I forgot to inspect the barrel/cylinder fit in my Vaquero before I bought it and was astonished to find it spitting up the gazoony at the range. Inspecting the barrel/cylinder gap I was confronted with a gap the size of a football field. None of the blades on my feeler gauge would meausre it, as it was probably close to .028. I took it to a gunsmith who indicated that Ruger is very, very liberal lately in setting the gap. I asked him to set it at .006 and he said that if I shoot lots of lead bullets this could cause rotation problems. I never had this problem before. What in you opinion is the proper gap for Ruger Vaqueros? And yes I do shoot lots of hard cast lead bullets.
But I always throroughly clean the weapon including the end of th barrel.

Thanks.

.028 is waaay too much. .006 would be good.What gunsmith did you talk to as I live in NM, also.

TBoggus,
Tom Tottem of Tottem's gunsmithing in Santa Clara, New Mexico. Apparently, Tom is pretty savvy and a good 'smith. But I asked him to set the barrel back for a .006 gap, and he suggested .008;confusing the hell out of me.

I live fairly close to you. Please locate a different 'smith. Totten is a complete F'in Hack. He trashed two of my guns. I have two Rugers I bought in the last year. I did not measure the gaps but they are very tight. The guys on sixgun.com measured a few of thiers. They were in the .003's or slightly more. FA guns are in the .002's. Do what you want, but I looked for a cometent gunsmith here. There isn't one. I do my own simple stuff or send it out. End of story.

Naconah---

The .028 gap is semi-criminal bad fitting. I'd return it immediately.

Clylinder gap is determined by how well the chamber lines up with the bore. Rugers are notibly BAD in this respect.

My custom Blackhawk has .0015 gap and will not show any solids in the gas leakage with any bullet.

My Super Redhawk is so tight it will start binding slightly after a LONG day of shooting from the buildup on the front of the cylinder.
Contact Ruger and mention theat you want it fixed.
Seems like an awfully bad gap. Not a job for the local gunsmith, unless he is rep for Ruger and will do it for free.
Friend at work got his S&W done by the factory years after he purchased it and a letter of apology accompanied it when Smith returned the gun.
LouisB