ruger vaquero

what size lead bullet works best in a 40 s&w vaquero...and would it be the same size for the 38-40?

When shooting lead bullets,, it's best to slug the bore to determine which diameter will work the best.

Good place to start is .401 diameter (same as 38-40), if you can't slug a bore.

Best to slug both the bore and the cylinder throats. If the latter are smaller than the former, you'll need soft bullets or leading and iffy accuracy may result.



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TX Nimrod said:

Best to slug both the bore and the cylinder throats. If the latter are smaller than the former, you'll need soft bullets or leading and iffy accuracy may result.

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. . . and you should get your cylinder throats reamed to the proper slight oversize compared to the barrel bore. For instance, with Ruger's .451" barrel bores in their .45 Colt revolvers, the proper cylinder throat size is .4525" which works well with both the usual .452" lead bullets and even the usual .451" jacketed bullets. Had several of mine done, and it works great. :wink:

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TX Nimrod said:

Best to slug both the bore and the cylinder throats.

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Yep. My .38-40 Blackhawk had extremely tight cylinder throats. This led to lots of barrel leading and so-so accuracy. After having the chamber throats reamed it does much better.