New Vaquero Bisley Point Of Aim

[kwilliams1876]

ok, i finally got serious today about shooting my newly acquired .45..........dismal results at best. first six shoots missed my small target frame at 25yds! so i got a large pc. of card board out to find the misses. well the group was 8 inches left of center, and this is off the solid bench and rest. traded my new vaquero last week for this "as new bisley".  load is swiss 3f, card wad, std. primer, old ideal 454190 (big lube grooves) all of which centered with the previous pistol. the muzzle crown looks concentric, so ruling that fix out.

soooooooooo, the big question is, can one tighten the barrel slightly to bring point of aim left? i never unscrewed a ruger barrel before, so what should i expect here? i may have to relieve back of barrel to maintain cylinder gap.

appreciate any help.
kw

[kwilliams1876]

well i took my anticipated course of action and turned the barrel a smidge. milled up 2 new oak blocks, put on a paste made with white sugar, mounted the assembly in the kurt vise on the bridgeport, put a stout stick through frame and leaned into it to loosen........wow!
it was way less than the tightness i was expecting. separated barrel to see if threads were galled or not, they were fine. funny thing is ruger has no witness mark on barrel or frame so i made one. several little were tweaks made after each of the 3 shot groups got me centered on my 25 yd. target. after disassembly for the 50th time doing the action and timing job, i slotted the trigger and hammer pin just for the heck of it......so i can say its a 2 screw ruger now!

all is well

[Mustang Gregg]

KW:

You did all of that in 3 hours? 
Wow!  You can be my Ruger revolversmith!

Honestly, I have never seen a factory Vaquero or Blackhawk not be able to hit a normal target frame at 25 yds. 
What is your gap measurement now? 
I'm glad you got it going.

MG

[kwilliams1876]

Mustang G.
yah all that in 3 hrs or less..........its great being retired now, wife goes off to work and i play! my shop and covered shooting bench are maybe 10 feet apart. good thing i did the shooting yesterday 'cause winter seems to be back in this part of montana today. no, i don't want to be a ruger pistol gunsmith......i just deplore their internal workings, funkiest mouse trap i work on. its my 5th ruger sa, and they work fine in the end..........its just getting there that's a pain!
best
kw

[kwilliams1876]

Mustang G.
sorry forgot to answer your question, the cylinder gap after advancing barrel (tightening) is .0075",  that seems a bit liberal. do you know what the preferred gap should be?
best
kw

[Coffinmaker]

kwilliam,

Optimum Barrel to Cylinder gap is nominally .004 - .006 and were you to send it back to Ruger, they would ship it back with dreaded "Within Specs" note.  .0075 would also be considered a good working gap for BP.  However, comma hiccup,  You also need to slug your bore and compare it to your cylinder throats.  Ruger is famous for undersize cylinder throats.

Since barrel dimensions have been standardized industry wide at .451, your groove diameter will probably be .451   You may well find your cylinder throats may well be .449 - .450.  Suggest you use a lead bullet you know to be .451 and drop in thru the chamber.  It should hang up on the back of the throat, but push through with a gentile tap from a pencil.  If it sticks tight, your cylinder throats need corrected.  Thinking your Bore is .451, the cylinder should be throated to .4515 OR .452   The difference in accuracy and felt recoil will be noticed.

Coffinmaker

[kwilliams1876]

coffinmaker
i saved my bore slug from a couple weeks back. re verified the dim's, bore is .451 and cylinder mouths are .452. so the thing  should have what it takes to fire a decent 25 yd. group...right? i wish the barrel gap was less, but all i ever shoot through all my 19th century toys is black powder. i probably have run 30 rounds thru it so far, and have seen any leading............about ready to drag out my early 3rd gen. colt and put 'em all in the black for old time sakes.
best
kw

[kwilliams1876]

well.......
got tired of the thought off welding  up or replacing the front sight for additional height. got too many other cooler gun projects right now than to mess with this on a "new" Ruger. so i packed her up and sent it off to Ruger for a diagnostics check. waiting to hear back from them. if the gun POA is fixed i think i will treat myself to a new set of black checkered grips i have been lusting for, and then the over size base pin.....and so it goes.
kw

[kwilliams1876]

UPS just dropped off my bisley. been at Ruger just shy of 4 weeks. rounded up a handful of shells and tried it out. got all my hits on the paper pie plate at 20 yds off hand. the gun left here with a 3 lb trigger, and returns with an unmanageable pull i will fix again. they put a new barrel on.....and it enters the frame coaxialy!! shazam, no more looking down a barrel that leans left. i had the gun timed too so as to eliminate cylinder drag.....they put in a new latch i see, as the poor timing is back. will have to fix that too again. anyways she appears to hit poa, and that was what this sojourn was all about. Ruger fixed the problem at no cost, and i am grateful. just wish their Q/C dept. had payed a little more attention to the product that pays their salary.
kw

[Mustang Gregg]

Not too bad for turnaround time.

[Chev. William]

Sounds Like Ruger "Returned the Revolver to Stock Condition" Before Fixing its owners complaint(s), sad that the owner has to redo his custom work to get it back to happy point.

Chev. William