I have a friend who has a Ruger Blackhawk that he calls the "old style". He inherited it from his dad. It has no falling block safety. It is unsafe to carry it on a loadedf cylinder due to the fact that a blow to the hammer could cause a discharge. The "new style" Blackhawks have the falling block safetey according to him. If i'm wrong someone please correct me.
Edit note: I dont know if this tidbit applies to the Vacqueros or not. I may be spouting off inappropriately.
The "Old Model" you describe is whats known as a three screw frame, which is visable on the right side of the frame. These are the original "Old Models" and unless they have been sent back to Ruger for the upgrade(Its free) they are unsafe to carry with a round under the hammer.
All Vaquero's are safe to carry with a full complement of rounds(6), the difference between the "Old" and "New" Vaquero's is the frame size. The Old Vaqueros are made on the Super Blackhawk size frame, and the New ones are made on the old Blackhawk size frame, which is the reason they now only offer the Vaquero's in .357Mag, and .45LC, and no longer offer it in 44-40, and .44Mag. Plus most all the new model Vaquero's have a reverse pall.
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