Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots New Ruger #1 quality?

I was deer hunting not far from Owensboro KY and since the deer weren't moving much, we decided to make a trip to Whitakers. I have never been there and would not have known of it, but for reading about rifle deals here on the 24hr CF.

They had two new Ruger No. 1s on the racks. Both in 270, one being the standard sporter model, the other being the 100th Anniversary model. I got excited when I noticed them a few racks away, but was quickly disappointed when I picked up the first one. How the heck are they doing the checkering these days? Looks like they have monkeys operating old CNC machine with dull bits. The checkering area was sunken with small raised dots. Looked like total crap. The wood on the 100th Anniversary model did not have the pores filled at all, and looking at it in raking light really made it look bad.

Is this the norm now with Ruger #1s?

They did have a new Hawkeye African in 280AI that had decent looking checkering.

And they’re not known for anything resembling decent accuracy. Asbestos suit on, flame away.

Hope what you saw was an anomaly and not an indication of the direction #1’s are taking. The last #1 purchases for me were around 2010-2014 time frame. Those all had good fit and finish. Taking a guess the company is juggling like crazy to keep a low production model in a price range that is acceptable to buyers ? Can’t make comparisons as I never see #1’s at the local shops in my area.

Having owned #1's at a fairly steady rate over the last 40 years I can honestly say I've never owned a stinker. Out of the box accuracy has been great, including a now couple year old 1A in 6.5x55. Three shots touching or very nearly so at 100 yards, and certainly MOA with the worst of them in the past. I suppose that a lot of pure accuracy freaks would turn their collective noses up at that kind of performance these days. Heck if my current 1A would only do 2 MOA I would probably just shrug my shoulders and go forth and kill stuff with it - I have plenty of other more important stuff in my life to worry about.

That's pretty standard for the No. 1 for the last few (several?) years - wood so plain it would have been rejected on a hardware store brand .22 back when, badly fitted wood with big gaps between the forend and receiver, wood that stands proud of the receiver, levers that don't lock up tight but are loose and rattle slightly, those seem to be consistent features. Occasionally you see one with some figure in the wood, but nothing like what's on even a standard CZ or Tikka wood stock.

They do clean up nicely, though, you just have to spend some bucks above and beyond the $1400 or whatever they're charging these days.

Hope to see more posts from those that have inspected new #1’s. Sad to think fit and finish is falling way down. Not surprised by the drop in wood quality though. Mine have decent wood , definitely not 60’s standard. That said I can’t imagine what it would do to the cost if they sourced the same grade from back in the day. Great walnut is not cheap ! I’ll sort of leave the accuracy issues alone except to say mine have shot very well out of the box. Lucky I guess.

One other thing I noticed on the standard model was on the forearm, the wood had some sort of chatter marks where the barrel met the wood at the top of the barrel channel. The entire length on one side had those chatter marks in the wood.

I can't say what the current Number ones are like regarding quality as the latests ones I own are all from the year 1994. That last one I acquired, an "S" model in .300 Win. Mag. had decent wood with some figure and is well finished. It's one with a Ruger made barrel and shoots my handloads in under an inch as long as I do my part. Frankly, I haven't bought a new rifle in probably ten years or more. About the only time I hit my LGS anymore is to pick up components. I haven't even bothered to look as guns on the rack.
Paul B.

I have purchased 3 new #1 in the past 3 years. 2 were returned do to unbelievable poor checkering, as well as a Ruger 77 African.

Quality of the wood finish sucks, I've owned 53 #1, these were by far the worst. Have 14 left not planning on adding anymore.

F

Based on the new production ones I've examined the last few years, it seems with the current offerings a guy buys a barreled action for a stocking project which has some stock shaped firewood included with the sale. It was simpler when Brownells just sold the barreled actions. I'm never letting go of my 2005 RSI '06. It shoots as good as it looks!

I bought one of the 280 Remington ones from a couple years ago, I was very excited to get it. However the wood was extremely plain, the checkering was not done well, and the wood to metal fit was poor.

My biggest pet peeve though was the metal finish seemed different from the red pad models. Like they put nearly zero effort into polishing it. And the lever itself looked like it was cast, and then blued. It was extremely rough.

Pretty upsetting, as I love the design and how they feel in the hand.

Maybe they’re No.1 “Build It Yourself” kits….😆.
I just buy the No.1s that I examine and like first, and leave the others where I found them.
I’m down to ten from quite a few, and still reducing the herd.
I do have a No.1A stainless/walnut 30/30 with some (too much) ‘rattle’ in the lever, not a good thing