[Mike Weber]

First off let me explain myself regarding the reference to the 60gr load in the Ruger Old Army. I don't own and have never shot the Ruger Old Armies. My C&B experience has been with the Colt and Remington replicas. Once when I was asked to recommend a loading for a Ruger by a guy who had just bought one and hadn't bought any powder or bullets for it yet. I mistaking the Ruger for an 1858 based Remington design, suggested that he used a .454 dia. RB along with a 25 gr charge. A guy who owned an Old Army immediatly piped up with a line that the 25gr charge was way too light for the Ruger. He is the one who claimed to have run 60gr charges through his Ruger. I had never heard of this with any C&B revolver that I had ever heard of. I also learned that the .457 RB was a better choice for the Ruger than the .454 RB. I have since talked to other Ruger owners who have told me that they shoot 35 and 40gr charges in their Rugers. I would agree that a 25 to 28gr charge would probably produce the best accuracy with the revolver. That was a good tip about the corn meal. I had always considered corn meal and cream of wheat interchangable as filler for C&B revolvers. I do not advocate unsafe and over pressure loads for any firearm. I once saw an 1851 Navy that a guy had bought in a box of stuff from an auction. He also had a can of IMR 4350 in the box. He took the 1851 out into the boonies loaded it with the 4350, ignoring the BLACK POWDER ONLY stamped on the barrel he didn't even apply grease. When he fired the revolver, he had three chambers flashover the cylinder blew up like a frag grenade, the barrel wedge shattered, and the barrel and what was left of the cylinder took a trip down range. What was really amazing was that the guy walked away without a scratch. I saw the revolver afterward it would have made an interesting paperweight. Anyway that was where my info about that 60gr load came from, one loudmouth at a gunshop.