I too have owned both the Winchester 1885 and the Ruger #1, I have had the accuracy highs and lows of both, I would much rather hunt with a Ruger #1,the Ruger #1 is more collectable because of the wide range of different calibers and configuration of different styles.safety system on the Ruger is superior too. both types of guns are very special and are just great to own. the 1885 Winchester is more old time look some may like that,i like the racer look of the Ruger with no hammer. but to each there own both are great guns, one more thing Rugers are all made in the great U.S.A. I want to keep my money in America !
IMHO, the best 1885s for hunting are the Low Walls. The High Walls, like many of the Rugers, are pretty beefy. The Hunter series rifles in .30/30 and .38/55 should have been Low Walls, not High Walls. Thus configured, they'd be even more impossible to find than they are now (I look pretty often, and have yet to see one). Another miscue was not tapping the pistol-cartridge mdels for scope mounts, something I'm going to have corrected one of these days on my .44.
I've owned at least five Rugers, and of the four that were fired, all have shot well except a 7x57 that simply wouldn't put three shots, in any order, into a group, even with the forend off. That was long ago, before I knew about the rib "issue". I like them a lot, especially the 1V I have now, but the action of the 1885 seems smoother and tighter to me, more precise.
Don't know how many more, if any, rifles I'll be buying, but I probably look at these two the most.
