Short Stroke Ruger Vaquero Kit - Shotgun Boogie

[rbertalotto]

Did anyone see this months Chronicle with the article on the Short Stroke Kit for the Vaquero. Looks like a great kit. But at near $400 for the parts...YIKES! Anyone else making a similar kit for less $$?

[Bugscuffle]

I'm really not trying top be smart aleky here, and please pardon my ignorance, but I really do not understand the question here. How do you "short stroke" a single action revolver?

[rbertalotto]

I had no idea there was such a modification either. In doing a Google search I find no fewer than a half dozen gunsmiths performing the operation. There is even You Tube videos about it.

On a short stroke revolver the hammer comes back about 75% of the way, making it much easier and faster to thumb the hammer.

[Rowdy Fulcher]

Howdy
Different strokes for DIFFERENT  folks . Why not just buy a 1911 and spend  lots of money on it ? 

[Pettifogger]

Assuming that you all are SASS members the article describes the rudiments of doing a short stroke.  Up until the Boogie short stroke the only ones on the market were hand crafted to each gun they were installed in.  No two were identical.  In many SASS categories at the upper level of competition there is often less than a second between first and second place.  Motion = Time.  Thus, the less motion you have to go through the less time you should accumulate on a stage.  A tenth of a second on three or four stages can mean the difference between winning and losing.  As noted in the article, there are no other "kits" at this time.  They are unbelievably well made and you get what you pay for.  Some people are satisfied with Timex's and others want Rolexes.  The kit is a Rolex.

[rbertalotto]

I shoot 1860 Colt (Pieta) conversions. These revolvers have a much shorter "stroke" on the hammers than my NMVs and I find I'm much faster because of this.

I know folks with a bit or arthritis and they have a hard time pulling the hammer all the way back. This will be a great modification for them.

And if you are "ham handed", the hammer will stop on the web of your hand and you will "short stroke" the revolver and it won't go bang!

Plus this kit removed the hammer transfer bar, this is a huge improvement in lowering the hammer spring rate and still getting reliable primer hits.

Except for the "Rolex" price of these kits, I can see no reason to not install them...............

[Bugscuffle]

O.K. I can see that, but on my SAA clones (three of them) the hand is attached to the hammer and as the hammer goes back the hand rises causing the cylander to turn. I try to time my pistols so that the maximum lift on the hand which corresponds to the maximum amount of rotation of the cylander and coincides with the anvil falling into the detent on the cylander to stop and lock the cylander rotation and the sear engages the hammer all at the same time. How in the heck do you do all of that after you have made the sear engage the hammer earlier? I assume that this is what has to happen in order to "short stroke" it? This kit must be a nightmare to install !!!!

[rbertalotto]

As long as the hand, the cylinder stop and the hammer sear cuts are all timed properly, you can make the hammer stroke anything you want. The issue will be....will there be enough energy in the hammer fall to set off the primer. And it appears with this kit the work has been done for you and the answer is yes.

In the Cowboy Chronicle they show a step by step of the installation and it looks relatively straight forward. And "kitchen gunsmith" should be able to do it.

[Bugscuffle]

Which issue of the Chronicle is this in? I must hafve missed it. It sounds very interesting, but for me it would just be something that I may do just because it is "interesting". For me it would be a soulution to a non existant problem. I just have no need to shave 1/4 of a second off of my times and I don't want to take a chance on screwing up my guns palying around with them that much.

[Pettifogger]

This month's issue (January).  A quarter of a second is a lot.  In a 12 stage match that is 3 seconds.

[rickk]

Maybe have it drilled and tapped for a Pro-Point sight and have a compensator cut into the barrel at the same time ?