A while back Roger Renner turned a Ruger 1S .30-06 into one of his English Stalking rifles for me. It came out great and I figured that was about the last No. 1 I'd ever buy. Well, until Lipsey's offered a 1A with 24" barrel in .250 Savage. The 24" 1A contour was what sold me, a light kicking old round like the .250 Savage was icing on the cake..
So, off it went to Roger with instructions to make it as slender as humanly possible, to copy the feel and style of the late 19th and early 20th Century British sporting rifles, and to make it look as antique as possible, right down to distressing the wood and adding some aging/darkening where one would expect it. He did just that and I am tickled pink at how it turned out. As most folks know, Ruger isn't exactly putting exhibition wood on their No. 1 rifles these days. I picked this one off of gunbroker since it had about the best wood I could see, it is "decent" compared to most of the new ones but still nothing to write home about. Anyway, we weren't worried about keeping the grain shining through, I told him to make is as dark as he dared. He was worried he went too far but IMO it turned out great.
I sent him pictures of old Farquharson and Alex Henry rifles to show off the older style of checkering so he went with an original No. 1 style which follows the grip, doesn't have that flair at the back and comes up almost meeting behind the tang.
As to "slender as humanly possible", Roger understands slender like no other custom smith I've ever worked with. He did his normal lowering of the comb, moving it back and rounding out the pistol grip, but he also cut down the forend to a wisp. He even went so far as to cut down the nut that attaches it so he could remove even more wood. On the invoice he calls it an "Ultra-Slender English Stalking Rifle. And the coolest part will be readily apparent in the first picture since he pulled a cheekpiece out of the factory stock. He just cut away everything on the right side that wasn't a cheekpiece, leaving this nice little petite pad which is very functional and again mimics the older turn of the century styles. It obviously left the stock very slender and the gravy here it that it has the effect of giving it cast-on for a left hander.
Getting to the pics soon but the thing they can't show is the handling, and it is superb. The rifle as pictured weighs 6 lbs. 12 ounces. It comes up to a perfect cheek weld with my eye looking exactly through the rear sight with the front sight centered. I've posted pictures of a Ruger 10/22 sporter that Roger did up for me and called it a wand - this is another "wand". The weight, the slenderness of the pistol grip and the forend and the balance really have to be felt to be understood.
So, on to the amateur pics. This rifle really deserves a better photographer than I am who can fill in shadows and show how rich and warm the color really is. Probably wouldn't hurt to have it paired with a pith helmet and old, worn leather luggage as well.
Right and left post pics. It's not readily apparent but one of the tricks of the trade Roger used to give a more slender profile was to raise the grip cap and give it a more rakish angle so its line intersects the stock further forward.
So, off it went to Roger with instructions to make it as slender as humanly possible, to copy the feel and style of the late 19th and early 20th Century British sporting rifles, and to make it look as antique as possible, right down to distressing the wood and adding some aging/darkening where one would expect it. He did just that and I am tickled pink at how it turned out. As most folks know, Ruger isn't exactly putting exhibition wood on their No. 1 rifles these days. I picked this one off of gunbroker since it had about the best wood I could see, it is "decent" compared to most of the new ones but still nothing to write home about. Anyway, we weren't worried about keeping the grain shining through, I told him to make is as dark as he dared. He was worried he went too far but IMO it turned out great.
I sent him pictures of old Farquharson and Alex Henry rifles to show off the older style of checkering so he went with an original No. 1 style which follows the grip, doesn't have that flair at the back and comes up almost meeting behind the tang.
As to "slender as humanly possible", Roger understands slender like no other custom smith I've ever worked with. He did his normal lowering of the comb, moving it back and rounding out the pistol grip, but he also cut down the forend to a wisp. He even went so far as to cut down the nut that attaches it so he could remove even more wood. On the invoice he calls it an "Ultra-Slender English Stalking Rifle. And the coolest part will be readily apparent in the first picture since he pulled a cheekpiece out of the factory stock. He just cut away everything on the right side that wasn't a cheekpiece, leaving this nice little petite pad which is very functional and again mimics the older turn of the century styles. It obviously left the stock very slender and the gravy here it that it has the effect of giving it cast-on for a left hander.
Getting to the pics soon but the thing they can't show is the handling, and it is superb. The rifle as pictured weighs 6 lbs. 12 ounces. It comes up to a perfect cheek weld with my eye looking exactly through the rear sight with the front sight centered. I've posted pictures of a Ruger 10/22 sporter that Roger did up for me and called it a wand - this is another "wand". The weight, the slenderness of the pistol grip and the forend and the balance really have to be felt to be understood.
So, on to the amateur pics. This rifle really deserves a better photographer than I am who can fill in shadows and show how rich and warm the color really is. Probably wouldn't hurt to have it paired with a pith helmet and old, worn leather luggage as well.
Right and left post pics. It's not readily apparent but one of the tricks of the trade Roger used to give a more slender profile was to raise the grip cap and give it a more rakish angle so its line intersects the stock further forward.