vaquero accuracy

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clate

Bearcat
Joined
Jul 13, 2009
Messages
8
Location
peoria, Illinois
i bought a ruger new vaquero about a year ago, ss 5.5barrel 45colt, absolutely beautiful, the only problem is it doesnt patter worth a hoot.
ive tried win, rem cowboy loads, hand loads, the best were gold dot hollowpts, but at worst its like a foot wide at 7yds, at best 9 in maybe.

anyone ever have accuracy probs with their vaquero? any suggestions?

ive never reloaded, just got the gear to do it, my friend loaded the handloads, so i have no data to give some were hot some were not,

thanks, clate
 

Sugar River

Buckeye
Joined
Aug 25, 2008
Messages
1,084
Location
S Florida
First thing I would do is measure the chamber throats. You can get close by seeing what diameter bullet will pass thru them. Chances are they're tight and will need reaming.

Pete
 

maxpress

Buckeye
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
1,280
Location
Central Washington
+1

getting them line bored seems to be a good fix if they are under spec.

that of course is after eliminating other problems such as lock time if they exsist.
 

Rclark

Hunter
Joined
Jan 1, 2009
Messages
3,533
Location
Butte, MT
12" is pretty bad at 7 yards. With my '93 Vaquero I get about 6" at 25 yards... and I think most of that is me.... I had to ream my cylinder throats to .452 to get it you shoot this well. Note that the throats were very tight on mine. On the other hand, my newer .45 BH, the throats were very close to .452, but I reamed them anyway. If you can get your hands on a .452 lead bullet, you should be able to press it through each throat (from the front) with just finger pressure. If you can't the throats need reamed.
 

VAdoublegunner

Single-Sixer
Joined
Oct 24, 2006
Messages
459
Location
Virginia, USA
I hate to be the one to mention it, but that just doesn't sound like a gun problem, especially since the groups do not improve significantly with jacketed bullets.

You can get poor grouping with tight cylinder leades with cast bullets, but it would be very unusual to have accuracy that poor with jacketed bullets at 7 yards. I would suggest having someone you know that shoots Single Actions very well try the gun out with a load that is known to shoot well in their guns before going to extreme measures of reaming/lineboring/etc.
 

Rclark

Hunter
Joined
Jan 1, 2009
Messages
3,533
Location
Butte, MT
I would suggest having someone you know that shoots Single Actions very will try the gun out with a load that is known to shoot well in their guns before going to extreme measures of reaming/lineboring/etc.
+1 . I should have mentioned that too :oops: . Seems there was someone else on this forum that thought his gun was shooting bad, and had another shooter try it and it shot very well. Wasn't the gun.
 

pete44ru

Hunter
Joined
Dec 6, 2004
Messages
2,176
Location
Rhode Island
This is a 25-yard target with my .45 New Vaquero using factory Cowboy ammo, shot last Summer shortly after I bought it, for comparison.

VaqTarget.jpg


.
 

mt

Single-Sixer
Joined
Dec 22, 2008
Messages
290
Location
Rocksprings, Texas
Without knowing your skill level it seems that 12 inch groups at 7 yards should be shooter error. I can't offhand think of anything other than a butchered muzzle that could cause such a large group. Maybe you were having a bad day...some days I can't miss, some days I "can't hit a bull in the butt with a bass fiddle" as they say.

Let someone else try your gun or try to load ball and dummy for a few cylinders until you get the hang of it.

Just a thought.

mt
 

First Shirt

Bearcat
Joined
Oct 27, 2007
Messages
1
Location
Sweet Home Alabama
If I mind my P's and Q's and watch what I'm doing, I can keep 5 shots inside a 6-inch circle at 50 yards with any of my Vaqueros (2 are 5.5 Bisleys, and one is a 4.65 BH, all in .45 Colt).

I've polished the chamber throats on all of them, but line-boring was a little out of the budget.
 

edlmann

Blackhawk
Joined
Apr 6, 2009
Messages
790
Location
lovely downtown Central Florida
clate":1d72yeya said:
i bought a ruger new vaquero about a year ago, ss 5.5barrel 45colt, absolutely beautiful, the only problem is it doesnt patter worth a hoot.
ive tried win, rem cowboy loads, hand loads, the best were gold dot hollowpts, but at worst its like a foot wide at 7yds, at best 9 in maybe.
anyone ever have accuracy probs with their vaquero? any suggestions?

click here
 
Joined
Jan 10, 2005
Messages
3,051
Location
Alexandria, LA USA
clate, your vaquero should be doing much better than a foot at 7yds. No one's giving you a hard time over 'operator error' but that is the first thing to eliminate. Most Ruger S/A guns in 45c need the clinder throats checked as Ruger if famous for tight throats, but only need to ream them if you are expecting to shoot mainly lead bullets. Try again with another experienced S/A shooter to see if there is any difference. Use sandbags at 10 yrds too. Let us know what you find out.
And welcome to the forum, don't be a stranger.
 

EDK

Single-Sixer
Joined
Apr 9, 2006
Messages
475
Location
barnhart-mo-usa
VAQUERO sights aren't the best in the world...and then the factory trigger leaves a lot to be desired. While I've gotten some halfway decent factory triggers, the last .44 VAQUERO I bought is terrible...the fact that Jim Stroh (ALPHA PRECISION) did action jobs on my other guns makes it feel even worse. I paint the front sight and "the hog wallow" rear sight with a black industrial marker; it helps a lot.

The advice on the throats is good. The 45s were notorious for oversized in the 80s and RUGER over compensated when they finally corrected the problem. Check your throat diameters with bullets of various diameters or pin gauges if you have access to them.

One last option. Try and find some smooth after market grips for your gun. There have been some unkind things posted about the factory checkered plastic grips on the NEW VAQUERO. I'd recommend EAGLE GRIPS Gunfighter model...I prefer un-checkered water buffalo horn. The guy who designed them is a genius...there are some subtle contouring and other aids to shooting.
 

clate

Bearcat
Joined
Jul 13, 2009
Messages
8
Location
peoria, Illinois
thanks for all the options, and suggestions, will take all into consideration.
dont know when ill get back to the range but will definitely take good notes and measurments on all ammo and targets.

clate
 

JimMarch1

Blackhawk
Joined
Feb 19, 2007
Messages
525
Location
Tucson, AZ, USA
My NewVaq357 has the most extreme set of sight upgrades imaginable :). Last informal plinking session I was able to knock beer cans around at 20-25yds pretty regularly, shooting fast and standing (Weaver).
 

Lloyd Smale

Blackhawk
Joined
Aug 10, 2003
Messages
555
Location
munising MI USA
ive owned a ton of rugers and have never had one shoot that badly. I almost cant believe that a bullet could go 12 inchs out of line with a bore at 7 yards.
 

Big Bubba

Single-Sixer
Joined
Dec 26, 2006
Messages
112
Location
WV
Just my experience with the Blackhawk and Vaquero and New Vaquero type handguns. Hold the revolver with your little finger under the grip frame. This moves your hand back slightly and allows the trigger finger to press the trigger with the middle of pad of the first joint of your trigger finger. You get a better straight back pull with the trigger finger this way.

By gripping the gun with four fingers on the grip, the hand is moved more forward, and this causes the trigger finger the contact the distal or first joint of the finger on the trigger. This curls the trigger finger more, and doesn't give a straight trigger pull. This inturn causes a person to pull the trigger to one side or the other, at least for me and my size of hands.

Also, just grip the handgun with your right hand, not a death grip, when you wrap your left hand around your right, the left hand should be the one you grip tightly around your right hand. This gives the right hand better trigger control.

Proper grip, trigger control, front sight, and concentration.

No saying you are a bad shot or critisizing, just a few pointers that help me shoot the single action better.

Sometimes with handguns, rifles and bows, I have to stop when shooting bad and rethink the A, B, C's.
 

revhigh

Hawkeye
Joined
Aug 31, 2005
Messages
5,590
Location
PA
EDK":1kp6v6w3 said:
VAQUERO sights aren't the best in the world...

LOL !!! I've seen better ... or at least equally good sights on $5 cap guns at Walmart (I'm serious ... check it out) ... I truly can't see why people buy these things, unless you're doing the SASS thing. Blackhawks are so much more gun, and you can hit what you're aiming at without aiming somewhere else. :D

REV
 

Rafsob

Single-Sixer
Joined
Nov 29, 2004
Messages
304
Location
Hayes, Va.
I shoot Cowboy Action Shooting (CAS) and had a pair of old Vaquero Special Editions (.45 LC & ACP cylinders). They served me well for many years. One of the two was a very accurate pistol. I once fired both out to 50 yds and this is what one did:

RugerVaquerosn57-8609250yds.jpg


I ended up keeping this one and selling the other. I now shoot a pair of new Vaqueros. However, they are not as accurate as this old model.

I neve shot the ACP cylinder to check its accuracy. I think I should try this and get the results.
 

Rclark

Hunter
Joined
Jan 1, 2009
Messages
3,533
Location
Butte, MT
LOL !!! I've seen better ... or at least equally good sights
Well, maybe I am the odd man out :) . I kind of like the thin blade dropping into the back notch and actually see the bullseye on either side of the blade. Seems I can draw a better 'bead' than the 'block' 1/8" sights of my other Rugers.

FWIW, my Vaquero is shooting very close to point of aim.... with 8.5g of Unique pushing 250g RNFP. This is after reaming and changing the forcing cone to 11 degrees.... Groups aren't one hole at 25 yards, but good enough to stay all in the black (7 ring). I believe this is my doing ... not the gun.
 

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