Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots Got the Number 1 itch

hello all: Been a bolt man all my life, but have always admired the Number 1s. If I bought one, it would be a small caliber for coyotes and deer. So how hard would it be to find a used Number 1, not a varmint weight, but a small caliber, maybe .25-06, that would shoot 1" or so with handloads? thanks much.

Except the 1" parts, Guns International or Gun Broker.
Be prepared to pay a lot.

1"... .. That's the tough part. I've had a dozen or so #1s. 2 would shoot an honest 1 1/4 as they came from the factory.

My 74 #1B is sub moa w Norma factory. .22 250.

Pops said itd cloverleaf w his handloads.
Originally it was bad and was sent back and rebarreled by Ruger.
My dad got it from the guy soon after it was redone.

My B was a 78 model, .243 win and it was sub .5 moa w handloads.
Until the throat eroded. Only shot 75 gr in it and when groups opened to an inch sold it ( w full disclosure ).

My RSI was cloverleaf at 75 w 100gr ww factory. Also was .243.

My pre B 67 model .280 was just over an inch at 100 w Federial Premium. Only load I tried.

Got a 2017 anniv. model .308 comin. Hope my good luck continues.

My buddy had 280 and 2506 B models that were 2 inchers no matter what. Said he saw others his buds had that sucked. Told me the varnint cartridges or big boomers seemed best. Middle stuff was a roll of the dice. This 70s and 80s era.

If my 2017 model does under 1.5" w factory Ill call it good enough and hunt it.

My RSI in 6.5-55, with ammo it likes, esp the Norma oryx loading, is a .5 MOA rifle. However that is after I put a Jard trigger in it. From factory the trigger was awful, just hard to shoot as gritty and heavy as it was.

Most #1s can be made to shoot, fix the trigger if that is a problem. Drop in the Hicks Accurizer if needed: https://eabco.com/hicks-1-accurizer/

RAS

I too been a bolt man and bought my first no1 two years ago. Paid $750 , older gun in 30-06. Never shot it , but I bought it for a project gun. After much thinking, I decided to one day re-barrel to 280ai. A 270 would be a second choice. Large enough for elk, more than enough for deer. 25-06 is a good choice for what you intend to shoot. A 257 roberts would be good too. Since I’m a handloader , I think a 257ai would be neat. Or just by any no1 and re-barrel.

My dad's #1 is old enough to have the 3 screw trigger.

i own plenty Ruger #1`s i have learned how to glass bed the forearms and with my handloads all of them shoot 1 inch at least most better . i just purchased a used custom 6 BR Ruger #1 and this rifle shots 2`s and 3 `s off my cement bench with my bench rest equipment . all these Ruger #1 rifles i own and use shoot excellent with my handloads and me pulling the trigger. i do question some peoples ability when they shoot a rifle ? if you have a chance to buy a Ruger #1 buy the rifle you will enjoy owning and shooting a Ruger #1. good luck ,Pete53

One year, they built the 1B SS laminated in 7mm STW. $500 at Sportsman's Warehouse new. Glass bedded, floated the forend, still 2.5 to 3 MOA. I was able to bring it to .75 MOA with the Hicks Accurizer.

I have put over two thousand rounds down the bore. It is pretty toasted now. Thinking hard about what it will be upon resurrection, probably not an STW.

Good luck with your search. I was in your shoes for quite a while and finally found one that I could afford. Glad the gunshop owner sold it to me for cheap. I like the rifle, but it's no bolt action..

Based on many posts on the subject, an honest 1" rifle may be pretty hard to find, unless it has a custom barrel on it. I lucked into a nice shooting 25-06. It's an honest sub moa for 5 shots. I also say that it is not a "tack driver", like I'm accustomed to with my bolt actions. I don't think guys buy the Ruger #1 thinking they are going to win any benchrest comps with them. Or at least they shouldn't be thinking that anyway. They are a damn fine hunting rifle though. IMHO..

thanks all for the info. So it sounds like the biggest accuracy issue that most of you have had is barrel quality. I'm well familiar with Ruger's early barrel quality issues with their supplier, but when they started making their own barrels, that essentially took care of much of the accuracy problems with both #1s and 77s. So are the #1s with Ruger's own barrels usually better in terms of accuracy, or does the forend issue still plague the rifle's accuracy? thanks again.

I’ll say that my two #1’s aren’t tackdrivers, but I can’t recall either of them shooting over 1.5” for a 3 shot group.

The 1a 7x57 is a pretty light contour, so I kinda feel like that’s pretty good. Been meaning to try a Hicks accurizer for 20 years or so, just never have.

The .45-70 is kinda the same thing. It’s does well enough for what a 8lb .45-70 is going to get used for. It shoots as well with cast as jacketed.

A 1B in .25-06 would be awesome. I’d look for a black pad (more recent manufacture barrel), add the Hicks, and have a ball with it.

Normally the smaller caliber #1s shoot tighter, or at least can be made to shoot tighter. However, factory #1s have standard factory twist barrels, a 30 cal will be a 1-10, etc. The 06 or 08 base sized cases are usually very good. A sngle shot take some practice for any reasonable follow up shots.

Looking for a good used #1 takes patience, and can be measured in years.

The early no1 s had Douglas barrels. I once had a model 77 pencil barrel in 22-250 that would shoot 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards. I later bought a Remington 700 varmint barrel in 22-250 and would never match the Ruger.

i have my own rifle range and help people learn to shoot better ,the biggest problem with rifle accuracy i have seen is many shooters just don`t know how to shoot well on a bench but think they do , ladies and kids seem to learn easier and faster. i used too let my 10 year old son shoot a Sako 17 Remington in front of many shooters that humbled many guys who thought they knew how to shoot well . that seemed to help the mucha guys to listen and learn then. so when i hear Ruger #1`s don`t shoot well it makes me laugh. Pete53

They were spotty at best. I had pencil-barreled .257 Roberts and .220 Swift M77s from the mid-70s, both had trouble shooting inside of 2”. A heavy-barreled Swift from 1972 shot bug eyes, but I did hear those heavy barrel Swifts got Douglas barrels.

I have actually gotten better accuracy results across the board from Number 1 rifles of various calibers, early, late, light and sporter-weight barrels. The one that remains is a red pad Number 1B in 7mm Rem Mag that’s a consistent .75 MOA rifle and isn’t picky about what I feed it. Roll the bones…

Thats an itch that once you scratch it it never goes away.I have #1's that range from a 250 Savage to 450-400 NE. All shoot well and have used the actions for three builds. Needless to say those three shoot exceptionally well. Another option would be a Browning 1885. I just picked up a Low Wall in 243 and a High Wall in 25-06 both guns were under $1200 from two different Cabela's stores.

There are quite a few tricks to make a Ruger #1 shoot well. Most mess around with the hanger, bedding or end up with something like the Hick's Accurizer. Most of the time one of those things will make a decent improvement. But, what if it doesn't? Now what? A new barrel? maybe a rebore to a different cartridge?

Why not try messing with the rib the scope mounts on? I'm not daft, sometimes this makes a radical improvement. The hard part is removing it from the barrel. It is not only screwed to the barrel but pinned as well. Look closely where the rib touched the receiver. Place a light behind the gun and see if there are any signs of light showing between the rib and the receiver. If there is, that's one problem gone. Next step is remove the rib. Dunno what Ruger used on those screw but I'll just say you'll most likely have to use a source of heat to get those screws out. After removing the screws, carefully remove the rib. You'll probably have to use something to pry it loose from the pins holding it in place. Be careful you don't scratch the barrel. Listen carefully for a ping as the rib is removed. No ping good, I hear ping bad. First, using a fine stone remover a slight amount of metal from the portion of the rib so there is a light amount of clearance. It does take much. Finish off with cold blue. Whether I hear a ping or not, and with my screaming tinnitis, odds are I wouldn't hear a ping I carefully enlarge the holes for the screws to about one size larger. Then I reinstall everything and go shoot the rifle. I use something like blue Loctite so that if I have to remove the screws again to remove a bit more metal, the removal won't be a big hassle.

This is something to try should all the other "tricks" fail to improve accuracy.

My reasoning for the above is as the barrel heats up it expands causing the rib to exert pressure against the receiver changing the barrel' harmonics. The same goes for the rib being held in place and unable to allow the barrel expansion to properly take place. In fact it just might be better to make the pin holes in the rib a larger than I said. I've fixed a couple of #1s that way and made 2.5" riles into 1.5" rifles. Depends on how fast I shoot the rifle. Three rounds taking a minute or two between shots will give .75" groups. Shoot those three rounds as fast as I can, even from the bench and groups open up to the larger size. That's my take for something to try on a stubborn Ruger #1.
PJ

I also meant to add that the Number 1 safety is superb, not just preventing the trigger from being pulled but in actually blocking the hammer from falling with the safety on (similar in effect to intercepting safety sears on some fine double shotguns and rifles). I guess Bill Ruger knew some would hunt with a round in the chamber all the time.

It’s surprising to me that this feature never got any publicity that I’m aware of.