'93 Vaquero

by Sarge , Central Misery, Friday, October 24, 2014, 14:03 (4024 days ago)

If I deer hunt this year, it's going to be with a handgun. So I swapped into an old heavy-frame Vaquero with the 4 5/8" barrel in 45 Colt. Figured I better get a glammer shot before it gets beat and abused like all my other working guns.

This is a 1st year of production gun. Apparently Ruger was was on their best behavior because the grip frame to receiver fit and polishing is near perfect. The cylinder throats were a perfect .452 all the way around, which means either Ruger actually got a cylinder right or it's already been reamed. The hammer & trigger have been blued (personal reference) the internals cleaned & oiled and the pull set to three pounds with a lot less creep. It shoots dead on for windage and a tad low at 50 yards with my standard and 'second gear' 13.0 HS6/255 SWC loads. All that remains is to perfect zero at 50-75 yards she's good to go.

The little woman even likes it and is shown here trying to run me out of factory-dup loads.

I have always favored 4 3/4" single-actions and this one just fits.