Indulge me...Ruger no 1 thoughts

[Goopy]

Rugers number are classic ,hunting with them has the romanticism of the doubles i love the tropicals.By the way an alaskan guy many years ago used one to shoot swats and a helicopter so
.....if you train

Michael Silka- another "great" product of Chicago

 

[sestoppelman]

Very nice addition sestoppelman! I'm rebarreling an old Parker Hale .375 H&H to .300 H&H and may be starting the No 1 hunt again for a brother in that chamber...

The .300 is a nice round, I have an 80's model 70 with fancy walnut that was a limited run for a distributor in that cal, shoots good.

 

[Goopy]

As you know, I had an “over abundance” of the .375 H&H rifles and decided to make a nice PG rifle out of the Parker Hale.

 

[DrBob]

I only own a #1 in .458 Lott and a #3 in .45/70, but have owned a few others. Strong, reliable, four inches shorter for same barrel length versus a bolt gun, no magazine length limits and classic looking.

.No. 1s: 300 Win Mag, 416 Rigby, 416 RM, 458 Win Mag, 470 NE (Hamilton Bowen).

 

[Goopy]

Now that is definitely the heavier end of the spectrum!

 

[Boone66]

Great pics and a handsome rifle. Did you blink in that top pic? What is it you like so much about the No 1? It's certainly a tidy looking rifle, but what about shooting them is so fun?

What question, obviously, you haven't shot one, or you would be smitten with the bug. You poor man...go now, don't pass go, until you find one to shoot!!

 

[Bandera]

Currently the safe holds 3 Ruger No.1’s
A 7mm Mag,
A 450-400 NE
A 458 Win mag.
I haven’t owned a bunch of them over the years. My experience has been that the 30 caliber and above shoot great.
The varmint profile barrels shoot great.
7mm and below has been a roll of the dice.

You do get some interesting reactions when are hunting with one.

 

[Hooked Now]

What question, obviously, you haven't shot one, or you would be smitten with the bug. You poor man...go now, don't pass go, until you find one to shoot!!

Just dive right in and get one in .458 WM?

 

[Jhsmith]

I fell in love with the simplicity of the Ruger No. 1 and now own four. It's my favorite rifle to hunt with & while sitting in a stand, I have taken deer with them ambidextrously off both shoulders depending on which way I had to turn. I have a 6.5x55, 275 Rigby, 303 British & a 9.3x74r which are all excellent choices for hunting in the southeastern woods of the USA. I have two Winchester 1885's with long octagon barrels in 375 H&H and 405 Win but these rifles are not nearly as compact & nimble as my Rugers even if they are both fun to shoot.

While all of my single-shot falling-blocks are nice, I really like the ones chambered for a rimmed cartridge a lot. The rim makes it easy to grab the end of the bullet especially when wearing gloves or pulling it out of a cartridge holder. Loading the rifle with a scope over the breech is easy with a long cartridge so my No. 1S chambered in 9.3x74r is particular favorite. Ruger No. 1's can be a bit of a challenge to scope properly since you need more eye relief but my Minox ZA5 1.5-8x32 is an excellent choice on that rifle.

View attachment 673479

View attachment 673480
My 9.3x74r ammo makes the 6.5x55 look tiny

Personally I like smaller scopes on these rifles so options similar to the Meopta R2 1-6x24 RD I have on my 303 British are a good choice to consider. I had a larger S&B Klassik on my 6.5 Swede for a while & to my eye it looked disproportionately big for the size of the compact rifle.

I briefly considered getting a larger bore Ruger No. 1 Tropical at one point. Because of my aforementioned penchant for rimmed cartridges, I was looking hard at the 450/400 as an option. I briefly got dragged into a bidding war on a rare 404 Jeffery because I love classic chamberings but the other guy was loonier than me so he prevailed. Eventually I settled on a left-handed bolt action 458 Win Mag in case I ever go up against anything big & dangerous. That doesn't mean I won't eventually own a larger Ruger No. 1 one day. Acquiring them can be addictive.

I’m getting weak knees!

 

[camperx]

My #1 is in .45-70 and I love it. The only blood with it is Black Bear from Quebec. I should take it out more as it would be perfect for Deer where I hunt. Not a beanfield hunter. You will have a hoot with the #1. There is just something about carrying them.
Have a great day.

 

[F. Vaccaro]

#1s are fun, & classic.

 

[Boone66]

#1s are fun, & classic.

Absolutely, however, some poor souls will just never understand us, that have been bitten by this wonderful rifle.

 

[Warbeast]

1885's with long octagon barrels in 375 H&H

Dont want to Highjack the tj
hread. But dang that sparks me Intrest.
I would love to see pictures or even read a story to it.

 

[odonata]

Dont want to Highjack the tj
hread. But dang that sparks me Intrest.
I would love to see pictures or even read a story to it.

My apologies to my fellow Ruger No. 1 fans for taking a slight detour into 1885 territory, but to answer @Warbeast's question, years ago Winchester made for a brief period the 1885 High Wall Safari Octagon in 300 H&H and 375 H&H. Until yesterday, I had only seen one for sale in 375 H&H and I bought it:

It has a 28" octagon barrel & I keep the setup kind of simple with a Zeiss Diatal 6x42 fixed scope and Talley rings. I love this rifle but haven't had an opportunity to harvest anything with it even though I have taken it deer hunting a couple of times with no luck.

It's funny that this post popped up today since yesterday I saw an auction for one on GunsInternational for $2k. By the time I saw it, it already had a "Sale Pending" flag on it so it must have been out there for a blink of an eye. I have never seen the 300 H&H so it's a bit of a unicorn.

 

[Warbeast]

I love this rifle

Just lovely

 

[ThreeJacks]

I am a big fan of the No. 1's, and have owned many over the years (including a 416 Rigby I shot once and it found a new home). I would consider adding a 375 H&H. I currently own the following:

RSI 30-06

Boddington 7x57 Leopard
Boddington 300 H&H Kudu

These are the "Lipsey Exclusives" with the 24" barrels. I really like this barrel length, perfectly balanced for me.

250 Savage A weight barrel
275 Rigby A weight barrel (early version with express sights)
30-06 S weight barrel ( just found this one)

 

[Balule]

My wife fell in love with No1s because of the short length and the weight of the rifle closer to the body.

Her first no1 was a 338 Win Mag, the second a 416 Rigby.
That was followed by a pre-owned 458 Win mag that never saw our safe, she sent it directly to the gunsmith and it was rebuilt to a 500NE with nice wood and some engraving coming in at an even 8lbs.

They were followed by a 22-250 and a 7mm Rem Mag.

Earlier this year the gunsmith that built the 500 contacted me as he had a 450-400 No1 looking for an owner and she had asked him to build one previously. This gun is getting a superficial makeover including a custom rib and a new fore end with his different way of mounting it.

Her (absolute) favourite is the 416 Rigby, we have killed more impala with that rifle than with all our other rifles combined. It has a Zeiss 1.2 - 5 scope and when I offer to check the zero I usually get a waspish comment, the rifle has never shifted zero in 15 years. It will shoot hand loads with 3 different bullets into a single 2MOA group, with composure on the bench it has shot a couple of 0.5MOA groups.

She has shot dozens of competitions with this rifle, often 18 shots a day. Did I mention that she weighs 110lbs? The highlight of this rifle's career is a 46" sable in the Zambezi escarpment at 220 meters only 300m from the concession border, a severe quartering away shot on day 8 of the hunt that I had no doubt she could handle.

The 500NE is for seasoned big bore shooters but we love it for the ease of carrying and punch in such a light package. She has accounted for 2 buffalo and a lion with this gun and made a superb back up shot with this gun on a tuskless ellie that I fluffed the brain shot. I load 500gr bullets to 2220fps for this rifle. This year she filled the freezers with eland from a tracking hunt with the 500.

It is easy to agree that single shots are not for a PH, for amateur hunters and dangerous game I have no issue with a competent no1 shooter.

For me having hunted and used only her No1s on some hunts and as the sole protection rifle in dangerous game country has made me more focused on reading the situation, the quarry and the importance of the 1st shot. It has spilled over into the way I hunt and I find that my mind places much less importance on the rounds in my bolt rifles magazine, but much more focus on doing it right first time round.

 

[leslie hetrick]

i have a ruger # 1 in 300 h&h mag and a older remington 721 also in 300 h&h, # 1 was bought at public auction in original box and papers and the remington was a privite sale. love them both.

 

[gprippers]

Only have a 270 win left in a #1. Had 25 or so different calibers when i had the #1 bug, but they have all gone away over the years with most of the rarer calibers going to 1 collector years ago. Ill dig that 270 out and take a couple pics of it.

 

[Hedge774]

I am a big fan of the No. 1's, and have owned many over the years (including a 416 Rigby I shot once and it found a new home). I would consider adding a 375 H&H. I currently own the following:

RSI 30-06

Boddington 7x57 Leopard
Boddington 300 H&H Kudu

These are the "Lipsey Exclusives" with the 24" barrels. I really like this barrel length, perfectly balanced for me.

250 Savage A weight barrel
275 Rigby A weight barrel (early version with express sights)
30-06 S weight barrel ( just found this one)

Dang. That's awesome.