Ruger New Vaquero in .45LC Question

[Dr I. Yankum DDS]

I have a new Ruger Vaquero chambered in .45LC and I made an interesting observation. I chambered one single round just to test a new load and after it fired the cylinder was very hard to turn by hand and I couldn't open the loading gate. I made sure the base pin was fully seated which it was. Finally, after messing around with it I was able to spin the stiff cylinder and finally got the gate to open and removed the fired casing. The casing looked good and the primer was seated properly. I closely checked for any damage and made sure the gate spring was properly located. Put everything back together and the cylinder turned properly with no problems. This time I went ahead and loaded 6 rounds and the guns functioned properly. Proceed to fire over 100 rounds with no problems whatsoever. Just out of curiosity I went ahead and loaded a single round again and the same thing happened as before. Got the gun clear again and fired another 200 rounds with no problems. So my question is, Why is the gun jamming with only one round loaded and fired but when I load all six rounds it fired properly without a hiccup ? Thank you guys.

 

[Cyrus]

With only one round loaded, the loading gate is not supported by the rounds and is moving slightly, jamming things up. With a full cylinder you have the loading gate supported and not moving.

 

[Dr I. Yankum DDS]

With only one round loaded, the loading gate is not supported by the rounds and is moving slightly, jamming things up. With a full cylinder you have the loading gate supported and not moving.

Thank you very much and excellent point. Another test I did was to put 3 evenly spaced rounds in the cylinder and one supporting the gate, fire the gun again. No problems at all with the 3 rounds but once I went ahead and loaded a single round, back to square one so I totally agree with your statement. Thank you !

 

[Cyrus]

My pleasure. On the hard recoiling guns they always recommend a fully supported loading gate. Hamilton Bowen mentioned loading gates snapping off with extreme recoiling guns IIRC.