Ruger vacaro. What year are they and value?

[Katty]

Thinking of purchasing two Ruger Vacaro's.
They are older. .45LC with what looks no more than 4inch barrel. bit in Nickel.

Numbers are:
57-778XX
57-843XX

Guns have been shot the finish not perfect these were used but not used up.
Anyone have date info and what they may be worth?

 

[Katty]

Found the years 200 and 2001
Now, what are they worth? These barrel lenghts have the be 4 inch my best guess.

 

[Virginian]

Those are the older model Vaqueros, as opposed to the New Vaqueros which came out in 2005 or 2006, and are a different (smaller) grip frame and cylinder frame size than the ones you are looking at. A lot of folks, me included, preferred the older ones as they fit me better and were hell for stout. Look on
www.gunsamerica. com or www.gunbroker.com and see what some like yours are going for. In my estimation over $400 each.

 

[owlhoot]

Your revolvers are stainless steel not nickel plate. They are sound, well designed single action revolvers and as the Virginian said, they are very strong.

$400 would be close to the average street price for these guns. It is a fair price, not a steal.

If you are buying a pair of them, that suggests you are going to give cowboy action shooting a try. Be advised that while .45 Colt is a wonderful, romantic old caliber, it is very expensive to shoot unless you reload. And even then, reloading costs will be substantially more than for a .38. If you are a prospective cowboy shooter and don't reload, I would suggest you look for .38/.357 revolvers.

 

[Neophyte1]

Vaquero

Katty: what if anything did you decide? Vaquero are and you happen to be looking at the heavier of the two. New ones aren't designed for heavier loads. Old ones will do anything you want
Follow up. Thanks

 

[foghornl]

Hmmmm

Older Vaqueros in .45Colt could handle the Most Serious Butt-Stomper rounds you would care to shoot.

Take a look at the Base Pin...The pin that holds they cylinder in. If it looks like a nail, (big flat head like a roofing nail) you may have the 3-3/4" or so barreled "Sheriff's Model". If the Base Pin sticks out some from the frame, probably the 4-5/8" barrel version.

The pic here is my .357 Sheriff's Model Vaquero. See how the cylinder base pin looks like a roofing nail?