Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots Ruger #1 International, Who has em, and how do they perform?

I've been thinking about adding one of these beauties to the stable. I have a few 1B's, and a few 1V's. I love the RSI and am curious about performance. Relative to date, newer vs older etc...

I certainly wouldn't complain if you want to show them off either.

Thanks, Scott

I've got a 1993 RSI in 7x57 that shoots pretty well... as long as you let the short 20-inch barrel cool down a bit.

With 47.6 grains of H4350 (a light load), my best 3-shot group at 50 yards was .176 inches... and next best 3-shot group @ 50 yards was .179 inches.

Using a MAXIMUM load of H4350 consisting of 50.0 grains (this load is for modern rifles ONLY), a standard Winchester large rifle primer in Remington cases with a Sierra, flat-based ProHunter 140 grain bullet with a MV of close to 2800 fps, it shot a 3-shot group of .404 inches @ 50 yards off the "bench" with sandbags and a rifle rest. The scope is a 4-12x by 40mm and was set on 12x.

The short, thin barrel heats up with just a single round... and I must wait until it cools down to "just warm" if I want the kind of accuracy I've just posted.

If one doesn't allow the barrel to cool down, then each new shot causes the group to "open up" due, undoubtedly, to all that wood (Mannlicher-style stock) surrounding the barrel and apparently touching the barrel as it heats up.

But the way I look at it, all my "kills" during the past 47 years have been one-shot-kills, so who needs more than a single, very accurate shot? And even if you needed to put another round in the game... it would hit within 1� to 2 inches of the first shot at 50 yards or less... and that's still in the kill-zone for big game animals if the RSI you bought shot the same as mine.

Good luck in your decision... it IS a beautiful little rifle!


Strength and Honor...

Ron T.

Below is how my little 243 performed on the hog at 240 yds....Dead Right There! Shot sub moa out the box....all I needed was to add a Kepplinger trigger and keep it, but like a fool and so many other guns now gone.....it was sold off......regrettably, no more 243 RSIs mfg.

My little 7x57 shoots better than I can with a lower power scope. If the crosshairs didn't cover 3-4" or so at 100 I might have a better idea. I'm getting an honest 1.5" with most factory loads. Hornady's spire points will get me durn close to an inch.

I can't find anything to complain about in regards to the factory trigger either. Once Ron gets tired of that silly set trigger I'm still gonna swap 'em for it.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm...... nope!!! Well, Alan ("Prostrate 8"), I just checked... and "He!!" didn't freeze over yet !!!

Sooooooooo... guess I'll keep "that silly set trigger"!

Hahahahahahahahaha...

Scott, I bought an 80s vintage in 7X57 last year. i was disappointed that it didn't shoot tiny groups and was looking into ways to accurize it. Then I noticed that the first shot always went exactly where it was supposed to go....without exception.

So I reconsidered. This is meant to be a hunting rifle only and whether it shoots itty bitty groups is pretty unimportant. The first shot is what counts. So, I hunted with it a lot last season. Every chance I got, I checked the zero during the season. It continued hitting 2" high at 100 yds on the one shot I fired.

Now don't get me wrong, this RSI is not an inaccurate rifle. It will normally shoot a 1.5-2.5" group. Its just that my ego was demanding a sub-MOA rifle until my practical side took over. It WILL shot a sub-MOA group if the series of one shot checks are added up....and that is all that's important for hunting.

So I will not accurize this rifle, just hunt with it!

Hook...

Your RSI has the same "problem" mine has... all that wood around the barrel is affecting the accuracy as the barrel heats up... and the short, relatively thin RSI barrel heats up ENOUGH after only one shot to cause the Mannlicher-style stock to begin "touching" the barrel which affects the rifle's accuracy.

That's EXACTLY why I bought the very accurate, heavy-barreled (their "Varmint" model) CZ453 (.22 rimfire w/single-set trigger). I shoot one shot outta the RSI, then lay it aside and shoot a couple of 5-shot groups with the CZ.

By the time I finish the 2nd. 5-shot group with the CZ, the RSI's barrel has cooled down enough to give me another very accurate shot which often makes a "figure 8" outta the first shot.

Then I, again, shoot a couple of 5-shot groups with the CZ and pick up the RSI and shoot yet another single round. Often, the little RSI "prints" a "clover-leaf" with it's third shot.

As you so correctly pointed out, the little RSI IS truly "accurate", but not if repeated shots are fired outta a hot barrel.

Of course, when hunting... one often fires only a single round... or maybe two rounds. And I'm willing to bet that most RSI's put that first shot EXACTLY where it was supposed to be. The 2nd. shot (if fired) often doesn't go to the same point-of-aim, but hits close enough to be an effective hunting rifle.

Of course, if you put the first round where it belongs, you won't need a 2nd shot.


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

A couple of weeks ago First Stop Guns in Rapid City, SD had a .270 RSI in their used gun rack for (I think) $550. Seemed in excellent cond....I'm just sayin'

I think the RSI is too much of a good thing - a single shot w/ 20" barrel is too short for me, and I think they look odd too. The #1A is about as good as it gets...

Mike, I think the first RSI I saw was back in college at the rifle range, a lady was shooting a 270 with factory Hornady 130 gr and I EXPECTED it to do maybe 1.5" at best.....it shot a solid 1MOA if not better consistently group after group.

It truly got my attention, and I had an itch since.

Lady shooters are not to be underestimated....in their choice of arms or how they steer them

Occasionally I wonder if teaching my wife to shoot was a great idea. On the other hand I've been worrying about it for over 40 years, and still no extra holes.....

Good for you! At least you can rest assured she can take care of herself, should the need arise.

Great posts guys.

It's fun to reflect back on your own evolution as you deal with this disease most of us seem to suffer from.

As a beginner I was all about magnums with 26" semi bull barrels and high mag scopes with bullets moving at Mach 9. Jeez, the first rifle I bought myself was a Ruger 77 300 Win Mag with the red "pad". Nothing wrong with that but probably not the best choice for a skinny kid that didn't weigh anything. Of course I couldn't have the wimpy 24" barrel, I needed a 26" semi-bull. Hell, in my know-it-all state I made fun of people who shot sensible rounds with fixed 4x's with tiny barrels and lots of wood. I would have never looked twice at a #1 RSI. Good thing we get a chance to grow up.

Don't get me wrong, I've not stopped playing with magnums or long range toys. I still play around plenty. But it ought to be worth something that I now have a bunch of single shots in the safe. Some guns I own simply because of their history. Hell I even have a 03-A3 in 35 Whelen being built as we speak. UNHEARD OF!!! And it even has open sights!

Thats why I love this game. The game doesn't change as much as we do. What phase will come next?

This is fun schitt. Scott

The RSI I had was silly accurate as a hunting rifle, but it was not a target rifle , and was not designed as such, for sure.
A fella once shot that rifle, offhand, at a cly bird at 200 meters, and knocked it down - he may not have hit the clay, but was close enough to flip it.
He then shot a pop can at 25 yards, then a minute or so later, shot a clay at 100 yards.
They were all offhand shots.
Oh, forgot to mention he was using a NECG PEEP!
This guy is no ordinary shooter ( Canadian Armed Forces sniper instructor and ex full bore irons champ), but this shows what those little rifles are capable of - I on the other hand, could hit stuff SOMETIMES with it!
Cat

My RSI 7x57 initially shot well enough, about 1.5" @ 100 with 3-4 "@200y. HUnting season rolled around, temperatures dipped to about 15F. Now it was an entirely different story 200 yard groups of 6-8" and regularly shifting impact points to the right and up. Way too much for deer hunting requirements. Way too much variability for any shooting requirements.
Needles to say I disposed of it ASAP.
This is not the first Mannlicher type stock I have tried.
Before that it was a Remington Model 7 Manlicher .308 with laminate stock. It warped too at temperature changes, a Manlicher Mauser 66 in .243, a Manlicher Schoenauer in 6.5x54, all proved to be unreliable performers,even if zeroed at temperatures commensurate with those encountered while hunting in the field. Even sealing the stocks on the inside with epoxy and multi layers of hand rubbed oil made no significant impact. Just getting from inside the warm truck in the late fall/winter will throw your impact point off.

I dearly love the looks of the full length stock.
However when hunting, pretty is as pretty does.
Full length skinny stocks always will warp on you with temperature shifts or major changes in humidity. Probably fine in areas where you get no major temperature shifts unlike Alberta.
Reliability leaves to be desired. My main requirement in a chosen hunting rifle is RELIABILITY and CONSISTENCY.
The best role for a Mannlicher is as a range rifle funshooter, or possibly as a short range hunting tool in an extremely stable climate with very little humidity or temperature changes like Africa or southern US.

You have obviously never been to the southern US.

An adult Canadian who has not yet been to Florida?

Dear Lord, there can't be many of those!

- Tom

Howdy! ( grin) ain't hardly bin ANYWHWERE!!
Cat

If I lived up there, I wouldn't have been much of anywhere else, either.

I was thinking mor about New Mexico and Texas desert country.
Grin.