I have owned a few in my life, 270s, a 30-06 a 243 and now my 9.3X74R. I have also worked on many of them that came to the shop for work. Some were quite good right out of the box and a few were nightmares. I re-barreled a 7MM Mag 2 years ago that was awful, shooting every load we tried into patterns at 100 yards of about 8-9 inches. Nothing I could do would tighten it up, so after some efforts the customer agreed to let me re-barrel it. A new barrel, and now it shoots MOA.

So #1s can be hot or cold. Older ones had a bit tighter tolerances to their actions but barrels could run from so-so to good. Newer ones have a bit looser actions (not important in their function) but better barrels as a rule. My 9.3X74R was a gun I made a trade for. The man I made the trade with assured me it was accurate and I had no reason to disbelieve him. His claim of accuracy was understated. The 9.3 is a freak in how well is shoots. I have only seen maybe two #1s ever that shot as well. It's become one of my favorite hunting rifles.

My old 243 was very good too. It would shoot about MOA with several loads and with the best load it would shoot under MOA.
One of the 270s would shoot MOA also. My 30-06 was about 1.5 MOA with what it liked the best.

I know a man in Casper that owns one in 300H&H that is a freak for accuracy too. Under MOA with his loads.

But I have seen dozens of them in my shot that struggled to hold under 3.5". Most I have been able to get better accuracy from, and some responded super well, going from playing card size groups to coin size. But now and then I get one coming through that just shoots "OK at best", and nothing seems to help. Mostly the older ones with the Wilson barrels.

I trust them now, with the Ruger barrels. I can't say they would be dependable for "sniper competition" but getting one that will hit a quarter at 100 every time is not at all uncommon anymore.

Just as a side note, there was one #1 "sniper's rifle" I saw in New Mexico about 10 years ago.

I was helping to put on a competition for Military and police snipers, and one 21 year old police cadet came down to shoot. He was a Wyoming farm boy and his rifle was a Ruger #1 in 270 Winchester. Not painted, not customized, just stock. He put a sleeve over it for camouflage, for the purpose of the 3 day shoot.

He won that match!

He shot against all comers, at least some of whom were M.O.S. US Military Snipers and a handful of whom were ranked bench rest competitors.
I didn't shoot his rifle, so I can't say how tight it would shoot, but he made regular hits out to 800 yards over the 3 day course.
It sure could not have been in-accurate!

Last edited by szihn; 05/26/17.