Screw on the Ruger Vaquero .357

[DarthMovado]

Good evening,

I'm new to the single action cowboy guns but recently fell in love with the Ruger Vaquero .357 and had to get one. It is by far my favorite gun to shoot. I was given a very nice set of rosewood grips recently. I went to install them to find that both screws provided with the new grips were too long and extended approximately 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch past the edge of the wood grip. The head also counter sunk a good bit more than I was comfortable with on the screw. The factory screw for the factory grips (black plastic) did not work with the new grips ferrule. I've been reading about grip spacers and did purchase one that should work, but the problem was not solved and now I have a small gap with my grips and a "rattly" grip handle. My thoughts are to install some sort of washer on the head side of the grip screw to give me an offset or to simply, trim the screw. Thoughts? Pictures can be seen here:

https://www.facebook.com/jesse.brown1/media_set?set=a.10154796777553846.1073741889.517763845&type=3


Sincerely,

JB

 

[charlesappel]

I wasn't able to see your pictures, but the normal fix for a grip screw that is too long is to shorten the screw.

 

[Hondo44]

Welcome to the forum.

If you look on the left side of frame, you notice that you actually have a new "New Vaquero". The significance is that the New Vaquero has very thin grips and a grip frame that's only 7/16" thick, while the original Vaqueros and almost all other Ruger SAs have a 1/2" thick grip frame.

Therefore the screw is shorter. If you can't push the screw escutcheons out of the factory grips and exchange them in the new grips, then shorten the non-factory screw.

Screw it thru the threaded side of the new grip, cut it off and sand and polish the end smooth, then unscrew it from the grip to straighten up the threads. Now it will screw back in the grip properly when you mount the grips on the gun.

 

[contender]

Welcome to the Forum!
As noted above,, just shorten the screw. But by ALL means,,, use a grip spacer. I put them in all my Ruger SA's. I buy the nylon ones,, and I carefully sand them down to fit the space needed. All of my OM's are 1/2" wide g/f's,, and I shorten the 1/2" spacers by about .005. For the skinnier g/f's,,, just sand off more of the nylon until you get a snug fit. The spacers prevent screws from pulling through.

 

[DarthMovado]

Much appreciated folks.

JB