Nunio Binez

Dusty Sights, Tom Bullweed, Thanks for the suggestions. I'm sure y'all are right about tearing it down to find the problem. There was a time when I handled those guns every day and knew them like the back of my hand. Unfortunately, time has changed things and my hands don't work like they used to. That was the main reason I took them to the gunsmith in the first place.

Von Dutch, Thanks for the suggestion, I checked for that and flushed that area with solvent. I removed the cylinder and worked the action while watching the pawl. It looked normal to me but I hope the 'smith will take a closer look at that if I take it back to him.

Rainmaker, I think you might be on to something there...

Santa Fe River Stan, Thanks for the suggestion. I tried swapping the cylinders after I discovered the problem. Unfortunately this problem goes deeper than that.

I decided to have my full size SS Vaqueros polished. I just got them back they look great! However, there is a problem with one of them that I'm hoping an expert here might be able to advise me on before I take it back to them. The problem is that when I open the loading gate and rotate the cylinder the way you would to load the gun, it is resistant to turning and seems to seems to bind on the pawl. I noticed that as the cylinder rotates the hammer moves back just a little as the cylinder clicks past the pawl. I never noticed it moving like that before. I can't compare it to my other Vaquero because the other one has a free spin pawl but I know it was never difficult to rotate the cylinder before I took it to the gunsmith. Any ideas?