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hacker
08-10-2012, 06:25 PM
Can someone tell me about the Ruger single
action sizes? I know they have changed some
now and then, but I am not sure of the
changes. Did they make the big bore guns
with different size cylinders, and actions,
and if so what was the difference?

Dagga Boy
08-10-2012, 10:13 PM
Can someone tell me about the Ruger single
action sizes? I know they have changed some
now and then, but I am not sure of the
changes. Did they make the big bore guns
with different size cylinders, and actions,
and if so what was the difference?


Yes. There were some very early ones that were a little different in size.

The big difference that I think you are refering to is in the Vaquero's. The original Vaqueros are the same size frame as the rest of the Ruger line of Single actions. They are bigger than the Colt SAA size and can handle very heavy loads are are totally bulletproof. They are exceptional field guns and I have numerous examples.

The "New Vaquero's" (marked as such) are Colt SAA sized and are more popular for use in Cowboy Action type competition and for those who want a traditionally sized gun.

I don't shoot Cowboy Action and generally use my Single Action guns for when I am in the woods as more protection against four leggers than two (I've switched recently to a Ruger Alaskan with mild work from Bowen Custom Arms for this role, but still LOVE my big Single Action cannons). In this case I prefer the older larger framed guns.

hacker
08-11-2012, 06:56 AM
I have one that is marked as a Ruger Vaquero. The manual with it also just says:


RUGER VAQUERO & BISLEY VAQUERO


So, I take it mine is the full sized cylinder. Looking at it, the cylinder does not look to have very thick metal in the chambers. It is 45 cal, has two cylinders, 45LC and 45 ACP. With those large holes, the wall measures only .08 of an inch. That seems pretty slim to me. The overall cylinder diameter is 1.73 inch. I have loaded some fairly hot loads with the 45 LC cylinder, using a chart that stated "to be used only in strong guns like Ruger", but I am not all that comfortable doing this. I bought this gun back some time ago, I believe before the "new vaquero". It does appear to have a slightly larger cylinder than an 1873 colt clone (Italian) that I have. Am I worried too much about this?

The Ruger Web sites says this about the Vaquero:


The mid-size steel frame and cylinder are scaled-down to the same size as the original 1955 Ruger Blackhawk


What about that original sized Blackhawk? I owned a 44 mag bought back about 1958. Was that the same size cylinder as the Vaquero? Did the original 44 have the same size frame as 357? Or did the Super Black Hawk have a larger cylinder?

My serial number indicates it was made in 1999. Is that a "new vaquero"?

ewayte
08-11-2012, 11:41 AM
The new Vaquero started production in 2005.

http://www.ruger.com/service/productHistory.html

Dagga Boy
08-11-2012, 02:09 PM
You have an "old" Vaquero. It is the good one for running heavy loads. The "New Vaquero" is the one back to the original 1955 size. Your Vaquero has a frame and cylinder more in line with the bigger Blackhawks. The biggest difference is the fixed vs. adjustable sights.

hacker
08-11-2012, 08:34 PM
Thinking more about this strength of cylinders and their size, I decided to see how the thickness of the vaquero cylinder compared with a 357 Taurus I have. This one is an old one, probably a pretty close copy of the S&W combat masterpiece. I measured the wall thickness of this one, and it was less than the vaquero. It measured about .073, compared to the .08 of the vaquero. I guess the max working pressures of 357 went about 40,000 psi, so this gives me a little more confidence in loading up the 45 vaquero. Thinking back to my 44 mag shooting and loading, which I did a lot of at one time, the max pressure recommended was 40,000 psi. I remember that loading up with a 215 grain gas check bullet using IMR 4227 you could get somewhere in the neighborhood 1400 fps and if you dropped the load back to about 30,000 the velocity only dropped about a 100 fps, to around 1300. This gave a lot less muzzle blast and the recoil became pretty pleasing. Using this thinking, it would appear that you could get above 1300 fps out of a fairly large 45 cal bullet without going about 30,000 psi. That would probably give a pretty good load for some heavy shooting.

Anyone have any figures they have come up with for comparison?

Just came across some loads on this Liink:
http://www.chuckhawks.com/high-pressure45.htm

Looks like you can easily get 1300 and even with heavy bullets, like 265 grain and 300 grain.