Vaquero 44/40 problems

Hi,I recently purchased a used Vaquero in 44/40.I went to the range and my ammo would not chamber
I have no problem with this ammo in my 120 year old Marlin 1889!I called Ruger customer service and was told they no longer work on 44/40s as they have no tooling or parts?I am very disappointed I own over 12 ruger guns and have never had a problem with any of them.Is there a gunsmith that anyone can recommend to ream out my cylinder.The gun was made in 1995 and I plan to shoot cowboy action loads thru it.Thank You Jay Parisi

Jay

That was a common problem with the 44-40 Vaquero. They had the same barrels as the 44 mag as well so the tight chambers/large bores was not conducive to great accuracy. Someone else will probably have a recommendation where to send your cylinder. I am sure Alan Harton can do the work. I suggest you get it honed out to .430 and shoot bullets sized for the bore. When that is done those guns will really shoot.

God luck!

Dan

As for chambering, your throats are probably way too small. Traditionally they should be .427"... but as traditionally some were also .425" :lol: As far as Ruger tradition goes, I've seen them as small as .423" :roll:

The Ruger's didn't all have .430 barrels, so you need to determine what you have first before you go too far. If you do have a ,430" barrel, as was stated the trick is to have the throats opened to match. Of course it's no longer really a .44-40 anymore and to get decent accuracy you'll have to handload .429-430" bullets.

Here is an interesting topic posted a while back

http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=21534

Some good info here

Hi,
Interesting to see Ruger won't work on them any more. Ruger used their 44 mag barrels (.429) on their 44-40s as an expedient, I guess, but the early guns had throats set too small (around .425). Some even had cylinder chambers too tight (the 'shoulder' was not set right, either) as well as cylinder throats. I've been told Ruger fixed all this by the end of their 44-40 run, but you have an early example with the above problems (like all mine were). Send the cylinder to Hamilton Bowen for reaming. He's opened up Ruger 44-40s and 38-40s(which also suffered the same problems) for me. Easy fix. As for it not being a 'real' 44-40 because it doesn't use a .427 barrel; nonsense. I use Ruger 44-40s in cowboy action for both smokeless and black powder; it's a great caliber; keeps the action much cleaner than the straight walled ones, especially with black powder. I use starline 44-40 and winchester 44-40 brass without any problems. I've use .428 bullets made for BP and .429 and .430 bullets made for smokeless powder without any difficulty. (And those sizes are readily available as they are used for 44mag/44 special, as well.) Avoid Remington and CBC 44-40 brass.

(As for the .429 barrel that Ruger uses, I've found it to be actually a good thing; one can find occasionally a Ruger 44 mag cylinder that can be fitted, and shoot now 44-40, 44 mag and 44 special with the same revolver; very handy, indeed!)

I had several 44 40s Ruger dropped the ball on these.
Blunder imo I like the nostalgic caliber but they did not
shoot well at all. Using the 44mag barrel to save money
not smart imo. I'm sure they knew better. ps

Single Sixer Thanks for the info,Do you have contact info For Hamilton Bowen and any idea what he charges.Thank You Jay Parisi

Howdy!
If you mean me, try this link:
http://www.bowenclassicarms.com/catalog/ruger_single_action_options.html
Look at option B230.

jparisi...did Ruger offer to replace the gun with one in another caliber?

single-sixer,Ruger said I could send my gun back for evaluation and could possiably trade it for a current model.I bought the 44-40 to go with my Marlin 1889 in 44-40.Thanks Jay Parisi