A Classic Sixgun, An Image with a Message and A Surprising Result

Now and then, life throws a little surprise my way just as a reminder I should be careful about stirring the proverbial pot while holding what could be considered a classic sixgun, a single-action revolver with a 7 ½-inch barrel, in this case a Ruger “New” Vaquero in .45 Colt.

Sure, it’s not a Colt Single Action Army, but in my book, it just might be a little better wheelgun. It’s got the classic lines, dimensions almost exactly like that of the Colt, but with a coil spring instead of a leaf spring, a patented reverse indexing pawl that lines up the chamber with the loading gate, and a modern firing mechanism with a transfer bar and retracting frame-mounted firing pin, allowing all six chambers to be safely loaded.

I was having a little fun on a recent trek into the High Lonesome, and snapped a self-timed image of myself holding the revolver, to which I attached this observation: “You know all those guns they don’t want us to have? We’ve already got ‘em.”

After posting the image and message on social media, it quickly gathered quite a bit of attention, not just for the message, but for the revolver. Somewhere in the process, it occurred to me that a handsome single-action sixgun is a wonderful thing upon which some people focus their glaze. It sort of says “America” and “The West” without the subtitles. And it’s kind of a conversation starter.

Today’s New Vaquero is offered either in .45 Colt or .357 Magnum, and every one of them I’ve held feels good in the hand. They shoot, and shoot some more, with a welcome degree of accuracy.

My particular specimen, with its 7 ½-inch bore, weighs about 44 ounces because of that longer barrel. It’s really not uncomfortable for packing around through a day of hunting in bear country, though it is just a bit slower to clear leather than my shorter-barreled model.

Back In History

Let’s go back to the beginning. The original Ruger Vaquero was actually a New Model Blackhawk with fixed sights, marketed from 1993 through 2005, to appeal to the growing number of shooters involved in single-action shooting. It was and remains a rugged sixgun, and I occasionally encounter somebody packing one.

But the Cowboy Action folks wanted a wheelgun more in line with the Colt SAA, and the gang at Ruger delivered. When I saw the “New Vaquero” for the first time back in early 2005, I found the money in my bank account to buy one, after having done a T&E for a firearms periodical I was writing for at the time. Chambered for the .45 Colt cartridge, it was a handsome piece with color case frame, and deep bluing on the barrel and steel grip frame. The test gun shot a tiny bit low—the blade front sight is a bit taller than that found on other such sixguns—but windage at 25 yards was spot-on. It was and remains a keeper. After sending Ruger a check, I carefully stoned down the front sight just a hair, and haven’t done anything to alter it further, with the exception of swapping out the grip panels.

I was particularly impressed with the longer hammer than is present on my Blackhawks, plus the steel ejector rod housing. Right out of the box, my specimen had a pleasantly smooth action with which I have refrained from tinkering. (If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!) The trigger has a smooth surface, there are nine serrations at the top rear of the hammer to provide a positive thumb contact, and there is no trigger creep. Granted, trigger let-off is stiffer than the alleged “1-ounce” break on the gun wielded by Richard Boone’s Paladin character in Have Gun, Will Travel, but Marshal Matt Dillon would have been very well armed if he’d been packing my New Vaquero instead of a Hollywood-pampered Colt in Gunsmoke.

My particular specimen was produced most likely in late February of 2005, and I still have the obligatory fired cartridge case in a sealed envelope dated March 2, 2005 as proof. It came in Ruger’s tough hard plastic case, which may be drilled for the use of a small padlock.

The barrel is a true 7.5 inches from the forcing cone to the muzzle. Cut with six lands and grooves on a 1:16-nch right hand twist, it has over the past 21-plus years sent a lot of lead downrange, mostly 255-grain Hornady RNLFP Cowboy bullets designed for the Cowboy Action folks, but I like it for other purposes. Ahead of HP38 or CFE Pistol, I get decent velocity and accuracy; enough to put the hurt on rabbits, coyotes or other small to medium-sized game. I could probably knock over a coastal blacktail or even a mule deer buck with it, but that’s actually what my .41 Magnums are for.

In addition, I’ve run 250-grain Speer SWC lead bullets and Hornady 250-grain JHPs through this sixgun with satisfactory results, and I discovered that Speer Gold Dot factory loads also deliver the goods. Muzzle velocity with the 255-grainers comes in at better than 850 fps depending upon the propellant, and that kind of a punch will get undivided attention from anything on the receiving end. One thing I absolutely will not do is exceed the loading data published by Hodgdon, Hornady or Speer for guns of this size, and neither should you.

Handloading data for the New Vaquero (and the Colt SAA and its various clones) excludes the higher pressure loads suggested for the Blackhawk or Thompson/Center Contender and other heavy-framed handguns. For the New Vaquero, stick to the basics and you won’t be sorry.

All of my handloads are typically ignited by either CCI or Winchester large pistol primers, though I have also used Remington primers. I have never experienced a failure to discharge using any of these three primers, although I’ve heard some complaints over the years about one or the other being “hard.” I think one important handloading step some people seem to overlook is to individually clean the primer pockets, which allows fresh primers to be properly seated.

A few years later, when I spoke to Ruger about getting a second “New Vaquero”—by that time the “New” had kind of worn off in my vocabulary—I learned Ruger had ceased producing the color case finish on the frame, so I settled for an all-blue version with the 4 5/8-nch barrel, and have never really regretted it. Both versions are good wheelguns, although out of the shorter barrels my loads and factory loads deliver a bit less in the way of muzzle velocity.

Sadly, at least from my perspective, Ruger no longer offers the 7.5-inch barrel on the New Vaquero, evidently focusing on the 4.62- and 5.5-inch barrel lengths, which seem to be more popular. I’m okay with that because it leaves me with a handgun that not everyone can own.

Leather Work and Grips

Back two decades when I was operating a custom holster business as a sideline, I banged out a couple of prototype holsters to fit the revolver and sold a couple, but kept the prototypes. After closing that business, I still had some scrap leather laying around and knocked out a suede-lined rig which doesn’t seem to leave much holster wear on the Ruger.

Naturally, I also put together a cartridge belt, and over the years, the leather has held up rather well. I annually hand rub my leather gear, either with saddle soap or Neatsfoot oil. This prevents the leather from drying out and cracking, especially the cartridge loops.

What I didn’t care for was the black checkered plastic factory grip panels. They’re a bit too narrow for my liking, and with a bit of help from my brother, I cut out blanks for a pair of dark walnut grips, which I finished by hand.

In addition, I purchased a set of “aged ivory” grips from Ajax several years ago, and later on, bought a set of Magna Tusk aged ivory grips from Arizona Custom. I also have a beautiful set of elk antler grips from Eagle Grips, and they are strictly reserved for barbecue gatherings or Sunday-go-to-meeting.

So, About the Reaction

I think what caught everyone’s attention before reading the caption was the sixgun I was cradling “just so.” My facial expression was deliberately halfway between a scowl and a lecture.

One guy remarked, “To paraphrase Teddy Roosevelt: speak softly and carry a big revolver.” Others simply sad “Amen” or “Yup.” I was surprised at the number of times people shared/forwarded my post to others. Even now, many weeks later, I still get reactions.

At first glance, it might have taken a moment for the comment “We already have ‘em” to fully sink in. It eventually dawned on everybody that the message was saying, without saying it, “They’ll have a hell of a time getting them away from us.”

And the image didn’t show me gripping a modern semi-auto rifle or pistol, or a tricked-out shotgun. I wasn’t decked out in cargo pants, and there was no tactical vest jammed with magazines. The image was pure Americana; the message was terse and direct.

A great, big shootin’ iron is an impressive thing to see. It is neither menacing nor benign. A long-barreled single-action revolver “just is.” What you see is graceful while at the same time being all business. I suppose it is presumed the person packing such a hogleg is probably very adept with it, and in my case, I’ve left the corpses of aluminum soda cans, tin bean cans, disintegrated clay disks, a whole bunch of pine, fir and spruce cones and countless paper targets in the trash, or the campfire, over the years.

I don’t compete with this sixgun. I just carry it in an environment of bumpy gravel roads, dust, evergreens, frequently wet brush, warm summers and hard winters. And as the message transmitted, I’m not giving it up.

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