Another Vaquero

[161]

I picked this up last winter. It's a great shooter but with the little factory grips it's a bear to shoot with a full fledged .44 mag. It's the old model Vaquero. I wanted to take it deer hunting this year and shoot one with my 310 LEE and 16 gr. of 2400. So I bought a set of Hogue grips. I don't like the way it looks but I can shoot it without discomfort.
88612

[RED333]

Looks dont mean nothing if you can hit with it and it feels good and works in your hand.
I like the grips.

[joehaberxxx]

Well, you loose the SAA looks with the grips, but pretty is as pretty does

[161]

Its a good shooting gun with 5.6 gr. of Red Dot and the LEE 240 SWC TL. And fun to shoot, but the 2400 and 310 Lee load was shout. 3 shots was all I wanted. Some people say let it roll in you hand and others say absolutely don't let it roll. Well I'll not man enough to stop her from rolling in my hand. However that same load is very controllable. I'd like someday to shoot a Bisley frame.

[MtGun44]

If you get grips made that are a bit thicker, specifically having a small flat, about 3/16" wide, on either
side of the backstrap - then going into the normal SAA grip contour forward you will be quite surprised
at the improvement. I lucked into a set of real stag grips on my .45 BH and was impressed at how mild
the recoil was from ".45 Magnum" loads - until I put the stock grips back on. I suddenly realized that
those stag grips dramatically dropped the recoil. I studied them because it was not immediately obvious
to me why they would be any different. After a couple of minutes, I finally noticed the thickness and how
they made the backstrap effectively twice as wide. I don't see why a custom grip from a nice wood, but
made with this extra flat (thickness) at the backstrap wouldn't do the same thing for your Vaquero.

Bill

[EDK]

I put DRAGOON or HUNTER grip frames...and SUPER BLACK HAWK hammers on the latest ones...on my non-BISLEY Original Size VAQUEROS in 357 or 44. I prefer the 5.5 barrels like yours, but admit to 7.5 inch 44s also. EAGLE GRIPS Gunfighter model grips are superb...good performance but still look "western."
I prefer the MI-HEC and MMA10MM clones of Uncle Elmer's 429421 and a moderate load of HP38 or TITEGROUP. A full wadcutter 44 might be interesting too. Has anyone here tried them?

[Airman Basic]

88917

Still a fan of Pachmayr Presentations. They reduce recoil and look much better than the butt-ugly Hogues.

[161]

I've had the Pachmayr grips before but the have material behind the frame making the reach to the trigger longer.

[Kraschenbirn]

I've got the Pachmayr's on my 4 5/8" OM Vaquero .44. Still a quite a handful with full-bore loads but not terribly uncomfortable with my favorite 245 gr SWCs at around 1100 fps and a real pussycat with 200 gr. RNFPs loaded to .44 Spl. levels.

Bill

[MTtimberline]

I got my Ruger Vaquero .44 mag talked down to a very good price about 7 years ago. It looked like it didn't even have a full box of cartridges through it and the original owner was not a reloader. I was anxious to shoot it before I had the equipment and components for it, so I bought a box of factory ammo to shoot it and gain some brass. I soon found out why the original owner shot it very little and was willing to let it go. It is a good looking gun and a lot of fun to shoot with the 240 gr SWC moderate 231/HP-38 loads and the 200 gr. RNFP cowboy loads mentioned earlier. I have used the .430 200 gr FN cowboy bullet from Going Balistic Bullets (Lolo, MT) with really good success for plinking and practice. I've been trying to find a mould that can produce the 200 RNFP that can be sized to .430 diameter. I have a 44-40 RCBS 44-200-FN mold (.428) which I have played with the idea of having Erik at Hollowpointmolds enlarging the bands on to .432 if I can't come up with anything else.

[Kraschenbirn]

...I've been trying to find a mould that can produce the 200 RNFP that can be sized to .430 diameter. I have a 44-40 RCBS 44-200-FN mold (.428) which I have played with the idea of having Erik at Hollowpointmolds enlarging the bands on to .432 if I can't come up with anything else.


You should be able to go with the Lee 429-200-RF. Boolits from my mould originally dropped .430-.431 but I've since lapped the cavities to .433+ for use in my 1894 Marlin levergun. Btw, those .433s will still chamber in my Vaquero.

Bill

[MTtimberline]

Thanks for the info on the Lee. I always forget to look at the Lee offerings but this may be my first. I think the lighter weight will be good for plinking and make more boolits for the same amount of lead used.

[44Vaquero]

89232161, Having fired a standard .44 Vaquero I can definitely sympathize with you and your solution. I was lucky and managed to acquire a .44 Magnum Bisley Vaquero! It does not suffer from the same issues as the Plow handled version! Full house loads a very easy to handle with Bisley the style grip.

[161]

89232161, Having fired a standard .44 Vaquero I can definitely sympathize with you and your solution. I was lucky and managed to acquire a .44 Magnum Bisley Vaquero! It does not suffer from the same issues as the Plow handled version! Full house loads a very easy to handle with Bisley the style grip.

That's a nice looking handgun. I shot about 1.5 boxes yesterday and it was fine. But I do like the way the Bisley feels.

[44Vaquero]

My 16 teen year old daughter shooting mild 240's (850 FPS).
This was the 1st time she shot anything larger than .38 FWC's.
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