Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots My 1st Custom Ruger #1

This is my first attempt at building a single shot. Caliber will be 6.5x55,full octagon barrel with quarter rib and sights, with detatchable Talley rings. Reciever and lever will be case hardened with nitrate blue screws. The Turkish Walnut stock was sent to GAGS and roughed out,(ebony forend tip is already installed.) I'm doing all of the work except the case hardening and checkering. I am a Mauser fan when it comes to building guns but dang if this ruger aint fun! What do you think so far?

Looks familiar. I see you are progressing at the same rate as my "custom" #1. I love the crushed blue velvet. Reminds me of a David Lynch movie.

Are you going to taper the octagon?

I think this is a terrific project and you must keep posting updates.

- TJM

Prostate: More has been done but lazy with the camera, and yes it will be tapered! Hey at least yours goes bang....

tjm10025: thanks, i'll do what i can as to updates. Working and fitting forend and (got the Ebony forend tip on), getting forend close to finish so when barrel is done wont be as much wood work to do, thats the part i sweat over.

srtax,

Looks like a neat rifle project. The stock profile is especially pleasing.

What are your goals regarding weight,lenghth etc? The 6.5 Swede stalking rifle I just built is @ 34" long and weighs in about 7.5lbs scoped. Is the barrel already chambered? I had mine cut shorter than normal but within SAAMI and twisted to maximize accuracy with 120-140 gr bullets.

Good Luck,
1B

Did you take off the third panel on the underside of the forearm? I saw a custom pict with shadow lines cut into the panels (like shallow steps). Looked real good. I think I'm going to try that when I get around to my project.

1B: No the barrel is a blank at this time. The electric is hooked up to the mill, just waiting to get a day or two to get lathe back up and running. Moved all my equiptment here so it'll be more handy for me. Not really a stalking rifle, but somewhat light and handy. Still have not settled on final octogon thickness and length. It has a 1 in 8 twist! Post a picture of yours, I'd like to see it!
Prostate8: Third panel is still there and will stay, seen one checkered up to the panel and liked the way that looked! I know what your project is, so jump in and give the others a before and what the end results will be like!

Like i said, this is my first #1. Anyone out there got a custom with an octogon bbl. (or round) I like a 24" barrel in length,and like a little weight out front because i seem to hold one more steady when shooting off hand that way. Built a light weight Mauser once, nice handling rifle but could not for the life of me hold it still!
What seems to be the perfect blend for a #1, as far as barrel lenght and contour? Open to sugestions!

I might be tempted to try the contour on the 1885 H/L Wall - Medium Heavy. I have only had an opportunity to fire one (this one was a Uberti clone) off a bench, but it seems to balance nice. I didn't care for the curved butt plate, but that's another topic all together. Really classy looking.

I was thinking in the lines of maybe a straight taper of maybe .700 or even .725 to the cylinder section, and may even do that part as an octogon up to the face of the reciever, Two sections, both octogon, and straight at 24" but dont know the weight factor for this, or how well it would balance! Want balance point to come in at about 4"s ahead of reciever.

I'm thinking along the lines of the bottom picture with a longer sweep between the two transisions? I know i will be limited to the size of chamber octogon because of face of #1 reciever face. If memory serves me right it measures in at around 1" at face of reciever, full diameter! So what would be a good length and a good muzzle diameter, anyone have an idea?

Srtrax,

I have a custom #1 in 9.3x74R w/tapered Octagon bbl. It was built for me 6 or 8 years ago by Wayne Schwartz.

It has a 25" barrel, styled like your lower pic.

The shank measures 1.10" across the flats for 1.80".

Then scallops down to .875"
. Then gradually tapers to .700" at the muzzle.

The rifle has a stock buttstock with a custom Schnable fore-end. and is not adorned with sights. It has a factory 1/4 rib and Ruger rings. It tips the scales @ 8.15 lbs. . Which is about perfect for the chambering. (I didn't have a scope mounted at the moment.)

I would think that considering you are building a 6.5x55, I'd trim it down a bit, or you are going to end up with a 9 lb gun. But then, mayhap you like toting heavier rifles than I do. Bear in mind that a scope is going to add 12-16 ozs.

Just posted FYI....

Grasshopper

Grasshopper: Thank you, that is the wealth of information i was loking for! No, im not wanting to carry a heavy #1 out to the woods, so now knowing, length, diameters, & weight i can use this to scale mine down to better fit this barrel to the 6.5x55. I've done many round barrels, but this is also my first octogon, so thank you for taking the time to pass this information on to me!

Srtrax,

Glad I was able to help, even in such a small way. I hope to have a couple more custom #1's in the future. Good luck with your project, Please post pics of the finished product.

GH

Not sure if you have made your decision or not, or even what your budget is, for the barrel work, but a swamped octagon barrel is the route I would take for this project. In my opinion nobody does that better than Ralf Martini. You can check out some of his work at:
http://www.martiniandhagngunmakers.com/

Yes, i have been a fan of there work for a long time now. I have the barrel blank here and all the tools to do the work myself so i'll go that route, and after i'm done, maybe they could go to work for me! Thanks for the info..