I have two #1s.- a 1B in .257 Roberts and a 1A in 7x57. Have had them both for over 20 years and wouldn’t give them up for a house & lot.
The 1B was accurate right from the get-go and still is. It shoots just about anything I feed it into 1.25” groups or better. My favorite hunting loads are all under m.o.a.
The 1A (light sporter) started out as a .30-06. It was fussy about what it was fed but I did have several loads that would group 1 to 1.25”. As age and arthritis in my neck and shoulders eventually caught up to me I decided I needed something with a little less recoil. Not wanting to give up the sweet handling little 1A, I did some research and decided that a 7x57 would be a good choice. Hence, in the spring of ‘18 the rifle was delivered to a local gunsmith who installed a custom 23” 7x57 barrel in the same contour as the origional. It was my good fortune that he specializes in match/long range rifles and the barrel maker (also a local fellow) specializes in match grade barrels. As a result, I now have a light, sweet handling little rifle that fits me like a glove, shoots under m.o.a. and doesn’t hurt me. Almost everything I’ve tried (it doesn’t like 140 Nosler partitions) has given great accuracy, with 145 Speer Hot-cors and 154 Hornady Interlocks over H4350 being the real ticket.
