B/P and the New Vaquero

[Anvil Dave]

Howdy all........how does b/p work with the New Vaquero s/s?

[Missouri Marshal]

Tricky Trina and myself use 777 in our pistol loads and can shoot an entire match without doin anything to them and they work great.  Haven't used real BP in them yet.

[Four Eyed Floyd]

Howdy all........how does b/p work with the New Vaquero s/s?

I shoot black in mine, works great and clean up with a squirt of Windex with vinegar. A little wipe down and ready to go some more. I lube them with bore butter. They work great!

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[Dick Dastardly]

With Holy Black, not sub/replica powders, you may get some binding between the cylinder face and the back end of the barrel.  If this happens, don't complain to Ruger.  They will tell you that the gun wasn't made for black powder.  Simply open up the barrel/cylinder gap to about 8 thousandths of an inch and enjoy trouble free shooting.

I had to do that with my .347 Magnum RVs and one of my 44 Magnum RVs.  All the others were wide enough that they didn't bind.

Enjoy the smoke.

DD-DLoS

[fourfingersofdeath]

  Boy, don't that go against the grain? Opening up the cylinder gap after years and years of cherishing tight revolvers.

I have picked up a pair of well worn 45Colt NMVaqs. What do i do? Just fill em up (expensive, but very satisfying whoomp, flash and bang no doubt) or use a filler and a reduced load. BP is as dear as poison here.

[Dick Dastardly]

Howdy again 4 Fingers,

I'd try those pistols with Holy Black before I did anything.  Most RVs and NRVs run fine with Holy Black from the git go.  Only reason to expand the barrel/cylinder gap a mite is if they start dragging.  I've had to do this on some, but not all RVs.

Posted on your thread.

Keep the smokey end downrange.  Happy trails.

DD-DLoS

[Steel Horse Bailey]

If ya keep the front of the cylinder clean (a quick swipe with a moosemilk patch) ya won't have to do sech drastic gun mods.   Besides, Rugers OFTEN are jes fine fer ANY type of powder.

[fourfingersofdeath]

I wasn't about to do anything, just remarking about the fact that after years of hearing people cherising small cylinder gaps, yer talking about opening them up 

If that is what it takes to make em work, so be it.

I have decided to run a pair of Colt clones and a 1873 in 44WCF and shoot classic cowboy. I will get them sorted first and get used to the new way of shooting before I start compounding my problems with BP. I'll be confused enough as it is for the moment. besides, I went away to a shoot on the weekend and won a 1.5kg (close enough to 4lb) tin of Trail Boss. I'll blast that off practicing and then were' into the dirty stuff.

[Driftwood Johnson]

fourfingersofdeath:

I dunno anything about cherishing small cylinder gaps. Kuhnhausen recommends a barrel/cylinder gap in the SAA of .006 for jacketed bullets and .008 for lubed lead bullets. These are for smokeless loads. He does not make any recomendations for BP.

The New Vaqueros sometimes tend to come through with very tight cylinder gaps. I have a pair in 357 and the gap is probably only around .002 on them. I have not tried shooting BP through them, they are Mrs Johnson's pistols. But I suspect with that tight gap I would have some binding if I put some BP through them. What we are saying is a gap of .005-.008 will usually work fine with Black Powder, as long as you are using plenty of BP compatable lube on your bullets. I shoot Black Powder in Colts, clones, and Rugers, all 45 caliber. All of these guns have their original factory gaps, in the range of .005-.008.

You will hear some folks claim that barrel/cylinder gaps need to be opened up to around .012 in order to prevent binding with Black Powder. I do not recommend opening them up that far, .005-008 shoud be sufficient. Any more than that and you may make things worse by depositing even more fouling on the front face of the cylinder.

[Dick Dastardly]

Ho DJ,

Those are the correct measurements.  I'm finding that bp pistols are happiest with Five to Eight Thousandths of an inch.  That gap seems just right for the hot flame to scour the cylinder face clean.

Just shot my "new" brace of 1860s with Kirst Konverters last night.  I'm going to have to open up that gap some on one gun.  My left hand gun, #17, binds up after two cylinders full.  The gap measures Two Thousandths.  The other gun is closer to Five Thousandths and it runs fine.  FWIW, those 60s will take some getting used to.  Pretty to look at tho. . .

DD-DLoS

[Deadeye Dick]

My New Vaquero in .357 stainless shoots 38 spl. loads in black powder just fine. The tight cylinder gap doesn't seem to bother it any. I haven't tried BP .357 loads in it, so don't know if they make any difference.
Deadeye Dick

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

          I talked to Ruger a while back , about the tight cylinder to forcing cone gap, and shooting BP, and I was told that there single actions with the exception of the ROA, were not built or ment for BP , and that I should stay with smokeless powder. So if you are going to shoot BP  in your RNMV, you need to widen  this gap, like the others have said between .005/oo8


                                                             tEN wOLVES 

[Steel Horse Bailey]

... or take out the cylinder and wipe the end of the cylinder and tail-end of the barrel between each stage.  That'd probably keep ya goin' a while!

[Ranch 13]

 Running 37 grs of goex 3f a .030 fiber wad and 250-255 gr bullets lubed with Sagebrush's alox lube , it takes about 25 or more rounds before the cylinder on my NV starts to bind. Just squirt the cylinder face and the end of the barrel with some simplegreen or windex,wipe the crud and keep on keepin on.
  :oMakes no sense to me to start whackin, filing and grinding on as good of a gun as these New Vaqueros are. Especially when about 10 seconds worth of gun maintenance will keep it rolling along.

[Adirondack Jack]

My BIG Vaqs had .002 or 3 gaps from Ruger.  If I didn't clean em often enough, I'd get enough lead on the face of the cylinder to make em drag even with smokeless.

A pard told me that the cutter for my Lyman Universal Case trimmer makes a fair forcing cone face cutter.  I took him at his word and using thumb pressure to hold it snug and fingers to turn the four bladed cutter, whittled the forcing cone faces until two sheets of printer paper would clear the gap, but three would bind.  The paper is .003 thick, so I'm somewhere around .007 or .008.  All fixed, no more drag issues, even with BP, and my "monster" non-CAS loads throw a little more fire now, but only lost about 50 fps.

[Driftwood Johnson]

So if you are going to shoot BP  in your RNMV, you need to widen  this gap, like the others have said between .005/oo8

Before cutting any metal, first determine if it is necessary. Ruger has production tolerances like any other manufacturer. Despite the fact that they say the gun is designed for Smokeless powder, not BP, some Vaqueros will in fact come through with a gap large enough for BP, some will not. As several posters on this thread have said, sometimes a factory gap will handle BP just fine. Don't open the gap on any revolver unless you have first determined it is necessary. Shoot some Black Powder loads through it first. You can always remove metal later, it is much more difficult to put it back on.

[Deadeye Dick]

I agree with Driftwood. As I stated earlier I've had no problems. I've shot over 50 rounds of 38 without a hitch of any kind. No need to remove metal if you don't need to. Give it a try first.
Deadeye Dick

[Cyrille]

I shoot and have shot BP through my two Vaqueros. 1st, I put a .45 caliber vegtable wad between the bullet and powder 2d I lube the bullets with a black powder lube. 3d I smear lube on the cylinder face and bullet noses. I've shot five full (five shot) cylinders through the revolver with no binding. I may be able to shoot more but by that time the barrel needs cooling so I usually wipe down the cylinder while the barrel cools a bit.