Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots Age of No.1 owners

Great thread! I agree that cost is a factor in younger guys not buying #1's, but alot of it has to do with exposure to guns and firearms literature. I bought my #1 in 7x57 because I'm a subscriber to Rifle and Handloader and just had to have one after getting an old issue of "Hunting Horizons" with an article by John Barsness in it on the #1A in 7x57.

My buddies? They don't read much beyond the sports page and they can't see why I'd pay $800 for a rifle that would rust in the rain; they're great guys, but they lack imagination. The #1 is about imagination and, in no small part, nostalgia. Those are two things that are hard to sell to the video game generation.

I don't remember when I saw my 1st #1, but I bought my 1st in 1978. It was a 1-V in 7mm Mag... (I wish I'd have kept it...) It wasn't until about 1980 or '81 that I saw my 1st Browning 30 gun safe... Oh! How I dreamed of having one of those and owning a 1-B in each caliber... (About 8, IIRC) I didn't get my 1st gun safe until 1991. Thought I was in Nirvana when I did.

It's funny, tho' after about age 50, they came fairly rapidly. Now I'm trying to shed the ones I'm not particularly fond of and keep the ones I really like...

GH

I running close to 55 now,but started hunting with then in 1979.
I have 4 now,weeded out little over the years,but it seems that one always go to the range with me. I hate barrels with dust in them...

57 acquired my first a 1B at 30. It had a bad scope on it for years and would fog in the field. I had other rifles and so I didn't hunt it much. It was also heavy for the way I hunt. I now have some others and will hunt them hard. The problem is gonna be figuring out which one to take.

I only have one (a #1A in 30-06). Currently age 35 (for one more day) and bought it when I was about 31. Drooled over them for quite a while before I finally bought.

I got my first one around 1978 (that would have made me about 23).
My most recent one, a Liberty 458, is in transit as I type and it represents another milestone for me (new caliber and it brings my total to a number with a "0" on the end of it). I feel pretty lucky at 55 to have this many nice and desireable Number Ones. But the list of examples that I still want is pretty short now, and it will be coincidental finds or opportunities that are just too good to pass up.

I am 52. Bought my #1 at 48. Wanted one for a long time before that. I want more but it is the money thing right now.

Ernie

39

59 now. Bought my 1A at around 53, or 54.

- Tom

I was about 30 , 30 someodd years ago when I got my first one, and the only one I still have....

Got a brochure from Ruger in 1972? Was 11 years old and new someday I would have a Ruger No.1.
When my kids were young, always had bolt-actions, bought my first No.1 when most of the kids had left the nest.
I was about 40 when I bought a .30-06 RSI, used it two years and shot two deer.

I'm now 48, own 12, from a .204 Ruger AB to a .458 Win Mag H.

For me it was for sure a money thing, and younger guys like SS and synthetic, and with age comes an appreciation for nice wood.

I bought my first and only #1... a RSI in 7x57 about three years ago because I've yearned to own a RSI in 7x57 for many, many years and just never got around to buying it. I still intend to hunt deer with it... maybe... probably... more than likely.

Oh, YEAH... I'm 74 now... YOU can do the math... hahahaha...


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

I have two, a 1-A .270 win and a Boddington 1-S .375 Ruger, both purchased this year at age 35.

Bought my No.1A in 30-06 when I was 20 yrs old.. Long time ago!

1978....

I am 31, got my first one when I was 15, held out for 2 years until my #1 in 223 showed up which was hard at that age. I now have 6

Two #1's here 6mm Rem and 7mm Express, the latter stamp on the barrel should give away my age of 62 !!!

I'm 55, but not for long. First #1, a 1B, when I was 24. Never shot it, still remember the knockout wood and delightful trigger - peddled it because I couldn't warm up to the 7mm Remington Magnum cartridge for which it was chambered. I've never seen another as nice as that one (and it was NIB to boot)Still kicking myself.

Have had several over the years, three remain: #1As in .270 and 30-06, and a #1S in 300 H&H, all w/ older Leupold M8 4xs. They all shoot.

Patrick,

I am 57 but got my first #1 when I was about 35. I have been interested in them all my life. The problem, I think, is that after they are all rigged up nicely, this is a pretty good investment for a young person. I did not have a lot of money to pee away when I had young children and utility rifles were more what I concentrated on for hunting and shooting. Now that I'm older, toys are easier to come by plus I have more time to enjoy them. I think these things may have something to do with it. IMHO

Only if you don't shop around and choose to pay full retail. There are plenty of No. 1s available with quality scopes for under $700. (I paid $700 with shipping for a 1A in 7x57 with original box and owner's manual, a Leupold Vari-XII 1x4, a set of dies, and about 200 rounds of brass in 2007.) In fact, most AR-type rifles sell for more than what I've ever paid for an outfitted No. 1, new or used. If these internet discussion forums are to be believed, I'd have to think the under-30 crowd is pooping away a hell of a lot of money on AR-type rifles.

The problem is No. 1s are more of a niche rifle. They're not in video games, they're not in popular action movies and crime dramas, and they're not on the various news programs. (When was the last time any television station used a graphic of a No. 1 when they reported a shooting?) Ruger's advertising for the No. 1 used to play into that as well indicating it was the choice of the "serious rifleman." Remember those "challenge of the single shot rifle" ads Ruger used to run?