New Vaquero 454 or 452

Boolit Mold Join DateApr 2013LocationNW BCPosts6

I'm confused on which size cast to buy or moulds for my New Vaquero in 45 colt.
Any help would be great.
Thanks Mutt

Slug the throats of the pistol, they should be able to tell you all you need to know.

Your question doesn't have a pat answer, you need to slug the throats and size the boolits to a mild snug fit in the throats, then slug the bore only to know that it is at or a tick smaller than throat diameters. If your groove diameter is larger than throat diameters leading will be a real issue.

Rick

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Mine has a .4515 bore and .453(ish) throats. I use .452 boolits.

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Boolit Master Join DateMar 2011Posts225

Sugging the barrel may also tell you if you have any throat constriction at the barrel/frame location.

My NV had them all. .451" through .4535". Sent it back to Ruger and it came back all around .4515" except for one at .4525". Reamed them all to .4525" myself and shoot .452-ish or a fuzz larger if they spring back some after sizing. After hand and fire-lapping the three major choke points out of the barrel, reaming and honing the forcing cone, and recrowning, it almost shoots. $450 for the gun, now I have about $750 in it to get it to shoot and did most of the work myself. Good luck with yours.

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Boolit Buddy Join DateApr 2013Posts55

Sugging the barrel may also tell you if you have any throat constriction at the barrel/frame location.Very common with Ruger 45 caliber guns. Most benefit from having the cylinder throats reamed to .4525" but if yours has much of a constriction at the threads, it's only going to get so good and that's it. Unless you have it lapped or Taylor throated.

On a positive note, these guns respond incredibly well to being "dimensionally corrected" and although it can be a pain to get it done, once it's over and the gun starts shooting really well, you forget about how much trouble it was.

My Vaquero was dimensionally impaired in the cylinder and the threads. The cylinder throats were .4505" and the thread constriction was .449" while the groove diameter was .452" it was a wasp-waisted beauty in all it's shining stainless glory but it wouldn't shoot for chit. I got lucky and traded some sambar grips for the reamers and punched the cylinder out to .4525" and Taylor throated the barrel. Now a #8 egg sinker driven in from the muzzle has an even and consistent resistance traveling down the bore, it drops clean when it hits the taylor throat, and after the barrel sized and engraved it, it slides into the cylinder throats with about half a thou to spare. This is how it should be, boolit leaves the case and gets progressively smaller as it travels to the muzzle, not squeezed and then presented to the bore to bounce off the sides at random.

Edit: I might also add that the harder the boolit, the more you notice the constrictions because they shoot terribly. Softer boolits and jwords tend to slug back up somewhat *IF* there is sufficient pressure remaining as they go through the threaded part of the barrel.

OP, .452 should work fine unless you have a .453" barrel but you really won't know until you slug it.

Last edited by DougGuy; Today at 11:18 AM.

If you are talking the old large frame Vaquero, you will most likely have undersized throats that need to be reamed.

If you are talking the new small frame Vaquero, the throats will be .452-.4525 so .452 bullet will work just fine.

Disclaimer: The above is not holy writ. It is just my opinion based on my experience and knowledge. Your mileage may vary.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading
Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt"

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