Hey, first and foremost check this out:

www.sassnet.com

Single Action Shooting Society-they ARE cowboy action shooting, they debatedly didn't start it, but they pretty much are the final word for non-historic CAS. Go on their site and look up THE SASS WIRE, it's a forum like this one, you'll find all kinds of great information there.

I too shoot .44mag Vaqueros, Stainless 5.5" standard grips...A Marlin 1894 .44mag and a Baikal (EAA) Bounty Hunter II 12ga 20" coachgun...pretty common set up, especially for beginners.

Now on your gun question...the Vaquero's are great revolvers, they're pretty much the stoutest 6shot revolver around...they're not the finest pieces of functional art I've ever seen in a sixgun, but they look great, shoot better, and function properly no matter what. The only thing that people complain about is the transfer bar system, with the amount of shooting CAS people do, they tend to break after a couple years of hard use, ruger will replace them for free, some people choose to forego this and weld the hammers to alleviate this.

I'll never buy another brand revolver (short of collectors pieces), they're awesome handling and straight shooters, I really like the looks of my stainless guns, and I'm totally nutz about the way my .32H&R case/blued/ivory "Vaquerito" looks.

Buy the Vaq, you won't be sorry. And don't forget the sass wire.