My NM Vaquero Now Has a Bisley Hammer!

Tonight I put the finishing touches on what has been, for me, a problem child Vaquero... a Bisley hammer!







I'd say it took a good 2 hours, maybe more, to get that sucker fitted. Maybe 1/2 hour or so with a Dremel and a cutoff wheel, then minimum 1 1/2 hours with various files and finally wet/dry sandpaper.

Next time I feel like tearing her down again, I think I'll take a little metal off the two faces on the hammer so it'll seat a little deeper.

Looks pretty good to me.

Nothing like doing your own handy work.

Bravo, great job. If you do another, it will take you 1/2 the time or less.

If I'd known you were doing this I would have shared this tip but maybe next time it will help:

REPLACING JUST HAMMER and/or PAWL:
Recognize, you do not need to hassle with the PESKY LOADING GATE SPRING, pull the trigger pin, trigger OR transfer bar JUST to remove the hammer and pawl. Once you remove the grip frame, the hammer pin is the only thing you need to remove to get them out. Just pull the hammer back and all the way down, then depress the hammer plunger in the base of the hammer with a small tipped screwdriver to clear the trigger extension where the transfer bar connects to it. Let the hammer & pawl fall out. Install in reverse! Piece o' cake.
NOTE: When you pull the grip frame, examine the upper end of the two trigger guard screw holes where they are exposed. Almost always there will be a huge flat 'roll-over' burr in each hole from the milling cuts that expose the holes. If they are present they generally cause the 1st 1/8" of removing those two screws to take extra effort to unscrew. You'll need to break them off and pick them out with a dental pick or equivalent tool.

Thanks guys. I don't think I'll have to do it again, as I figure this will be my only Vaquero unless Ruger happened to (wisely) offer it in .44 Special some day!
Thanks again for the encouragement.