Question about single-action sixguns

N

Nightcrawler

New member
Specifically, the Ruger Blackhawks and Vaqueros. I love the way the high-gloss stainless Vaquero looks.

Um...where' s the rear sight? It doesn't look like it has a rear sight. Maybe that's how they did things back in the old days, as you probably wouldn't get much more range than point blank out of .44-40 or .45 Colt blackpowder coming out of a less than 12" barrel, but I mean, how are you supposed to aim worth anything without a rear sight? The Blackhawks seem to have rear sights.
 
They have gutter sights, just a groove milled into the topstrap like all the fixed-sight Smiths. The sights are actually quite useable, and my roomie's Vaquero shoots every bit as accurate as my Blackhawk. The fixed sights are not adjustable, of course, but most Vaqueros seem to be dead-on anyway.
 
My fixed sight guns seem to work just fine out to 100 yards or so. Buy me time to get to my rifle, if I still need to.

Sam
 
My son-in-law has a tuned Gold Cup--I regularly outshoot him out to about 75 yards or so with my Sheriff's Model Vaquero (it's not all the gun however).
 
well, yeh see.. some of us like to go out on weekend and dress up like cowboys of old and the Fine People at Ruger decided to make there fine Blackhawk a bit more like the old time six guns so we could be more accurate (to the old days, I still shoot better with my Blackhawk)

NB
 
ill take a fixed site gun anyday over an adjusable sited one.cleaner lines .i can compinsate,i mean how often do you adjust you sites?
 
Not unique to the Vaquero...

The "Vaquero sight" is also real similar to the SP101 and Service Six sights. Once you get used to it, it is real nice.
 
I just had to respond to the comment about the blackpowder 45 Colt not being effective beyong point blank out of anything short of a 12" barrel. Oh, how little do you know.

The original loading for the 45 Colt cartridge (cir:1873) was a 255g RNFP bullet of 1-20 tin to lead alloy. This projectile was loaded over 40g of FFg black powder (a compressed load).

Chronograph results of this exact load tested from original 19th Century revolvers were as follows:

SAA 4 3/4" bbl = 864 fps.

SAA 5 1/2" bbl = 885 fps.

SAA 7 1/2" bbl = 914 fps.

If you don't think a 255g bullet at 914 fps would be effective beyond point blank range, you don't understand anything about this business. I suggest that is why it was called "the Peacemaker".
 
hmm..

...Well, I was wrong, but I had assumed things had changed, because even with smokless powder, most .45 Colt loadings aren't going more than 900 feet per second. According to Winchester Ammo's website, their 250gr bullet moves at like 850 feet per second, and they even make a 750 feet per second load.

Fortunately, makers like Cor-Bon and Buffalo Bore have stepped up and showed what .45 Colt can really do, as hand loaders have been doing for years.

I'd like to be a handloader, but I haven't the space for the equipment. 'Sides, I'll be going to college soon. While having ammo in the dorm rooms is okay, containers of gun powder are NOT. (fire hazard)
 
i seriously doubt having ammo is o k in any dorm room at any college or university.get real,in this day and age !why would you have ammo if you didnt have a gun????
 
heh

AT my university, Northern Michigan University, you can bring your guns, you just have to keep them locked up at Public Saftey, and you can access them 24/7. During orientation, we were told that they don't store ammo, so you should just keep the ammo in your room.

Open gunpowder is a no-no, though.
 
I think you have an incorrect idea of effective range

You're obviously young and believe what you read in the gun rags. Remember one thing...the magazines live on advertising. If you write that a "new, magic cartridge" is a piece of crap or redundant, you stand to lose advertisers (current case is point is the .300 WSM). There's NOTHING that I can see it does that the 300 Win Mag won't do, but someone had to dream up something different.

Of course some old anemic cartridge like a 45-70 has a limited range of 100 yards or so. After all, how can a bullet that's moving less than 1500 fps do any damage? Oops...the buffalo hunters got kills at 600-800 yards. Billy Dixon shot an indian (oops again, gotta be PC...he was a dead native american) at 1582 yards off his horse (battle of Adobe Walls, Texas).

If you believe what you read, if a bullet's not doing 4 million feet a second it'll just bounce off. Funny, one the biggest elk ever killed was with a .30-30. I think if a lot of guys used a gun as well as they used their mouth they'd be a lot better off.
 
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