Picked up a Ruger New Vaquero today

[Love Life]

I went to The gun shop today to look at several Ruger revolvers. I have been considering a New Vaquero for some time.

I looked at 5 of them and took home the pick of the litter. A 5.5 inch, blued, and chambered in 45 Colt. Bought this one so I could send 280 Swc and 250 gr XTP's down range with a little more oomph, lol.

This one has a nice finish, decent grip fit, great barrel cylinder gap, a good forcing cone, and a decent trigger pull.

The only thing I don't like is the grip profile. I will put a thicker set of grips on. Range report to follow this week.

The hardest part was not buying the red hawk (older) chambered for 45 Colt, lol.


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[DougGuy]

2 or 3 digit prefix in the serial number? 2 digit is the original large frame Vaquero, 3 digit is a medium frame Vaquero, safe to 45 ACP+P pressure of 23,000psi but NOT safe with the Ruger Only loads listed in loading manuals that produce 30.000psi.

[Love Life]

3 digit. It's the smaller New Vaquero. Fits my SAA holsters and feels good in the hand.

I plan to load according to the 23,000 PSI window. I want to shoot 255 gr boolits and bullets at a sedate 1,000 FPS.




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[DougGuy]

Oh it will do that and then some.. I will say one thing about those, the NMV and the NM Flattop exhibit the best fit and finish of ANY revolvers Ruger has ever made. Customers brought them by my shop for cylinder throating and I was SO impressed with them I had to have one for myself. The Lawyer warning is on the bottom of the barrel, and they lightened the roll mark so it doesn't raise ridges inside the barrel like the older heavily roll marked barrels had, and the ones I have seen all had no detectable thread choke.

Throats on yours might be .451" even, slide a .451" boolit through from the front and check it out.

[Love Life]

I'll check out the throats. I looked at a 45 Colt/45 cap flat top convertible, and it was fitted very well. I almost bought it, but adjustable sights leads to having to many loads to play with, lol.

I would have liked a New Vaquero convertible, but will not buy a Ruger sight unseen.


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[NC_JEFF]

I've owned two of the early Vaqueros but never got around to Shooting the Ruger only loads. The 255gr rfn bullets at just above starter loads with Unique always shot accurately and felt good. I wish I'd have bought a smaller framed Vaquero. I hope you enjoy it.
Jeff

[yeahbub]

I looked at a New Vaquero in .45 Colt and the chamber walls looked scary thin. I'm looking for an Old Vaquero so I can shoot the "Ruger-only loads", same as in the Rossi '92. And I like the extra heft. The oldies don't seem to become available in-state very often, though.

[Love Life]

DougGuy-you are dead on about the chamber throats. A .452 boolits will not pass. What bothers me is I have to push the rounds in the last bit to seat them fully. Hmmmm, perhaps I'll send the cylinder your way. The rounds should drop in freely, lol.

I plan to shoot it first though to see if any more gremlins show up.


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[Bzcraig]

Pictures??

[DougGuy]

I looked at a New Vaquero in .45 Colt and the chamber walls looked scary thin. I'm looking for an Old Vaquero so I can shoot the "Ruger-only loads", same as in the Rossi '92. And I like the extra heft. The oldies don't seem to become available in-state very often, though.

You would be surprised how much pressure the medium framed 45 cylinder will take.. I do NOT advise loading it beyond 23,000psi for safety reasons. This figure is derived from the medium framed 45 ACP caliber guns because they are rated safe with 45 ACP+P pressure which is 23,000psi. Same wall thickness for the 45 Colt = same pressure ceiling.

You know if Ruger rates it at 23,000psi they probably proofed them at 40,000psi or more.

Personally I LOVE the weight and handling of these medium frame, medium barrel, big bore sixguns, and Elmer was right, if you can't get it done at 1200fps, get a bigger gun. A 250gr boolit at 1200fps from one of these 5 1/2" beauties is quite enjoyable, nothing like a 300gr boolit sitting on 23.0gr H110 in the larger framed guns.

Ruger really did it well when they gave us this wonderful Tier2 revolver, and you have to look hard for Tier2 loads but they can be found. My adventure with one, I figured well they did such a good job on a Tier2 revolver, how about let's make a dedicated Tier2 cartridge to fill out the package. I used a 45ACP cylinder and reamed it to accept 45 Schofield brass, and I load these to the 23,000psi pressure ceiling the gun is rated for. Works a charm!

[osteodoc08]

After a long, hot, tiring summer; you deserved this one LL. Enjoy.

[Love Life]

After a long, hot, tiring summer; you deserved this one LL. Enjoy.

Thank you!


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[Love Life]

Dang, disassembly is a tad different than I'm used to, lol.

It rides in my holsters well and points as good as my Colts and Uberti single actions. Big problem is I have lost 30 lbs since April so my gunbelts are to loose now... dang.

I plan to shoot it this week and post a report. The. I'll be sending the cylinder to DougGuy to be reamed. Today I'll be nitre bluing small parts.


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[dubber123]

They are indeed stronger than many think, mine is a 3-3/4" 45 Colt, and I have tested it out well. You will have no problems meeting your power requirements. As noted, these seem to be better fitted than many of the other Ruger single actions. Mine only needed trigger and sight work. Enjoy your new shooter :)

[Love Life]

I'm going to the range with it today. I'll be shooting my standard loads. I just don't have the time for a full work up right now.

The loads tested will be the Lyman 452423 which is 248 gr lubed, and the Hornady XTP. Both over unique.

This will at least give me a baseline.

Now I just need to figure out what I want to use to make a new set of grips. I have walnut, Ivory, and Osage Orange. I'm thinking the orange will really set off the bluing. The ivory would be worth more than 2 Vaqueros, lol.


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[Love Life]

Just got back and can say I am relatively pleased.

The issue with seating rds in the cylinders will be taken care of by DougGuy. The throats are so tight that a 45 caliber jag with a patch on it does not fit in the throats.

Accuracy was quite acceptable at 25 yards. The gun was well regulated for the loads I had today. Only issues with the gun is the tight throats and the slim grips. I began hacking on a chunk of Osage Orange to make a thicker set of grips.

Pictures to come later


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[Love Life]

Osage orange grips almost done. Should finish final fitting tonight or tomorrow. Pretty tough wood with a pretty grain.


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[osteodoc08]

Definitely need some pictures. Can't wait to see them with the new stocks.

[Love Life]

If I can find the camera I hope to get pictures up soon. Being this is my first time working with Osage orange, and first time making Ruger grips... plus I was in a rush. They dang sure aren't perfect.

They fit the hand well though. I'm finishing them with pure beeswax rubbed in and buffed by hand.


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[DougGuy]

Cylinder goes on the bench today. Throats are a very consistent .4505" as shipped from the factory.

[Love Life]

Cylinder goes on the bench today. Throats are a very consistent .4505" as shipped from the factory.

I reckoned they were kind of tight, lol.


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[Love Life]

I got the cylinder back from DougGuy today. I can now get a patched jag through the throats, lol.

My bullets/boolits slip through the throats with a very slight drag which is exactly what I wanted.

I also opted for the chamfered charge holes which actually did make a considerable difference in loading the cylinder with big SWC boolits.

What is interesting is that even with .4505 throats from the factory, I got no leading with 100 rds of lswc being fired. Hmmmmm.

Doug did a very professional job and he did it quickly!! I'd recommend his services to others.

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[dubber123]

My New Vaquero shoots better than I expected from the short 3-3/4" barrel, I think you will be very happy with yours :)

[Love Life]

Got to the range yesterday with the reamed cylinder. All ammo I tried fit like it was supposed to and accuracy was much improved.

I fired the Lyman 453423, H&G 68 NOE clone, and a powder coated 230 gr RN no lube groove bullet all over 9 gr of unique at 25 yards. Not one 6 shot group was over 2 inches.

The hornady 250 gr XTP over 8.7 gr of unique went into a 2.5 inch group.

Happy, happy, happy!!


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[osteodoc08]

Excellent range report!