rayzer007 said:
Slowhand said:
loads of modern innovations that would have had those old Gunslingers wising they had back in the day.
What are the innovations Bill?
Ray
https://ruger-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/_manuals/newVaquero.pdf
http://www.ruger.com/products/vaqueroStainless/features.html
LOL…. Loads of differences. I could write you a book on it. Ruger explains a lot of it in their owner’s instructions and features.
But since you asked. Lets’ start with ammunition, prior to around the early 1900’s these old guns fired black powder cartridges. Which is very corrosive and an unwary shooter who didn’t keep his gun clean wound up owning a rust bucket.
Today we have 45 Long Colt "cowboy loads" that replicate the velocities and energy of the original black powder round. It's a big case, but there's not a huge amount of power there. 250 grain bullet, 750 fps at the muzzle and 312 ft. lbs of muzzle energy. The original load of a Colt Peacemaker around 1873 was 40 grains of black powder.
Modern loadings are significantly more powerful to the tune of 1000 fps and 800 ft lbs muzzle energy. Real old cowboy guns were made with inferior metals, compared to modern day firearms. They weren’t called “Shooting Irons” for nothing. I own several antiques with one going back to 1860 and gun metal goes brittle with age. Replacement parts are hard to find.
Some had thin cylinder walls and the internal mechanisms are flat springs that resembled clockwork mechanisms. They wore out quickly and kept local gunsmiths busy. Replacement parts are difficult to come by.
Base pins and plunger springs hadn’t been invented yet. Timing in cylinder rotation and alignment were ambitions versus reality. Those old delicate lock parts and springs could cause misalignment of the cylinder throats and forcing cone misalignments lead to shaved lead fragments and other concerns.
After you load your old Six Shooter from a half-safe cock on the hammer you had to pull it back to full cock and then gently thumb it down on top of a safety notch or suffer a loss in timing.
Most folks that carried six shooters found what passed for a safety was a notch cut into the top of the cylinders, in between loaded chambers. You loaded the gun and then gently lowered the cocked hammer in between them. Remington used deep notches, while Colt used pins which wore down and lead to accidental discharges. There was also a loading notch. Most folks carried them with an empty cylinder, The Vaquero uses Bill Rugers Transfer Bar, prior to 1973 they didn’t and recommended an empty cylinder.
The Vaquero’s external look is of course a classic design. Internally the differences start with the loading gate. When you open the loading gate the cylinder unlatches and it can be turned for loading and unloading. I have several original and replicas of older revolvers in which the cylinder are a bear to load and unload. Which served to accelerate the development of auto ejecting, flip out cylinders.
Opening the loading gate also locks the trigger, hammer and transfer bar. Back in the day you loaded the standard revolver with hammer back in a half cocked position. After loading you cocked the hammer fully back and then lowered it. This presented opportunities for stuff to happen. Going off half-cocked was not a rare event, especially on horseback. The Vaquero only has two hammer positions; it’s either fully cocked or flat forward.
Maintenance & Cleaning. If you ever taken apart a Ruger Old Army, a GP-100, a Ruger Single Six, a Super Redhawk Alaskan or an SP101 (I have) the disassembly is basically the same, unless you start messing around with the removal of the cylinder latch, gate dent spring and the gate. Then the hammer assembly comes out. Not for the inexperienced or faint of heart. Flying plunger pins are normal.
Actually shooting the old six guns, involved some sight adjustments. Vaqueros come sighted in at 15 yards. If your original cowboy pistol was a Colt Peacemaker from around 1873 they traditionally fired high. So you had to take a file and deepened the “V” shaped notch in the rear or you added some height to the front sight. Old Colts fired high and Remington fired low.
I’m a big fan on the Ruger Vaqueros and some of the Uberti Replicas of the Colt Peacemaker from around 1873. When it comes to those old original Six Shooters they’re antiquities best kept as Safe Queens or Wall Hangers.
