I just bought one used and the guy was saying to use .457 lead round balls.
.457 seems a little big to me, is he right ?
also he claims he used .457 round balls and 50 grains of p powder
any help would be great.
as I am new to the BP pistol world

Well the Ruger Old Army is one of the stronger actions. It is a true .45 caliber I believe. Whether that is the right ball I could not say. I see no reason why the prior owner would tell you something that will not work. As for the 50 grains, that's a lot of powder. I think I would get a hold of Ruger and see if I could get a manual for the revolver.

yes it is a true .45 cal
I just thought .457 was large, I will call ruger in the AM. I thought 40 grains would be a good starting
point

I have shot one for many years, I use a .457 ball and 30gr P Pyrodex for target it will put all 6 in 1.5 inches @25yds and I use 40 gr P for a max or hunting load. I could not get any more than that in mine. Lee

thanks for all the helpful hints guys

The .457 roundball is oversized so that when you load it into the cylinder a thin ring of lead should be sheared off, that is what gives you a good gas-seal because the bullet is pressure cut to fit the hole.
If you're just using powder and ball, you'll want to follow the ball with a seal of grease or bullet lube to make sure no errant sparks from the cylinder you fire can ignite the charges in any of the remaining cylinders causing a chain-fire of all the remaining loads. It's a safety precaution.
Another safety precaution when packing the gun, is to only load 5 of the 6 chambers and to rest the hammer on the empty chamber. This is a very smart thing to do, asseveral of our forefathers soon painfully learned.

ok, I used 40gr of p powder 1/8'' wonder wad and a .457 ball (hornady)
fired 4 shots. was quite amazed at its accuracy at 45 yards
did not have as much recoil as I thought it would seemed comfortable
to shoot at its current set up. I will be out next week with it in the woods
hope to post pics of a animal taken with it lol
thanks alot guys for all the help and suggestions.