Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns '93 Vaquero

If I deer hunt this year, it's going to be with a handgun. So I swapped into an old heavy-frame Vaquero with the 4 5/8" barrel in 45 Colt. Figured I better get a glammer shot before it gets beat and abused like all my other working guns.



This is a 1st year of production gun. Apparently Ruger was was on their best behavior because the grip frame to receiver fit and polishing is near perfect. The cylinder throats were a perfect .452 all the way around, which means either Ruger actually got a cylinder right or it's already been reamed. The hammer & trigger have been blued (personal reference) the internals cleaned & oiled and the pull set to three pounds with a lot less creep. It shoots dead on for windage and a tad low at 50 yards with my standard and 'second gear' 13.0 HS6/255 SWC* loads. All that remains is to perfect zero at 50-75 yards she's good to go.

I have always favored 4 3/4" single-actions and this one just fits.

Load is slightly over max for standard pressure 45 Colt. Use at your own risk.

Nice. What speed you gettin' with that 13 HS6 and 255 SWC? Seeing as how the Vaqueros had steel grip frames, they tend to fit better than the Blackhawks aluminum ones.

Looks like you have the aluminum ejector housing? Didn't some of the original Vaqueros have steel housings? Never owned a Vaquero. Quite a few Blackhawks though.

I like my Galco Single Action Outdoorsman holster. Light, trim and can be worn strongside or crossdraw.

Good luck on your hunt(s).

Very nice. I've owned several Vaq's over the years. My first was a 5 1/2" 44-40 that I wish I'd never gotten rid of. It was polished stainless. Here's one I had a few years back.

I haven't chrono'ed the load out of this particular Vaquero yet, but it did 1045 fps from my old 5 1/2" gun and was slow with most loads. IIRC the Super Blackhawk was or is offered with a steel ejector housing. Borchardt Rifle offers a steel replacement housing which I have used and can recommend.

http://www.brownells.com/handgun-pa...using-200--sku850200200-12762-30940.aspx

That's a perfect field sixgun and a perfect load. Should cover any need well and will easily cleanly take deer without all the flash/bang of any magnum. Just have to do your part aiming it well.

Mark in GA

Nice Vaquero.




Travis

Thank you all for your comments.

I can't take credit for the load, good as it is. I purloined it from John Linebaugh's small list of 'personal loads' shown at the bottom of this article, which should be required reading for anyone reloading the 45 Colt:

http://www.customsixguns.com/writings/dissolving_the_myth.htm

On hunting holsters... I dug around a closet and found this old holster, which I built about 20 years ago as an indestructible hunting holster. It is loosely based on the Tom Threepersons holster; the crossdraw cant was stolen from a Thad Rykba holster featured in American Handgunner, about that time. I located an Amish saddle-maker who had some extra skirting laying around and the stitching was done by a half-blind cobbler in Concordia, MO. It has been wet molded to a 4" S&W Model 29 DA, 5 1/2" Ruger SA's and it carried a 5 1/2" Redhawk a couple of seasons. Once wet-molded, it gets hard as a rock and despite numerous re-fittings it has never lost that property. Yesterday it was re-molded to the 4 5/8" Vaquero and it is the perfect size for that.

Ugly as sin, but it is my most-used hunting rig. It has offered up the sixgun for 5 Bambis I can recall w/o thinking too hard.

Nice touch on the blued hammer and trigger. I like that.

That's a nice set up, I have a Ruger Bisley in 357.
Great minds think alike, except I'm shooting a Colt SAA in 44 Special and a little longer barrel. Should be fun, I try and keep my shots in bow & arrow range.

That's a fantastic old Colt jbmi.

Thank you Walker6. Think I'm going to add a set of these and call it good.

Here's a pic of my new-to-me NIB 93 Vaquero in 45 Colt.

Dang Dirt, that thing looks unfired/unturned. Nice score!!

Very nice.

I like your style Sarge! I love my older large frame Vaquero 45 Colt...

Rtf

I do love the old large frame Vaquero's and prefer the Bisley grips. I have 2.....a 45 Colt 5-shot by Bowen and a factory 4-3/4" 44 Mag blue/casecolor. Both very nice revolvers.

I checked the 13 grain HS6/255 SWC load through the short Vaquero today; once around the cylinder, the numbers look like this:

Temperature: 81 Degrees
Distance: 6 feet
Average Velocity: 1055 fps
Extreme Spread: 54.09 fps
Standard Deviation: 19.39 fps
Chrony BetaMaster II

Cosidering that you are dealing with six different chambers here, the ES and SD numbers ain't bad at all. This 4 5/8" Vaquero only gives up 20 fps to the longer gun and it is much nicer to pack.



And while this is no fine measure of accuracy, it at least confirms sight regulation with the six shots sent through the chronograph. I was roughly 10 yards from the paper and holding on the bottom of the staple, right above the group.



Great little sixgun and I really like it.

Thanks, SargeMO and EthanEdwards, And yes to both questions! I paid about $50-60 more than I wanted, but it was NIB. The base pin was a real sumbitch to get out the first couple times. I talked to Ruger customer service and they are going to work on it for me and smooth everthing out, no charge. That's the thing about buying from really reputable US companies. They stand by their product!

Sarge, I really like that crossdraw rig. It's not important to me for my applications, but just curious, is that Cowboy comp. legal?

Gotta cure that wrong-hand schit, though.

Thank you for the compliment on the holsster, LD, I don't cowboy shoot so I can't tell you if it's CASS legal.

It's just an old home-made affair in which I attempted to mix the best attributes of the Threepersons and Rykba, with a belt loop wide enough for a River Belt and a rawhide hammer loop for silent operation. I chose a size and material that would allow for adaptation to my 2-3 favorite hunting revolvers. I have threatened to tear it down and make a pattern off of it, but as yet have been unable to do it.

Sarge, it looks like it would be very functional.

It works fine. Once you get used to a properly located hammer loop, you simply brush it aside with the thumb of the gun hand during the draw.

The trick to getting along with them is to have them just tight enough to retain the gun, but loose enough to brush aside easily. This is accomplished by having them a little loose to begin with and twisting the loop to the perfect tension, before slipping it over the hammer.

Hunting with that should be fun. I had a pair like that in .44 magnum. I kept one long enough to shoot a little forked horn with it. I was using my standard load of 24 grains of Win 296 under a 250 grain home cast SWC. In one side, out the other. Dead buck.

Good luck!

Tom

So why not a blackhawk?

Snake

Why not a HiPoint?

Edited to add: That came off sounding kind of smart-assed, which wasn't my intention. Please accept my apology. My point was that either of them will kill a deer at tree-stand distance and it is simply a matter of preference.

I prefer fixed-sight handguns, but I will tweak loads and bend/file sights to get them on a 1 lb coffee can lid at 50 yards. I am downrght OC about it. For anyone else who wants a hunting sixgun that can be easily regulated, an adjustable sighted revolver is probably the way to go.

Thanks for posting the secret of the hammer thong Sarge, it was giving me a pretty fair headache as I like to cartwheel before I draw.

I'm pleased to have saved you from an embarrassing fate, LOL!

It does rankle a bit that twisting is the simple and elegant solution and I couldn't come up with it. Oh well, maybe cold fusion.

Sarge, keep on creating.

I tried an old standby load for modern single action revolvers today, consisting of 8.0 grains of HP38 (or W231) and a 255 grain SWC. This is one of those loads you will see in reviews by reputable gunwriters, but you won't find it in the powder companies's manuals. I tried it because I wanted something that still hit with authority, but shot lower than the 13.0 HS6 load mentioned above.

From the short Vaquero, the HP38 load produced an average of 883 fps, with an extreme spread of 41.13 fps and a standard deviation of 15.71 fps. Excellent numbers all around; except it grouped about a 10" at 65 yards from this gun and hit about a foot low. Well, shizz... just goes to show you can't take anything for granted.

Back to the drawing board... the 13.0/HS6 load shot great but shoots higher than I'll tolerate. Believe I'll back it off about a grain and see if that does it.

Load Success

I decided to split the difference and try 12.5 grains of HS6 with the Missouri Bullet 255 SWC. I was hoping it would slow the load down enough to move the POI down, without compromising the accuracy of the 13.0 grain load. It worked out real well, too. Six shots at a nut can lid from 65 yards. My right shoulder is giving me grief so I fired left hand, semi-supported over the range bag.



I believe the two rounds on or near the lid are what the gun is doing. The low/left round was me touching it off early and the one 4" left was just my screw-up. But the four best shots tell the story as far as accuracy potential and zero confirmation in this handy fixed-sight revolver.

I didn't have time to chrono this load today, but I'm betting it's right at 1000 fps and should knock a 1/2 hole through MO deer from any angle. I'll check it next day or two and report the actual velocity.

Nice work, you've got yourself a rugged roscoe that can pinch hit for a rifle.

Dang Sarge, nice work. You got yourself a real nice hammer there.

Final Vaquero Working Loads

My goal here was the same as it always is, when developing loads for a fixed-sight revolver. One general shooting load, one 'working' load suitable for hunting game up to deer, and a heavy deep penetrating load for Big Angry Critters. Easy, right? I forgot to mention that they all need to shoot to the sights. I ironed out the first two today.

7.2 grains of W231/HP38 with a cast 250 grain RNFP has been my standard 45 Colt load for years. From the 4 5/8" Vaquero it produced an Average Velocity of 883 fps, and Extreme Spread of 41.13 fps and a Standard Deviation of 15.71 fps. Its POI was close enough to keep most shots on a paper bowl at 65 yards from a rest. Nothing left to do here but load lots of those.

The 13.0 grain HS6 load shot a little high with MO Bullet 255 SWC from this gun, so I backed it down to 12.5 grains. Average velocity was 984 fps but the Extreme Spread shot up to 128.6 fps and the Standard Deviation was 43.18. I was having a What The Hell moment until I ejected the brass and found four Starlines, an ancient R-P case and a WW case. DUMMY, make sure you're loading the same casings next tme!

So I loaded six of the 12.5 HS6 SWC's, all in Starline cases, took a good rest over the range bag and let them fly. At 65 yards it herded five them into 4", exactly at point of aim. This load is ready to hunt.



Can't beat that for a compact, fixed-sight sixgun.

I also like the 'Vaquero' and have an Old Model, in a 45 Colt, 4 5/8" barrel (un-catalogued),
blued/case-colored, with Black Micarta Birdshesad grips.

It fits well, shoots well, and is the handgun I take along
hunting, camping, and most anything outdoors.

An old friend blessed me with a near full box of 3oo grain, .452" Hornady Mag XTPs. It is old production and has a single cannelure. Linebaugh's writings indicate you can go as high as 23.0 grains if H110 under this bullet. I loaded a short batch with 22.0 grains of WW 296 powder in new Starline brass, with CCI Large Pistol Primers and finished with a firm crimp.



I tried to run six of them across the old Betamaster; but the sun was sinking, it was windy as hell and I got an Error reading on the first shot. The five that did register averaged 1093 tps with an Extreme Spread of 41.44 fps and a Standard Deviation of 18.11 fps. These are not bad numbers from a short 45 Colt. Recoil was not painful but you can tell when they go off. There were no flat primers or other pressure signs. Three of the empties dropped from the cylinder under their own weight and the other three jumped right out with a light bump of the ejector rod.

Would the 300 XTP expand at this velocity? Only ine way to find out... four gallons of water backed by a Brownells catalog, backed by a saw block.



The impact ripped all four jugs & launched the caps; I found the bullet buried in the catalog about to its base.



The bullet had expanded better than I hoped and it didn't appear to have lost much weight. Granted, some of that expansion probably occured after it hit the catalog; but it shows the advantages of retained momentum & bullet weight apply to heavy JHP's as well.





The only thing that remained was to see if the load shot to the sights. I knew it would print high; the question was how much. I stapled up a paper picnic bowl & held six o'clock on it from 25 yards and fired a couple of rounds standing, unsupported. I repeated the process from 65 yards seated in my hunting chair, with the gun rested over one knee. The results were, once again, were better than I expected.

[img]http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x187/SargeMO/300XTP_220W206_POI_zps3e92c3a0.jpg[/img]

I'll probably bump this up to about 1150 fps and see how she rolls.

My of goal 1150 fps, with the 300 grain Hornady 45 'Mag' XTP, was not selected because I believe it takes that much velocity to kill grass-eaters. Per the manufacturer, that bullet shows an expansion range of 1100-2200 fps and I simply wanted my little Ruger to get it's toe in the door.

I had a limited number of bullets and there is ample data on 300 grain bullet Ruger Loads in 45 Colt. So I went straight to 22.6 grains. I screwed up and only dropped 5 rounds in my pocket, so the numbers are for five shots instead of six. Average velocity was 1186 fps, extreme spread was 12.20 and the standard deviation was 6 fps. That's a kick-ass load for a gun with a barrel under 5� and one of the reasons I love the 45 Colt.

I repeated the four jugs/catalog test... the first two jugs were split nearly in two and the big slug bounced off the catalog and was found, semi-expanded, in the fourth jug. I don't think these are bad results for a bullet that was designed for 454 Casull velocities. I'm pretty sure it will expand crashing through a deer's shoulders but at minimum, it still becomes a full wadcutter. Maybe coming weeks will provide a field test.



I'm going to find some standard 300 grain XTP's (Hornady product# 45230) and rebuild this load around them.

I had about 30 rounds of old 255 SWC 45 Colts that was loaded 1200 fps, as opposed the 1050 fps I regulated this revolver for at 50 yards. Late yesterday I decided to burn them up to empty the brass. This is the last 7 of them fired at 25 yards, standing unsupported.

This would all be no big deal except I'm right handed and I had my right shoulder rebuilt in mid December. Left hand shooting with my Glock 30 has been 'just OK'. Apparently I've been trying to master left hand shooting with the wrong 45.


Apologies for lousy pic.

beauty of a gun looks like you can shoot it too