AmBraCol
I really need to diagnose exactly what's going on
Thursday, August 26, 2021, 11:17

with my current Ruger Old Army. That was my plan this time north, but a friend gifted me a Pietta 1860 and that took up with little time I could spare for messing with black powder. My first ever Ruger Old Army was my "pillow gun" for a while as it was better suited to the job than the Ruger MkII. If you can't get it done with six rounds of .457" round ball over a chamber full of FFFg, then either your tactics and marksmanship are horrible or you're of luck that day (not that I believe in luck).

That's a good recommendation on the nipples. I'd never given them too much thought as the originals work just fine. My main concern with my ROA is the mainspring. I think someone "tuned" the pistol prior to it arriving to my care and it seems to have too light of a hammer spring. It does miss fire (just a click) far too often for comfort sake. The Pietta, on the other hand, never missed a beat the several cylinders full I shot this summer.

One thing about the old BP guns - they are effective in the right situation for a night time warning shot. We had a fellow beating up a woman under our mango tree years ago. I went out and told him to leave her alone and get down the road. He started to back talk and head my way when the old Ruger went BOOM into the ground and the muzzle flash lit things up beautifully. "Get going", I said. And he got going, Warning shots are not always a good thing, but there's a time and place, and that time and place it worked wonders.