Somebody talk me out of a Vaquero....

[downtownv]

The Rugers originally were like genuine Colts and they had 3 screws holding the side plate on. Ruger added the transfer bar ignition system so they can safely handle a full cylinder and not 5 like the colts that would fire if you dropped them on the hammer. Those had 2 or 4 I can't remember screws, but not 3.

The 3 screw is the way to tell they were the old style. Ruger upgraded everything to the transfer bar system free of charge. Some didn't send them in and they are sought after now days.

If your wanted an old original the 3 screw not upgraded would be the one to look for.

Otherwise they are all pretty much the same. Very strong, very tough.

I like the Vaquero and the Bisley. I have a Birdshead Vaquero. I like it very much. Have 3 Super Blackhawks, had a 357 but gave it to my daughter and her husband.
My first store bought gun was a 22 / 22 mag convertible which I still have too.

Thanks for that explanation, now how do i solve the loose screw i got?

[downtownv]

Greg.. between these guns, your hikes out in the desert, pics of the hawk etc.. I want to be YOU for at least a week or so..
Beautiful guns !!

Bisley in .44 Magnum

Me to but first I need a pair of boots made of steel that go up to my boys, if I'm gonna walk around anywhere that rattlesnakes live!

[Bawanna]

I'm sure there's gonna be a long line forming here. I can see it now next year when I sit on santa's lap and he ask me what I want to be when I grow up. Gee santa, I wanta be GB Greg of course.....

Oh you guys probably don't do the santa lap thing huh?

I'll need a powerful force field for my chair and 4 wheel drive when I visit which I surely hope I get to do sometime. Ranks right up there in the top 1 things I want to do some day.

My biggest fear is getting bit directly on the butt0cks (well sweet Mary and Joseph, we can't say gluteous maximus with a B here?, see if that fooled the cyber cop bullies) by a Gila Monster. Read about that in an old western book in an earlier life, haunts me to this day.

[ltxi]

Thanks for that explanation, now how do i solve the loose screw i got?

Well now that there is just seriously funny!

I have three and a half life long favorite handguns...1911's, S&W K and J frames, and SA Rugers. I could easily do without any other.

[CJB]

Do I want the 4-5/8 or the 5-1/2 - I cannot find any locally to check. Any input greatly appreciated. I was leaning 5-1/2, then... realized its long overall, about 11-1/2 inches. I can appreciate the 10-1/2 or so of the shorter barreled revolver. John Wayne preferred the 4-5/8 and used his personal Colt in all the movies that would allow or require the use of a SAA.

The screw thing - I like the looks of the three screw. It looks like the Colt. I can live with two screws, but the screws aren't screws, they're pins. On the tiny Bearcats I've got, its two "screws" not pins. I wish the bigger Ruger's used screws too. I was reminded that the pins are actually a lot stronger than the screws, and can be made of a tougher steel, etc etc. Like Kahr's slide stop... really tough steel. You never hear of the screws breaking on a three screw Ruger tho.

Considering they have a transfer bar system for refitting the old three screw Ruger's, and they put it in for free, I wish they'd just go back to the three screw action, with transfer bar and finally come full circle with what shooters would most like to have.

They've redone the flat top frames, the XR3 grip, the roundtops.... only thing missin' is the modern three screw action. I wont hold my breath.

So which is it, the shorter 4-5/8 or the middle size 5-1/2 inch? Any why?

[downtownv]

Do I want the 4-5/8 or the 5-1/2 - I cannot find any locally to check. Any input greatly appreciated. I was leaning 5-1/2, then... realized its long overall, about 11-1/2 inches. I can appreciate the 10-1/2 or so of the shorter barreled revolver. John Wayne preferred the 4-5/8 and used his personal Colt in all the movies that would allow or require the use of a SAA.

The screw thing - I like the looks of the three screw. It looks like the Colt. I can live with two screws, but the screws aren't screws, they're pins. On the tiny Bearcats I've got, its two "screws" not pins. I wish the bigger Ruger's used screws too. I was reminded that the pins are actually a lot stronger than the screws, and can be made of a tougher steel, etc etc. Like Kahr's slide stop... really tough steel. You never hear of the screws breaking on a three screw Ruger tho.

Considering they have a transfer bar system for refitting the old three screw Ruger's, and they put it in for free, I wish they'd just go back to the three screw action, with transfer bar and finally come full circle with what shooters would most like to have.

They've redone the flat top frames, the XR3 grip, the roundtops.... only thing missin' is the modern three screw action. I wont hold my breath.

So which is it, the shorter 4-5/8 or the middle size 5-1/2 inch? Any why?

hmmm 9 out of 10 women lie, when they say size doesn't matter...

[CJB]

1. Yup thats me in the picture!
2. When they're young and horny, size doesn't matter too much. Once they get to the point in life where they're settled with themselves a bit, size matters. However the inverse accounting ratio rule applies, which is:

The level of acceptability of a man to a woman decreases according to the lack of size of his pecker at the same rate as acceptability of a man to a woman increases according to the size of his monetary accounts.

I'm spending all my money on firearms and motorcycles, so I'm basically broke, yet women find me acceptable......!

And sir, you've helped me to decide and I thank you! In continuation of my practice of carrying a small gun to compensate for having a large pecker, I'm gettin' the 4-5/8.

Brilliant help btw, thank you!

[chrish]

Nothing I'd like to run across right now more than a Vaquero in 357 w/ the birdshead grip. Seems to be a unicorn. But the birdshead 45 ACP version is somewhat compelling.

[downtownv]

1. Yup thats me in the picture!
2. When they're young and horny, size doesn't matter too much. Once they get to the point in life where they're settled with themselves a bit, size matters. However the inverse accounting ratio rule applies, which is:

The level of acceptability of a man to a woman decreases according to the lack of size of his pecker at the same rate as acceptability of a man to a woman increases according to the size of his monetary accounts.

I'm spending all my money on firearms and motorcycles, so I'm basically broke, yet women find me acceptable......!

And sir, you've helped me to decide and I thank you! In continuation of my practice of carrying a small gun to compensate for having a large pecker, I'm gettin' the 4-5/8.



Brilliant help btw, thank you!

There ya go! SOLD to the man on the harley, riding shirtless, sporting a tremendous woody, while the rest us are FFfffreeeezin!

[b4uqzme]

There ya go! SOLD to the man on the harley, riding shirtless, sporting a tremendous woody, while the rest us are FFfffreeeezin!

Yeah, I'm thinkin' about getting a snowmobile... Just sayin'

[Bawanna]

Nothing I'd like to run across right now more than a Vaquero in 357 w/ the birdshead grip. Seems to be a unicorn. But the birdshead 45 ACP version is somewhat compelling.

I've never heard of a birdshead 45 ACP but would be a cool thing. My 45 Colt was reported to be the last one shipped to Washington after Ruger discontinued them. I'd ordered it nearly a year before and gave up hope of ever seeing it. My dealer I use for the dept got one in and he didn't know what it was for but remembered I'd asked for one, so he sold it to me at the original quoted price too.
Like a dumb head I gave it to my son. I still get to hold it now and then.
In the mean time I got a birdshead Uberti I think it's a Cattleman. I like the feel and balance of it even better. It's lighter. It doesn't have the transfer bar so it's the keep the hammer on the empty chamber deal.

[downtownv]

I've never heard of a birdshead 45 ACP but would be a cool thing. My 45 Colt was reported to be the last one shipped to Washington after Ruger discontinued them. I'd ordered it nearly a year before and gave up hope of ever seeing it. My dealer I use for the dept got one in and he didn't know what it was for but remembered I'd asked for one, so he sold it to me at the original quoted price too.
Like a dumb head I gave it to my son. I still get to hold it now and then.
In the mean time I got a birdshead Uberti I think it's a Cattleman. I like the feel and balance of it even better. It's lighter. It doesn't have the transfer bar so it's the keep the hammer on the empty chamber deal.

Crap! I got my screws down, Now you talk about transfer bars.... What the Hellis that?

[chrish]

I've never heard of a birdshead 45 ACP but would be a cool thing. My 45 Colt was reported to be the last one shipped to Washington after Ruger discontinued them. I'd ordered it nearly a year before and gave up hope of ever seeing it. My dealer I use for the dept got one in and he didn't know what it was for but remembered I'd asked for one, so he sold it to me at the original quoted price too.
Like a dumb head I gave it to my son. I still get to hold it now and then.
In the mean time I got a birdshead Uberti I think it's a Cattleman. I like the feel and balance of it even better. It's lighter. It doesn't have the transfer bar so it's the keep the hammer on the empty chamber deal.

Yea, the Vaquero 45 ACP comes in a birdhead grip. There are even a couple actually out there right now on GunBroker. It comes in an regular grip also. I fondled one a year or so ago at the local Gander. Pretty cool. And 45 ACP ammo is easier to find than 45 LC. Dunno, it's a bit of a weirdo gun I know, anything that you gotta moon clip to load. But still, if you were a 1911 (or 45 in general) addict, the Vaquero in 45 ACP would be something to give serious consideration to if you wanted to narrow down your calibers.

I have been torn on my next wheel gun. A 357/9mm Blackhawk, a 45 ACP Vaquero birdshead, or hold out for the 357 birdshead if one were to ever show up. I guess they only made a few of those. Birdshead grips don't seem to be all that popular, but they sure feel better in my hand than the usual cowboy grip.

The problem w/ me and the 45 ACP model is I don't own, nor do I plan to own, anything semi-auto in 45 ACP. So it'd be the one and only and then I gotta stock ammo for it. If I go w/ the former or latter, I'm good w/ 9mm, 357, 38.

[CJB]

There ya go! SOLD to the man on the harley, riding shirtless, sporting a tremendous woody, while the rest us are FFfffreeeezin!

Well not shirtless, especially this time of year. It was about 60 down here today, and while I was ok in jeans and t-shirt in my truck with the windows open a bit, fuggetaboutit on two wheels. Todays excursion was a 460 mile jaunt to deliver some equipement upstate. Only two hundred thirty miles each way... an hour to load the truck, three and a half drivin', an hour to unload and another three and a half home. Well, I had a coffee too after I unloaded the truck.

All of that means.... I didn't get to order the Vaquero, and they're closed on Sunday, so.... first thing Monday AM.

Now questions again. Blue or stainless.

I love stainless. I may shoot some black powder loads or hybrid loads on occasion. Stainless would be nice for that.

On the other hand.... something about a peacemaker in blue, and I can envision a very worn blue finish with some faux ivory or real stag grips.

Then again, grips on the stainless too. Something orgainic looking.

Decisions decsions... I'm back to trying to think......

[Bawanna]

How does a moon clip work on a single action Vaquero? I didn't think Ruger was making birdshead anything for the last 5 years or so.

I've had a hankering for a 625 for a long time, but like you say moon clips aren't a lot of fun to deal with but I'd do it.

Downtown, with a transfer bar there's no spur hanging out on the hammer, it's in the frame. The pull of the trigger drops a little bar allowing the hammer to hit the firing pin that's mounted in the frame. Release the trigger and the bar goes back up so even if the sear breaks and the hammer falls it can't shoot.

So you can hammer wanted posters with a full cylinder and no chance the gun will fire unless of course your holding the trigger which would be hard to do while hammering wanted posters.