In 2005 Ruger downsized the Vaquero so it's no longer a beast like the Blackhawk or GP100. Can it still handle a steady diet of the 125g .357 magnum screamers? This round has a fast-burning nasty charge and tends to erode the top straps on smaller revolvers. Thoughts?
BobWright
Member
The mid size frame Ruger Blackhawk has always been more than adequate for the .357 Magnum cartridge. Not only for the 125 gr. but for the heavy 160~173 gr. bullets as well.
Bob Wright
Bob Wright
CraigC
Sixgun Nut
Actually the heavy .357 stuff has a slow burning powder contained therein.
The New Vaquero, Colt SAA, etc., have a larger diameter cylinder than the L-frame or GP100. More than enough for a .357, you can't wear them out.
The New Vaquero, Colt SAA, etc., have a larger diameter cylinder than the L-frame or GP100. More than enough for a .357, you can't wear them out.
Electrod47
Member
I think ones thumb would wear out, long before a Ruger Blackhawk/Vaquero
Driftwood Johnson
Member
That is correct. Colt chambered the SAA for 357 Magnum shortly after the cartridge first came out in 1935.
A New Vaquero cylinder is roughly the same size as a Colt, and has a similar amount of steel between the chambers.
(But...) it will take Tier-2 (20-21Kpsi) loads without a problem.
In a handgun that small/light, 250gr+ at ~1,000fps is more than enough...
...on both ends.
Is that data for a 277 grain .45 Colt load? I thought this was about the .357 magnum which has significantly more pressure than 21,000 psi?
Pat Riot
Contributing Member
Per a conversation I had with a Ruger technician @Frulk is correct regarding the .45 Colt New Vaquero BUT the same goes for the .357 Magnum. Keep the loads within SAAMI pressures and they’ll be just fine. Ruger Only loads are not recommended in any New Vaquero or the Vaqueros of today. (Ruger dropped the word “New” from Vaqueros now) Sometimes I think Ruger is staffed with Idiots in their “Let’s confuse our Customers” department.
https://www.ruger.com/products/vaquero/overview.html
https://www.ruger.com/products/vaquero/overview.html
That is correct.
But Tier-2 are not "[Full-Size] Ruger-Only" loads.
Rather they come from an extensive Brian Pearce article some 15 years ago that included/noted:
> Loads in the 20,000 psi rangewill prove useful for U.S. FireArms
> revolvers that are 100 per-cent American made (after theyear 2000),
> Colt New Service, Ruger New Vaquero and Smith &Wesson post-World
> War II N-Frames, including Models 25 and625 Mountain Guns
See https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sh...45-colt-data&p=5018428&viewfull=1#post5018428
... and save the article
Handloader #337, April 2022 has the article and back-issues available from Wolfe Publications.
But again....we were discussing .357 magnum. The OP did not ask about .45 Colt.
CraigC
Sixgun Nut
Amen to that!
.455_Hunter
Member
I like to use "Old Vaquero" for the original full-size guns and "New Vaquero" for the current variant. This seems to bunch the panties of Ruger "experts" who claim the "Old" designation is reserved for pre-transfer bar models- OK Boomer...
Jim Watson
Member
Big Vaquero - Small Vaquero?
Pat Riot
Contributing Member
I use “original Vaquero” and “New Vaquero”.
Technically, I am a “Boomer”. Born in 61, but I sure as heck am not a “Boomer”. I do like shooting boomers though, guns, not fuddy-duddies
Jim Watson
Member
I am more in the Vaquerito category.
Pat Riot
Contributing Member
Jim Watson
Member
Sure, but bear in mind, Vaquerito is really a fixed sight Single Six in .32 H&R. A THIRD gun in the family.
You can always start a new thread.
But this article's info is already in a bunch of threads that are searchable.Please find that article in the Forum by search.
Not "internet info," per se, but that article itself as published reference
Take care that you don't find dead links, for it has otherwise disappeared
....and my apologies again to those disinterested.
.
Not "internet info," per se, but that article itself as published reference
Take care that you don't find dead links, for it has otherwise disappeared
....and my apologies again to those disinterested.
.
Driftwood Johnson
Member
I use the term 'original model' Vaquero when referring to the older, larger version that was made from 1993 until 2005. And New Vaquero for the smaller model, that until recently was labeled New Vaquero by Ruger. Yes, the marketing geniuses at Ruger did not help things when they called the newer, smaller Vaquero the New Vaquero, they just created confusion. Why they did not do like they did with the semi-auro 22s, Mark I, Mark II, Mark III I will never know, except that probably did not sound 'cowboy' enough. Now they have added to the confusion by reverting to the name Vaquero for the revolver formerly known as the New Vaquero.
Yes, New Model, means something completely different in Rugerland, denoting a transfer bar instead of the old Three Screw designs. So the 'original model' Vaquero was a New Model because it had a transfer bar. Marketing geniuses.
I was born in 1950.Yes, I am a Baby Boomer. I do not like being called a Boomer, because that seems to be an insult these days.
Coyote3855
Member
Ruger is not alone with confusing/reusing model names. Smith & Wesson is recycling Victory, M&P, Combat Magnum and others.
Jim Watson
Member
Right, I clearly specify "Plastic M&P" when discussing my S&W 9mm and .22 automatics with the recycled model names.
