'93 Vaquero

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.

If I deer hunt this year, it's going to be with a handgun.

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Welcome to a small, yet dedicated fraternity. And good luck ;-)

Something satisfying about slipping a hole in your supper with a fixed sight hand cannon!

Good luck!

You're right Varminterror, I've always liked fixed-sight handguns. Once you get them zeroed, they are essentially bomb-proof. I usually add serrations to the front sight of these guns, to eliminate glare and give purchase to a little white paint if I'm hunting late in the day or in the dark old woods. My checkering file seems to have taken a walk so I guess Brownells will get even more of my money soon.

I checked the 13 grain HS6/255 SWC load through the short Vaquero today; once around the cylinder, the numbers look like this:

Temperature: 81 Degrees
Distance: 6 feet
Average Velocity: 1055 fps
Extreme Spread: 54.09 fps
Standard Deviation: 19.39 fps
Chrony BetaMaster II

Considering that you are dealing with six different chambers here, the ES and SD numbers ain't bad at all. This 4 5/8" Vaquero only gives up 20 fps to the longer gun and it is much nicer to pack.



And while this is no fine measure of accuracy, it at least confirms sight regulation with the six shots sent through the chronograph. I was roughly 10 yards from the paper and holding on the bottom of the staple, right above the group.



Great little sixgun and I really like it.

You can see a staple at 30' ? Better than I can see. That gun shoots fine.

That's some fine open sight shooting. Good for you. I have one also and love it. I also have a 2nd generation SAA and usually shoot them together. There are times I think I've gone to heaven

Thanks guys. That clustering to the left turns into about 4-6" in rested shooting at 65 yards (depending on the load) and I will probably tweak the front sight an extra-fine frog hair to correct that.

We are lucky to live in a time when so much 45 Colt load development has been done for us. I adopted one of Linebaugh's personal loads long ago, 13 grains of HS6 with a Missouri Bullet 255 SWC for 1045 fps from a 5 1/2" Ruger Vaquero. I checked its velocity with the 4 5/8" Vaquero and once around the cylinder, the numbers look like this:

Temperature: 81 Degrees
Distance: 6 feet
Average Velocity: 1055 fps
Extreme Spread: 54.09 fps
Standard Deviation: 19.39 fps
Chrony BetaMaster II

Considering that you are dealing with six different chambers here, the ES and SD numbers ain't bad at all. This 4 5/8" Vaquero, which has a tight barrel/cylinder gap, even gave 10 fps more velocity than my old 5 1/2" gun- but the short Vaquero printed it a full 10"high with it at 65 yards. Not close enough for a hunting revolver.

Next, I tried an old standby load for modern single action revolvers, consisting of 8.0 grains of HP38 (or W231) and a 255 grain SWC. This is one of those loads you will see in articles by reputable gunwriters, but you won't find it in the powder companies's manuals. I tried it because I wanted something that still hit with authority, but shot lower than the 13.0 HS6 load mentioned above.

From the short Vaquero, the HP38 load produced an average of 883 fps, with an extreme spread of 41.13 fps and a standard deviation of 15.71 fps. Excellent numbers all around; except it grouped about a 10" at 65 yards from this gun and hit about a foot low. Well, shizz... just goes to show you can't take anything for granted.

Back to the drawing board. I decided to split the difference and try 12.5 grains of HS6 with the Missouri Bullet 255 SWC. I was hoping it would slow the load down enough to move the POI down, without compromising the accuracy of the 13.0 grain load. It worked out real well, too. Six shots at a nut can lid from 65 yards. My right shoulder is giving me grief so I fired left hand, semi-supported over the range bag.



I believe the two rounds on and near the lid are what the gun is doing. The low/left round was me touching it off early and the one 3" left was just my screw-up. But the four best shots tell the story as far as accuracy potential and zero confirmation in this handy fixed-sight revolver. It's a great little sixgun by any standards.

I didn't have time to chrono the 12.5 load today, I'll check it when time permits and report the actual velocity. I'm betting it's right at 1000 fps which is plenty to drive SWC's through grass-munchers.

Final Vaquero Working Loads

My goal here was the same as it always is, when developing loads for a fixed-sight revolver. One general shooting load, one 'working' load suitable for hunting game up to deer, and a heavy deep penetrating load for Big Angry Critters. Easy, right? I forgot to mention that they all need to shoot to the sights. I ironed out the first two today.

7.2 grains of W231/HP38 with a cast 250 grain RNFP has been my standard 45 Colt load for years. From the 4 5/8" Vaquero it produced an Average Velocity of 883 fps, and Extreme Spread of 41.13 fps and a Standard Deviation of 15.71 fps. Its POI was close enough to keep most shots on a paper bowl at 65 yards from a rest. Nothing left to do here but load lots of those.

The 13.0 grain HS6 load shot a little high with MO Bullet 255 SWC from this gun, so I backed it down to 12.5 grains. Average velocity was 984 fps but the Extreme Spread shot up to 128.6 fps and the Standard Deviation was 43.18. I was having a What The Hell moment until I ejected the brass and found four Starlines, an ancient R-P case and a WW case. DUMMY, make sure you're loading the same casings next tme!

So I loaded six of the 12.5 HS6 SWC's, all in Starline cases, took a good rest over the range bag and let them fly. At 65 yards it herded five them into 4", exactly at point of aim. This load is ready to hunt.



Can't beat that for a compact, fixed-sight sixgun.

That gun was based on the larger frame than the 2005 NV? I have the 2005 New Vaquero and it is a great little shooter also. I checked the chamber throats and they are .452 to .4525.

Mus408 said:

That gun was based on the larger frame than the 2005 NV?

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Yes Sir, first year of production in the model.

Those NV's are nice little guns. Primary advantage of the old heavy frame Vaquero is its ability to handle heavy loads, though the Bisleys are much more pleasant to use with them.

An old friend blessed me with a near full box of 3oo grain, .452" Hornady Mag XTPs. It is old production and has a single cannelure. Linebaugh's writings indicate you can go as high as 23.0 grains if H110 under this bullet. I loaded a short batch with 22.0 grains of WW 296 powder in new Starline brass, with CCI Large Pistol Primers and finished with a firm crimp.



I tried to run six of them across the old Betamaster; but the sun was sinking, it was windy as hell and I got an Error reading on the first shot. The five that did register averaged 1093 tps with an Extreme Spread of 41.44 fps and a Standard Deviation of 18.11 fps. These are not bad numbers from a short 45 Colt. Recoil was not painful but you can tell when they go off. There were no flat primers or other pressure signs. Three of the empties dropped from the cylinder under their own weight and the other three jumped right out with a light bump of the ejector rod.

Would the 300 XTP expand at this velocity? Only ine way to find out... four gallons of water backed by a Brownells catalog, backed by a saw block.



The impact ripped all four jugs & launched the caps; I found the bullet buried in the catalog about to its base.



The bullet had expanded better than I hoped and it didn't appear to have lost much weight. Granted, some of that expansion probably occured after it hit the catalog; but it shows the advantages of retained momentum & bullet weight apply to heavy JHP's as well.





The only thing that remained was to see if the load shot to the sights. I knew it would print high; the question was how much. I stapled up a paper picnic bowl & held six o'clock on it from 25 yards and fired a couple of rounds standing, unsupported. I repeated the process from 65 yards seated in my hunting chair, with the gun rested over one knee. The results were, once again, were better than I expected.



I'll probably bump this up to about 1150 fps and see how she rolls.

I'd be interested to see that same test performed a few times, and a few times with a lead bullet of the same weight. Just to settle my curiosity.

I've loaded/fired plenty of 325 LBT's in the 45 Colt, 100 fps faster than that XTP load. They would sail through those jugs and knock a nickle size hole through that catalog.

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.

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Probably was reamed. Mine is around the same period and it was .495-.450 .... Not anymore of course!

Looks like you got a keeper. Enjoy.

I like the 13g load of HS-6 under 255g SWC myself for the field. With standard CCI my ES was 62 (1100fps) and with a CCI magnum primer ES was 52 (1139fps) out of 5 1/2" barrel. Not enough difference to matter so I stick with standard if available. I like this load too because it is a Tier 2 load which means i can shoot it in my medium frame .45s too.

My of goal 1150 fps, with the 300 grain Hornady 45 'Mag' XTP, was not selected because I believe it takes that much velocity to kill grass-eaters. Per the manufacturer, that bullet shows an expansion range of 1100-2200 fps and I simply wanted my little Ruger to get it's toe in the door.

I had a limited number of bullets and there is ample data on 300 grain bullet Ruger Loads in 45 Colt. So I went straight to 22.6 grains. I screwed up and only dropped 5 rounds in my pocket, so the numbers are for five shots instead of six. Average velocity was 1186 fps, extreme spread was 12.20 and the standard deviation was 6 fps. That's a kick-ass load for a gun with a barrel under 5" and one of the reasons I love the 45 Colt.

I repeated the four jugs/catalog test... the first two jugs were split nearly in two and the big slug bounced off the catalog and was found, semi-expanded, in the fourth jug. I don't think these are bad results for a bullet that was designed for 454 Casull velocities. I'm pretty sure it will expand crashing through a deer's shoulders but at minimum, it still becomes a full wadcutter. Maybe coming weeks will provide a field test.



I'm going to find some standard 300 grain XTP's (Hornady product# 45230) and rebuild this load around them.

Don't know who said it ... but I recall... "when shooting a .451 bullet there isn't any need for expansion" .

I had about 30 rounds of old 255 SWC 45 Colts that was loaded 1200 fps, as opposed the 1050 fps I regulated this revolver for at 50 yards. Late yesterday I decided to burn them up to empty the brass. This is the last 7 of them fired at 25 yards, standing unsupported.

This would all be no big deal except I'm right handed and I had my right shoulder rebuilt in mid December. Left hand shooting with my Glock 30 has been 'just OK'. Apparently I've been trying to master left hand shooting with the wrong 45.


Apologies for lousy pic.

Excellent 'off hand' shooting at 25Y . I know I am happy to hit a paper plate at 25Y with my 'right' hand (normally shoot with my left).