Another Ruger came home with me today.

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2ndovc
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Another Ruger came home with me today.

Post by 2ndovc »

Bought a nearly new in the box Vaquero in .44-40 this morning. If it's been fired, it wasn't more than a few rounds. The guy I bought it from, a guy I've known for many years, said it is part of a collection of an old friend that isn't doing well and asked him to sell off his collection. The receipt in the box is dated 1997 and new it was $379.50. :D
I know the Vaquero in .44WCF can have accuracy issues with oversized bores and chamber throats that can be way off, but for the price I couldn't pass it up. I should be able to get out to the range Tuesday and see what it can do with a couple different loads I have for my grandfather's '92 and go from there. I really like these large frame Vaqueros, this one makes three so far. Still need one in .45 Colt.
I replaced those awful white plastic grips with a set of wood ones already, but those aren't likely to stay on it either.

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jb 8)
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Grizz
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Re: Another Ruger came home with me today.

Post by Grizz »

Nice one. I'm a Ruger fan, they make some good stuff.
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Re: Another Ruger came home with me today.

Post by gamekeeper »

A married couple I new at the gun club had a pair of Vaqueros in .45 Colt, I helped them burn off their ammo when they were hit by the handgun ban. Nice guns and pleasant to shoot but a very sad day nevertheless... :cry:
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Re: Another Ruger came home with me today.

Post by piller »

Hope it shoots good for you!
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Pitchy
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Re: Another Ruger came home with me today.

Post by Pitchy »

Looks nice. 8)
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Re: Another Ruger came home with me today.

Post by M. M. Wright »

Good lookin' Rooger sir. I've had a few Vaqueros in 44-40 and they all shot decent groups. You're more likely to have problems with Colt when it comes to mismatched chamber throats. That Ruger will have .429 groove diameter so all you have to do is be sure your chamber throats are correct. Just my experience with them.
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Re: Another Ruger came home with me today.

Post by Tactical Lever »

It's a nice one! Going to go with stag, bone, ivory?

From what I hear, sometimes the chamber throats are tight, which is relatively not too bad to fix. Shooting cast bullets formed not too hard may help. But if everything is correct, going from bigger to smaller, they can be made to really shoot!
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Re: Another Ruger came home with me today.

Post by Ray Newman »

Agree with you about the large frame older vaqueros and I think they are cat's meow!

I have Bisley .45 Colt large frame Vaquero that I should shoot at least once. ALways wanted a .41 Magnum large frame Vaquero, but for some reason or another I just never seemed to purchase one when they were available.

Good luck with it.
Last edited by Ray Newman on Sun May 16, 2021 1:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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2ndovc
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Re: Another Ruger came home with me today.

Post by 2ndovc »

M. M. Wright wrote: Sun May 16, 2021 8:10 am Good lookin' Rooger sir. I've had a few Vaqueros in 44-40 and they all shot decent groups. You're more likely to have problems with Colt when it comes to mismatched chamber throats. That Ruger will have .429 groove diameter so all you have to do is be sure your chamber throats are correct. Just my experience with them.
That's good to hear. I almost ended up with one from an estate a couple of years ago but some creep beat me and my friend to the daughter and bought everything for next to nothing. We would have given her a good buck for her dad's collection.
Anyway, just about everything I'd read about the .44-40s was negative but still didn't keep me from buying one. I figure there isn't much that can't be fixed with a little experimenting or a little competent gunsmithing.

jb 8)
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yooper2
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Re: Another Ruger came home with me today.

Post by yooper2 »

Nice sixgun. Some of the early 44-40 Vaqueros had pretty unfortunate dimensions on the chamber and throat. Ed Harris came up with a reamer for fixing these guns which tend to have tight necks and way undersize throats. I believe the reamer resides with John Taylor out in Washington. He does great work for a fair price if you end up needing to go that route.


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Scott Tschirhart
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Re: Another Ruger came home with me today.

Post by Scott Tschirhart »

Looks great! Let us know how it shoots.
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