HARPERC
Well-Known Member
Oregunsmithing also does excellent work.
Less well addressed is the butt stock fit. Pillar bedding a good fit will give long term improvement. Especially in cartridges prone challenging bedding.
Ruger #1 accuracy
- Thread starter sodakota
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HARPERC
Well-Known Member
Why? Plenty of sourced barrels, and 'smiths with better assurances it will shoot when you're done.
69precision
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- Mar 4, 2016
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- 178
Yep. Fell victim to it myself but at least it was easy to get rid of.
J W Voita
Member
There are a lot of good points being made here. And, a lot of frustrations vented. I get that. I guess in addition to the undeniable beauty of a #1, I have an attraction to a rifle who's accuracy potential can be realized by applying some understanding of what is going on between the stock (both halves) and the barreled action. I'm not talking about additions and modifications or replacing parts. As stated in my previous post, it is more about fit. Where the wood needs to contact the metal and where it shouldn't. On the factory stock, both the buttstock and the forearm are inletted with a milling machine, to an average fit. Herein lies one of the most common issues with the #1, and why some shoot and some don't. You don't have to swap out too many stocks before you discover that the actions are not all the same size. On a bolt gun there is usually a recoil lug that is fairly predictable in size and bedding it is pretty straight forward. On the #1, there are several points on the action with more irregular shapes that are acting as the "recoil lug". It's important that these have the proper fit. I like a bedded fit on the milled vertical surface at the back of the action and the web between the top and bottom tang where the buttstock takedown bolt threads in. I like a few thousanths clearance at the back of the safety tang. Too much of the recoil transferred here will result in a cracked stock, especially on chamberings like the 458 Lott. On the forearm, I want the chamber section of the barrel to have a home it can settle into, so I will bed that section. But, one has to be careful that the barrel is not being influenced by another point of pressure during that operation. Surely, most of you have noticed that the main spring strut is welded unto the action. No way to have that come out the same every time. I want the forearm takedown screw to deflect the strut slightly as it's tightened, but I don't want the end of the strut to contact the wood, so I relieve that a little. This gives the strut a kind of dampening action without vibrating on the wood when the gun is fired.
These are some of the techniques I use to get those tough cases to shoot well. There are many others and many other approaches.
J W Voita
Member
Would you buy a vehicle with low miles, numerous owners yet out of warranty and expect the dealer to fix it?
Why would you expect Ruger to care about an old rifle which you did not buy new? I don't understand your thinking by expecting an unconditional lifetime warranty. If you want that then buy a firearm from a manufacturer that offers an unconditional lifetime warranty.
FYI I had one in 375 H&H that shot well under 1 moa out of the box (I was the first owner). I sold it to someone on this forum.
Why would you expect Ruger to care about an old rifle which you did not buy new? I don't understand your thinking by expecting an unconditional lifetime warranty. If you want that then buy a firearm from a manufacturer that offers an unconditional lifetime warranty.
FYI I had one in 375 H&H that shot well under 1 moa out of the box (I was the first owner). I sold it to someone on this forum.
Typical for a number one
I have a bit of experience with the Ruger no 1. Back in the mid 80's, I had a 300 win mag and a 6mm remington. Neither shot very good. 2" groups were the norm. I sold both, but wished I had them both back now, after getting some education on them. I now have a Lipseys ruger no 1 in 25-06, and it will shoot moa to sub-moa, depending on load work-up and the nut behind the trigger. The first thing I can tell you is that placement of front support bag or rest is crucial in shot to shot consistency. Front rest must be as close to the receiver as possible, and must be in the same spot every shot or you're gonna get poi shift. I sanded out the forend pretty good, and then bedded the entire forend with pro-bed 2000. Now, when I put the forend back on to formfit to the barrel channel for drying and curing, I didn't tighten the forend screw down very tight. Just enough to force the excess bedding out of the top. After 12-24 hours, I pulled the forend off and did some cleanup of excess bedding and put it back on, and once again, didn't tighten the screw down past a snug fit, and let it cure for a couple more days. After that, I started doing load work-up. I took the load that I felt had the most potential for accuracy, and loaded up 20 rounds or so, whatever you want, and I'd shoot a 3 shot group, and then tighten up the forend screw, maybe a quarter or half turn, and shoot another 3 shot group. I'd repeat this process until I found the pressure that the rifle preferred, and you will find that optimal pressure point. That's all I did. No aftermarket trigger, although that would probably enhance the accuracy even more, no work to the butt stock or barrel crown. With 120 grain remington coreloks and Magpro powder, it'll do 1" or better as consistently as what I, the shooter is. Once again, can't emphasize the position of front support rest enough. Good luck. Keep at it. The accuracy is there, ya just gotta find what she needs.
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I guess I have been lucky with the No. 1's I have owned. I have owned them in .223, .22-250, .220 Swift and 7x57 with all of them sub-MOA. The best of the bunch is the Swift that will repeat 3/8" groups on a daily basis. It had a bunch of work done by the previous owner. Things like bedding, a hanger and set trigger. All the work he did on the rifle worked and works to this day. The others were completely stock and still shot excellent groups whenever I did my job pressing the trigger.
Varmiter71
Well-Known Member
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- Oct 14, 2015
- Messages
- 131
You might check the twist on the 6mm.
You also have to remember that until recent history a 3 moa rifle was an accurate rifle
I have had a few 2 of the 3 I never shot
But the one I did was in a 22-250 it had the hanger set screw already added when I bought it.
Unfortunately I bought it to build a wild cat on since it was the first rifle that I was able to kill a prairie dog at 500 yards.
The nice thing is that the wild cat shoots lights out.
Now if only I could get the old ruger m77 tang safety with a factory Douglas barreled 250 savage to shoot sub moa
You also have to remember that until recent history a 3 moa rifle was an accurate rifle
I have had a few 2 of the 3 I never shot
But the one I did was in a 22-250 it had the hanger set screw already added when I bought it.
Unfortunately I bought it to build a wild cat on since it was the first rifle that I was able to kill a prairie dog at 500 yards.
The nice thing is that the wild cat shoots lights out.
Now if only I could get the old ruger m77 tang safety with a factory Douglas barreled 250 savage to shoot sub moa
baldhunter
Well-Known Member
I had two Ruger 1's,still have one,a 1976 1-B.The other one was a 1977 1-V.Both these rifles where 7mags.Both shot about 2-3" at 100yds.First thing I did was float the forearm.I did a lot of the work right there at the range.That helped a little.The next thing I tried was,with JB Weld Kwik,I epoxied the forearm around the hanger screw.Those two improvements got them down to about an 1 1/2" shooters.I wanted better,so I shot five Tubbs Throat Maintenance bullets in each rifle.They both shot under an inch after that.Both those rifles fro what I could tell were Wilson barrels.As for Wilson barrels,I have a Ruger 77 Tang Safety model that had a Wilson barrel.The problem with that barrel was voids in the metal the barrel was made from.That barrel had small voids in the chamber and about an inch or so down the barrel,there were voids all the way around the rifling inside the barrel.Once the bullet hit that rough spot,it ripped the copper jacket,laying down a trail of copper down the barrel.I ended up rebarreling that rifle. Here is an article I found on improving the accuracy on a Ruger 1 https://www.rifleshootermag.com/edi...EGtaIDBDEs0KvNWRYgP_DjRX-nNBkKaISsS2zerVc7XWw
After I made improvements
After I made improvements
jamie eaton
Well-Known Member
My 220 swift shoots one hole all day . Most fun rifle I shoot because it's so boring . It great on the gongs because I switch from gong to gong to make it interesting . My cousin collected them had about 30 in all calibers . He was a left eye shooter due to a fishing hook in the eye so they were perfect for him .He had a 7mm rem mag that was the slayer of all deer . We called his elevated deer blind "Death Valley" any buck that walked in was dragged out . He has been gone 7 years now deer hunting has not been the same .
