Ruger Old Army

[1066]

I've shot both and to be honest I think the longer barrelled pistol is far better/easier to shoot. It depends a bit on what you expect and what you want to do with it. Accuracy wise, I don't think there would be a lot in it if they were shot side by side from a machine rest.

If you want a bit of fun, intend shoot it with two hands and would be happy to get them all in the black on a 25 yard target then either would fit the bill. If, on the other hand, you wanted to play the one hand game and were looking to keep them in the 9 ring then the longer barrel would be the much better bet, mainly, as Dromia says, because of the increased sight base.

If you were thinking of using it in muzzle loading pistol competitions you would need to check the rules about adjustable sights etc.

These pistols are capable of really excellent accuracy, however it does take loads and loads of practice to get the best out of them.

[Zilberbak]

Have just picked up tonight a stainless 7" with target sights and it is unmarked in terms of calibre. I had .45 on the ticket. Had a choice of three two stainless and one blued. It feels so much better than my Pietta Colt Navy. Hope my shooting can do it justice and that l can aim on the target rather than two inches off of the bottom right hand corner!

[HALODIN]

Seems strange they were marked up .44 when they were actually .45's in the first place, no wonder people are confused. Some club members stick their stainless steel MLR's in the dishwasher, I like the sound of that, nice and easy.

I agree, the 5.5" version looks the biz, the proportions are just right. As normal it's always a toss up between what looks good and what functions best... I have a while to decide yet.

Thanks for the info.

The earlier ROA were indeed marked up as .44. The calibre marking will be under the rammer, on the barrel. Ruger changed the calibre designation to .45 because when first introduced, shooters complained about poor accuracy. They were not reading their manuals. There it stated to load the ROA with .457 ball, but the traditionalists loaded their .44 cap 'n ball they way they always had, with .451 or .454 ball....

I had a 7.5", adj sighted, stainless version years ago. Like just about every ex-pistol shooter, this is what we bought! It was good, I liked it, but the cleaning got on my tits. Ten years after selling it, I bought another. This time the 5.5" in stainless. It only came with fixed sights. It's harder to shoot that it's bigger brother, but looks and handles far better to my mind. The choice is really a personal one.

The Old Army was discontinued a few years ago. This seems now to cause people to think that they must be worth far more than they were bought for. The fact is, Ruger discontinued them because they made 3.5 million of them and if treated properly, you'll almost never wear them out!

Great guns, but don't get stiffed by some chancer....

[HALODIN]

Thanks. You've made it clear what I need to think about, which is excellent, it's just what I needed. I just need to give it some thought now!

I have heard that most MLR competitions won't allow you to enter if you have adj sights, which might push me to the 5.5" barrel. I'll do some reading and make a decision when the cert comes back...

I've shot both and to be honest I think the longer barrelled pistol is far better/easier to shoot. It depends a bit on what you expect and what you want to do with it. Accuracy wise, I don't think there would be a lot in it if they were shot side by side from a machine rest.

If you want a bit of fun, intend shoot it with two hands and would be happy to get them all in the black on a 25 yard target then either would fit the bill. If, on the other hand, you wanted to play the one hand game and were looking to keep them in the 9 ring then the longer barrel would be the much better bet, mainly, as Dromia says, because of the increased sight base.

If you were thinking of using it in muzzle loading pistol competitions you would need to check the rules about adjustable sights etc.

These pistols are capable of really excellent accuracy, however it does take loads and loads of practice to get the best out of them.

[HALODIN]

Let me know how you get on, I'm interested too. Which grips is it sporting?

Have just picked up tonight a stainless 7" with target sights and it is unmarked in terms of calibre. I had .45 on the ticket. Had a choice of three two stainless and one blued. It feels so much better than my Pietta Colt Navy. Hope my shooting can do it justice and that l can aim on the target rather than two inches off of the bottom right hand corner!

[Blu]

Have just picked up tonight a stainless 7" with target sights and it is unmarked in terms of calibre. I had .45 on the ticket. Had a choice of three two stainless and one blued. It feels so much better than my Pietta Colt Navy. Hope my shooting can do it justice and that l can aim on the target rather than two inches off of the bottom right hand corner!

Here's a little something I used when I was teaching my wife to shoot pistol, it works very well and really helped making her shoot properly and better, especially when I wasn't around and she wanted to practice on her own. It works for all calibres, just click on the pic to enlarge and copy and paste to save.

user192_pic1525_1257074268.gif

Blu

[1066]

That's excellent Blu - The 7 o'clock trigger snatch flyers are my usual let down, especially when switching from my 4 oz set trigger on my .36 LePage to my 2 lb+ trigger on my .44 Remington.

30 years ago I was shooting pistol at least an hour a day and most weekends. For the last 20 years I shoot pistol about an hour every couple of months, no where near enough but still good fun.

[Zilberbak]

Both the stainless had wood grips as did the blued one. The blued one is at Shooting Supplies in Bromsgrove the remaining stainless is in Gloucester. I will probably change out the wood for rubber for grip reasons. Will be looking out at the Shooting Show for some.

The box looks like it held something else other than the nipple tool, does anyone know what that would be?

Thanks for the aiming guide as it makes a lot of sense.

[HALODIN]

Cool, nice revolver. I'm definitely after the white ivory imitation grips, looks lovely. Seems to be a padlock, which I've noticed in a few photos.

[Zilberbak]

That makes a lot of sense about the padlock.

Just need to get down the range to try it out.

Looking at 25 to 30 grains of Triple 7 to start with.