PJGunner,
I also badly wanted a Whelen in a #1 but not the SS/wood 1A that eventually came out of the Ruger works. I owned one of them for a while but never liked it and have since sold it and all my SS/wood #1s.
I later found a 45-70 1H for sale that had been rebarreled by EABCo to 218 Bee with the original barrel profile. (This was done because the factory issued piece developed a bulge in the barrel.) It has nice features -- near killer wood, trigger work, a Hicks device, and was reblued.
Anyway, I bought it for a good price and had it rechambered and rebored to .35 Whelen. It approximates everything I always wanted in a Ruger #1 Whelen while not costing much more than the K1As do these days.
Going after what you really want in a rifle actually works out sometimes.
1B
