1st range trip w/ .45 Colt Bisley Vaquero-Major Problem

Sunny Florida weather, 70 degrees, had the range to myself shooting for the first time my new .45 Colt Bisley Vaquero purchased two days ago. After 66 rounds of Georgia Arms New Ammunition, NOT reloads, of 200 GR LRN and 250 GR LRN the gun froze up/locked up. I could not cock the hammer back, open the loading gate, remove the cylinder from the gun, nothing. It was froze up. After six rounds the base pin seemed to have backed out slightly and the gun locked up, but I pushed it back in and no more problems until 66 rounds when the gun completely locked up. Not sure why, but I only had three rounds in the cylinder, and when I had fired all three rounds the gun locked up, and you couldn't cock it, open the loading gate, remove the cylinder, nothing. First thought was a primer had backed out, but that proved not to be the case.

I brought the gun home, and a friend and I worked on the gun for a long time, even using a rubber mallet, before we were able to unlock the gun, punch out the empty shells with the ejector rod, and remove the cylinder. We could not find anything wrong with the empty cartridges, primers were seated flush, and the cases looked ok. It looked like one of the empty cartridges was jammed back up against the frame of the gun locking it up. The cylinder wouldn't move, the hammer wouldn't cock back, the loading gate would not open.

Does anyone have any idea what could have possibly gone wrong to cause the gun to lock up like it did. Up to that point the gun did great, but I am not a happy camper thinking that this may happen again. I'm wondering if I should have gotten the Ubertti El Patron that I was looking at instead. Not happy here. Please help with your thoughts as to what could have gone wrong. Thanks.

Forgot to add that the loading gate was noticeably forward toward the cylinder. Not sure if it was pressing on the cylinder, but it was noticeably forward. It is back to normal now that the gun is unjammed.

My first thought is that only three rounds loaded allowed the loading gate to not be supported under recoil and it backed out slightly locking things up. This is just a guess from someone who has not been inside a New Model Ruger in 15 years so I could be way off. Maybe the transfer bar was off since the basepin backed out.

My SWAG (Scientific Wild Arsed Guess): when you loaded the last three rounds prior to the pistol locking up, did you feel any resistance placing the ammunition into the chamber(s)?

Have a feeling that there might have been lead/powder fouling in the chamber, causing the round to not fully seat and upon firing the cartridge backed out, locking the pistol up.

How dirty are the chambers? Any indication of leading? If the load is on the light side, it could be that the brass is not sealing enough to prevent fouling from blowing back into the chamber, causing a fouling build up. Over/undersized lead bullets can also increase chamber fouling.

Had a revolver that this would happen to me. If I ran a patch with solvent into the cylinder after say 18-24 rounds, there was no problem. Also increased the charge to so the brass fully expanded and sealed the chamber from blowback.

The chambers did not have any fowling, and the bullets went in to the cylinders without any problem. No evidence of leading.

I forgot to add that the loading gate was forward more than normal. It was noticeably forward toward the cylinder. It is back to normal now.

If the loading gate spring pops out of its recess it will lock the gun up tight. The loading gate will also appear to be "forward". This can happen in New Model Rugers when a shot is fired with no round in the chamber under the loading gate.

If this is the reason it could be a "one time" event or possibly an issue with the loading gate spring.

Dan

BIgMuddy said:

If the loading gate spring pops out of its recess it will lock the gun up tight. The loading gate will also appear to be "forward". This can happen in New Model Rugers when a shot is fired with no round in the chamber under the loading gate.

If this is the reason it could be a "one time" event or possibly an issue with the loading gate spring.

Dan

Click to expand...

I'm wondering if that might have been the problem, because for what ever reason I had only loaded three cartridges into the cylinder. The loading gate is very hard to open, so I'm thinking that it has a very strong spring? I will make sure to load all six rounds onto the cylinder from now on to see if that solves the problem. Thanks Dan, and Cyrus too, as I think you are saying the same thing in a different way.

Anymore ideas guys?
Alan

As the loading gate is hard to open the loading gate spring might be out of place. That spring likes to go in the wrong position when assembling the gun so it is possible there has been a mistake during assembly of your gun.

sasu said:

As the loading gate is hard to open the loading gate spring might be out of place. That spring likes to go in the wrong position when assembling the gun so it is possible there has been a mistake during assembly of your gun.

Click to expand...

^^^^^^^^^^^^
This!

If its not correctly installed it can pop out, and is really hard to open the gate. I'd look there, because it really shouldn't come out under recoil of standard 45Colt ammo.

Dan

sasu said:

As the loading gate is hard to open the loading gate spring might be out of place. That spring likes to go in the wrong position when assembling the gun so it is possible there has been a mistake during assembly of your gun.

Click to expand...

Thanks sasu and Big Muddy for that tip. Everything seems to be pointing towards the loading gate. Thanks, Alan

BIgMuddy said:

sasu said:

As the loading gate is hard to open the loading gate spring might be out of place. That spring likes to go in the wrong position when assembling the gun so it is possible there has been a mistake during assembly of your gun.

Click to expand...

^^^^^^^^^^^^
This!

If its not correctly installed it can pop out, and is really hard to open the gate. I'd look there, because it really shouldn't come out under recoil of standard 45Colt ammo.

Dan

Click to expand...

Thanks Dan. Everything pointing to the loading gate and the loading gate spring.
Alan