Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots Ruger #3 Lever Mod

Can you email the pictures?

Sent pictures today.
When we bent the leaver my gunsmith and I put the wood on, removed the leaver, and replaced it with a piece of #10 copper wire that we could easily bend to different configurations until I had what I wanted. Surprisingly, it turned out similar the original. This is to be a hunter and in northern NY I have hunted in temps down to -20. There needs to be room for a gloved hand so I covered my hand in shop gags to duplicate glove thickness and we went at it. There appears to be a very malleable steel it the leaver which lent itself to several heatings and bendings. It polished well and took the bluing nicely.
Have fun with it.
Best to you.
Jim

Jim,
The pictures didn't come through.

Can we try again?

AJD

Jim-

I visited my gunsmith earlier today, and we discussed bending instead of cutting and welding the lever. I'm interested in seeing how yours turned out. The gloved hand is also a concern I have with the lever.

I also asked him to check the barrel while he has it to see if it is worth blueing or needs replacement.

I am also interested in seeing how your scope blocks turn out.

Thanks,
AJD

I am posting these pictures for Rug3 and his current unfinished project. The 6.5 SAGE













He has modified the lever on a #3 and rebarreled. Jim please fill everyone in on the details.

AJD

AJD,
Thanks for the posting.

The leaver configuration is what was of interest here. It needed reshaping for this stock. We removed it and put a piece of #10 copper wire in it's place. The wire bent easily to the shape deeded and we had a template. The steel in this particular leaver appears to be quite malleable and was easy to heat and bend in a vise. My smith bent, polished, and blued it.

The rifle; Got it as a bunch of parts in an oatmeal box and a messed up chambering job in an aftermarket barrel. Rechambering it became futile.

Wood;
It came with a sawed off forend and some badly hacked up aftermarket wood. There was just enough wood to shape this stock to fit me. Aftermarket forend was left with little to work with. The forend in the pictures is borrowed from my son's gun for these photos. Another forend is currently being whittled.

Barrel; What's a 6.5 Sage?
It is a PacNor, polygonal, 8"twist, Ruger 1A modified, 22", 6.5x55 built with the idea that it will someday be passed on to a grandson whose middle name is Sage. Thus 6.5 Sage.

It is far from finished. Some real fun ahead.

AJD, thanks again for the posting.

Jim

Jim,

You mention a modified 1a modified, how has it been modified?

Do you know the current weight?

What about scope mounting, how do you plan to do that?

Looks good.

AJD

Barrel;
The valley in front of the shank has been flattened slightly, that's all.

I don't have a current weight but with the previous barrel it was notably lighter then my Kimber 8400 Montana 300WSM.

The Ruger Quarter rib will not be on it.
We are working on various mock-ups for the front ring and base. It may include an offset Ruger ring. The scope being used is short.
The rear mounting system will be a Ruger (turn in) base with an offset ring towards the back so that the scope will have proper eye relief. I have to get the ring back over the frame in order to have the scope where I want it. The #1 and #3 Rugers tend to not shoot well if one base is attached to the frame and another to the barrel. They also don't particularly like a base that's attached to both barrel and frame simultaneously.

Note the trigger. I installed a Moyers but had problems with it. I found this Kepplinger used at my local gun shop and really like it. Currently it's at 1.5lbs and about 6oz on set. I may put more trigger pull weight on it for hunting.

More to come.

Thanks for asking
Jim

Isn't that amazing work be Ian (VA)?
Now, that's a #3!
Jim