Recent Vaquero - No lock

[Carry_Up]

I have before me a new Vaquero, produced in October 2014 and it does not have the silly locking mechanism under the wood grips. That's a nice surprise. When installing a lower power Wolff mainspring, it wouldn't cock because the spring was coil bound. The factory spring has about 23 coils, and the Wolff one size fits all SA spring has almost 30. Have others dealt with this problem? The Wolff SA springs fit the Vaqueros WITH a lock, perhaps the no-lock Vaqueros will need a mainspring for another model? Naturally I can clip some coils, but I always hate to do that.

Carry_Up

 

[Jim Puke]

That would be a New Vaquero as opposed to a Vaquero.

I have 2, 2010 and 2011, and neither came with the lock.

 

[Carry_Up]

Terminology is working against us. I have an original Vaquero with large heavy frame that accepts the Wolff Vaquero spring listed on their site. I have a "New Vaquero" with smaller frame (about 2011) - this one has the metal lock - also accepts the standard Wolff Vaquero spring. Obviously, a 2014 model is still a "New Vaquero" style. But, this newer one has a "pre-1962" XR3 grip frame. I don't recall seeing this option before, but I like the shape and the wood grips. Apparently the XR3 takes a different mainspring.

Midway points out this discrepancy in their parts descriptions, but does not give an alternate spring choice. I'm sure others must have noticed it, and it would be interesting to clear up the part number issues.

-CU

 

[eric conrad]

I order my springs from the company. www.gunsprings.com
Eric

 

[loaded round]

I own 5 OM Vaqueros and none of them have locks. Thank God.

 

[Carry_Up]

One difficulty is that I don't have an inventory of Vaqueros to compare. Only a couple of years ago the Vaquero offering had black plastic grips and a hammer lock with key. It looks as if the new offering with red wood grips has an older style XR3 grip frame. You would expect the older style grip frame to use a longer spring than the lock frame but I guess not.

The present XR3 that I have here has monster hammer spring weight. It is nearly coil bound at full cock, and has 23 coils. I started with the Wolff 21 pound reduced power spring which has 30 coils (looks like the same diameter wire). I cut this spring to 23 coils and it does not coil bind (nearly so) but is a bit on the light side. It might accept 24 or 25 coils - my next experiment. Notice that Wolff does not offer the factory standard spring. They do offer a spring for the small grip frame which I assume is the single 6 style. Something tells me the most recent Vaquero spring is going to be a new offering at Wolff. Have a look for yourself! It takes 2 hands to cock the factory spring.

CU

 

[Carry_Up]

After experimenting, this arrangement gives a reasonable mainspring weight that can be cocked with one hand, and also gives reliable ignition.

Start with a Wolff 21 pound reduced power mainspring - this spring will have about 30 coils. Cut this spring to 25 coils (using a dremel cutoff wheel) and remove any burrs remaining. The spring will then have one end closed and ground, and one end open. Put the open end up near the hammer. The new mainspring works fine and is just short of coil binding at full cock.

I don't have all the information about why the spring length changed, except that the grip frame offered on the newest Vaquero with wood grips is different than other recent models.

Carry_Up