You get the best Cowboy Action shooters in the world together and tell them to design a Vaquero that will be ready to rock out of the box for SASS shooting? You get the Ruger SASS Vaquero, which is available now from Ruger in 2 pistol sets with consecutive serial numbers. Thanks go to Steve for the tip, because now I’m sitting at my desk wondering exactly how many pints of blood I’d have to sell to come up with the MSRP of $1500 for these guns. Now, they will probably “street” for lower than that, but these guns are definitely loaded out for Cowboy shooting.
Two of the biggest “SASS” features are the reverse indexing pawl, which allows the cylinder to rotate in the opposite direction of a traditional single action revolver, which makes loading and unloading much, much easier. The lower Montado style hammer also helps with your split times between shots – for people with smaller hands it’s a lot easier to get to than a traditional “full size” hammer. The final “neato” feature designed into the SASS guns is that the rear sight notch has been widened to allow for a faster sight picture. With a wider rear sight, it’s much easier to pick up that front post for the ridiculous target transition shots that Cowboy Action requires. Of course, any “hey look at this new gun” thread is worthless without pictures, so here you go.
From Gun Nuts: The Next Generation |
Makes me want to wear cowboy boots to work…
And what’s extra good about the hammer, is that if you shoot Duelist, or Gunfigher, your grip won’t be opening up as much in order to cock the hammer, so there will be less problems retaining grip control during firing
Many misses have been had by me due to bad grip control due to cocking*.
*That statement almost doesn’t belong on a gun blog……
It’s also DEAD SEXAY.
Way overpriced and I have been shooting Cowboy for 10+ years, always with Rugers until this year (switched to cap & ball). I am a big fan of the Rugers and definitely recommend them but:
A. The free spin pawl is an expensive solution to a non-existent problem. Just go around again.
B. The enlarged rear sight isn’t needed. For cowboy distances, all I ever look for is the front sight. Put the front sight on the target and pull the trigger.
C. The Montado hammer is a decent option, but if your hands are that small, try the Bisley New Vaqueros that Ruger is supposed to be shipping. The hammer is even lower and the different grip frame makes the point a bit better as well.
Caleb:
Curves in all the right places….hubba hubba.
WANT!
Not available in New Jersey, where they just adopted one-gun-a-month.
But I am in Virginia!
My instructor carries two (at least, who knows if he has more) folding blades on him.
I just picked up a couple knives with the index finger assist open. Its a wonderful system. I’d go with that.