
191. F171 192. adkmountainken 193. The long rider 194. 45 Dragoon 195. lentuk
196. gmaster805 197. T.Horn 198. IansROA 199. Shoknaw 200. Halger280HVMag
201. Florida Cherokee 202. conder0289 203. Doc Pecos

Welcome Doc Pecos! :D
 
Ruger Stainless Steel Old Army Base Pin

Hey guys, I'm new to THR and am not sure if this is where I need to mention this or not, but we have just finished a successful reproduction of the stainless steel base pins that are a direct copy of the ORIGINAL ROA base pin. They are listed here if anyone is interested: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ruger-Stain...-SCARCE-/111482938034?ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT eBay Item # 111482938034. Thanks and have a great day - Evan
 

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Per my post #2019, above, I think I qualify. I would appreciate admission to the club as I will be ordering parts and membership in THR ROA Club gets a discount.

Thanks, and best regards to all,

FH
 
gungarage

Very nice, however it would be nicer, if shipping to Canada was available.:)
This is a much needed part for ROA owners.

Thanks for taking the time.
 
ROA Club Members:

01. ClemBert 02. Eights 03. kanook 04. [email protected] 05. mykeal
06. adaptandovercome 07. 461 08. junkman_01 09. lonewolf5347 10. rcflint
11. MCgunner 12.madcratebuilder 13. AbitNutz 14. eastbank 15. robert garner
16. philuk44 17. HUnter58 18. arcticap 19. BullRunBear 20. theotherwaldo
21. SC Slowhand 22. Prairie Dawg 23. wittzo 24. Tallbald 25. Smokin_Gun
26. OB One 27. jungle 28. plumbernater 29. daveinvegas 30. JanZ
31. George Mabry 32. Benmathes 33. Loosenock 34. higene 35. Rock Island
36. Erich 37. robhof 38. J-Bar 39. Nomad, 2nd 40. TAURUSBOB
41. martindl99 42. Vermonter 43. wasatch 44. fogg64 45. BConklin
46. Howdy Doody 47. bushrod2 48. rdstrain49 49. FirinFlatTop 50. rem1858
51. straight-shooter 52. edorfox 53. KevininPa 54. Ringo1234 55. pohill
56. The Don 57. jeepcoma 58. Dave Markowitz 59. Chazz 60. andrewstorm
61. Steel Wheels 62. Legionnaire 63. NineMilePete 64. 94RUGER 65. Acorn Mush
66. R.Ganister 67. Boom-stick 68. Buddy 69. Ghost Dog 70. BML
71. Cult of 1858 72. Jaymo 73. bigbore442001 74. Engineer Bill 75. azyogi
76. Dr. Leaky 77. Clermont 78. Indy4570 79. ozarkguy 80. Plastikosmd
81. mrdo1 82. bax504 83. Constrictor 84. BC Mosaic 85. clepidus
86. did 87. gunboat57 88. Malachi Leviticus Blue 89. Blue Hill 90. Power Keg
91. SUMIKITO 92. ChasMack 93. Larry Flett 94. RugerShawn 95. tdperry
96. Rettech 97. renoman 98. tk1971 99. Curator 100. Dan Carey
101. Old No7 102. Muddydogs 103. Oldnamvet 104. 6.5x55swedish 105. crazysccrmd
106. Jim, West PA 107. rodwha 108. Varmiter 109. Indian Outlaw 110. Patocazador
111. Fingers McGee 112. h0use 113. Huntingsaddles 114. GregP42 115. esims
116. Doak 117. BubbaGoose 118. FreddyKruger 119. Calvados 120. ruger357
121. wap41 122. DurangoKid 123. Yamavira 124. Onty 125. 4speed
126. legend 550 127. bri1462 128. regniflow 129. CageDodger 130. HPBroker
131. mattusmc45 132. 303 133. Jersey Joe 134. Psycho 135. Cast of One
136. sammass 137. jgray 138. bothenook 139. keybuck 140. davepool
141. whitetailbob 142. eddie56 143. wklaus 144. cane 145. dickydalton
146. Sumika 147. woodnbow 148. DMZ 149. white smoke 150. karlthev
151. The-Reaver 152. Beetle-Bailey 153. cwo2lt 154. snakeman 155. BHP FAN
156. grter 157. aHFo3 158. Joe Meyer 159. Wild Tom Hipshot 160. mntns2oceans
161. Btc624 162. kendak 163. pardiniman 164. d-a 165. toolslinger
166. imforguns 167. EmGeeGeorge 168. MRRAGPICKER 169. ALJS 170. Nelg_Kir
171. Head Space 172. mbpennin 173. blfuller 174. gifford 175. BullSlinger
176. jannas1258 177. wkfg 178. rockdc 179. Nite Ryder 180. AmateurSharpshooter
181. fossil 182. rclark 183. Arganoc 184. sword14 185. Chili_pepper917
186. Rodman579 187. avatarshots 188. BowerR64 189. raa-7 190. Aaron871
191. F171 192. adkmountainken 193. The long rider 194. 45 Dragoon 195. lentuk
196. gmaster805 197. T.Horn 198. Flatbush Harry 199. IansROA 200. Shoknaw
201. Halger280HVMag 202. Florida Cherokee 203. conder0289 204. Doc Pecos

Welcome Flatbush Harry! :D

Flatbush, how did you get past my ever thorough eyes? :scrutiny: Oh well, I think I've got you back in order. Sorry. Lemme know if I messed anything or anyone up. Everyone after Flatbush got incremented by one to set the record straight. :cuss:
 
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