Problem with Ruger Vaquero

[sugarland-ruger]

 

  Howdy all - I need help I have a Ruger Vaquero that is about 9 years old but has only been fired maybe 5 seperate times.

The problem that I have is that the Cylinder does not rotate when it is loaded. And when it is empty it rotates 5 of the chambers and then on the sixth it just stay stationary. What could be the problem?

[Kinda Sudden]

Sounds like insufficient head space and/or too tight of a barrel/cylinder gap. Back to Ruger she goes.

[sugarland-ruger]

Ok, I will pack it up tomorrow and ship it out Monday. I will post later what Ruger say's is the issue. Thanks 

[Dick Dastardly]

Ruger doesn't guarantee their guns.  They just fix 'em forever.  Good company.

DD-DLoS

[sugarland-ruger]

Humm...  Should I just take it to a local gunsmith or ship it to Ruger? I am a bit surprised that I am having an issue with this handgun considering the price paid new (over 500.00) and the amount of time or lack there of it has been used. I have inspected the cylinder gear and it does not look wore. There appears to be good clearance between the barrel and the cylinder. It just does not advance on the sixth round and I have to cock the gun twice to get it to advance to the next chamber.

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

Are you saying you can cock the hammer, but the cylinder does not rotate? If so, I would suspect the hand (the part that rotates the cylinder).

Or are you saying you cannot cock the hammer?

The hand pivots on the hammer. As the hammer is cocked, the hand rises and pushes the cylinder around. If the hand is engaged in the ratchet teeth at the rear of the cylinder, and something prevents the cylinder from rotating, the hand will bind and prevent the hammer from going all the way back. On the other hand, if the hammer can go all the way back, but the cylinder stays still, I suspect the hand is not reliably engaging the ratchet teeth at the rear of the cylinder. I would suspect the hand spring is not doing its job. Normally, the handspring pushes the hand forward so it can engage the teeth.

On a Colt type action the handspring is a flat leaf type of spring. These springs break easily, and it is a common complaint that the spring breaks and there is nothing to push the hand forward so it can do its job. Rugers use a coil spring and plunger to push the hand forward, and they are not susceptable to breakage like a flat spring is. However, it is easy to mess up installing the hand spring and plunger if the gun has been taken apart. Have you taken it apart?

Try this: With the gun unloaded, point it up to the sky and work the hammer and trigger. Does the cylinder rotate? Now point it down at the ground and try the same thing. Does the cylinder rotate? With the pistol pointed down, gravity will tend to push the hand forward, so it can properly engage the ratchet teeth of the cylinder. With the pistol pointed up, if the spring is not doing its job, or is missing, gravity will tend to withdraw the hand from the cylinder and it will tend to not rotate.

If your cylinder rotates when the pistol is pointed down, but does not rotate when the cylinder is pointed up, I would suspect there is something wrong with the handspring. It is easy to crush when reinstalling the grip frame. It may have sprung away if the grip frame was removed and may not even be present.

[sugarland-ruger]

Yes your are correct. I have noticed that (with the gun unloaded) when I cock the gun and hold it on its side and fire it  it seems to work but when I hold it up right this is when the cylinder will stay stationary on the sixth chamber. I believe that it is the spring in the hand grips. Possibly after 9 years the spring needs to be replaced.  I started to take the gun apart Saturday night. The last thing I did was remove the wooden grips to discover that the spring had popped out. I took it to a gun shop where I had originally purchased the Ruger and with a drill press he was able to put it back in the handle. So off to the shooting range I went only to discover that the gun was not operating correctly. Not exactly sure why it works on the other five chambers just fine. I would think if it were the spring it would not work at all. But I am able to cock the hammer with no problem even on the sixth chamber. The teeth on both the Cylinder and gun look to be fine. Since the teeth on the gun are able to rotate 5 of the sixth chambers I think we can rule that out as a problem. Focus on either a small imperfection on the teeth on the Cylinder or the spring inside the grips needs to be replaced.

[Carolina Lead Foot]

SL, the main spring in between the grip panels is not the problem.  When you say your smith used a drill press to reset the spring this is the only spring I can think of.  There is a small spring that is only visible when the grips and grip frame is removed.  You can not see it with the grip frame on.  This may be the problem, however, with all do respect to your gun smith find someone familiar with rugers and have him look at it.  The problem can be diagnosed without to much of a guessing game if the gun is in hand.  If there is no one available that knows rugers to help you with the problem, send it to ruger.

Lead Foot