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Convertable Vaqueros


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I have a pardner on a tight shooting budget that wants to transition from OM Vaqueros in 44mag to OM Vaqueros in 44wcf. BUT he doesn't want to get sell his pair of 44mags. I suggested that he get a pair of s/s 357 OM Vaquero cylinders and have them re-chambered to 44 wcf, then he could shoot both calibers in his pair of OM Vaqueros.

Is this a reasonable solution?

Has anyone else done it?

Can anyone suggest a smith for the job?

Aprox cost for 2 guns?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Dutch Cassidy

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Most modern production .44-40's use .429 bores. The manufacturers don't want to make two barrel sizes when one will do. Boring out a set of .357 cylinders is a good alternative since finding Ruger cylinders in .44-40 will be difficult.

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That will work fine IF, and only IF, you correctly chamber and load the 44 WCF to .429. Thereby having the correct barrel diameter for both cartridges when loaded with .429 bullets. Loading to the STD. 44 WCF diameter of .427 will prove to be a mistake, and accuracy will not be good.

 

RBK

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Hi all,

Ruger used .429 barrels for their 44mags and 44-40s, so no problem there.

As for having Ruger fit 44-40 cylinders to his 44mag vaqueros, no they won't, as the guns did not originally come with conversion cylinders in 44-40.

As for having a top notch gunsmith like say, Hamilton Bowen, make your friend 2 44-40 cylinders, and fit and time them to the pistols, well, you might just want to wander over to his web site and look under catalog, then Ruger single actions, then "options" and price it out.

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Hi all,

Ruger used .429 barrels for their 44mags and 44-40s, so no problem there.

As for having Ruger fit 44-40 cylinders to his 44mag vaqueros, no they won't, as the guns did not originally come with conversion cylinders in 44-40.

As for having a top notch gunsmith like say, Hamilton Bowen, make your friend 2 44-40 cylinders, and fit and time them to the pistols, well, you might just want to wander over to his web site and look under catalog, then Ruger single actions, then "options" and price it out.

 

Whoa, an awesome site.

:FlagAm:

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Thanks for the info boys. I thought that Doc Fillem had the best advice until Sacramento spoke up and I got the same info from a local shooter.

 

I still haven't heard from anyone that had a similiar dual cylinder conversion done.

 

Dutch Cassidy :FlagAm:

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I have a pardner on a tight shooting budget that wants to transition from OM Vaqueros in 44mag to OM Vaqueros in 44wcf. BUT he doesn't want to get sell his pair of 44mags. I suggested that he get a pair of s/s 357 OM Vaquero cylinders and have them re-chambered to 44 wcf, then he could shoot both calibers in his pair of OM Vaqueros.

Is this a reasonable solution?

Has anyone else done it?

Can anyone suggest a smith for the job?

Aprox cost for 2 guns?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Dutch Cassidy

Yes, I had it done. I had a ruger stainless 44-40 vaquero 4 5/8 and a ruger 44 mag stainless vaquero 4 5/8. I decided I want to shoot Pale Rider sometimes and shoot classic cowboy sometimes. I have a set of Stainless 5.5 in 44 mag Bisleys I do not want to shoot black in.

Anyway -- I bought a 44 magnum blue cylinder for a bisley off gunbroker for $75.00. I was lucky in that it properly fit and indexed with no needed changes. So, the 44-40 vaquero has a stainless 44-40 cylinder and a blue engraved non- fluted 44 mag cylinder.

For the 44 mag. I bought the last 'in the white' vaquero unchambered cylinder they had in stock at Brownell's. I asked on the Ruger Gunsmithing Forum and got 3 suggestions.

I took it to;

 

Andy Horvath in LaGrange, Ohio. He is located about an hour west of Cleveland.

 

For further information, contact Andy at

Diagonal Rd. Gun Shop

14131 Diagonal Rd.

LaGrange Ohio 44050.

Phone 440-458-4369 or 458-8151

 

He Line bored the cylinder, fit it and blued it for $160. He also turned the job around in 3 weeks. I drove the gun up and picked it up. I live 1 1/2 hours away via car. The Brownells cylinder cost me $125.00 on closeout.

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Well,

I have two new unfitted new model cylinders in 357 that I will sell at a fair price. They are blue. I will also take them to Alan Harton of Single Action Sevices in Houston if it helps you. Alan is one of the top Smiths in the country. He did about 17 of Joe Bowmans guns and many more custom guns. Including a bunch for me. I think all you need to do is measure the OAL of the existing cylinders and have these made the same length. I have swapped out a bunch of cylinders and that is all I ever do.

Wyandot

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The only bad thing that I can see about using the .429 Mag/Special barrel is that if you run out of your own reloads, factory ammo will not be very accurate. The .427 slug would loose a lot in accuracy in the larger diameter barrel.

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The only bad thing that I can see about using the .429 Mag/Special barrel is that if you run out of your own reloads, factory ammo will not be very accurate. The .427 slug would loose a lot in accuracy in the larger diameter barrel.

 

Howdy, Pards,

If I run out of my .44-40 handloads, I just switch to .44 Extra-Long Russian (that's .44 Magnum loaded to the same ballistics as the .44-40 ammo...uses .44 Mag brass), and grab the .44 Mag rifle. I use the same .430" commercially cast bullet in both cartridges, and match the loads ballistically by varying the powder charge. In my case I shoot LESS powder in the EL Russian loads than in .44-40 (due to the smaller case capacity of the Magnum brass. I use Winchester brass in .44-40. My chambers are the looser version that Ruger made in the intermediate issue (loose chamber, tight .425! throats). The 213.5 gr .430 bullets are about BHN22. They squeeze down going through the tight throats but re-expand due to the internal stresses created in the bullet. When my eyeballs co-operate, I can get 1-5/8" five-shot groups from the 7-1/2" gun, and maybe a little larger from the 5-1/2", supporting my elbows on a bench. You can also shoot .44 Russian, .44 Colt (modern) and .44 Special. Of course the shorter round might have problems feeding in some rifles.

 

You do need to have a gunsmith time both cylinders together in their respective guns. And I wouldn't try to make all four cylinder interchangeable to both guns.

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