Never heard this before. Ruger Old Army.

**abner13** · November 27th, 2020, 02:38 PM

Going around on Gunbroker today , I found this interesting , especially since I have 2 of them. One I purchased via mail order when I was 17.

From 1972 until 2008, Ruger produced the *Old Army* .44 caliber cap and ball pistol. Since reproduction period percussion pistols suffer the same design deficiencies as the originals, Ruger designed their pistol from scratch, rather than opting to continue on the 1800s blueprint. Using a modern platform for the action, the result was a very reliable, robust cap and ball pistol, which far outshines the originals. Since this pistol is not a copy of a legacy pistol, it is considered by the ATF as a modern gun, not an antique, as are the reproductions of Colt and Remington percussion revolvers.

We have been instructed by ATF to treat this revolver as a Modern Firearm as it is NOT a reproduction of a pre-1899 design and it IS readily converted to fire a fixed cartridge via commercially available drop-in cartridge conversion cylinders. Please do not bid on this item unless you are willing to have it transferred through a dealer FFL. We understand that there are varying opinions on this matter, we will be treating this revolver as we have been instructed by ATF.

Anyone else ever hear of these ''instructions'' from BATFE?

**DucatiRon** · November 27th, 2020, 03:49 PM

I only heard of that IF the conversion cylinder was installed.

**Xringshooter** · November 27th, 2020, 07:11 PM

Originally Posted by DucatiRon

I only heard of that IF the conversion cylinder was installed.

Same thing here and I've been in the business for 30 years. I would like to see the citation from this seller (bet he can't find it). Many on line sellers come up with their own "laws/regulations" and cite the ATF but can never prove them. They do this for whatever reason they have and I've seen stranger as I am sure most FFLs have also over the years.

**abner13** · November 27th, 2020, 07:38 PM

There was a bill 20yrs ago to have cap & ball replica revolvers regulated as modern revolvers after some nutcase bought one mail-order and killed a nurse at Norristown State Hospital. Needless to say it went nowhere.

**Emptymag** · November 27th, 2020, 07:54 PM

Ask a cop.
It's the only way to be sure.

**R L Suehr** · November 27th, 2020, 08:17 PM

Complete bullshit. The old army is probably the strongest of the cap and ball revolvers, but it's still based on an antique design and doesn't fire cartridge ammo without the conversion. The conversion cylinders have to be bought separately and are available for colt/remmy replicas too