One of the most popular single-action sixguns for Western Action Shooting is the Ruger New Vaquero. It very closely mimics the looks, size and configuration of the Colt Single Action Army. But it employs a transfer bar safety, helping prevent accidental discharges. Also, the cylinder rotates for loading or ejecting spent cases upon opening the loading gate. The Vaquero also costs a fraction of what you’d have to pay for a Colt SAA.

I see a lot of these sixguns on the firing line at the shooting events I participate in. I also own and often use a New Vaquero when I compete in a cowboy shoot. My Ruger six-shooter is in .357 Magnum and has a 4.62-inch barrel, and I usually pair it with one of my lever-guns in the same caliber. Mine is one of the early models and came from the factory with finely-checkered, black synthetic grip panels. Unlike the original Vaquero, built on the same frame as the Ruger Blackhawk, the smaller New Vaquero comes closer in size to the Colt thumb-buster.

As such, Ruger used the XR-3-type grip frame, which hasn’t changed much since the days of the Colt 1851 Navy. Even with my medium-sized hands, this grip frame has always felt a little on the small side. The width of this grip frame is 0.45-inch, and when you add the grip panels it goes from 0.90-inch at the top and expands to 1.32 inches at the bottom of the butt. The height of the grip is 3.0 inches, which leaves little room for my pinkie.

Enter R.W. Grip Frames

In 2022, at the NRA Whittington Center, in Raton, New Mexico, I was attending the Shootists Holiday and met a fellow named Ronnie Wells. Ronnie has a company called R.W. Grip Frames, out of Houston, Texas, and he makes aftermarket grip frames for Ruger SA revolvers. Ronnie has a background as a master machinist and CNC designer. He’s been into guns since childhood and his interests came together around 1986, when he was unhappy with the way a Ruger Bisley grip frame fit his large hand. Ronnie decided to make his own and pattern his grip frame using Elmer Keith’s famous #5 SA revolver as an example.

After several attempts, he got the size to his liking. With a supply of C360 brass, he built his grip frame, and soon other designs followed. Ronnie figured that with billions of people on planet earth, he could tailor his grip frames to fit many different hand sizes and configurations. A properly fitting grip helps spread out the effects of recoil, which enhances the ability to get off faster follow-up shots, and even increases accuracy potential.

Brass Business & More

Ronnie and his two sons, Michael and Mitchell, went into business, which morphed into R.W. Grip Frames. Today they offer over 300 grip frame sizes, with shapes like the Bisley, Birdshead or regular Plow-Handle style grip frames. Besides C360 Brass, they also fashion their grip frames from 6061 aluminum. They machine all to the proper dimensions, expertly polished. The grip frame designs weigh as light as possible, with lightening cuts in the metal that actually strengthen the frame.

Naturally, the aluminum frames are going to be lighter than the brass frames; it all depends on what the customer wants. Besides the grip frames, Wells will also fix you up with grip panels. He offers these in Black Micarta and what he terms Random Walnut. The panels come semi-contoured, and like the grip frames, they will need some hand-fitting. This can be a DIY project or you can turn it over to somebody who does this stuff for a living. R.W. Grip Frames works with Bobby Tyler at Tyler Gun Works and Dave Clements; both build custom handguns.

Before and After

After talking with Ronnie, I decided to send him my Ruger New Vaquero to work his magic on. From our face-to-face and a couple of subsequent telephone conversations, he had a good idea of the size grip frame I wanted. I elected to have it made from the C360 brass, and he offered to supply a set of Random Walnut grip panels. I shipped off my Ruger to him and waited. After another couple of phone calls, my New Vaquero eventually arrived back on my doorstep. When I opened the shipping box and removed the bubble-wrap, I was as Theodore Roosevelt would exclaim, “Deeelighted!” 

My New Vaquero now had a whole new look and feel. The Random Walnut grip panels were nicely figured and appeared to have an oil finish. The brass grip frame and trigger guard assembly were perfectly polished and contrasted well with the Ruger’s color case-hardened frame and the white steel hammer and trigger. I now had a hand-filling grip that gave a truly “solid” feel to the sixgun that it had previously lacked. It also seemed to have better balance and pointed more naturally.

According to the invoice I received, my New Vaquero now wore R.W. Grip Frames “Fitted Brass Xr3 + .300 with Walnut panels.” The grip dimensions had changed quite a bit. My calipers indicated the brass backstrap was 0.50-inch wide. With the new grip panels, the top of the grip now measured 1.10 inches, while the bottom of the grip measured 1.58 inches, so there was little reverse taper. The height of the grip was now 3.29 inches, so now you can see wood and brass below my pinky. All that was left to do was take the New Vaquero to a Western Action Shooting match to see if these enhancements improved my performance.

Powder Burning and Lead Slinging                        

The last Saturday in May was the date for a six-stage “cowboy” shooting match at the range utilized by a club I belong to called The Scarlet Mask Vigilance Society. It’s named after the vigilante group that put an end to the nefarious career of the Reno Brothers Gang, an infamous band of Hoosier outlaws that operated in the late 1860s. We could not have asked for better weather, but it was Memorial Day weekend, which cut down a bit on attendance. Be that as it may, we had enough shooters to break up into three posses, and after the safety briefing, the fireworks began.

For the match, I decided to feed my Ruger New Vaquero some recently acquired .38 Special cartridges in Fiocchi’s Cowboy Action line. This ammo features a 158-grain lead bullet that has a conical shape with a blunt nose, and has a black synthetic coating. Factory specs list this round as having a velocity of 640 FPS. I found that it shot to point of aim in my Ruger revolver at 10 yards, a typical distance for steel handgun targets at cowboy shoots.

All the shooting stages had different procedures, sometimes you’d shoot left to right, sometimes right to left, or you might use what’s called a “Nevada Sweep” or maybe double-taps. One handgun stage required the shooting of two pesky, hard to hit, hanging bowling pins. These pins accounted for one of three misses I had with my Ruger. As the stages are timed events, you’re trying to beat the clock, but a miss adds seconds to your score, so as in the popular Old West axiom, “Speed’s fine, but accuracy is final.”

Proof is in the Hand

It is hard to quantify of course, but I felt the addition of the R.W. Grip Frame and the thicker, well-shaped walnut grip panels, if nothing else gave me an edge in confidence during the shooting event. I was able to hold the sixgun more firmly, which aided me in getting a quicker sight picture and making faster follow-up shots. If you are a dedicated competitor who tries save every second possible during each shooting stage, you might find R.W. Grip Frames work for you.

A caveat; I checked the SASS (Single Action Shooters Society) Shooter’s Handbook 2023, Version 27.4, and under Section 6, Firearms Covenants, on page 38, under Revolver Grip Frames, it says, “Brass or aluminum grip frames are allowed.” A check of the NCOWS (National Congress of Old West Shootists) Talley Book, By-Law 11 Rules & Regulations, I found this: “Cartridge firearms shall be original to the period or authentic reproductions…” There was nothing about brass or aluminum grip frames under the section listing gun modification no-no’s, so it may be open to interpretation.

Ronnie is busy working on some other projects like enhanced hammers, plus in the future, he hopes to be able to produce his grip frames to fit other SA revolvers like those from Freedom Arms and the huge BFR revolvers from Magnum Research.

For more info, visit rwgripframes-com.3dcartstores.com.