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Anybody ever work up a strong load in a Ruger Old Army with good penatrasion. A friend picked up a felony and can no longer carry a handgun while fishing with brown bears. And we were thinking an old ruger would be better then nothing. (Young man drunk driving ended up hitting the cop and yes he's learned his lesson) Thanks --- Mel

TTT

OB, were i looking to do that i'd slug the bore and check twist of the Ruger Old Army, the .451" 45 cal 225gr DEWC, "double ended wadcutter" bullets at Rimrock bullets with as much FFFG 777 powder as i could get under them, the revolver will easily handle the pressure, good luck.

Thanks much yeh I'm using Rim Rock 220grain HHC in my 10mm . Should be better then throwing rocks. ---- Mel

Welcome, and hell yes it would, plus, the rounded seater plug on the ROA's ramrod will round off the nose a bit on the DEWC bullets eliminating any forcing cone entry concerns/bullet shaving, etc.

I would have no concerns carrying that setup in big bear country, max loaded, see where the bullets land, load up and go fishing.

He's not prohibited from a long gun is he, in Alaska?

Just concealable handguns, correct?

Strap on a big bore Marlin levergun and go fish.......

Sets up a nice smoke screen for the "exit stage left" maneuver

Yeh he's restricted from long guns for 3 years. He must have clobbered the cop pretty good. I see guys doing far more getting less. At least he spend only overnight in jail. He's such a great guy but obviously can't hold his licker loves to hunt and fish . Thanks for all the replies. --- Mel

Any ideas on which penatrates better the 200
Gain hard cast wad cutter or a 255 grain Keith hard cast. Any thoughts appreciated. --- M up up

Ttt

What is TTT?

to the top. brings the post to the front of the line.

Federal law and state laws are not the same. The feds do not prohibit felons from using flint/cap lock rifles, but states can and do. Floriduh is an example.

IF it is ok for a felon to carry and use an old school ML in the state one dwells in, my suggestion would be a 12 ga. double barrel caplock, loaded with buckshot.

Forget wadcutter designs etc, you need the most mass in the shortest bullet you can get to save room for the powder, in this application 777 would do, shooting a 225gr trashcan bullet that resembles a 55 gal drum is where i'd go, 225gr's at 1000 fps would punch deep holes, the 225gr DEWC's [double ended wadcutters] at Rimrock are plenty hard enough to hold up at those speeds.

I would not waste powder space to make room for a longer nosed bullet, trashcan bullets Sir, have those cylinders completely full of powder and lead.

Handloader 285 August 2013 has loads for the O.A. The data for the percussion cylinder stops with resized 200gr Hornady SWCs over 27.0gr of 777FFF for 1006 fps. Those are pretty soft bullets, not sure how well they’ll penetrate, nor how much powder and lead can be crammed into that cylinder. Remember that you have to seat the bullet with the ram. Might be tough with hardcast.

Target shooters commonly use filler and wads between the powder and bullet for accuracy and to prevent chainfires. For your use, I’d fill ‘er up with powder and lead and use grease over the chamber mouth to maximize power, as bears are pretty large targets.

Dan may have the best solution, though I’d substitute hardened roundballs for the buckshot.

My go-to brown bear muzzleloading pistol is the Traditions .50 cal Kentucky Pistol loaded with the 600 grain No Excuses bullet and 90 grains FFg. Sometimes I’ll carry two.

If I’m wading the river I keep a Traditions Mini Napoleon mounted on a floatie close by as well.