Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots Why did Ruger drop the #3's?

I've had a 30/40 12 or 15 years. It shoots well and is near perfect for deer where I hunt. The stock could be better.

They cost almost as much to manufacture as a #1 and they didn't sell... believe they came in 22hornet, 223rem, 30-40, 375win, 45-70 and 44mag... truth be told the #1's have a following but they don't sell either.

Unfortunately, You are very right. I was always sorry to see the demise of the #3. However I always thought that they'd have done better if they'd had a 1/2 Octagon barrel and a stock like a Browning 1885 with a Schnabel fore-stock. But then, likely they'd not sold any better than the discontinued Brownings.

Indeed we are truly fortunate to have the variations of the #1 that we have. And as noted, tho' we have a strong following, comparatively it's quite small...

Grasshopper

I vastly prefer the #3 over the #1's. You can put a #1 stock on that #3. The clean lever is better. I had one in .223, and always wanted one in .375 to go with my handgun. My .223 wouldn't shoot for doo-doo, did all the tricks, finally d'uh, after having it rebarreled, I checked the twist, a flipping 9 twist! on a factory tube! No wonder. Still love the #3's over those clumsy numba ones.

CWG,

I have five #3's four of them have #1 wood on them. One has a custom fore stock. The biggest problem with the lever is that with #1 wood, it doesn't leave much room for you fingers between the p/g and the lever. I've had two of them bent. But as yet, I've failed to find Nirvana...

One of my #3's is a custom Schuetzen rifle in .32-40. One is a .375 and one is a .30-40 Krag. These are the only two with factory barrels.

Another is a .338-06 Imp and yet another is a .356 Win. Lastly is a .45-70 that is currently being rebarreled to a 1/2 Octagon bbl in .444 Marlin. I never could understand why Ruger never made the .444 ... Seemed like a natural to me.

Grasshopper

here is one of my former rifles

chambered in 223 .... built by Jim Brockman for Dave Talley's wife

I just got my first Ruger single shot. It's a No.3. 45-70. I figured I could shoot a bunch of my stout loads [all the 3031 that will fit] and it would cure this crazy azzed hankering I've been having for a No.1 .416 Rigby. Well it kicks, but nothing like the posts I just read. I've still got all my fillings. I'm still thinking about a .416. Maybe if it ever warms up I'll shoot it a bunch wearing just a t-shirt. Maybe that will help.

It's not a crazy hankering, one day I realized I truly needed a 416 and I couldn't be happier than I am with the #1H. I am now fully prepared for any of the rut crazed blacktails. I would rather shoot my #1H in 416 Rigby than the #3 in 45/70. My #3 45/70 does hurt, I learned to drop my bottom 3 fingers below the lever and that seemed to help.

Good luck with them crazed blacktails. You weren't much help. I'm hoping someone will bring me to my senses. I've never forgot years ago reading Paul Mathews books, and chuckling about him hunting little whitetails with a No.1 .375 H&H. .416 isn't nearly as crazy. Right?

I bought a #3 in 45-70 and converted it to 222 without even firing a single shot thru it in the original chambering. I dropped the ugly barrel band and stock and put on a Fajen with a Shilen barrel. It looks and shoots good.

Hello fellas, I'm new here. When I saw this thread I could not help but join in.

Several years ago now a poor tired #3 came into my family of firearms. It started out life as a 45-70, but someone decided to bend the tang and do other unmentionables to it. The tang situation was taken care of by the time I got it, but the rifle was stil in pieces .... perfect for a project.

I'm a predator hunter and I wanted to build a rifle for that. Since I already had a #1 in 22-250 this one was going to be a 223 Rem.

For the metal work it got a shilen #5 barrel cut to 22", and chambered for 223 Rem. (if I was to do it over again it would get a 223AI chamber).

A 223 extractor came from Gun Parts

The trigger is a moyer which is mated to a speed hammer, I can't remember who's right now.

The base is a standard #1 base, I'd do this differently if it was done again.

The wood is standard #3 wood, with some wood removed. The butt stock was cut to accept a thin recoil pad. the wood on top was smoothed and the grip area was brought down so my hand fir the lever. I cut the wood to look similar to an english stocked shotgun.

The rings are from Burris and the scope is a Baush & Lomb 3000 Elite 3x9.

This is my absolute GO-TO coyote hunting rig, it fits me like a glove and shoots better than a Ruger single shot should. I've tried, but I can't leavel home without it......

Welcome! Nice 'yoter. I sure would like to find on in .223 or Hornet.

What would you select over the factory #1 rib?

There are several 2 piece weaver style bases that would work well for this application. For instance the bases used on #1v's. Here's my theory on eht Ruger Rib. The Ruger Rib is nice looking, but doesn't allow for stress relief in the mounting system which adds to some of the accuracy problems associated with Ruger Single shots. ..... Then again, the stresses are removed from the Rib and transfered into the scope. It's all a balancing act I suppose. My #3 shoots great, but I'm not so sure about when it gets hot which rarely happens. This is not a PD rig, it's a Predator hunting rig, after two or three shots the shootin's done for a while.

I suspect it was the clunky feel and the recoil with the heavier calibers it was produced in..I never liked the #3 at all...I love the no. 1's..I think most folks felt like I did, and Ruger dropped it..The only reason they drop designs is because they don't sell, end of story.

Welcome Hedgehog... great to have another single shot fan join the club.

I had prediter hunting in mind as well when I did some unmentionables to an old No.3 not long ago:

I've heard that explaination before. I don't understand how the rib doesn't allow for stress relief, but a mounted scope in a two base system cures the problem. Oh well, it doesn't matter if I get it or not. I didn't buy my RSI to target shoot, and ignorance can be somewhat blissful. I really like the look of the rib. I did read a "fix" once where the front attachment of the rib was "floated" by removing the threads and floated in some elastic substance inside the hole.

Ian, I really like the lever on that #3. Do you mind sharing how you managed that?

Could ugliness have entered into the picture?

Thanks prostrate8. I'm afraid it wasn't any cool trick or technique I can share though... I just picked up a MAP gas bottle torch at the home improvement store, heated it, bent it, cut off the bit on the end that looked like it didn't belong, and filed out the plier marks when I was done. I remember having to heat it up and tweek the final curve two more times to get it to follow the trigger gard as close as I wanted, and then experimented with some quenching/temporing afterwards.

I imagine you had to do a bit of work to install the #1 trigger guard on the #3 action or was the process the other way around, you installed a modified #3 lever on a #1?