Ruger Old Army grip question

[Tangle Eye]

Anybody know if a Ruger Vaquero grip will fit a Ruger Old Army? That may seem like a dumb question but I don't think I've ever actually held an Old Army in my hands and I have some Vaquero grips I was wondering about the future use of.

[Howdy Doody]

Yup, vaquero and blackhawk grips fit right on, but................for  production built guns it seems that grips need to be fitted to each and every ruger gripframe if you are fussy about fit.
I like the Eagle gunfighter grips, but they are danged expensive to outfit to each frame if you have a lot of rugers. These days I have found I like the feel of the ruger grips that I belt sand down to flat with no flare at the bottom and I take them down to the same thickness as eagle does. I then fit the grips to each frame and then mark them on the inside with a sharpie of the last 4 of the serial number.

[Tangle Eye]

Thanks for the info Dude. 

Actually what I'm thinking about is getting a pair of Old Armies to shoot Frontiersman with. I already have a pair of Vaqueros with the Eagle Gunfighter grips on 'em. So - what I'm plannin is to sell or trade the Vaqueros (which I never use anymore) to get the Old Armies.  But - since they'll fit - I'll be takin the Gunfighter grips off the Vaqueros and putting them on the Old Armies once I get them.

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[Howdy Doody]

Well, I have 3 pair of ROAs. One pair is the stainless 5 1/2 barrels. Each one of them I had to do a little something to make them all feel the same to me. They don't need much. Never change out the hammer spring. No one has come up with one that is more reliable for cap and ball. The ruger nipples are great too. Stainless in the blue ones even. I use #10 remington caps. I shoot a 30 gr load and if the weather is hot I use a lube soaked wad under the ball. You could use wonderwads. In cool weather I don't bother with any lube. The way I load 30gr with no wad is with longer rams. You could ram twice by ramming once and then sticking a 38 bullet on top and ramming again until the ball is on the powder.
I wish you would keep the RVs. In hot weather like it is now around here. I am not shooting frontiersman. I have drug out my RVs and shooting BP in them. In fact I am having a lot of fun learning to shoot gunfighter and it is so much easier to load up cartridges and all when the weather is 100+.
By fall, I will be back to shooting frontiersman or sometimes FCD. The 5 1/2 ROAs I have are outfitted with nickle Kirst Converters. That is another trip in itself. I got my last pair of ROAs last year for under $800 shipped. It seems that the best bargins are in the blued 7 1/2s right now.
 

[Tangle Eye]

O I've got lots of other pistols to shoot if I don't want to shoot Frontiersman. I shoot Holy Black cartridges almost every shoot anyway unless there some overriding reason to shoot heathen smokeless. I've had a desire to shoot Frontiersman and my 1851 Navy's right straight from Dixie Gun Works just aren't reliable enough for that. If I miss a target that's one thing but if the gun won't fire reliably and I get misses that way it just ticks me off.  Anyway - I've always heard that ROAs were the very best way to go for cap n ball so that's the way I want to go.

[Howdy Doody]

10-4 on that. I seldom have a problem with my ROAs. If I do it is usually because I have put a cap on crooked and the first hit straightens it and I go around and hit it again and it fires off. The 10 rem caps definately stay on, but they are a tight fit and since we are no longer allowed to hammer seat caps, that is the problem I occasionaly have. I like the Ted Cash cappers. Two spring fingered type. Hold about 20 caps each. the #10 go in a bit sloppy, but go on the nipples great. Lot's of folks use #11 remington caps too, but I have seen a lot of problems with CCI and RWS caps.
I got a pair of 51 navies ( pietta) in a trade a while back. I have never shot them. I gave them to Rowdy Yates at Lees Gunsmithing to slick them up. They still have them. He is installing the welded cap guard at the hammer slots and thinning down the hammers to go through the narrower slot for me, plus some of his other tricks. I told him I wasn't in much of a rush and he is durn busy on guns that are in a rush. Since I shoot with him a few times a year, I suppose he will get them to me the next big shoot we both get to. I still need to get a 375 ball mold anyway.
Yup, you will love the ROAs pard. The most poular right now are the 5 1/2 barreled ones and they will fit into most holster that a RV will too. Good shooting. 

[Cactus Cris]

I took my Ajax stags off my VAQ's and put them on my ROA's.  Not a perfict fit but close enough.  I got a loading thingy from Brodave & load the cylinders out of the gun on my cart.  Really works nice.  You can load down to 18 or up to max of 44 grs. and not fiddle with the rammer.  In fact I took it off the pistolas ( 5 1/2")- the cylinder rod stays on the gun & the rammer isn't needed anyway.  The 7 1/2's are a little more mess cause the rod comes off , and ya risk lose'n the rammer in the dirt.  Anyway-  My 5 1/2's work every time with stock nipps, stock springs, and stag grips.  I use CCI #11s.  Tried the Mag caps--NOT a good thing!  They split-fragment-fall off into works.