Vaquero cylinder out of line

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BayouBob

Bearcat
Joined
Apr 4, 2013
Messages
35
Location
Arkansas Delta
Just noticed a lot of lead shaving on my New Model Vaquero. (I bought the fancy Ducks Unlimited version because it was $150 less than the standard one. Not many duck hunters try to quick draw on ducks.) Looking at it from the top and from the rear I can plainly see that the cylinder is slightly offset to the left. It is getting buildup on the left side of the frame but not on the right. Anybody ever notice this on a Vaquero?
 
If so, that one needs to go back to Ruger. They will do right by you. All it takes is a polite phone call to get the ball rolling.
 
Looking down from the top all single action revolvers, the cylinders seem to be offset to the left. On Colt and Old Model Rugers, the cylinders are well matched with the recoil shield. On the New Model Rugers, the cylinders appear to be slightly to the left even on the recoil shield because of the loading gate.

Even without a range rod you can get a good estimate of the cylinder bore to barrel bore alignment by shinning a bright light sideways into the cylinder to recoil shield gap and looking down the bore of the, hopefully, unloaded revolver.

Also, drill rods can be sort of be substituted for range rods. 11/32" for .357, 13/32 (or better a "Z") for .44, and a 7/16" for .45.

You have to check ever cylinder hole.

The problem often is caused by a poorly fit cylinder latch. I have an Old Model .357 with this problem. I solved it by shimming the cylinder latch bolt, making the shim from a feeler gauge.

A cylinder which is sitting a bit low can be raised by installing one of Kyle's Belt Mountain cylinder base pins.

John
 
Winchester factory 255 lead and 3 different cast bullet hand loads in 200, 225 and 255 grains. There is a noticeable build up on the outside left side of the top strap above the gap and none on the right side. I've only got around 300 shots through it so I'll shoot it a little more before I get too worried. It does seen accurate although the groups are not surprisingly a little low at every distance. I am still waiting on some 300 grain bullets to see if they impact higher before I think about filing the sight.
 
You can hang two pieces of 8 1/2 x 11 white paper on either side of the barrel/cylinder gap about 2 feet away from the gun. When you shoot a single shot, take the paper down. Examine the paper from each side. There will be a lot of holes in it, obviously, the gas and powder from the b/c gap will make them. If you are shaving lead, you will also see lines or other non-circle shaped cuts through the paper. You could post pictures of them and I could look at them for you. If you have lead shaving, you should send it in. Also, you can do the test for every chamber and do the test numerous times if you like.

Please remember to hang the paper with some type of clips at the range if you can, don't hold them up, the persons hands will be bloody, I a sure you knew that. It's the guy that didn't I'm worried about!
 
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