Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Ruger No.1 forearm screw

Was wondering if there was a common torque setting on the forearm screw on a No.1. It's a B Model in 6mm.

Snug, barely, don't crank it tight...so I hear. Mine all got the fore end mod so that's a different story.

My limited experience with a couple #1s and one #3 is----

You will probably have issues with group size and/or point of impact change unless you do some work to the forearm.
-relieve the wood contact with the action
-relieve the upward pressure point in the forend, then add some bedding to make firm contact.
-add a semi hard plastic spacer between the hanger and the barrel.
Now with a reasonably snug tightening, you should see improvement and consistency.

JMHO----I am not a professional in this area, but have used these ideas from others here for success with my guns.

Tim

Michigan - agree w/ you mostly, except that my last, a 300 H&H, was perfect right out of the box with the screw factory tightened (what I'd describe as tight, not "farmer tight").

I'm simpler in my standard fix for the #1 - I usually add some pressure to the fore arm by shimming underneath. Usually too lazy to glass it, but I use a business card thickness shim, the tighten. Worked very well on several.

Those that shoot great out of the box are not to be messed with. If they change poi from session to session, then something has to (should) be done.

I have found that when there is "factory" wood to metal contact----there will usually be a poi change from session to session----(even with good shooters) --- depending on the time span and environmental conditions.

I acquired a #3 in 223 that took almost an 1/8" of wood from the rear of the forend to get it off the metal and almost a 1/4" of wood from the forend channel to get to free float. That forend was seriously bowed when tightened down. With the mods noted above, it shoots way better than I do and holds poi.
---Maybe the factory thinking was that if there is enough force on the wood, it will not show a poi change with environmental conditions. I do not warm up to that thought.

The great thing is, they are all unique and we have to shoot them to find out how they perform and to analyze out personal level of satisfaction. The next great thing is that some of them have to be tinkered with and of course then more shooting.

orion03----Let us know what your results are.

JMHO
Tim

My only #1 is a 1B in .308 that shot disappointingly so-so when I got it. I relieved the wood at the receiver end of the forearm so it was barely kissing the steel, tightened the screw to "snug", which is less than "farmer tight" and not quite "torque wrench" precise and it started shooting five into either side of moa consistently. Groups opened up right before deer season, scared me until I noticed the foreend seemed a bit loose. Sure enough, it was. This time I retightened it to half-way between "snug" and "farmer tight" on the torque wrist dial. Groups shrunk right back down (maybe a little better than before) and it's been good ever since.

There is no pat answer, it depends entirely on your particular rifle..start with it snug and go up and down a turn with 3 shot groups, then you can fine tune it with half turns..find the sweet spot and mark it....

A better option is the aluminum V block inletted into the forarm and it adjustable with the screw..Jack Belk made the ones that I have used and they really fine tune a Ruger.

I had a .25/06 1V that would shoot two groups for 5 shots; one two shot and one three shot. I bedded the forend on the hangar, then floated the barrel and groups with 85 and 100gr NBTs shrunk to the 3/4" area, some quite a bit smaller, none over 1.2". But all were solid 5 shot groups. My 1B .270 shoots at an inch average for three shot groups with no load development. Just 60gr H4831 and the 130gr Hornady. #1s are indeed individuals.

I went with the EBCO version for the fore arm and it appears to work well

They are indeed individuals.

The .22-250 pictured in my avatar teased me for a long time. It would put three into one hole, then toss the next 1.5" away. I tried free floating - no change. I went to a stronger mainspring, maybe a slight change. At the moment the forend is mostly relievd, except for a pressure point at the tip.

The things that really seemed to make it behave were fire lapping the barrel (controversial), buying Forster benchrest dies, and switching to Varget, and giving up a little speed. IIRC it runs 50 gr bullets at about 3700 fps with the loads it prefers. Those targets are three five shot groups in a row around 1/2".

I've loaded for 6 different #1's, and the #1B's seem to be the least fussy, in my opinion.