Ruger Vaquero model 00512

It would help with a better description... chambering, frame, grip profile, barrel length...

A picture or 2 would help too.

It sounds like it's an original Vaquero with the slightly larger frame before the New Vaquero was offered. If so they are very strong revolvers just like the older Blackhawks.

Google Ruger Vaquero Model 00512 will get you a lot of information. It may be a Sheriff's Old Model. Stainless steel is not stainless, and any number of things including storage in a damp holster, pistol rug, or case could cause corrosion on the cylinder. Likely it would clean up with Flitz or an other mild abrasive.

Howdy

I have a stainless 'original model' Vaquero with a SN 57-67XXX. It was made in 2000. The 'original model' Vaquero is the old large frame Vaquero that is no longer being made. Ruger stopped producing them in 2005 and replaced them with the New Vaquero which is on a smaller frame.

Regarding tarnish on a stainless cylinder, Stainless Steel is not really stainless. The military designation for it is Corrosion Resistant. There are many different formulas for stainless steel alloys. All have some chromium in the alloy which makes them corrosion resistant. Some are more corrosion resistant than others. Bottom line, subject 'stainless steel' to a corrosive atmosphere and you may get some tarnishing.

All vaquero’s have a somewhat tall front sight. The idea is that once you get dialed in with what load your gonna use, you can file down the sight to hit POA. 250-255 grain bullets are more likely to get close with stock sight setup. If you choose to go lighter on bullet weight, the lower your hits will be.

Howdy Again

Here is a photo of a Stainless 'original model' Vaquero and a blued New Vaquero. Both are chambered for 45 Colt. The Stainless gun has a 5 1/2" barrel, the blued barrel is 4 5/8" long.






Ruger started making the 'original model' Vaquero in 1993. It was basically the same as the large frame Blackhawks in production at the time. Like this 45 Colt/45 ACP convertible that I bought way back in 1972.






I bought this 'original model' Vaquero used around 2000. The only significant difference between it and the Blackhawk is the sights, and the rounded frame profile. Also, Blackhawks have always had aluminum grip frames and ejector housings. When I picked up this Vaquero I immediately noticed it felt heavy. That was because the grip frame was steel, not aluminum. I later changed out the aluminum ejector housing for a steel one. All Vaqueros come today with steel grip frames and steel ejector housings, so they are a little bit heavier than a Blackhawk of similar dimensions. Notice too this Vaquero has a 'color case' finish on the frame. It is not true Case Hardening, Ruger hardens their frames all the way through, Case Hardening is a method of hardening the outer surface of the steel only. The mottled colors on the Ruger 'color case' finish were accomplished through a chemical process.






The 'original model' Vaquero was a big gun, and you could buy one chambered for 44 Magnum. That was because there was a lot of steel between chambers on the 'original model' Vaqueros. In this photo, left to right is a 'original model' Vaquero cylinder, a New Vaquero cylinder, and a 2nd Gen Colt cylinder. All are chambered for 45 Colt. Notice how much more steel there is between chambers on the 'original model' Vaquero cylinder. I forget the numbers now, but it was something like .050 for the 'original' cylinder and something like .032 or so for the other two. That is why the 'original models' could handle the 44 Magnum cartridge. There would be even more steel between the chambers than the 45 Colt cylinder. You will hear guys asking if the frame of the 'original model' Vaquero was stronger than the New Vaquero frame. That is the wrong question. It is the cylinder that must withstand the pressure generated when a cartridge fires, not the frame.

Go back to that first photo and you will notice the 'original model' Vaquero has wood grips, the New Vaquero has injection molded plastic grips. The plastic New Model grips are slimmer than the grips on the 'original model'. I can clearly feel the difference. With my heavy Black Powder loads I like the wooden grips better, but I can shoot the plastic grips just fine to.






Anyway, Ruger introduced the New Vaquero in 2005 and discontinued the 'original model' Vaquero. The New Vaquero had a smaller frame and cylinder more like the original Colt Single Action Army. Here is a photo of the New Vaquero and a Colt Single Action Army. They are very similar in size. Because the cylinder of the New Vaquero was not as beefy as the 'original model' cylinder, the New Vaquero is not chambered for 44 Magnum. Pretty much only 45 Colt and 357 Magnum. Notice the profile of the hammers. The New Vaquero hammer originally pretty much duplicated the shape of the Colt hammer. Go back and look at the first photo to compare hammer shapes. WIth the 'original model', one could sight the gun with the hammer down. With a Colt, the hammer spur obscures the sights until the hammer is cocked. Same with the New Vaquero. You cannot see the sights until you cock the hammer. Why would you need to? Today, some variations are available on the New Vaquero with a lower hammer spur, but that is what they looked like when they first came out. Notice too, the 'color case' finish is gone. There were complaints about rust with the old 'color case' finish, so Ruger did away with that and now you can only get the frame blued. Or stainless.






OK, finally, front sights. The front sight on this Stainless 'original model' Vaquero is .368 high. The New Vaquero front sight is .360 high. I'm sure there is probably some variation from gun to gun. I don't hunt, but is .008 really enough to matter?






Regarding filing the sights down: I did that with my first couple of 'original Vaqueros', to get the point of aim just where I want it. I have not filed down any front sights in years now. I mostly shoot my single action revolvers at steel plates in CAS, and if I miss it is because I did not aim well, not because of the height of the front sight.

That “tarnish” may be removable by letting the cylinder soak in Break Free CLP for 24-48 hours. It has worked for me in the past.

Howdy Again

Why in the world do you want to buy a revolver that the first thing you are going to have to do is change the grip frame?

Yes, if it is a Vaquero it will have a steel grip frame.

Why not just buy what you want in the first place?

Here are some numbers. My old 7 1/2" 45 Colt/45 ACP Blackhawk with its aluminum grip frame and aluminum ejector housing weighs 2 pounds 11 ounces.

The blued 45 Colt 'original model' Vaquero with the 7 1/2" barrel and steel grip frame and steel ejector housing weighs 3 pounds 1 ounce.

That is a difference of 6 ounces.

Shorter barrels will weigh less, smaller calibers (smaller holes) will weigh more.

Let's be sure we understand what we are talking about here.

This is a New Vaquero, taken completely apart. The arrow is pointing to the grip frame. As you can see, this part includes the trigger guard. So in a Vaquero, whether it is blued steel or Stainless, that part is steel. With a Blackhawk that part is aluminum. At least they used to be, I actually have no idea what Ruger is selling these days for Blackhawks. I suspect a Stainless Blackhawk will have a Stainless grip frame.



At one time you could buy after market grip frames for Rugers. I think they were available from Power Custom. But if you buy an aluminum grip frame it will be in the white. Then you will have to have it anodized to match the color of the stainless frame as best as possible. I have no idea if Ruger will sell you an aluminum grip frame. But it will be dark anodized, the same color as the grip frame on my Blackhawk.

If you are concerned about carrying a heavy revolver for a long time, why not just buy a Blackhawk with its aluminum grip frame. That way you get adjustable sights too.

Regarding 'tarnish' on stainless. If you are talking about the carbon rings that are ALWAYS present on the front surface of the cylinder of any revolver, it is a waste of time trying to polish them off. They will always return. Blued or Stainless.

For stains or tarnish on the rest of the revolver, the best thing to remove stains on a stainless revolver is polishing with bronze wool and light oil. Do not use steel wool. Not even the very fine grades. Small particles of steel wool can break off and imbed themselves in the steel. This breaks the natural passivation of stainless and will lead to small spots of corrosion. You can buy bronze wool from Brownells.

If the reason you are interested in this revolver is because it is easily available, perhaps you should look a little bit farther and buy what you really want, not what is easily available.

I wonder if that Vaquero actually started life as a Vaquero Birdshead. The Birdshead models had 3 3/4” barrels.

farm23

I have this original model Vaquero which has a mirror like, high polish finish on it, accomplished with repeated applications of Mother's Mag Polish. Turned out looking like it was nickel plated and I added the Bar-S Tru Ivory grips to give it that "bring your fanciest gun to the BBQ" look!

farm23

I believe the grips were called "New Ivory" for their bright white appearance. Accuracy is great with both factory and handloaded ammo. Shoots to POA at around 15 yards.

Ya, I believe those shiny stainless Vaqueros were first marketed to look like nickel plated sixguns for those of us who played the SASS games back then. Yours looks really sharp!!

I got a 4 5/8” stainless and my buddy got a 5 1/2 blued model to shoot SASS. Mine is still pretty shiny, but I think I need to find some others and get to work to match yours.

Stay safe.

Howdy Again

Actually, when the Stainless Vaqueros first came out, they had a matte finish. But Ruger soon realized that giving them a mirror finish they looked a lot like a 19th Century nickel plated revolver, so that's when they started polishing them.

That Stainless Vaquero I posted a photo of earlier came with Ruger's version of artificial ivory grips. But I did not like them because they were so smooth and highly polished that they slipped in my hand when I was sweaty. So I replaced the grips with the rosewood grips it is wearing in the photo. Not quite so smooth, they provide a bit more tack and don't slip in my sweaty hands on a hot summer day.

Here is a photo of the 5 1/2" Vaquero along with it's big brother with a 7 1/2" barrel. I shot this pair in CAS for a few years until I got ahold of my Colts. They still come to every match as backups, in case a spring breaks in one of my Colts. Yes, there have been a couple of occasions when I needed one of them.

Love those original Vaqueros, especially the 7.5”. Best I could do after being infected with the Vaquero bug is this NV that has been posted several times. The Talo “Fast Draw” edition which came with some kinda hokey star pattern grips, so it now wears some inexpensive Altamont “bonded ivory” panels (just an epoxy probably).

if you buy the ruger and it shoots tight groups dont tweek it and use it with joy. if it doesnt give you the groups you want not is all lost as it can be tweeked. first of all see if a bullet you shoot passes snugly through the front of the cylinder. you will have to have the fronts reamed to the equal proper diam it a bullet cant pass throu the cylinders. ruger is bad for using old worn out reamers. next if it still doesnt give you the groups you want the barrel may have been squeezed into the frame that the threads were too tight or to undersized and that undersize the barrel at that point and you will have to send it to a good gunsmith to take care of this situation. also on any revolver you have no matter who made it the forcing cone at the back of the barrel isnt as good as it should be. no factory american or over seas does the job as you can. rent a forcing cone cutter and set up off the internet for very little money. i bought mine from brownells as i do all of mine and other shooters. one should never be satisfied with a revolver untill it prins very very tight at 20 yards. you want to be able to take a snakes head off at that range with out effort. rugers are the worst as to tweeking. some shoot tight others dont but can be made to shoot tight. last winter i bought a new bisley 45 long colt that shot horrible. 150 dollars later it shot as tight as my other revolvers. never liked the grips so sold it to guy with money and he paid full price plus what i put into it. he loves the gun, as it better now than any off the shelf ruger out their. i even put rose would grips on it and polished all the machine marks out of the gun. bought me uberti colt with the money i got for it that i had to tweek very very little.. even had some left over to partly buy a s and w victory 22 that i souped up and really love.