Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters So I grabbed a vintage 7x57

Another nice stick, damn Tex, You and Dan are gonna have too double team some pork with your new #1's next year.

Beautiful No. 1, in a great cartridge!

My first Ruger No. 1 was a 7x57 1A from that era, with the typical very long throat. No bullets under 160 grains could be seated anywhere near the throat, and I suspect the throat's diameter was pretty generous too, because no lighter bullet shot very well. But it was extremely accurate with 160-grain Nosler Partitions seated just shy of the lands, using enough H4831 to get 2700 fps. If I still had it today would probably try RL-26, or maybe IMR7977.

Man that's a purty gun. Good score.

That is indeed ...... A very purty rifle.

I just bought one of the current Lipsys #1As in 275 Rigby and the wood was nothing like that.

Nice stick and your powder selection ends here. Have fun.

Thanks!

The 162 ELD-x touches the lands at an OAL of 3.38". I have some Nosler brass and Forster dies on the way, so I will probably try them first, with a variety of bullet seating depths. Might have to give R26 a whirl, too, I have plenty.

You're such a rapscallion!

Mule Deer,
Any load suggestion for RL 26 in my long throat Ruger # 1 with 160 gr bullets?

That is some beautiful wood! Congrats. The only complaint I ever had with a couple of #1's I owned years ago was, that the stock would have beautiful wood and seldom did the forearm wood match the stock.

What a beauty.Mine shot best with 150 grain ballistic tips and a max load of 760.Its wood was no where as nice as yours.Huntz

You have chosen wisely my son.

On a more serious note, the loads I've tried in my Ruger #1A 7x57 are 44.0 gr. W760 and the 175 gr. Hornady round nose and work up to this one, 47.0 gr. W760 and the 140 gr. Nobler Ballistic Tip. Brass was Remington and WLR standard primers.

I have a small collection of Ruger #1 rifles in various configurations and if force to sell most off, the 7x57 would be the only one I keep although I have a couple of #1S in .300 Win. Mag. I'd damn well hate to part with.
Paul B.

"Vintage" is relative; 40 yrs. is pretty recent for some of us...

That is a wonderful gun, great wood, a real keeper...

DF

+1 on UBC.

Negative on firelapping based on the Hawkeye.

Go by how it shoots, not by how it looks.

I have a Hawkeye and have to keep reminding myself of that...

IIRC, the real early ones had Douglas barrels, weren't Wilson barrels used during that era? Reportedly, current ones have in house hammer forged barrels, probably better than the earlier ones.

But current wood quality and workmanship aren't nearly as good as those red pad, "vintage" guns.

DF

Some guys really like the red pads, which I guess look slightly better. And early rifles did have Douglas barrels; sometime in the mid-70's (I've heard a couple of different points) they started using a mix of Wilson & Douglas barrels. Then in the early 90's they started hammer forging their own barrels and switched to black pads.

Honestly, a black pad gun with nice wood is arguably my favorite #1. They seldom have wood as nice as this 1976 model, but nice ones do exist.

I think by this point, most of the stinkers of the 70's & 80's have been rebarreled. Hope mine is not one of them

"I think by this point, most of the stinkers of the 70's & 80's have been rebarreled. Hope mine is not one of them."

If it was sent back to Ruger you'd never know it. Mine was so bad I did have to send it back and it came back with a new barrel and is now a very good shooter with all the proper markings. An aftermarket barrel would not have the proper markings
Paul B.

Here's a .220S, similar vintage. Some of those had really nice wood.

DF

Wow. Just look at that wood.......


Casey

My Red pad 7 X 57, Burris rings, Leupold 4 X , OK wood and shoots well despite long throat.

Have a LH Zastava 7 X 57 with same throat so can use same loads in both rifles.

Too bad current production has very plain wood, nothing like these.

DF

Old Bill saved up all the outstanding wood for his #1's