Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots Ruger .45-70s

Does this caliber seem more forgiving in the #1/#3 than some of the other calibers or do the .45-70 rifles still need a lot of tweaking?

The need to "tweak them" is exaggerated, as I have owned several of the ones from the 70's that shoot quite well, with no fiddling.

I will say I greatly dislike the #3 stock with that useless curved buttplate. Even in smaller calibers the things would slip all over my shoulder, and be hard to hold well. If you get a #3 in .45-70, I'd look for a #1 Buttstock to put on it.

I'd suggest you grab a black pad rifle, which will have a forged Ruger-produced barrel. The buzz on them is uniformly good.

Swampman - I've owned four of the Number One rifles, and only one needed much attention. The others just flat worked great and shot well. Currently my only Number One is a .375 H&H Tropical. A week or two ago I shot a .84" three-shot group with it using 260 gr Noslers. The same load I took a dandy bear with at 300 yards a year ago. This rifle has been completely trouble free.

The others:

.300 Win mag - shot 3/4" groups with Remington factory 180 gr ammo. If I loaded 180's to approximate the Remington velocity, it shot that as well, or better. No fuss at all.

7mm Rem mag 1B - this one was a bit finicky. It would malfunction regularly, failing to extract. A local gunsmith was unable to cure the problem. Less than two weeks at Ruger solved the issue with a new, free, extractor on my 30 year old rifle. It shot okay, about 1.5 MOA, but I never could quite shave it down to one MOA. Perhaps a little more work would have done the trick. I think it wanted to shoot. Sure seemed to have potential. This one, of them all, needed some tweaking.

.25-06 Varmint version - oh my - this thing was a real sweetheart to shoot. Likely the most accurate factory rifle I've ever owned. Used to load 100 gr Sierras over H4831 and shoot itty-bitty bug holes with it. Bad times hit, and I needed cash. Sold it. Doggone it! Great rifle. A little heavy for general purpose hunting, but tolerable given the accuracy. No "tweaking" at all.

Regards, Guy

Thanks for the input. I'm refinishing the stock on my #3 and waiting for the scope to come. If it shoots well I may buy a #1 in .45-70.

Swampman700: with regards to the butt plate on a #3 slipping around on your shoulder: I have a .30-40 Krag #3, on which the previous caretaker (we take care of them for awhile, then someone else takes care of them for awhile, etc) had cut out a strip of the non-skid stair tread sandpaper-like material used on steps/stair treads, which has an adhesive/sticky-back side, applying it to the rear of the butt plate. It works very well, and can be removed whenever you want to, without ruining the origianl butt plate. I've left it on the butt plate of the .30-40 Krag, it works just fine...

I guess I have a cup between my shoulder and collarbone. I don't have a slippage problem with a #3

Pic: 45-70



Pic: 44 Mag

DMc, that #3 looks real nice with the black fore end tip, much better than the barrel band.

Thank you, here's another I'm working on. About down to the checkering.

Great looking rifle.

Thank you kind sir.

DMc,

I concur. Great looking rifle. Was the receiver originally a #3, or #1? We would love to see more pictures when it's done.

One mod I always wanted on a #1 is to remove the quarter rib. That is one reason the #3 always appealed to me (no quarter rib). The quarter ribs are heavy and really add nothing to the function, particularly if one wants to use peep sights. But one major problem with removing it is the unsightly holes exposed in the top of the barrel. Yeah, I know I could make it look any way I want with a custom barrel and custom this and custom that, but I don't have that kind of money.

Hornady 42413 HRNDY LVREVO 45-70 325gr. Mine loves them.

The second custom Ruger pictured started life as a #3, I ordered a 24" Shilen barrel in 358 Win., and added the rib and front sight. Tried 3 different forends before actually finding an A-H forend and fitting it correctly to the action and barrel. It's a shooter and it's hard to get motivated to remove the wood to send off for checkering and be gone for 2-? months.
Thank you for the compliment.
DMc

I won't use Hornady LE ammo in my rifles. Thanks!

From my experience the Rug#3 tends to shoot.
Jim

From my experience the No. 3 in stock form is a brutal recoiling rifle with Ruger compatible .45-70 loads. The one with the 1S fore end and the modified No. 1 butt may have some promise. jack

Swampman why is that?

Hank

Swampman may not like the Hornady brass. Most of the LE brass is a little shorter to get the stuff to cycle properly in Marlins. The bullets are a little longer with the pointy tips and one must compensate somewhere?? I have a box of the bullets to try with W-W brass for my No. 1 to see how they work. Will try to find out next week. Jack

David,
I like the #3 with the black tip in the forearm. Nicely done.

The buttstock on this one looks like a good solution.