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SargeMO Offline OP
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I bought a Ruger New Vaquero off Armslist awhile back, for about half of MSRP. These guns are just a tad bigger than Colt SAA yet they will easily handle 20,000 CUP loads. The gun looked real clean in all the photos and I thought they only recently changed the grips on these from checkered plastic to rosewood. When the FFL sent me the serial number I checked against Ruger's serial number database and discovered it is newer than the latest New Vaqueros they list for 2014, so it's maybe 2 years old. Of course it is in my favorite barrel length and caliber, 45 Colt.

It arrived today and aside from a faint turn ring, you would think it was new. The previous owner apparently played with it but didn't shoot a box of shells through it. The area around the firing pin bushing shows essentially no wear from 45 Colt cases slamming into it, other than perhaps the half dozen test rounds at the factory.

[Linked Image]
[Linked Image]

The finish on this gun is better than anything I've seen from Ruger in a long time. So is the fit. An 0.002 feeler gauge would pass between the barrel and cylinder, but an 0.003 gauge would not. The factory trigger pull was surprisingly good and gauged 3 ¾ pounds, with no creep. I didn't believe the numbers either and had to look at it twice, myself. It won't be any work at all to produce a three pound, icicle crisp trigger pull on this gun.

Some subjective observations... Ruger did in fact recreate the Colt grip and pointing qualities. For those of us old enough to remember the pre-62 Flat Tops, handling this gun was like a cold drink after 50 years in the desert. I could pick a spot in the wall, close my eyes and then draw cock and point the gun; and upon opening my eyes, find the sights aligned within a few inches of it. It's about as close to a Colt as you can get with a transfer bar the Ruger name stamped on it. The revolver's pointing qualities shined on 6” plates at 15 yards. Working from the holster and shooting as soon as the front sight was visible against it, I was able to slap them down quick shooting strong hand only.

I chronographed two 45 Colt loads through the New Vaquero; Winchester's 250 grain 'Cowboy Action' load,
rated at 750 fps and a Lee 452-255-RF over 8.5 grains of Hodgon's Universal, which produced 864 fps from my 45 Bounty Hunter. Both sets were six shots, one around the cylinder. From the Ruger New Vaquero, the Winchester factory load averaged 761 fps and the Universal load averaged 952 fps. Standard deviation for both loads was right at 18 fps, indicating good ignition and uniform pressures from all chambers.

My only complaint is that the gun shoots a little low-left, but this is easily remedied. This is six rounds of the Lee 255RF/Universal load at 25 yards using both hands from a sitting position, with my hands rested on one knee. This is not my strong suit, but I neglected to throw a shooting table in the truck. With the stray to the right the group is 2 ¼ inches, but there are enough overlapping splashes to tell me the gun was shooting better than I was.

[Linked Image]

I counted 66 fired cases at the end this short session. All were lead bullet loads and 50 were the 950 fps Universal load. After reading credible accounts of 'thread choke' (bore constriction where the barrel screws into the frame) in late-production Ruger revolvers, I was worried I'd find significant leading. I inspected the bore and found almost none. What little there was vanished with four passes of a dry brush. I am real pleased with this revolver.


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Nice!

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Any Ruger S/A is tough to beat. Nice find.

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Not only is that very sweet; but it's what I'd like my next handgun purchase to be. Always wanted a 45 Colt in something like that. I love those New Vaqueros and one in 45 Colt would be ideal. Thanks for the pix; that thing is a beauty.

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That is a handsome pistol..have fun shooting it!

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Nice! Love both of mine. One of mine loves Tite Group Powder and the other loves Unique. They have special runs that came with did different grips. I prefer either the checkered wood ones or the fake ivory.


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Oops! Wrong topic thread,

Last edited by chlinstructor; 09/12/16.

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SargeMO Offline OP
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No prob chlinstructor.. And thank you all for the replies.


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Very nice!

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I like it!

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That is mighty nice Sarge. I've mostly stuck with the original frame guns. May have to rethink that. Good catch.


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Sarge, did you happen to measure the throats?


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SargeMO Offline OP
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Originally Posted by Sakoluvr
Sarge, did you happen to measure the throats?


I ran over the cylinder with my old dial calipers and got .450 all the way around. I'll scrub it real good and check it again afterward. I expect opening the throats to a uniform .4525 would only make it shoot better.

Last edited by SargeMO; 09/12/16.

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sounds like you got one heck of a nice revolver, and at a good price. smile


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Sarge, I picked up some Vermont Tool pin gauges on Amazon cheap. You can buy them individually for a couple three bucks and get the range that would be most useful. Just an FYI.


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SargeMO Offline OP
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Originally Posted by Sakoluvr
Sarge, I picked up some Vermont Tool pin gauges on Amazon cheap. You can buy them individually for a couple three bucks and get the range that would be most useful. Just an FYI.


That is great and thanks for the heads-up.


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Nice shooting Iron, you got me looking at my New Vaquero, it does have better blueing is seems mine came with the grey lam. grips, and its in 45acp, realy like this one!


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Originally Posted by SargeMO
I ran over the cylinder with my old dial calipers and got .450 all the way around. I'll scrub it real good and check it again afterward. I expect opening the throats to a uniform .4525 would only make it shoot better.

Doing it that way wouldn't work for me...at least that I would rely on it...for a comparison, yes, but not for a real diameter.

I just take out the cylinder, grab a .452 bullet and see if it will slip through all the throats. I haven't seen a Ruger BH (mostly older frame) that didn't have 2-3 that were too tight. Some way down there at 449. I ream them all to .4525 then check the barrel.

Depending on the result of slugging the barrel, a couple more thou on the cylinder might be even better.


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SargeMO Offline OP
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This is a combination gun-wrenching and range report, so bear with me.

I had little on the agenda today so it seemed a good time for some tune-ups on the New Vaquero. I'm a vocal opponent of internal locks on firearms, so I was prepared to eat crow upon removing the grips. Apparently the previous owner disliked them as much as I do because the lock was gone from this one, replaced by a standard Ruger SA mainspring strut seat. Now I don't have to figure out how to get rid of the damn lock. God bless you, Previous Owner.

[Linked Image]

This explains the light trigger and slow 'lock time' I'd been noticing. My biggest complaint with this arrangement is that it doesn't fit the frame cutout, allowing the mainspring strut to wander around some. While the current setup works, I'll fabricate a replacement that centers the hammer strut and and sits higher in the frame. This will likely increase the trigger pull a pound, so I'll engineer around that now. The sear and hammer notch and sear were stoned smooth and a slight 45 degree break-away angle was added to the engagement side of the sear. Result? 2 ¼ pound icicle crisp pull and the hammer does not 'push off'. If rebuilding/raising the mainspring seat adds a pound to to the pull, it'll still be a great trigger for a Ruger SA.

After disassembly I noticed the barrel throat was pretty rough; so I fashioned a polishing head from a section of cleaning rod, a suitably-sized conical rubber anti-vibration mount and 400, 600 and 1000 grit wet or dry paper. A drilled out 40 S&W case kept the apparatus centered in the bore. The finished throat looks like this and I was happy to note Ruger got it concentric to the bore.

[Linked Image]

To correct sight regulation, I rosined the barrel and clamped it in my vise using oak blocks Dremeled out to fit the barrel. Since the gun was shooting left the barrel needed to be tightened and I estimated about the width of a scribed reference mark would correct it. Once that was accomplished the gun was reassembled and I headed for the range. The first few shots confirmed the windage fix, so I filed a few strokes off the front sight to correct elevation. Zero was on a Copenhagen can at 25 yards if you didn't screw up the shot. I figure 100 yards is about the farthest I use this gun, so I fired a couple of the 950 fps load at my rifle gong from that distance. Standing unsupported, the windage was about perfect. I expected the load to shoot a little low.

[Linked Image]

Finally I rested the gun and fired six at the round gong, also from 100 yards. 5 of 6 shots went into 6 inches, so the throat cleanup was a success. The sun had come back out by this time and I assume the right impact was cause by glare on the shiny front sight.

[Linked Image]

This one of the best shooting Ruger single actions I've ever had.


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Very nice score, Sarge.


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