Shopping for a "cowboy" gun!

[ChuteTheMall]

If Ruger is too expensive for your budget, cheaper but double action options exist from Charter Arms and also the Taurus Judge. Also the Bond derringer.

[smee78]

I know you said cheap, but I also am a Ruger Vaquero or Blackhawk fan. Both are quality guns and will last a lifetime.

If you are not interested in the 45 Colt round, why not sell the ammo and buy something you really want?

[Crunchy Frog]

Originally Posted by Straitshot

Uberti has suppled Colt with lots of parts for their Colt SAA's over the years. Cimarron and Taylor along with former USFA convienced Uberti and Pietta to up their game and today they build some of the best single action revolvers available. Currently the only other manufacturer that makes a better revolver is Standard Manufacturing and it is three times the price. I have owned and shot them all and for the money Uberti is as good as they come. I slightly prefer the Uberti over the Pietta but either are good.

Uberti supplied parts for the reproduction cap and ball revolvers that Colt sold. Uberti never supplied parts for the Single Action Army. This is an oft repeated urban legend.

[Crunchy Frog]

I've been shooting cowboy action for 13 years and am now the Match Director for my club. I've helped a lot of new shooters select gear and I've seen every brand and type. We shoot our guns a lot.

Rugers are really expensive now, and hard to find.

I can't recommend a current model Uberti 1873 pattern revolver. Too many have problems.

The Piettas are a good choice and there are some budget friendly SKUs out there.

[jar]

My favorite "Cowboy" gun.



It was made in 1903 and was closer to what a cowboy might be able to afford.

Chambered for smokeless powder 38S&W.

[Carmady]

Vaquero is the Spanish word for cowboy.

And Ruger's first class customer service applies to used firearms as well as new, so you don't have to be the original owner to get free replacement parts and service.

[ilmonster]

Another vote for the Taylors. I have a Taylors Smokewagon in .45 and it is a well put together revolver and accurate. Also have a Ruger Super Blackhawk, but that doesn't feel like a cowboy gun. Different animal.

[44 AMP]

Ruger Vaquero. Original or New Vaquero. Spendy up front these days (though I sold several from my collection recently). IF you get tired of it, someone WILL buy it for a decent price...

[Super Sneaky Steve]

I'd say it depends on what kind of loads you want to shoot. Open top revolvers were made with only black powder in mind. If you shoot smokeless it has to be reduced power and pressure or they won't hold up.

Italian clones of the 1873 Army use the same trigger bolt spring and hand spring of the old Colt designs. They are easy to replace but will break. These guns are easy to take all the way down with a good set of Grace USA screwdrivers which makes them ideal for black powder loads. Residue goes everywhere, is very easy to clean, but everything must be "washed".

New Vaqueros are stronger than Colts and can go a little beyond standard pressure. They are more difficult to disassemble but you'll never have to if you stick with smokeless.

Blackhawks and Redhawks can handle any +P load out there. Not as authentic looking but adjustable sights sure are nice.

All my rugers had tight chamber mouths and needed to be cut to .4525 so buy a reamer.

[jackmoser65]

If you shoot smokeless it has to be reduced power and pressure or they won't hold up.

That's just not true. The modern cartridge guns are proofed to CIP standards. Kirst is even making a cylinder to convert the percussion guns to 45 acp.

New Vaqueros are stronger than Colts and can go a little beyond standard pressure.

There is nothing to support this. Guys like Dave Scovill were loading them with 270 grain RCBS SAA cast bullets to 1100ft/sec before the New Vaquero was even a thing.

Blackhawks and Redhawks can handle any +P load out there.

Not true either. The large frame Blackhawk 45 colt is good to 30kpsi while the Red hawk is good to 50kpsi. Wouldn't want those 50k loads in a Black hawk.

[44 AMP]

Blackhawks and Redhawks can handle any +P load out there.

I'd think so, since the only actual "+P" loads are the SAAMI ones, and in both the "hawks" chamberings those are .38 Special +P , 9mm +P, and .45ACP +P. There are no SAAMI +P loads in .357 Mag, .44 Mag, or .45 Colt.

So what a handloader can do and what pressures the gun can run is wide range of possibilities. SAAMI spec "+P" loads are a specific loading.

[Super Sneaky Steve]

That's just not true. The modern cartridge guns are proofed to CIP standards. Kirst is even making a cylinder to convert the percussion guns to 45 acp.

Let's see what Krist has to say.
Use only lead bullets with black powder or an equivalent low-velocity smokeless powder load in centerfire Kirst Cartridge Konverters.
https://kirstkonverter.com/faqs-troubleshooting.html
It doesn't matter what these guns are proofed too, they still use the same weak parts and will break. They won't blow the clyinder most likely but you'll severely lessen the life of these guns. Those who shoot these often already know this. Sam Colt knew this too which is why he switched to a closed frame design in 1873.

There is nothing to support this. Guys like Dave Scovill were loading them with 270 grain RCBS SAA cast bullets to 1100ft/sec before the New Vaquero was even a thing.

There's a lot to support Rugers being stronger. Just compare the hand springs and trigger bolt springs. Again, those who shoot a lot of these guns already know the weak points, so did Bill Ruger which is why he improved on them. If you want to shoot heavy mag loads in your Colt go ahead but Colt doesn't recommend it and neither does any sane person who shoots these guns regularly.

[Armybrat]

New Vaquero…

https://www.rugerforum.com/media/3ee...jpeg.2395/full

[Gunfu_blaster]

Get a Taurus 454casull and you can shoot 45colt from it including 45colt +p. I believe its called a Raging Bull and MSRP is about $1200. You will never wear out that gun by using 45colt in it. Its like buying a 357mag and only putting 38special through it. They are also double action and have picatinny rails. Im sorry, but if we were back in the wild west times, that Raging Bull would literally be all the rage. There are also leverguns. Cowboys loved their leverguns in 45colt and the extra barrel length gives it a huge power boost. Ruger makes a short barrel 454casull called the Red Hawk Alaskan. If not any of those, a vaquero is the way to go, true cowboy era design, single action, boring.

[Hawg]

Originally Posted by Gunfu_blaster

. Cowboys loved their leverguns in 45colt

Nobody chambered a lever action in .45 Colt until 1984. Yes nineteen eighty four.

[Aguila Blanca]

Originally Posted by Gunfu Blaster

Cowboys loved their leverguns in 45colt and the extra barrel length gives it a huge power boost.

Hawg is absolutely correct. It actually went the other way. Colt eventually began chambering the six-gun in .44-40 so that "cowboys" could use the same round in their revolvers as in their carbines. Chambering lever action carbines in .45 Colt is strictly a modern phenomenon.

[44 AMP]

The original .45 Colt cases didn't have much of a rim. Plenty to work in a single action revolver, but, as believed by the gunmakers of the day, not enough to work reliably in a lever action.

SO, they made no lever actions in .45 Colt.

With the change in the case from the old balloon head to the modern solid head, the rim got changed a little bit, enough to be large enough and strong enough to work reliably in lever actions, and, as mentioned, eventually the rifle makers DID make .45 Colt lever guns, and they did work ok. Still do, from what I hear.

[Hawg]

Uberti was the first one to chamber a lever action in .45 Colt.

[jstert]

i would get a revolver that handles both 45lc and 45acp, the latter round being much cheaper. buy a used ruger blackhawk with confidence, given ruger’s excellent lifetime warranty.

[Driftwood Johnson]

i would get a revolver that handles both 45lc and 45acp, the latter round being much cheaper.

I'm scratching my head, but off the top of it I cannot think of any revolver that chambers both 45 Colt and 45 ACP. 45 Colt rims are about .060 in thickness, but because 45 ACP is often shot with moon clips, there is about .030 more relief behind the cylinder in a revolver chambered for 45 ACP. That is why 45 Auto Rim was developed, to take up the space of about .090 behind the cylinder. I could be wrong, but unless custom modified, I cannot think of a revolver that chambers both 45 Colt and 45 ACP.

Except of course, my old convertible Ruger Blackhawk that came with two cylinders, one for 45 Colt and one for 45 ACP. I'm pretty sure that is the only way one can have an off the shelf revolver that chambers the two different cartridges, one that comes with two different cylinders. Current model Rugers (like my old Blackhawk) are great, they come with a transfer bar that makes them completely safe to carry fully loaded with six rounds in the cylinder.






Not so much with many of the Italian imports, most of them have the traditional lockwork that is only safe to carry loaded with five rounds, with an empty chamber under the hammer. This is an older 45 Colt Uberti Cattleman I bought about 20 years ago that has the traditional Colt style lockwork and is only safe to carry with five rounds and an empty chamber under the hammer.






Current Uberti revolvers have been modified with a retractable firing pin that make them safe to carry fully loaded with six rounds.




You said you don't want 'really expensive', or something like that, so I will not post any photos of any of my Colts.

The hell I won't. Here is a 38-40 Bisley Colt that shipped in 1909 along with a 38-40 Winchester Model 1873 that shipped in 1887.






Regarding rim sizes of old 45 Colt cartridges, all of these, except the two on the far right have rims much too small to be grabbed by the extractor claw of a rifle. The one on the far right is a modern 45 Colt round. Notice the much wider rim, and space above the rim that gives a rifle rifle extractor claw enough space to grab the rim. The round second to the right is a special 45 Colt that was developed for a Colt double action revolver, with an extra wide rim for the extractor to be able to push against.

[lowercase]

I have an EMF Great Western II "Californian". It's made by Pietta, and is a faithful SAA replica. Mine is a .45 Colt, but I saw EMF running a sale on their .45 acp cylinders, so I snagged one. The .45 acp cylinder is unfluted, and the gun shots great in either caliber.

I got it just to have one, and figured that real SAAs were too expensive. Then right after buying it, I practically tripped over an SAA at a great price, so now have both.

Pic is from EMF's page. The wood on my gun's grips looks better than the picture, but otherwise it's exactly the same. It has been a good firearm and I would purchase it again.

[44 AMP]

I'm scratching my head, but off the top of it I cannot think of any revolver that chambers both 45 Colt and 45 ACP.

The S&W Governor shoots .45 Colt, .45acp, and .410 shotshell (2.5" I think)

Ruger advertises one of its Redhawks capable of shooting .454 Casull, .45 Colt, and .45ACP.

The ACP requires clips. I don't have any, but I've seen some pictures and it appears there's a different approach than the old 1917 revolvers and their clips.

The cylinder is recessed for the clip, so there isn't the space needed between the back of the cylinder and the recoil shield that the old system needed. The space that the thick rim on the .45 Auto Rim case filled up isn't there, on the new guns.

While these guns will fire ACP rounds they are literally just hanging in space, supported only by the clip, and not the chamber walls. On firing the ACP brass expands and does seal in the chamber, so it works. Rounds go in, go bang, and come out, no problem.

Though I can't help but think the ACP brass is rather bulged by this, so reloaders won't be real happy with that, apparently it does work, and there's no chatter about the ACP brass splitting.

I've got the convertible Blackhawk .45, don't use the ACP cylinder much, but when I do, no clips needed, and it doesn't stress the brass.

[Hawg]

The Uberti retractable hammer requires a small screwdriver to operate. The older ones have a hammer block that won't let the firing pin reach the primer unless the trigger is pulled.

[stinkeypete]

In the long run, every Ruger single action I have ever owned (and that's a lot of them) I have always sold for more than I paid for it.

That's why a good quality gun can be inexpensive, even if it costs $200 more at the front end. You get more than your money back at the back end while enjoying a nicer bean spitter.