Howdy
I don't know why you are turning down the Ruger Vaquero, they are excellent guns. I have several.
The Blackhawks with their adjustable sights are also excellent guns. The frames are larger than the original Colt Single Action Army frame was, so that means the cylinders are about 10% larger than a Colt cylinder. And that translates to more metal surrounding the chambers, which translates to a stronger gun, capable of withstanding more powerful ammunition than the SAAMI Max 14,000 psi Colt loads.
And all modern Ruger single action revolvers contain a transfer bar, which makes them completely safe to carry fully loaded with six rounds. If you drop it on the hammer with a live round under the hammer, nothing is going to happen, other than scratching up the gun.
Originally the Vaquero was built on the same size frame as the Blackhawks, and they were also big, capable of the more powerful 'Ruger Only' loads. About ten years or so, Ruger redesigned the Vaquero, calling it the New Vaquero, and built it on a smaller frame, the same basic size as a Colt SAA. The cylinder was about the same size as a Colt cylinder, which meant there was less steel surrounding the chambers, so only SAAMI Max ammunition is recommended for them. You will here otherwise, but that's what you will here from me.
The saying goes with Rugers that they are 'built like tanks'. The internal mechanism is completely different than a Colt, but more importantly the parts have heavier cross sections, so it is very unusual for a part to fail. Also, from the very beginning all Ruger revolvers have featured coil springs instead of flat leaf springs, and coil springs very seldom break. The same cannot be said for the springs in a Colt or colt replica.
Here are most of my Ruger 'New Model' single action revolvers (with the transfer bar). On the left is my old Blackhawk, then three 'original model' Vaqueros, then a couple of New Vaqueros. The first four are all 45 Colt, the New Vaqueros are 357 Mag. They are all strong, serviceable revolvers.
At the top of this photo is a New Vaquero chambered for 45 Colt, and at the bottom is a Colt Single Action Army, also chambered for 45 Colt. They are just about identical in size.
If you want to get away from Rugers, and want a fixed sight single action revolver you really only have two choices, Uberti and Pietta, both made in Italy. Do not be confused by the plethora of importers, such as Taylors, Cimarron, and a few others who import these guns. There are many importers, but pretty much they all import revolvers made by those two companies. And despite what some will tell you, they all come off the same assembly lines and they are all of the same quality.
For a long time, Uberti revolvers were superior to Piettas in fit and finish, but Pietta has done a lot of catching up recently, and now they are just about equal. Both of these guns employ the same traditional style lockwork of the Colt SAA, so broken springs sometimes do happen. Not all the time, but they do happen on occasion. Recently Uberti has replaced the flat leaf type spring for the hand with a coil spring, so that is one less spring to break, But trigger/bolt springs do still break fairly commonly. Not a big deal, they are easy to replace, and there are after market music wire springs available.
As with the Colt, these guns are only safe to carry with an empty chamber under the hammer, just in case you drop it on the hammer.
Here is an Uberti Cattleman imported by Cimarron that I bought a number of years ago.
The one thing you should be aware of is Uberti recently introduced a new style hammer with a firing pin that retracts into the hammer. This is so the gun can be safely carried fully loaded. This model is so new on the market there has not been much feedback from shooters yet. A lot of guys do not like it because it is not the traditional style hammer, and it has introduced a few new parts that have increased the complexity of the gun. But so far the model is too new to have much user feedback. Uberti has stated that eventually they will no longer produce the model with the firing pin in the hammer, and eventually the retractable firing pin model is all that they will produced. Time will tell.
One more thing. Remember I said that Rugers have more metal surrounding the chambers? Here are three cylinders chambered for 45 Colt. On the left is an Uberti Cattleman cylinder, in the middle is a Ruger 'original model' Vaquero cylinder, and on the right is a Colt Single Action army cylinder. Notice how much thicker the chamber walls are on the Ruger? That is why they are stronger.
On the left in this photo is the New Vaquero cylinder and on the right is a Colt SAA cylinder. Both are chambered for 45 Colt. There is a tiny bit more steel surrounding the chambers of the Ruger, but not much. Nothing like the more massive cylinders of the Blackhawk or 'original model' Vaqueros.
What it really boils down to is do you want the old traditional colt type lockwork, that is only safe to load with five rounds, or do you want the modernized Ruger lockwork with the transfer bar that makes it safe to load six.
If you want an adjustable sight, you can get the bigger and stronger Blackhawk, if you want traditional fixed sights you can get the New Vaquero with modern lockwork and transfer bar, or an Uberti or Pietta that should only be loaded with five rounds. It's really that simple.
Oh, yeah, a lot of guys will tell you how you only get four clicks with the original colt style lockwork, but the only time you can hear all four clicks is when you are playing with the gun while watching Westerns on TV. I shoot Colts all the time, and with hearing protection on I never hear the clicks when I cock the hammers.
