My secondhand Vaquero at the range

[David LaPell]

I finally was able to take my secondhand Vaquero that I found for $289 at the local gun shop to the range. I used to cast #452424 255 grain SWC's from Montana Bullet Works with 7.5 grains of Unique and I used these on the silhouette target at 7 yards (circled in blue) and 10 yards (circled in black). These were offhand and one handed.
Then I took some 230 grain Hornady JHP's that were loaded with 7.5 grains of Unique and aimed them at the "head" of the target, also at 7 yards offhand and one handed. The Vaquero is a smooth and great shooting gun, I have had a couple and this one is the best shooter by far, even though it's not the prettiest.

[Green Frog]

It looks like you found a sweet spot... the power level doesn't seem too extreme, but it should be enough for most uses that Vaquero will be put to, and the accuracy looks good from here! I'd be loading a bunch of the cast bullets as I have an original example of that mould from Lyman, so cost would be for just my time, and I'd be hard put to shoot enough of them to put significant wear on that gun. Carry on Dude!!

froggie

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Nice Vaquero, amigo! I've got 2 of the old models, one .44-40 and one .44 mag. The real test will be when you try it out at 25 yards -- bench rested acceptable. Looking at your ammo -- that's kind of an odd/uneven crimp on the cast swc round. Is this used brass? Might have to trim it, which is something I've never had to do.

[LUBEDUDE]

Nice gun, nice shooting!

[OldBearHair]

Nice David LaPell, good shooting. Try some deer tallow on your vaquero rubbed on with a cloth and see how it does. Mine is a 44 mag. carried under my left arm in a modified rug with a shoulder strap when hog hunting. Loaded with Lee 308 grain flat meplat. I practice drawing the pistol and firing one handed, no aiming, as quickly as can be accomplished . If done right it should take care of a charging pig from one end to the other.

[David LaPell]

Nice Vaquero, amigo! I've got 2 of the old models, one .44-40 and one .44 mag. The real test will be when you try it out at 25 yards -- bench rested acceptable. Looking at your ammo -- that's kind of an odd/uneven crimp on the cast swc round. Is this used brass? Might have to trim it, which is something I've never had to do.

Yeah, not sure what caused that, the brass is brand new Winchester. I am going to take that die apart and clean it, it's an older RCBS die I was given. I had to work with a bit to get them to crimp properly.