Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots Early Ruger No.1V 25-06 questions.

Good day.

I bought an old 25-06V that was assembled in early 1971. It has a 130- serial nr but has the non slotted receiver screw, first style checkering, rounded pad, and S safety.

I have yet to get all the paper work sorted out before I can ship it to South-Africa, but would like to get optics for it in the meanwhile. It has the 7,5" basis. I am panning on shooting it and hunting with it. Would an old Redfield 3200 be the smartest option? Would the collectors value drop a lot if I drill a third set of holes for a modern scope?

How does the 3200 Redfields perform compared to modern scopes?

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks

Pieter

Pieter,
There are some Ruger #1 experts here who will be able to help you with your questions so stand by and wait for their posts.
Congratulations on your purchase.

Cheers,

I put a K12 Weaver on the one I had for a while. Some of my best long range shots were made with that rifle. Later I traded it in on a .22-250, which was what I wanted in the first place.

Thanks for the info, but as I understand a Weaver K12 will still be too short to work with the target blocks.

I am currently thinking of having a engineering shop copy the current bases without cutting out the slot in the side of the base. Basically it will be two blocks screwing to the barrel right where the current blocks are. I will then have them tack weld a blank weaver rail to the new blocks, this will then be one solid unit attaching to the rifle where the original holes are drilled.

The blocks will be as thin as possible ensuring the rail runs just above the barrel to mount the scope as low as possible from the barrel. Chances are good the scope bell will sit above the rail as a modern scope might not clear the rail when set up close enough to the rear with around 4" eye relief.

If this can work, I do not need to drill an extra set of holes for regular mounts and bases, thus not messing with the originality of the rifle. I guess the rail can also screw to the engineered bases, as long as the rail runs as low as possible to minimize scope height.

Hope someone can tell me whether this might work? In my mind this was a great idea

Pieter

I have the same rifle built in 73 have been using ruger extended rings to hold a 2006 leupold 4x12 no need to mess with drilling more holes

My rifle was set up just like yours and the K12 Weaver worked properly. That scope has a very long tube. I just pulled the #1V in .22-250 from the safe to refresh my memory and it has three sets of screw holes. The scope blocks are on the two rearmost screw sets. Maybe somebody has set your rifle up with a long tube target scope using the front set of screws. I am not sure if you need another height block to use the front as opposed to the middle set. Hope this helps.

Pieter,
The Redfield 3200 scopes are still very good target/varmint scopes (I have three), though their optics and technology are outdated by modern standards. The Ruger No. 1 V does not really perform best as a walk around pure game hunting rifle.

If it were mine, I would NOT drill a third set of holes for a modern scope, but that's just me, and if you want to make it more versatile, and since it's your rifle, do what you think is best. You will need Ruger "V" bases if you do that.

I find it hard to believe that a modern scope such as a Weaver K12 (which are not really modern anymore) will work on an early 1V and still provide the proper eye relief. I have tried this and it has never worked. These early rifles were designed for the long target scopes such as Unertls and Lyman Super Targetspots (and the 3200!) and that is what they work with.

Good luck.

I would use extended rings that works fine with my 96. I believe they will work on yours also.