vaquero bird's head vs. cimarron thunderer

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I have four Ruger SA revolvers, two Bisleys, one Super Blackhawk and the Birdshead New Vaquero in the picture.
I also have two Cimarron Uberti SA revolvers one model P-OM (which is desined after the original Colt) and a Bisley model.

The two Uberti revolvers have better fitting, finish, lock-up and trigger pulls right out of the box then any of my Rugers.
The fitting of the grips on my two Ruger Bisley revolvers is terrible, gaps big enough between the frame and the grip that you could throw a cat through.

For those that may think I'm bashing Rugers, I'm not, I'm just stating facts about the SA revolvers I own.

Two of my SA revolvers are 44mag, the other four are 45 Colt.
The 45 Colt loads I shoot in my revolvers are consider tier two loads (around 21,000 PSI).
For me the Bisleys and Birdshead grip are the most comfortable with these loads.

I don't like my revolvers to roll in my hand because when they do they bash the trigger guard into my second finger of my shooting hand, after awhile that starts to become painful, especially when shooting stouter loads.

The Birdshead Vaquero in the picture has wider grips then the stock grips that came on the gun, I prefer my grips to have more girth.
 
I don't like my revolvers to roll in my hand because when they do they bash the trigger guard into my second finger of my shooting hand, after awhile that starts to become painful, especially when shooting stouter loads.
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I discovered this problem when shooting my 7.5" Blackhawk .45 Colt. With 250gr bullets, when the velocity gets about 1200fps the standard grip is no longer comfortable. Took me a while to figure out why my middle finger hurt after a cylinder full.;)

My solution was Pachmayr grips, which fill in behind the triggerguard, and reducing my GP load to about 1100fps.

Had a friend who got a Birdshead Vaquero .44Mag. He has small hands, and short thumbs, and put in a Bisley hammer. Nice feeling gun, until you shoot it.

With a 240gr at 1100fps it is not pleasant, and with full house .44 Mag loads, its rather painful. At standard .44 Special/ .45 Colt levels its fun to shoot. Above that, ....not so much...
 
This post is from 2007 . . . almost as old as the socks I'm wearing! :D

By now, whatever the OP decided on should be well broken in . . .
 
I have a Cimarron a real pretty gun, it isn't very accurate though shoots real low, poi to poa is probably 6 inches at 15 yards. I read in a few different places a lot of people file down the front blade. Other than that a nice gun with a smooth and light trigger
 
hounddogman - Most "Cimarrons" are made by Uberti. I own both Rugers and Ubertis - I like my Ruger NV and I like my Uberti Bisley equally as well - probably prefer the Uberti a little more. At least the cylinder throats on my Uberti are correct and not tight or undersize as is often found on Rugers.

You don't mention what caliber or even what load you are shooting in your Uberti - that has a lot to do with POI. On a SA revolver, you need to learn how it shoots with the different loads you us - and throw in a little Kentucky windage once in a while. If you are hitting low - change your sight picture. Where are you holding the top of your front sight in relation to the rear sight groove? If you're hitting low, raise your front sight position higher - possibly a bit above the top of the groove. Where are you aiming? 6 o'clock, Bull, 12 o'clock? That too will make a difference.

Try a few different bullet weights - that makes a big difference. The last thing you want to do is file that front sight down unless you are shooting the exact same load at the exact same distance each time. I'm betting that you may be fairly new to SA shooting? On some SA revolvers - if it hit left or right the front blade was sometimes "bent" to adjust it so it came back on center.

Don't give up on it - with practice you'll "learn" your SA and how it shoots.
 
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44 AMP, I have used Pachmayr grips on other revolvers I own, I have two 38 revolvers with Pachmayr presentation grips on them now, however I've never tried them on any of my SA revolvers.

I find the birdshead grip on the little Ruger in my first picture to be comfortable even with my tier II loads which is 270 or 280 gr cast bullet at close to 1100 fps.
The grips are much wider then the stock grips and fill out my hand pretty good.

On my SA revolvers I prefer the Bisley grip over all others, I have two Rugers with them 44mag and 45 Colt.
The Uberti Bisley in the picture is one of my favorite hunting guns, I use the same tier II load listed above in it.

The stock grip on it was nice but very narrow, so I had a custom set of stag grips made to my specifications which added much more girth to the grips especially at the top.
They now fill out my hand very well and make the gun much more enjoyable to shoot with stouter loads, no more finger bashing.:)
 


These are a couple of mine. I happen to like the way they feel.

They still roll a bit in my hand, but not as much as the stock grips allow.
 
Bedbug, I would never file down the front sight blade the gun is to pretty for that, I said some people have. It is a 45, like I said a nice gun just shoots low. It's true what you say about figuring out poa to poi
 
When shooting an adjustable sight revolver, you can easily adjust the sights to match the ammo you are using. Each time, if needed.

Shooting a fixed sight revolver, you have three choices, find/make ammo that shoots to the existing sights, "hold off" (Kentucky windage), or permanently modify the gun to match a specific ammo.

bedbugbilly's advice is sound, other than assuming all SA revolvers are fixed sight guns. As you can see from the pic I posted, not all are. ;)
 
44AMP - LOL .. . . you are so correct that all SA are not "fixed sights"! :)

I'm "old school" . .. as well as being "just plain old"! I think the only revolvers I haver that have adjustable sights on them are my vintage 1920ish S & W M & P Target and my Smitth Combat Masterpiece - both of which are of course, DA revolvers. 50 some years ago, I "cut my teeth" on a '51 Colt Navy and everyone of my SA revolvers are "fixed". I honestly don't know what I'd do if I had to switch to adjustable sights. Even now, I always seem to pick up a SA with fixed sights overtime I go to shoot 0 the two Smiths don't get shot much.

My latest purchase was a .357 Uberti Bisley just because I wanted to try the Bisley "feel" - I love it and it's a great shooter - 4 3/4" barrel. I like it so well that I'm going to order another that's the same only in 45 Colt.

Great photos of some very nice wheel guns - I love good "gun -CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED-". :)
 
Question is - been looking at the latest Blackhawk (no frills for me but I wanted a SA in .45LC) since I heard they could easily handle the stoutest loads - Buffalo Bore?
 
Question is - been looking at the latest Blackhawk...
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The question is, which Blackhawk are you looking at?

The .45 Colt gun to handle the stoutest loads is the New Model Blackhawk. It has the same frame and cylinder size as the Super Blackhawk .44 Mag.

(see the pic I posted. Top gun is .45 Colt, bottom .44 Mag)

"Blackhawk" covers a number of Ruger SA's, including "flat tops" and medium frame guns. They are not all the same.

Likewise the Vaquero and New Vaquero. Nearly identical name (and in conversation one usually only hears "Vaquero", but different guns, with different strength levels.

The original Vaquero is the large frame, and other than cosmetically, its a "new model Blackhawk" (44 frame).

The "New Vaquero" (the correct name, and marked as such on the frame) is a smaller frame gun, approx. the size of the Colt SAA, and is not considered suitable for the "stoutest" loads.
 
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