Ruger Old Army help needed

[exMember]

Guys, I am trying to figure out if my old army is a .44 or .45cal, theres nothing marked on the barrel for caliber. Anyway to tell? The .44 and .45 still use the same .457" round ball. The seller said it was the rarer 3 screw model what ever that means?

 

[Muley Hunter]

I never saw any that weren't a 45 cal. No idea why they call them 44 cal.

 

[RonRC]

I have a copy of the manual for the Ruger Old Army. The manual mentions the caliber of the ball (0.457) but says nothing, no where, no how, no way, what caliber the gun is.
The shift in nomenclature from .44 to .45 may have been to get the gun permitted for use in Cowboy Shooting. The actual caliber never changed.
Ron

 

[Muley Hunter]

CAS shooting is legal for .44 and.45. 44-40 and 45 were what they used back in the day.

 

[exMember]

 

[Muley Hunter]

When did you get that?

 

[Kentucky Colonel]

This may be a dumb idea, but have you checked for an on line listing of your serial number? 
It may put it in a category for you.

 

[Muley Hunter]

If it uses a .457 ball. It's a .45 homer.

Show me a C&B revolver that doesn't use a .451 or .457 ball. Not counting the .36 call which are closer to a .38 cal and use a .375 ball.

 

[exMember]

I tried the serial number on rugers site but it didnt show on their list. I emailed it to them and asked if they can provide info.

 

[patocazador]

Guys, I am trying to figure out if my old army is a .44 or .45cal, theres nothing marked on the barrel for caliber. Anyway to tell? The .44 and .45 still use the same .457" round ball. The seller said it was the rarer 3 screw model what ever that means?

It's a .45 no matter what you want to call it. I have 3 of them and they all shoot great even the beat-up one with a pitted barrel.

Ruger originally made the Blackhawk single-action revolver with the "3-screw" configuration. It did not have the trigger block that subsequent models have. It also didn't have all the writing everywhere on the barrel.

It is much easier to adjust the trigger on a 3-screw so it can be as light as a pound or two and still be safe if done properly. I have a 3-screw Blackhawk in .30 carbine with a 1 1/2 lb. trigger and a 7 1/2" barrel. It is super accurate.
Many of the parts of a Blackhawk are interchangeable with an Old Army.

 

[exMember]

Awesome! Thank you for that info Bob, that was of great help. Hopefully ruger can help me with a date of build.

 

[Old and grumpy]

.44 Cap and Ball revolvers fire a .45 cal Cartridge conversion.  My 1851 uses .451 round ball and a .452 in Long Colt conversion.   Your ROA will fire the same Long Colt.
Just like .36 C&B fires a .38 in conversion.

Some place I read that the difference came about with a change in the way the bore was measured. I have no clue what that change was.  Lands vs grooves?   Bullet diameter vs bore diameters?  Colt vs Rem? 

A lot of C&Bs have under size chambers.
For kicks Slug the cylinder then run that slug through the barrel and see how much "bite" the rifling   takes on the ball. In my .36 Navy the ball that was seated in the cylinder just fell through to the bench! 

Have heard of ROAs having the cylinder re bored a few thousandths to solve this.

 

[Whokalouie]

Jonathan,

Both my SS and blued ROA are three screws. I have yet to see any ROA that were not. The blued one SN 140-010xx, is yours newer/older?

A response from Ruger in 1991 states the factory bore as .442/.444 and grove as .450/.452.

John

 

[exMember]

The newer models as it turns out had fixed sights and 2 screws in the frame.

My serial  140-22692 I can not find this one on rugers site?

 

[exMember]

Ruger got back, shes was made in 1974. Anyone interested in it?

 

[Muley Hunter]

Yes, if you can wait awhile. It will be good backup when i'm bear hunting.

If you want to sell it now I can't do it.

 

[exMember]

Well I ended up selling that one after listing it on a number of sites for a few hours. Shes a beauty! Just didnt have the heart to shoot it. I like my single shot pistols.

 

[Gramps]

I WANT ONE!

I have several b.p. revolvers but no Ruger. :slaps:

Would love to bag a whitetail with one.

 

[Whokalouie]

Do you want a NIB Ruger in SS or a used blue one?

John

 

[Kentucky Colonel]

Do you want a NIB Ruger in SS or a used blue one?

John

Oh, John. You tempt me.