Ruger New Model Vaquero

[rickk]

The first of two New Model Ruger Vaqueros arrived today. They will both be stainless, 5.5" barrel, 45 Colt.

I am "upgrading to 45 Colt caliber, having preciously used a couple of very highly tuned Old Model Blackhawks in 357 and a couple of fairly out of the box stock Old Model Vaqueros in 44 Mag.

The Old model 357 Blackhawks that I have always though to be a standard to meet. They are smooth as silk.

This New Model Vaquero, out of the box, is something else. It feels awesome right out of the box. I know it will get even better by just shooing it a bit.... Rugers are like that.

Some things I noticed...

A .452 sized bullet slides very snugly into all 6 chamber throats. No lead is shaved. There is no need to ream the chamber  throats.... they are right where they need to be.

The cylinder mouths are already chamfered. I might cut the chamfer just a little bit bigger... not sure, but they are already cut. Between single and double action Ruger revolvers, I have at least my "fair share", and this is the first one I have ever seen chamfered by Ruger.

The new cylinder pawl system is something else. With the loading gate open, there are no rachety sounds as the cylinder spins... it pretty much just spins. I've got a reversing pawl on order that I will try, but so far I am much impressed with what it is like right out of the box.

The cylinders are not mirror smooth, but they are a far thing from rough. I will run a fine cylinder hone thru it to make it a mirror finish, but not bad as it is.

The one complaint I have is that, with my hands (bigger side of average), and the way I hold it, the hammer spur just barely touches my hand when the hammer is cocked. It doesn't push my hand, it just touches it. I don't know if it will bother me long term or not. I don't think so, but if it does, some different grips may remedy the situation completely. On the flip side, the lower hammer in relation to the grip is easier to reach for one handed cocking, so maybe it is a compromise that will work out just fine.  I'm not quite sure what makes it different compared to the older models, I'll have to do some side by side comparison.

Yes, I will probably go through it, deburring anything if I find anything that needs deburring. I have a spring set on order that I will play with, but this thing already feels very light as it arrived.

Now I just need to cast some bullets, wait for back ordered brass to arrive, set up a newly arrived set of 45 Colt dies, make a new holster set, work up a load, etc, etc, etc  ... and also wait for the 45 Colt '92 rifle to arrive.

O ya, and at some point in time I will probably have to mention this all to my wife 

This all may take a while.

[Pettifogger]

"I've got a reversing pawl on order that I will try, but so far I am much impressed with what it is like right out of the box."

The pawl that is in the gun is a reversing pawl.  The biggest complaint with the old Vaquero is that when loading or unloading the chambers did not line up perfectly with the loading gate and if you went a little to far and the pawl slipped to the next ratchet tooth you had to go all the way around to load or unload that chamber.  Ruger put in a reversing pawl and to make the chambers line up correctly they put a pin in the ratchet window.  This keeps the cylinder from spinning backwards, but does make loading or unloading easier.  If you remove the cylinder and look in the ratchet window you can see the pin.  If you remove the pin the cylinder will spin either direction.  Sometimes a little adjustment may be necessary on some pawls to get them to spin backwards freely, but they are all the reversing style.

[rickk]

Pettifogger, I was fondling it some more and noticed that it does line the cylinder up with the loading gate like you mentioned (a pleasant surprise).

I didn't know that it was the same pawl as the one I ordered though.  With the cylinder lining up with the gate there is less of a reason to be able to actually reverse it fully.  Maybe I'll just hone the cylinders, clean the newness out of it and simply shoot it.

I guess I've got some studying to do.

This thing is awesome... It looks like they took care of just about all the little issues that I either had to improve upon or be annoyed by on previous versions.

It is sort of cool to be able to buy a gun for a not terribly bad price and then not really have to do anything to it other than go out and get it all dirty.

[Advertising]

[rickk]

I thought more about increasing the cylinder chamfer.

The 45 Colt rim is not all that much bigger than the rest of the case. There is a lot less rim to grab onto than there is on a 44 or a 357.

If I cut the chamfer bigger I risk having the extractor slip off cases. I am thinking that Ruger did it exactly this way for a reason... gunna leave that alone.

[Ranch 13]

If I cut the chamfer bigger I risk having the extractor slip off cases. I am thinking that Ruger did it exactly this way for a reason... gunna leave that alone.

What extractor would that be?
You do realize that Ruger brought the New Vaquero out with most all of the changes requested by CAS shooters several years ago, don't you?

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

Where are these chamfers? Front end of the cylinder or rear end? I wouldn't mess with them in either case.

Regarding the free spin pawl business.

I agree completely with Pettifogger. My chief complaint about the 'original model' Vaqueros was the tendency for the cylinder to slip around just a teeny bit too far and you could not access that chamber without going around again. I was pleased as punch when Ruger fixed that on the New Vaquero. I do disagree slightly though with how it works. That 'pin' is a spring loaded plunger. It is positioned to pop up at just the right point so that the chambers line up with the loading gate. I was real pleased when that feature was included in the New Vaquero. I never understood what all the hoopla about free spin pawls was anyway. With this feature, the New Vaquero is much more user friendly at the loading table and I won't be altering them at all.

My New Vaqueros are early ones. I bought them in 357 for Mrs Johnson to shoot. These have the tall hammer spur that originally came with the New Vaqueros. Much more like a Colt hammer spur.

[rickk]

DJ,

The chamfers go on the rear. They ease the loading process, especially with soft lead bullets that have some sort of a shoulder on them (like a SWC or Full WC).

Brownells sells a hand powered tool set which makes chamfering 6 chambers cylinders a five minute job.  I routinely chamfer chambers on everything I own as soon as I get it, but Ruger got to me first on this one.

[ZVP]

[ My  4 5/8" Stainless .357 New Model Vaquero also has the rear of the chambers rebated. The rebate is small but allows easy loadong of even Keith-type SWC's. Typical RNFP bullets just slide in like butter.
 Ir dosen't take much of a sholder reduction to allow for ease of loading!
 The cylinder is also rounded at the front and rear for holstering purposes. The slight chamfers also add to the "Used Bar of Soap, feel" that these smaller New Vaqueros have. Just like the old Colts these revolvers are very pleasing to the hand!
 The new indexing paul puts the empty cases exactly in line with the ejector rod and unloading is a breeze!
 ZVP

[rickk]

Ya ZVP, I noticed the tapered cylinders as well. It is amazing that a US gun manufacturer would take the time to notice all these things and then just deal with them.

I have always been happy with Ruger, but even more so now.

I actually met Bill Ruger once a long time ago. I was deer hunting with a TC Contender in 357 SuperMag in the Newport, NH area.... Croydon, NH actually.

It was up in the mountains behind my wife's cousin "Sara's" parents house. I ran into this old guy up on top of a mountain, He was carrying a Ruger Rifle. We started talking about guns, and he told me that the TC's were pretty good, but he tended to favor the Ruger's because he owned the company.  I wasn't sure how to respond to that. I mentioned it to cousin Sara when I got back. She told me that Bill owned the other side of the mountain, and ya, that was him.

It's too bad he isn't around any more to keep things from getting stupid, but I really believe he would be proud of this particular model.

[ZVP]

 You lucky Dog!
 Wow to have really met Bill Ruger!
 Yea the New Vaquero is about my idea of the ideal  S/A revolver! Ruger has always added little niceties with every revolver be it the little red bag for your Single Six, or the chamfered cylinder of the Vaquero, just solid value!
 Nevertheless, I never abuse my Rugers and in my .357 Vaquero I mainly shoot .38's through it I don't compete yet but as a Personal Defense/ Target/ Plinker, the New Vaquero is ideal for me! I don't have to worry about using full power .357 magnums all the way down to light cowboy  loads, the ruger will handle them with aplumb!
 Solid Value for your dollar.
 ZVP

[Bart Solo]

The only problem I have had with my NMVs involved the base pins.  They didn't lock completely and would back out after a few rounds.  I am told that isn't uncommon but Belt Mountain pins solved the problem. 

[Driften]

I have also had base pin bouncing out but replaced it with the wolf spring and that stopped the issue!
I love my New Model Vaquero Montado's (with the smooth front strap). They are nicer then my Blackhawk. I did on both the NMV's and Blackhawk put in the wolf spring kits but left out the replacement main spring. That gave me just over a 2lb trigger pull.