Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Cowboy Action Shooting Bought a Vaquero

Mrs Shootist shot it today, and did a right tolerable job of keeping her shots centre mass. Drilled some plates too. She says she likes it lots. Oh, no! Guess I'll have to buy one for her too.

Tried a few rounds today off a rest at 25 yards. No pics, but it is holding pretty consistent at 2" for 5 shots. Only problem is that it is shooting about 4" low. How do you guys adjust for that with fixed sights? Will a heavier bullet shoot to a higher point of impact?

I was going 6 for 6 on the 8" plates, but I was holding towards the top of the plates. This thing is just too much fun to shoot.

You can adjust you loads to shoot to a different place or grind off the front sight if you will only be using one specific load in that revolver.

My Vaqueros in .45 Colt shoot POA at Cowboy Action Shooting distances with a 250 grain bullet at about 850 f/s. The 200 grain bullets I frequently use shoot a little lower but are close enough to POA at that short range to make very little difference in how I aim.

A friend shot a Cowboy match with me last weekend with two of my old .45 Colt Vaqueros. I think he is hooked.

Just hold the blade higher in the rear notch. That should have you shooting higher. You can also play around with the velocity too. Slower heavier bullets tend to shoot higher than faster bullets.

I bought a 255 grain RNFP mould in Winnipeg on the weekend and got some cast up today. They look pretty mean! I'll try them out tomorrow. Loaded with 4.5 gr and 5.0 gr of Trail Boss. Should correct the shooting low thing.

That did the trick. 255 grain bullets with a charge of 5.0 grains of Trail Boss, and she prints in the bull. Gotta love it when a plan comes together. The 200 grainers with 7.5 of Unique are up a bit, but still 3" low + or -. I may try a bit more Unique with the 200 grainers and about 5.2 Trail Boss with the 255 grainers to tweek it to the max.

Lovin' it!

you got you a fine shooter there, Keith.

Thanks, Paul. Went out again today, and was shooting 6 shot blowouts at 10 yards. FUN!

The hide is from one of medicman's African hunt. The 1895 is in 45-70, and the Vaquero is 45 Colt. Galco holster, and Hunter belt.

If you notice, the frame is smaller ahead of the trigger guard and there is less metal around the cartridges in the cylinder. That's why the NEW Vaqueros are no better than a 100 yr old Colt when it comes to ammo they can shoot. Ruger really screwed the pooch when they made the New vaqueros.

I have three New Vaqueros, two in .357 Mag. and one in .45 Colt. The .357 Mags should be able to digest about anything other .357 Mag can. The .45 Colt is my fast draw revolver and will never see heavy loads as longs as I own it. I do use it at times with mild loads when I have guests for a cowboy shoot. I have three .45 Colt old Vaqueros, one in .44 Mag., and one in .44-40. I think they could probably shoot max loads all day long with no problems.

I don't think they make the New Vaquero in .44 Mag., so the NV in .45 Colt is probably the only combination that could cause potential problems.

I do like the way my .357 New Vaqueros handle and the way the cylinder lines up with the loading gate. I also like the way the .45 Colt NV draws. The shape of the hammer makes it easier for my hands to cock it.

My go-to revolvers for cowboy shooting remain old Vaqueros in .45 Colt.

In my .45s, I use 5.1gr of Titegroup with a 250gr cast bullet.

Oregon Trails 250g RNFP over 5.3g or 5.6g of Titegroup.

What about the point of aim and point of impact relationship with the Ruger Vaquero in 357 or 45 Colt?

Is it necessary to make some fine tuning with the sights or the barrel?

Actually if you measure the outside cylinder walls and calculate the thickness of the cylinder walls between the bottom of the locking bolt notch , there's preciuos little difference between the new and old vaguero's. They reduced the diameter around the cylinder rod, and shortened the new cylinders up to where a 260 gr keith bullet is about all that the length can handle.