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Vaquero half-cock conversion hammer question


Henry Heck

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My brother having decided we're going to change sports and play cowboy (I argued, but not very much, it's just my job to argue), I've busied myself with trying to shoot without recoil (takes more getting used to than you might think) and getting a feel for what I'm going to need to change on my work rigs to make them suitable. The rifle is a goner, I've simply worn mine out over the years and she'll get a place of rest and respect in the cabinet. The revolvers need some work, however.

 

The main, glaring, pink elephant in the room is the Vaquero's lack of a half-cock safety. I never bothered to remedy it because I was never in that big of a hurry to shoot. Now, seems we need some changing. The second elephant is the lack of recoil, which I've always used to flip the revolver back to reach the hammer. These rinky-dink cowboy loads are fun, but they're messing with my head.

 

Either problem, in and of itself, is simple to fix. Buy a half-notch hammer and fix the minor safety issue, or buy a Super Blackhawk hammer and fix the lack of recoil. Here's the question: Am I missing something? I can't find anyone making a half-cock conversion hammer in SB profile. Anyone know of a manufacturer offering a fix to both my issues?

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I would suggest that you get in touch with one of the major gunsmith's who work on these guns. Just 2 would be West Fargo or Jimmy Spurs. As far as recoil goes, there is a power factor rule on the low end and high end. Don't know what caliber you are shooting but I'm sure there is a happy medium.

 

Shenny

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I'm a bit puzzled about the lack of recoil comments......? Are you loading your own? If so you can increase the amount of powder and get as much recoil as you want. A 250 grain 45 LC at 850 fps makes for some recoil and isn't close to the top limits of SASS.

 

Did you buy 32's?

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The main, glaring, pink elephant in the room is the Vaquero's lack of a half-cock safety. I never bothered to remedy it because I was never in that big of a hurry to shoot. Now, seems we need some changing.

 

Howdy

 

I'm a little bit confused by your comments. I'm not quite sure you understand the hammer positions on a Colt and a Ruger. The half cock position on a Colt is not a safety. It is the loading position. Pulling the hammer back to half cock allows the cylinder to rotate freely, so the chambers can be loaded and unloaded. Pulling the hammer back about 1/8" or so from the rest position does engage what is sometimes called the 'safety notch' but it is anything but safe. A solid blow to the hammer from the so called 'safety notch' will shear the overhanging lip of the notch clear off the gun, and if there is a live cartridge present under the hammer, it will fire. There is nothing safe about the 'safety notch' on a Colt, that's why it is always advised to never leave a live round under the hammer of a Colt or any replica with a Colt type lockwork.

 

When Ruger first came out with the Black Hawk in the 1950s, it had an action similar to the Colt, complete with 'safety notch' half cock loading position, and full cock. After losing expensive lawsuits from shooters (and survivors of shooters) who did not understand the basic rule about never leaving a live cartridge under the hammer, Ruger completely changed the design of their entire line of Single Action revolvers. The result was the current New Model transfer bar design. There is no 'safety notch' and the mechanism has changed so that there is no need for a half cock loading position. Opening the loading gate frees the cylinder to rotate. However as far as safety is concerned, there is no safety issue with any New Model Ruger Single Action revolver. All transfer bar equipped Rugers are completely safe to load all six chambers. No other safety device is needed. That's why Ruger went to so much expense to change the design, and that's why they will modify the lockwork of an old three screw Black Hawk free of charge.

 

There are some shooters who have installed half cock hammers in their Rugers to catch the hammer if their thumb slips off the hammer spur when they are cocking the hammer. Perhaps that is what you mean when you say 'half-cock safety'. That was never the design intent of the half cock hammers offed by Power Custom. The purpose of the Power Custom half cock hammer was to avoid the aggravating propensity the design had for allowing the cylinder to rotate a tiny bit too far when loading a chamber. If one was not careful, the cylinder would rotate just far enough that the hand would drop into the next ratchet tooth and the cylinder could not be backed up. In this condition it was impossible to load or unload the chamber in question without rotating the cylinder all the way around again. That's why I installed Power Custom half cock hammers on three Vaqueros a bunch of years ago, to avoid the frustration of having to go all the way around again.

 

There are some shooters who do install half cock hammers, or have a smith cut new notches, on a Ruger for the expressed purpose of catching the hammer if they slip off, so they can recock without the hammer resetting and rotating to the next chamber. In This Cowboy's Very Humble Opinion, those shooters would be better off learning better control of the hammer, than relying on the half cock hammer to fix their mistakes.

 

All this has to do with the older 'original model' Vaquero, the large frame version that is no longer made. The New Vaquero has a small spring plunger in the recoil shield that engages the ratchet teeth and over rotating the cylinder is no longer a problem. That problem went away when the New Vaquero was introduced.

 

As far as more recoil, you are not required to shoot what we call mouse fart loads in CAS. If you want to have some recoil to help you cock the hammer, go right ahead. I shoot 45 Colt loads stuffed full of Black Powder with a 250 grain bullet and they recoil plenty, and that helps me cock my Colts. Just make sure you keep your muzzle velocity below 1000 fps.

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There are some shooters who do install half cock hammers, or have a smith cut new notches, on a Ruger for the expressed purpose of catching the hammer if they slip off, so they can recock without the hammer resetting and rotating to the next chamber. In This Cowboy's Very Humble Opinion, those shooters would be better off learning better control of the hammer, than relying on the half cock hammer to fix their mistakes.

 

Boothill, FWIW, my Vaqueros have Super Blackhawk hammers that have had notches cut to avoid this "going back around" situation. While I think I can say without being braggy that I have good hammer control, I like the feature for those rare occasions when I might have a momentary lapse. Likewise, I keep insurance on my house, cars, etc. You hope you don't need it, but it's nice to have it when you do.

 

Now, with that said, I highly suggest that you not go off trying to become fully educated regarding all the nuances of what you should and should not do to your existing guns (or which guns to buy) before you actually get to shooting. If you're not already attending matches, the best advice I can give to you is to get to the matches. See the guns. Handle the guns. Talk to people.

 

The BIGGEST and most common mistake made by folks getting into the game is buying before trying. The BIGGEST and most common mistake made by folks getting into the game is buying before trying. The BIGGEST and most common mistake made by folks getting into the game is buying before trying.

 

 

 

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Driftwood that was a very well stated summmary of the operation of the Ruger lockwork. It is unfortunate that some shooters have already made up their minds and don't want to be confused with facts.

 

Drifter

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Buck gets it. The rest... well, thanks for coming out.

 

Not looking for an education on the Ruger, I'm looking for a place to buy a SB style hammer with the half-cock notch before either A) making my own or B)shelling out for someone to do it. Buying off the shelf is a lot simpler (and cheaper!) than custom work. While I appreciate the offerings, one thing at a time.

 

As far as the rest of the offered education, full-house loads slow you down. Going around the cylinder again slows you down. This is for fun, not serious competition for us. That being said, I've shot enough to know where I'm going to get frustrated, and those are the two glaring problems for now. May as well get my bud-nippers out while I have the time.

 

Ammo is another concern. I've made two boxes, affectionately labeled "Moth-fart" and "Cotton-balls", for reloads. I'll find my happy place, I always do. It's now just a matter of changing a shooting style to have fun. I've always carried SA's/leverguns working and hunting, but the only competitive experience I have is with 1911's, AR's, and DA revolvers. This is another world, and one I want to have fun with and get away from the "serious" competitions. Those guys are just no fun at all, and it gets old after a while.

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Sorry Driftwood, but I gotta go with Buck on this one. About 4 times a year, I miss getting the hammer all the way to full cock. It just happened to happen at the Minnesota State shoot this past weekend. Usually you then play "ring around the Ruger." I got lucky and only had to go two extra clicks. And not the full circle. That's why my match pistols have gone to Lassiter to do his magic on my Super Blackhawk hammers. He's adding the 1/2 cock notch and hammer stop to each of my pistols.

 

Last year at the Wisconsin state match, a category winner and third place were separated by .30 seconds. That's well within one turn at "ring around the Ruger." Like Buck said "You hope you don't need it, but it's nice to have it when you do."

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To answer the original poster's question, no, nobody makes a drop-in SBH profile hammer with a half-cock notch. There are several smiths that will add one to existing hammers for you. Lassiter did Mine and he also welded up the face of the hammer and removed the transfer bars.

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To answer the original poster's question, no, nobody makes a drop-in SBH profile hammer with a half-cock notch. There are several smiths that will add one to existing hammers for you. Lassiter did Mine and he also welded up the face of the hammer and removed the transfer bars.

 

Well nuts. I was hoping I just wasn't looking in the right place. Looks like a half cock notch, and I'll just keep reaching a bit. Thanks Chris, much appreciated. If I get another pair strictly for this, I may consider having them slicked up by a revolver expert. For now, much of this equipment gets used outside competitions, and you know about pigs and dresses and all that. I never found being pretty causing it to work any better.

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I suggest calling Power Custom as there are rumors that their half-cock setup is going to ship with a SBH-clone hammer pattern. Which makes sense given that Ruger just legalized that type of hammer for main match competition.

 

You want to order a Power Custom hammer matched to their trigger, as that will give you a really sweet drop-in trigger job. You can also choose to order one of their pre-modified transfer bars, or use the instructions in their kit to modify yours.

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Howdy Again

 

I know you think I am a know-it-all, but if you go the Power Custom route, buy the hammer, the trigger, the transfer bar, and the spring kit too. Power Custom parts are made to tighter tolerances than original Ruger parts. Because of this the sear engagement on the Power Custom parts is much smoother than the original Ruger parts. The parts are so precisely made they drop in most of the time with no smithing at all. Dropping in their parts and spring kit, the trigger pull on my Rugers went down to 2 1/2 pounds, right where I wanted them. I did three revolvers this way, two of them needed no fitting at all. I did have to take a couple of licks off of the hand on one gun because the timing was so tight when the gun came from Ruger tha it would not go to full cock with the new parts installed. A couple of light strokes of a file on the hand was all it needed.

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Howdy Again

 

I know you think I am a know-it-all, but if you go the Power Custom route, buy the hammer, the trigger, the transfer bar, and the spring kit too. Power Custom parts are made to tighter tolerances than original Ruger parts.

 

Didn't mean to be harsh. Just naturally a bit short-spoken most days.

 

You never know who you're dealing with on the internet, and it says a lot that someone will take the time to explain hammer positions. Like I said (lost under the wise-acre comment before it) it was appreciated, but one thing at a time. Considering the ruger doesn't need to be cocked to be loaded, I'm looking at the half-cock position as a safety, closer to Winchester rifles than anything revolver related. Just how it worked out in my mind.

 

To the others I was a bit short with, advice is appreciated, and once again it's nice to see people willing to help. I've shot competition before, but this is another world, and the transition has it's hiccups. I've found these two things that need changing so far, and am going to find more once I select a rifle. Still in the air about that one. But, I'm a "one problem at a time" mind, and changing my shooting style is having it's frustrations. The hammer I'm after will fix it, whether I decide to shoot one-handed or two. Not to mention I think those lowered spurs look slick (ha!). I'm going to look into those Power Custom parts, they sound like the ticket. I figure I have all winter to figure most of it out, the rest I'll figure out at matches. No battle plan ever survived contact anyhow.

 

Thanks again, really.

 

H.H.

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