Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots Opinion question on the Ruger No. 1

Only one #1 remains, a super accurate 1S .300 H&H of the Boddington series. Wood is plain, but trigger is to die for and it just feels perfect in the hands. It has been sub-MOA with everything I’ve shot in it. Boring.

I have had several other #1 rifles over the years, and find the #1S just feels the best to me. I really tried to like the #1As I had, but just found them ill balanced - too light on the front end.

As others have noted, these are elegant rifles that are easy to shoot. Not mentioned is that the safety actually blocks the striker. A nice and under appreciated feature of these fine rifles. No wonder Bill Ruger was fond of them.

my 22lr is just so much fun! game warden thought he was catching me hunting big game out of season and once he saw it was a 22 he almost arrested me for not selling it to him. really was a cool guy and when he sees me from time to time he always offers me cash for it, hehe! my first was a 4570 then the 22. think I got the 4570 in 77 0r 78.

Over the years I've acquired a few Ruger #1 rifles, a few "A"s, "B"s, a couple of "S"s and one "V". All mine are the earlier red pad guns. My preference would be for the "S" model with 26" barrels regardless of caliber. Accuracy on the red pad guns with Wilson barrels is a somewhat iffy thing. I've heard the later black pad guns with Ruger made barrels are much better. Current favorites are an "A" in 7x57 and an "S" in .300 Win. Mag. Three big boomers in .375H&H, .404 Jeffery and .416 Rigby are in semi-retirement as my almost 80 year old shoulder does not appreciate the recoil any more.

While they probably should be considered a collection, mine were used for hunting. I never found the single loader to be a handicap and yes, I did practice so as to be able to do a rapid reload. My #1 rifles run from .22 Hornet to the .416 Rigby. Never have bothered to get one in the RSI. They just never felt quite right to me. Nice looking rifles though.

Funny thing about the "S" models. It took me many years to find the two I have, both .300 Win. mag. and passed on a third Win. Mag. at a Cabella's. damn thing looked like it was rode hard, put away wet and ignore for ever after. When I got my first .300 Win. Mag., it was a special order from my LGS, a .300 Win. Mag. in the "S" model. They sent a "B". WTF? LGS made some phone calls and was told that's all there was available and take it or leave it. I took it and it was one of the very accurate ones with my hand load.

I can't speak for the black pad guns as I don't have one but every Ruger rifle I have, be it a #1 or M77, the interior wood has never been sealed. Becomes a problem in wet weather or wet hunting conditions. Just ask me how I know. I've been using #1's since 1971 and they do have their quircks.
Paul B.

Gorgeous!

Where'd you find a blued 30-30? I thought the only 30-30's still in production were the Stainless Lipsey's model?

I found it at Scheels. They had another in stock and a 303!

I bought my first No 1, a 1-B in 7mm Remington Mag about 30 years ago from a pawn shop in North Carolina. It had a 3x - 9x 50mm Leupold scope on it. There were some dings in the stock as it had obviously been hunted with. It was great gun for the kind of hunting we did in Eastern Carolina, which was mostly from permanent stands over bean fields or logging roads. After a move, I ended up doing my rifle deer hunting in the Eastern Kentucky hills. It didn't take too many hunts to see that the heavy 26" barrel and giant scope weren't ideal lugging up and down steep wooded hills. I sold the 7 mag and found a nice No 1 A in 30-06. It has a 2x - 7x 33mm Leupold on it and is in my mind about perfect for this kind of hunting.

Both rifles shot / shoot really well with both light and heavy weight bullets and tore up the ground hogs in the spring and summer. '

I really like the looks of the 1 A's with the open sights and barrel mounted sling mount. One in 45-70 is high on my list.

I currently have five, 1b's in 22 Hornet and 30-06, a sweet little red pad 1a in 7x57 , and tropicals in .375 H&H and .458 Win Mag. Although not the most accurate my favorite is the 7x57. I found it used at gun show. The wood looked like an old boat paddle, the finish clouded and missing in spots. That old factory finish was difficult to remove, but I did get it off and found it to have the prettiest wood of the bunch. I put the Kepplinger triggers in it along with the Hornet and 30-06, and upgraded the tropicals to modified Moyers triggers. The casting on those were rather rough and ugly, so with a Dremel, some files and some fine stones , I removed the cast in grooves, actually angling the face for a right handed shooter, smoothing and poilishing, and then blueing to match and have 3 screw triggers that are easier to adjust. Had they been available a the time I probably would have gone with the JARD triggers.

Never cared for the RSI #1's.............got one at a great price to rebarrel.
Stoopid thing shoots very well, so I just leave it as is.

I bought my first Ruger No. 1 with money my Uncle Jim left me when he passed. I was shooting left handed at the time, and wanted a 7x57 rifle. I bought the RSI model as I'm partial to full stock guns. I had the barrel engraved with my uncle's high school nickname "Little Gus". I bought a twin to it a few years later in 257 Roberts. I had to learn to shoot right handed after a pacemaker implant 3 yrs. ago. The 257 got traded off for a Kimber 84 Hunter in 257 Rob. The 7x57 has been hunted and I took a nice NY buck with it in 2011.

agree with most of the above, however there are yrs of mfg that I will not buy, always keep in mind they are not the best of bench shooting rifles, always exceptions.

I have thought of getting a Ruger #1 mostly with the idea of getting one in .45/70 now that Iowa will allow the use of straight cased centerfire rounds with the thought being that a scoped #1 might make a 150 yard shot doable with the .45/70

I wanted a #1 from the time they first came out. I just never came across the right one at the right time. I tried to order one back in the mid-80's, when I first started having enough money to play with, but there were none available in the caliber I wanted at the time. In the '89's I made my mind up to get a .45-70 that had been on the used rack at the lgs long enough I figured I could deal for it. I wasn't a dollar short, but after that sucker had been there for the better part of two years, I showed up a day late. Finally, about 11 ore 12 years ago, I got a phone call one night about a red pad 1B in .308 at what I thought was a good price. Next day I went down and bought it. I promptly removed the junior Hubbell telescope the prior owner had mounted on it and replaced it with a VXIII 1.5 - 5 which was much more in keeping with the lines of the rifle, I thought. I played around with the fore end a bit and it settled down and groups well for me, 3 shot groups run a little north and south of a moa with good loads. The wood is decent, not something that will make you catch your breath, but doesn't look like "walnut stained hardwood" either...just stable looking walnut with enough grain to give it a little life. I like the lines of the rifle, I like carrying it in the woods. I shot a pretty good deer with it. It's among the top four rifles I'm liable to take deer hunting. I would get another one if I came across the right one in the right caliber. What would that be? I won't know until I see it.

To the OP ... what it's chambered in, barrel length and weight, sights or not, finish (blued vs stainless), and price would all weigh in for me. I've owned 4-5 over the years, none now, and I'm not sure I'll own another one. Ruger seems bound and determined to screw up and put the right cartridge in the wrong version of the rifle, for example, the .30-30 should be in the #1 international and the .257 Roberts in a #1 A, not the other way around. They can't bother us with a #1B in .264, 7mm RM, or .300 Win Mag? I think they're just fiddle-farting the #1 to death through incompetence, either accidental or deliberate.

Every no.1 I own was bought on price alone. When I find one priced right, I find a reason to like it. The last was a 1KA in
257 Roberts. Cool caliber, love 1As, not to fond of the stainless but since I carry it hunting the stainless is doable, wood sucked but I can over look it since I paid pennies on the dollar for it. Love when some dufus wants to trade something nice for an AR15. My least favorite No 1 in the safe is a 1B in .243 . Im just not a fan of the Bs beavertail forend. But the gun will shoot tiny groups so it gets a pass.

Well I "m in my late 80s so I have to rush things a little to get projects done. I have two 1s one in 25-06 acquired at about 1/2 list looked to be unfired nice wood and Ruger drilled the trird pair of holes free except for a nice ride to Newport. The other is a hornet being rebarreled to a 218 mashburn bee 1 in 10 to go with a sbh also to be 1 in 10 in mashburn bee. hope to be around to finish both.The smith has in his rack a ruger 1 customized to a sharps round, Brass may have to be lath turned and his customer has passed, wife does not want it. Don K

Well my RSI wears an old M8 4x. Looks a bit gangly.
So I bought an M8 4X compact.
Hopefully it looks a little better. This the first version compact, so has more tube length to play with.
A little shorter scope and maybe larger objective (dunno, might be illusion).
If I don't like it can put on my CZ 455 .22 lr.

Looks (My red pad 270 Win)

[img]https://i.imgur.com/Aqwii9D.jpg?2[/img]

Sometimes you get lucky on the accuracy

[img]https://i.imgur.com/mWOkmyX.jpg?1[/img]

Although the No.3's are fun also (my 30-40 Krag)

[img]https://i.imgur.com/ZBBeKFi.jpg?1[/img]


Sorry, I haven't got the hang of the new picture posting yet.

You can use those links, just remove the ?1 at the end of them

As long as 1885’s are available there has never been any reason to consider anything else.

Thanks, I can't edit my old post so I just quoted it with the ?1 removed