Thanks Chuck, she loves the birdshead frames. I'll get her hands on one for a trial run, but the gut tells me we have a winner here. She has some health issues as well (enough to keep her away from the .30-30) so for the long term, it seems like the perfect caliber.
Leo
I have kinda small hands, and I like the Birdhead grip, too. When I bought my last Vaquero, it was still back when they were all the bigger versions. Mine was a special run from the factory (of 5000 if I recall) that was a kind of test version with a 3 3/4" (3.75") short barrel that had the standard grip - they called it a Sheriff's Model. The gun is polished Stainless, 45 Colt and the white factory grip had no Ruger Medallion, rather the Ruger symbol was "scrimshawed" (laser etched) on it and pretty large. VERY handsome. At this time, there were NO Birdhead Vaqueros released - perhaps rumored, but not yet released. Anyhoo, I found a company called Qualite' that had a DIY (do-it-yerself) brass B-head grip conversion, made of brass. I chose brass over the stainless they offered and with a set of white Hogue grips. Lemme tell you - that gun - when polished up and gleaming, is REAL purdy! (IMHO, of course.
) This grip has a slightly different contour than what Ruger eventually released, about 1-2 years later.
Here it is with an 1890s Iver Johnson topbreak in 38 S&W. (Yes, the one piece grip on the Iver J IS a factory "target" grip and is VERY comfortable to hold and shoot! And no - it has snap caps in it,
not loaded rounds.
)