Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only .450 NE #1 in a Ruger #1

FWIW, I recently saw a big, beefy guy at the range try to shoot
his Ruger # 1 in .458 Lott. He shot it once, then put it down,
took his gun case and folded it double, reloaded and fired again.
Then he put the gun down, took the gun case and folded it triple.
Then he picked up the gun, reloaded, and fired a 3rd time. Then
he packed up and wobbled off, shaking his head.

Make of that what you will, but are you sure you want to go to
.470 NE or .505 Gibbs with that rifle?

You want talk big #1s there is a place up Prescott Arizona that had a #1 conversion by SSK, in .600 JDJ!!!!! Complete with dies, cases and some loaded rounds I believe.

That would be like going three rounds with Mike Tyson. NO THANKS!

my lott does have some kick. sometimes big guys are more prone to the effects recoil than little guys?

seen some run into problems cause they are big enough the recoil doesnt move them much so it hurts the shoulder more.....so long as the recoil pulse is fairly slow my wife can deal with alot of recoil and she is about a buck 20..........looks funnier than hell to watch her shoot the 45-70....looks like a tree swaying in the wind....

Seen the same here. A few big guys really taking it on the shoulder. Then, we know a girl that shoots a .378 Wby. It really moves her but doesn't seem to bother her much.

No need. IMHO the .450/.400 is up to any task including elephant. Been there, got the tusks. I love that round!

Didn't Hamilton Bowen do Ruger conversions in years past? As I recall his barrel boring guy either quit, got old, or passed away and they con't do rifle work anymore.

Hamiton Bowen's guy who re-bored barrels retired and sold the business. The new owner/operator was in training with him for about a year. Bowen is now doing rifle work again with the new old re-bore company.

I am not a big guy. 5'9" and 212lbs with a fairly muscular build. recoil doesn't bother me too much. My .416 Rigby #1 off the bench with warm loads will make me raise me head up but I don't start flinching very quick.reflex264

The 450 N.E. is the 450-3.25. It is the 450-400-3.25 case necked up to 45 cal...(I just reread this post and corrected this,sorry I got confused and got it backasswards)..

It shoots a 480 gr. bullet at about 2150 FPS...The only thing it has to offer is the availability of 45 caliber bullets and their cheap costs and thats a good thing..It is a great caliber and dotes on cupfulls of IMR and H 4831, along with IMR-4350 and RL-19. Its main drawback is compaction, much like a .458 Win. but good handloaders can work around that for the most part. It was the darling of John Rigby company..

I would never mess with a Ruger no. 1 in 450-400-3" as those guns have a good collector value already and just keep going up in value every year...

If you rebarrel an existing Ruger no. 1 then your barrel should be a groove diameter of .457, bore diameter of .450 and a 1x15 twist. trim length of .3.240. You will need a long drop tube.

I would rather have a .470 or 500 N.E. on a heavy ruger no. 1. but the 450-400 would be nice to shoot and is good enough for everything including elephant.