[standingbear]

i forget what the term is butmy old model shot very well.got the vaquero and cant get a good group.something about when the bullet leaves the cylinder and hits the rifling.(im tired and cant think)anyhow,the old model i had- had something done to it just at the forcing cone and it improved the accuracy tremoundously.ideas?

[Dave T]

My experience (and this is supported by a bunch of Cowboy Action shooters I know) is that the Vaquero's problem is not with the forcing cone but rather with the chamber mouths, particularly in 45 caliber. The nominal diameter for the current 45 Colt is .452". Ruger's chamber mouths have been measured as being as small as .450".

I had the chambers opened (reamed) to .454" because that was the size bullet I was loading. Accuracy improved immedaitely.

Over on the Ruger Forum there's a guy who has a chamber reaming business, just to solve this problem. I'd look into getting it done to your Vaqueros. I bet it will help a lot.

[jjmorgan64]

Dave T is right about the cylinder throats on the 45 cal vaquero's. Reaming mine made a very nice accracy increase.

Some people do like to open the forcing cones up to 11 degrees, not sure how much this would help, never heard any real positive feedback.

What loads are you using, you can also get a large variation in accuracy by simply shifting loads fired in the gun, my gun fires just under half size groups with my reloads than it does with a popular commercial ammo.

The reamers are available from Brownells, or you can post over at the Ruger forum http://www.rugerforum.com/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/rugerforum//Ultimate.cgi?action=intro&BypassCookie=true they do have a man who opend them up for a small cost.

[Jim March]

Ditto if it's a 45.

Let's remember that on a Vaquero, it's going to shoot high from the factory. You're supposed to pick a load, then file the front sight to the desired load...so the front sight is "oversize".

This is a feature, not a bug :).

But I'm assuming your "group size" is screwed up. If NOT, if you're getting tight groups but they're in the wrong place, don't panic, there's a number of things you can do. I'm assuming that's not what's going on here but let us know if it is.

You should "run the checkout", that'll show you any "gross problems":

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1430

Assuming all that passes:

You've probably either got a tight throat issue, or a bad crown. A gunsmith can measure the throats. In 45LC, this is almost certainly an issue; it CAN be a factor in a 357 or 44, but that would be oddball. A gunsmith can also make sure all your throats are the same.

You might also have a bad crown. That's the end of the barrel where the quick bit comes out :). Burrs or such right there can be a problem. If it's a stainless gun, a re-crown job is fairly cheap because you don't have to re-blue afterwards :).

A gunsmith can look at these issues.

See, back at Ruger they have various reaming tool bits that are good for a certain number of jobs before they're bad and need replacing. Your gun might have been the unlucky recipient of a chamber reamer that was on it's 9,999th gun when it's known to be good for 10,000 :rolleyes:.

That's kinda the breaks, ya know? But it's usually fixable :).

Hope it's a 45LC chamber reamer issue. That's cheap to fix.

[ambidextrous1]

Jim, it's been a few dacades since I studied geometry and trigonometry, but I believe that filing the front sight down will raise the point of impact.

If that is the case, the remedy for a high point of impact would be to file the rear sight, being careful to keep the slot depth the same... not a pleasant prospect. :uhoh:

[Tom C.]

Several problems are common in new Ruger NMBHs and Vaqueros that can cause disappointing accuracy.

Already mentioned: tight cylinder chamber throats. Several ways to cure this. Reaming the throats, or just getting the Brownell’s chamber hone and polishing them. Mine didn’t require much and the chamber hone did a good job. I also polished the chambers. They needed it, too.

Off center barrel forcing cone. Brownell’s also sells a conical reamer to clean up and make concentric the barrel forcing cone. I use 11 degrees on .44 and .45, 5 degree on .357.

One of the points that isn’t made often is choking of the barrel just forward of the forcing cone. That is caused by the crush fit of the barrel into the frame, and the slight constriction of the barrel as it passes through the frame. It can amount to a reduction of barrel internal diameter of .0005 to .0015”. Not much, but the bullet is swaged by the cylinder, then swaged again by the choke, then it is undersized for the bore. Not good. I tend to cut my barrel forcing cones a little deep, you can also fire lap the barrel to remove it. It will also tend to be removed just by firing. The bullets beat it out of the barrel.

Properly broken in, the Rugers are actually very accurate, but they tend to come from the factory as a work-in-progress.

[standingbear]

crown looks fine-it is a new gun.its 357 mag and is brightly polished stainless steel.its just the first time i fired this one and wondered if i could improve accuracy as well as i did with the 3 screw i had.it hits point of aim but there isnt a group.6 shots in the center area but nothing in the same area(does it make sense?)no 2 are even close..kinda like a buckshot load.scattered.

[Jim March]

ambidextrous1: Oooops. Meant to say they shoot LOW :uhoh:.

Whoops.

Standing bear: how big are these groups, at 15 or 25 yards?

[standingbear]

5-8" at 25.like a paper plate diameter.this is with factory rem 357 jacketed soft points.dissapointing to say the least,all over the center.

[RCL]

Find a load the gun likes. Not trying to be a smart mouth. Some guns, especially .357 Mags in my experiance, can be picky about ammo.

[foghornl]

My 357 Vaquero likes just about all ammo..Win Rem Fed PMC, even OK with Blazer. Haven't tried the Sellier & Bellot yet.
Some 357's, though can be almost as persnickety about ammo as a .22. The 6-1/2" .357 Blackhawk I had about 25 years back liked the Rem 158-Gr SJHP best, was no good with the lightweight (Less than 125 Gr) bullets. If i put the really light stuff in it, like Rem's 98-Gr +P .38Spl, it was more effective as a throwing weapon.