Ruger No. 1

P

pyscodog

Active member
Traded into one of these today. Caliber is 6mm Remington. Pretty slick rifle for a 1978 model.Blueing is perfect and the stock is close with nice typical Ruger wood. Accuracy reviews are hit and miss or so it seems. Best I can tell without doing the tight patch down the bore, its a 9 twist. I am not expecting bughole groups but hope it will make a nice deer/varmint rifle. Just liked the looks of this rifle so I figured I'd give it a try.
 
I have never owned one of the Rugers. I did have a Browning 78 in a 6mm. There is something about the lever single shots that makes one feel good! I like them. I know of a few guys that have the Ruger No.1 and they all seem to like them. They feel good in my hands. Typically if one feels good in the hands, you can hit what your shooting at. Post up a pic when you get a chance. There seems to be a few accurizing tricks you can do to them if you look around. They are classy!
 
I once owned the Browning B78 in 6mm. It was a great looking rifle with the full octagon barrel. My rifle shot very very well, but had a wonky trigger that would seize up at times. I ended up trading it.

Had a Ruger No. 1 Sporter in .243 that took some work to find a good load but once that was done it was a very nice rifle. I ended up trading it on something. I currently have a No. 1 .30-06 that loves the 165 gr. Hornady Interlock. Deer hate that rifle! I don't hunt it a lot, but do enjoy getting it out occasionally.
 
I had a couple of rifles that had turned into....just rifles. Took them to a gun show today and sold them. Took the money and used it on the No. 1. If I can get deer hunting accuracy out of it, I'll be pleased. Just threw a Redfield on it for now. If it turns out to be a decent shooter, I'll look into a better scope. I don't like the Redfield and its way to much power for that rifle. Or more than think it needs. Like to find something with a gloss finish but they are getting kinda hard to find.
 
I have the exact same rifle and it has treated me very well over the years. It did have a Hicks Accurizer installed prior to me getting it. Used it as my main coyote gun for many years and I've taken a lot of dogs with it, several at over 400 yards with it. You should be happy with it.
 
My .243 No. 1 was a decent shooter once I found the load it liked. IIRC mine liked the 85/87 gr. bullets best. I used to shoot a lot of the old style Hornady 87 gr. BTHP through that rifle. I think the reason I traded it was the butt stock was odd. One side of that butt stock was nicely figured however, the flip side was plain as a piece of plywood. Just couldn't stand it. My '06 has very good looking lumber on it and it's less finicky about what it likes to shoot well.
 


You will have fun with that No.1.
I have one in 7mm rem mag.
It was a shooter from day one.
I have taken two elk with mine.
I have only shot green box Remington's in it.
First rifle, I used a Safari sling on.
Made in 1976, 200 year rifle. "42 years old"
 
Originally Posted By: azcoyoteslayerI have the exact same rifle and it has treated me very well over the years. It did have a Hicks Accurizer installed prior to me getting it. Used it as my main coyote gun for many years and I've taken a lot of dogs with it, several at over 400 yards with it. You should be happy with it.


Do you think the Hick's Accurizer works?
 
I have had several over the years. My old 7x57 Mauser No 1 killed many deer back when Mississippi had the one buck per day limit.
It walked vertically as the barrel warmed but first two shots where great so I quit worrying about it. My 25-06 No 1 Varmint was very Accurate but sold it and some one stole the Mauser.
Somewhere in the back of the gun safe is a nice Ruger No 1 in 204 Ruger. Put a Kahles scope on it and sighted in about 5 years ago and hasn’t been out since.
blushing.gif
 
I recently inherited a Ruger No 1, some sort of a high grade with bad [beeep] wood and a red pad. It is a 22-250, and I thought I’d make it my whitetail rifle. I didn’t bother checking the twist, because it’ll shoot 55s regardless.

I loaded about a dozen charges with Reloader 15 (had some extra) and headed to the range.

After 3 shots to zero, I cleaned the bore again and fired the 12 shots. They made about a nickle sized hole in the target. I loaded 10 each of the second and third hottest loads, and testing is now on standby due to rain.
 
Had a No 1 270 that shot good enough to kill deer but traded it to a buddy for Marlin 1895 that I have fun with. My 300 wm shoots real good with loads I worked up, but think it's going to move on. My shoulders are getting soft.
 
Most Ruger #1's can be made to shoot very well. Some take some physical modifications to the rifle (mostly fore end stuff) and others just require some reloading experimentation.

My favorites are the No. 1 Tropical Rifles with the open sights and the Alexander Henry style forends. I currently have three of them that shoot extremely well. Two are blue/walnut rifles chambered in 6.5x55 Swede and 280 Remington, and the third is a stainless laminate stocked Tropical Rifle chambered in 375 H&H. I also have a 458 Win Mag rifle in this stye, but it is a brute to shoot in comparison to a couple of bolt action 458's that I own. I keep it because the wood on it is extremely nice.

The No. 1-B and 1-V rifles with heavier barrels are more stable when resting on a sandbag, which makes them better for varmint shooting. My favorites of those are a 6MM Rem 1V and a 1B in 218 Bee which both have beautiful pieces of wood on them.


 
Does anyone possibly know when Ruger changed the triggers from the 3 screw version to the two screw trigger? My smith said the 3 screw versions were much easier to adjust for a lighter trigger pull weight.
 

I have two #1's. a 1B in .228 Bee. It's accurate enough to bust prairie dogs out to 175-200 yards with 40 gr. V-Max. The other is a 22" .243. Accuracy is OK, plenty good enough for deer hunting.
 
Originally Posted By: pyscodogDoes anyone possibly know when Ruger changed the triggers from the 3 screw version to the two screw trigger? My smith said the 3 screw versions were much easier to adjust for a lighter trigger pull weight.

I found this Ruger trigger Hope it helps
( a pre-1970 O.E.M. steel, 3 screw adjustable trigger for the Ruger No.1 )
( The Moyer trigger is a direct copy of the Ruger 3 screw trigger, the only difference is it's made of investment cast steel.)
 
Thanks willy for the info. From what I have read, the Moyer trigger is a discontinued trigger. I heard/read, he has passed away and the triggers died with him. Jard offers a trigger that might be a good replacement in the future.
 
I called them today. $120 for the trigger and $65 to install. Seems its $65 to install the Hicks Accurizer too. My smith will do it for free for me, but thought I would ask just for grins. I'm going to put a few rounds through it before any modifications. It may shoot good enough without them.
 
Back
Top