Gunsmithed rugers

[bas122286]

     Hi all,
New here and just getting into the sport. I am working on getting all my gear at thyis point and have settled on a pair of ruger new vaqueos in 45lc. How important is it to have these new guns "tuned" before i start shooting them?: I have read places that failure to do so will result in the frame warping etc etc... Is just fully degreasing the gun and working the action not good enough for these? I would assume that ruger has taken into thought that this gun is very popular among cowboy action shooters and made the required changes to keep these guns working. I got a qoute for a pair of ruger new vaqueros in 45lc stainless w/ 5 1/2" bbl @ $1900.00. This just seems l'ike a lot of money on the gunsmithing side of things. Thanks for all the help.


Brian

[Missouri Marshal]

Jus take them out and shoot them.  Frame warping?  Never hear of such thing.  $1900.00 to tune an couple of Rugers.....somebody is on cheap drugs.   The Ruger New Vaquero's are pretty smooth right out of the box.  They come with a 17lb hammer spring.  If yur halfway handy and comfortable with taking them apart, jus look inside for any metal flashing or burs and smooth them out with a honeing stone.  Some folks will go with a 14lb hammer spring.  Other than that, they don't need nuthin.  I got 5 of them in .357 and they are great guns.

[Adirondack Jack]

Just shoot em.  IMHO, Rugers are as close as any gun ever was to "race ready" out of the box.  You can improve em with a little lighter mainspring, and a bit of customizing of the trigger return spring, but neither of those is needed for half decent operation.  You WILL NOT hurt a stock Ruger by just shooting it a LOT

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[Silver Creek Slim]

I echo the other pards, just shoot 'em.

Slim

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

                  There is always going to be few OUTLAWS out there ready to take a poor cowpokes money 


                                                                    TW

[Camille Eonich]

$1900 is way too much.  You can get the entire package from Wes for less than that.  If you are anywhere close to Cody Conagher let him run through them for you.

[bas122286]

Thanks for all the help guys. I figured this so iwent ahead and ordered a pair from my dealer they will be here in a week or so. Where is cody located. I will probably just shoot them like they are for now, but maybe later down the road I would have some work done on them. Thanks again for all the help.


Brian

[Pappy Myles]

Hi Brian,

When I got started, I collected a couple of old model vaquero's in 45lc.  I went threw the same questions, but then . I just went out and shot.  Mine were low and to the left, and needed two strong men to pull the trigger, but I had fun with them.  after about a year of shooting, I figured out exactly what I wanted to have done to mine.  As you get into the sport more, and truly have some extra disposable income, chat with the Pardners at your local shoots.   They might be able to tell you what they did to theirs, let you check theirs out, etc. and tell you who in the community can work on them.

I live in Houston, and found a smith close to where I work,   I paid about 130 apiece to have mine tunes, trigger work, free spin paw, springs replaced, cylenters reamed, and sights adjusted to my loads.  Dont know a lot about the new vaquero's, but I understand ruger took care of a lot from the old model.

Pappy

[Driftwood Johnson]

I have read places that failure to do so will result in the frame warping etc etc...

Huh??? That's a new one on me. Dunno how you would warp the frame on a Ruger by shooting it right out of the box. I agree with AJ, a Ruger New Vaquero is about as close as you can come to a 'race ready' gun right out of the box. Oh, there are plenty of things you can do to trick them out, but I would suggest just going out and shooting them.

Where do you live? It can make a difference as to where you want to send them if you want them worked on. Personally, I feel that Rugers are so simple to work on for routine stuff that rather than send them to a really top smith you might find somebody local through your club that can slick them up just fine without having to ship them anywhere.

[Pappy Myles]

where are you located Bas??

[August]

I think it would take a bulldozer to warp the frame on a Ruger, and even then the Ruger might knock the bulldozer out first.

I have a pair of OLD vaqueros and a pair of NEW vaqueros.  The old ones took a lot of 'tuning' to get them to he smooth and fast.  As well, the old ones were very difficult to match -- getting them to both feel the same in operation -- an important matter for competitive shooting.

My NEW vaqueros were ready to run out of the box!!!  No kidding!!!  I did disassemble them for an initial cleaning, polishing and lubrication, but it really wasn't necessary.  They were identical in terms of feel from the start and have stayed that way.  I cannot tell them apart while shooting.  They will require regulation for CAS loads as they are set up for factory loads.  A file and a couple of hours are all that's required to regulate them.

[Travis Morgan]

Shooting target loads through a Ruger is about like trying to wear out an anvil with a rubber hammer-you ain;t gonna wear anything out, except maybe the hammer. Personally, I'll only own the old model Vaqueros. I can shoot whatever I want through them. In the woods, they're my "short range rifles".