Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns ruger old style vaquero

need a little help with this one, thought only acurring to me now some years after buying the revolver.
but, some years ago i picked up a ruger vaquero in 45colt. It had been used in a movie production company, was told the president of the company used it himself.
it's in nice condtion.
the question is the frame has that finish found sometimes on colts, "fired" like they did heating with bone to give that blue/black/red type finish. Is this common on a vaquero?

okay, do to google foo, question partially answered. They did do a bone finish but it wasn't true case hardening.
i see a lot of comments that it was not good stuff and invited rust and other stuff.
now the one i am looking at right now was made in1997 with that bone finish, and it is as bright as a new gun right out of the box. Anybody familar with this?

I like the "original" Vaqueros and they did have a CCH but it was more or less painted on. It varied a lot on the quality through the years, including a period of time where it rusted pretty badly. More years it "faded" out and not as nice looking. Some folks didn't care for the end result after a while and sent it back and Ruger just had them blued over. Personally I don't care, most of mine have faded some, I do have a couple that are fairly nice, but over time, I think a lot more are disappointed in the results. A fair number don't really care one way or the other, they just like that they are an old style and they just like them. More like some of the older guys who watched too many westerns over the years. Hope that helps.

I have two matching older Ruger Vaqueros, one in 45 Colt, the other a Single Six in 32 H&R Mag.
Both revolvers have 4 5/8" barrels and sport black micarta birdshead grips.

Both are blued with a case-color finish on the frame that is an applied finish - and considered delicate.
One is advised not to be aggressive when cleaning / polishing this finish.

Probably my two favorite revolvers, they fit perfect and shoot well.
I've managed to keep them in a Like New condition.

My dad had a birds head grip one with white micarta someone stole it from his saddle shop. I have a blued case colored version 44-40 with 7 inch brl,Pretty sure its 7.

I'd rather have one of the old Vaqueros than the new ones. Calibers of choice for me are .44 magnum (I had a pair) and .45 Colt 'cause they'll handle the heavier loads (heavy frame) the current ones won't. My interest is not in cowboy shooting, my interest is in woods carry and hunting.

I had one of the "Single Six vaqueros" in .32 mag for a short while. It shot awful, didn't matter what I fed it. An accurate one would be pretty special.

My experience with them mirrors Caribou Jack's. Two reviewed:

http://www.thesixgunjournal.net/full-circle-with-the-ruger-vaquero/

http://www.thesixgunjournal.net/full-circle-second-lap-the-4-58-ruger-vaquero/

My current sixgun is an EAA Bounty Hunter, essentially the old Hawes Western Marshall updated with a transfer bar. Nice colors, Colt in operation and it shot dead to the sights. Now that I have the trigger sorted out, I like it as well as any SA revolver I've ever owned.

http://www.thesixgunjournal.net/eaas-bounty-hunter-single-action-45-colt/

They are. Don't ask me how I know ...

I'm kind of coming full circle in some ways with these things. I have my fathers colt 38wcf, and the holster, from the first part of the 1900's, and these remind me of that. I bought this at a auction for a movie production euipment co. the funny part to me, is they had a bunch of ulberti's with gummed up barrels from blanks that seemed to be the hot sellers. I just like those big ol fat bullets at moderate velocities. They point pretty good and they are pretty quick to get on target something a lot of people don't think of. I never have looked at them as target guns.

i do have one of the new ones, and other than taking the real hot loads, i like it just fine. It will take more than the first generation colt's. Pearce has had more than one good article on loading for the 45colt. they can be cleaned up pretty good too, and i am tempted to give this one to a guy that knows how to do it. Much different in the trigger etc than a couple of long barreled ones i have fired that did have the work done to them.

those hawes were suppose to be pretty good guns, under appreciated for a long time.

That Vaquero you have pictured next to the holster still has nice colors to it. They are strong and durable revolvers with just a few quirks that bother those of us who grew up with Colts, direct copies or old model Ruger SA's.

Try as a I might, I could never acclimate myself to the New Model grip frame. I'm too damn set in my ways and I will forever try to put a NM on half-cock when I pick one up. The 45's often needed the cylinder mouth reamed to .4525 for best accuracy. And of course there is the trigger, which usually requires lowering the hammer notch and this EAA was no different. All the Western Marshals I owned had first-class triggers on them but you didn't carry 6 in them if you had any sense. Fortunately I learned that lesson early in the game.

I'm not knocking the Vaqueros, Ron. If I was going to the back country of Alaska for a year, I'd be glad to have a carefully zeroed 'old' Vaquero along with a couple hundred rounds of heavy 45 Colt loads.

I have a new model Vaquero in .45 Colt with a 4 5/8" barrel. For me it is the perfect "packing gun" when I am out and about in the woods. The smaller size makes it more comfortable to carry than the larger Black Hawks.
I'm not a hand gun hunter and we have no large bears where I live so I don't need extra heavy loads. If I can get a 250 grain slug out the door at around 950 fps I am good to go.
The case Harding finnish on the frame has faded a little but I'm not going to worry about it.
Long ago I used to read about the Old Model .357 Flat Tops being converted to .45 and I always wanted one of those conversions. When Ruger introduced the new model Vaquero I jumped on it.

I picked up an old stock NIB '93 Old Vaquero 5 1/2" in .45 Colt a couple years ago from a retired LGS owner that I'm real happy to own. Just wish i shot it better. It deserves better than me.

I rather like mine, in 44 Magnum

Picked up a 4 5/8" .357 Magnum Birdshead grip last year...it looked unfired. In looking at the CH under a maganifying glass one could see a very fine patina over a lot of it...it almost looked like part of the CH.

Thought about having it rebored to .41 Magnum but decided I didn't really have a need for a fixed sight .41 other than the 58s I have..so it went down the road...

Bob

the one thing i think can be improved on the old vaquero's is the fairly narrow hammer spur. Few years ago i saw a used one for sale, where someone had added an extension to the spur on the side, to give a little more room for the thumb. it seemed to be a good idea.

Local Dirt, those are nice guns I have at least two maybe three of them, plus two Stainless ones. You just need to find the sweet spot on them. Most are very reasonable shooters. Good luck with that.

CJ, thanks for the encouraging words. I'll keep working on it.

Action and trigger are surprisingly very smooth. Am not terribly surprised, as this is one the LGS owner had tucked away for himself.

A superblackhawk hammer is only 20 or so dollars and easy to do yourself. It is lower and wider makeing it easier to reach with the thumb.

i had been thinking of that, good to know.

They are at least double that. They only come in stainless now, I'd try Ruger to see if they have any in stock.

That, old buddy, is one superlative packin' pistol. I like it a bunch. Good choice on the leather, too.

I bought an original Vaquero years ago in .45 Colt. Stainless with imitation Ivory grips. My father remarked one day that he liked it, so gave it to him. It was returned to me when he passed away, and I pull it out of the safe once in awhile and walk the backwoods with it in remembrance of him.....






I already have three other .45 Colts so no need to hot rod this one, but nice to know it has that beefier frame...

That's too bad, I always blue my Ruger SA hammers to make them look a little less loud.

Steely that is sweet. Love those grips. Those are tough to come by but very popular when you do. Have fun with that.

Cool story, frogman. Know the feeling..