I shot my .243 on Thursday, working on a new hunting load. Have to relearn the gun. Forgot it's a hunting rifle, it's not fond of five shot groups. The first two are dead on and tight. #3 can go low. 4&5 even more so. Plus, it's got a 4+lb trigger and a 4x max scope. Normally I can deal with that. But the other two rifle I was shooting were 2 lb trigger and 10x. And 24x and sub 1 lb trigger. So the switching was killing me. lol I always felt the trigger in the .243 was pretty good, better than my others, but the .25-06 has a JARD trigger in it that needs to come out before I sell it. That's what I've been dragging my feet on. Last night I took it out. Tonight it will go in the .243. In fact the scope that was on the .25-06 will as well, at least till I get a good load worked up.

With that, Ruger "cheapened" the No.1 trigger some years ago, which resulted in poorer triggers you can't do too much with. I'd forgot just how cheap it feels in the hand (alloy with a coating) till last night. A shame.

Anyway I'm rambling when we should be teasing people with the same old tired photos.

.475 Linebaugh, not a great picture, but the one I have. lol


.243Win


.25-06


450/400

Mine was in .270, loved the cartridge and it was deadly on white tails… never needed a second shot.

Mine wasn’t a “B”, it had gorgeous wood, the only drawback, was it was kind of heavy 9+ lbs with scope.

Absolutely loved it, should never have sold it.

If you can get for a good price, buy it.

I would.

Billy

Not everyone appreciates a single-shot rifle.
But for those that do, the Ruger #1 is a classy rifle.

I have one chambered in 45-70 and another one chambered in .44 Magnum, both blued.
Love them both and consider them special guns.

Thanks, all, for the replies. It's been an interesting weekend, with all the talking myself into and out of making the purchase.

Cas, that's some mighty good looking Rugers you've got there. What's the revolver?

The first one is a Freedom Arms 97 in .45 Colt.
The second, a Ruger Bisley 5 shot .45 Colt conversion (Alan Harton, Single Action Service)

Neat stuff, cas. Thank you.

- - - -

Trying to figure out what I can sell to bring in the funds for this #1.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: vthoky,

I wanted a Number 1 for more years than I can remember and basically had given up as the prices went so high. Then one day at the shop I was working, in walks a guy looking to sell some "old rifles". He did have some "old" ones. Five damn old Winchester lever guns and one Ruger. The boss bought everything for a hell of a lot less than they were worth and.....after putting them into the A&D book he told me to put the Ruger in the rack with a price tag of $400 on it. I looked at it and asked, How much can I buy it for? He looked at me and said $300. Needless to say I smiled and said "sold", pulled the money out of my wallet, put the money in the cash register, wrote it up/4473/phone call/etc and took it home at the end of the day. I cleaned it, mounted an old Burris scope/bore sighted it and made some loads plus some S&B factory ammo for the next weekend.

It has some decent wood and the blueing is fine/a few scratches from use in the woods/nothing bad. Its in 7x57 and it does something many have told me it won't do. I have found with the right load it will consistently shoot sub half inch if I do my part. That is not just a few rounds. I have actually run a 20 round box of ammo thru it at a pace where the barrel gets too hot to hold onto. Someone did some work on it long ago to make it run so well. Needless to say I am damn happy to have run into that deal. Still got it and don't plan to let it go at all. I guess it pays off to work in a gunshop as I have a few damn nice rifles I have gotten in similar ways. I guess it also pays to have a boss that thinks Rugers are junk.

I've always wanted one, but don't really need any centerfire rifle I don't have. I don't even really need all the ones I do have.

I bought a #1B in .30'06 about thirty years ago. I've used it to take mule deer, Axis deer, wild (feral) pigs, and javelina in the U.S., and Red Stag and Fallow Deer buck in Argentina. It's a bit tough finding the right scope for it, since that bridge makes eye relief an issue. Regardless, I found just the right Leupold glass (4-12X 40mm) and it puts the bullets right where they should be if I do my part.

A few years ago, my Dutch friend came out for a visit and as one that appreciates the qualities of the #1, he was very excited about seeing a limited number of .270 Winchester versions of the 1A (Medium Weight) rifles on sale at Cabelas. It took a bit of work, but we successfully exported the rifle to him in Holland and as far as we know, it's the only one of it's kind in Europe!

I have two both shoot groups that can be covered with a quarter @ 100yrds

Both are new to me this year. I have used them in the past as my father had some and is actually planning to send me his .204 1V laminated :-)

#1B 22-250 1983 red pad like new condition

#1V 220 Swift 1980 red pad used some, but good blueing and no obvious scratches.

As for accuracy, the 1B does string a little when using a bipod, but on a rest further back on the forearm I got mult quarter to 1 moa groups on first shoot. The 1V is doesn't care how the forearm is rested, presumably due to the heavy barrel.

As others have said there are ways to accurize them. Ruger also still supports them under support. You can go to their site bottom-right click on customer service and look up SN's, order parts or service, manuals, etc. They even offer to send you a shipping label for far less than you can ship it to them yourself. While they don't do custom work, I did contact them and they will inspect your rifle and give you a quote to return it to factory working condition (only, and not visually), so if you have mods like a trigger either put the orig back or they will for you! There are caveats and those are noted under the parts/service section or you can simply ask them before sending. But basically if you think it might or does have issues, they will check it out and if so fix or provide a quote (depending whether new or not)

There's at least one place that offers composite stocks for these, but I'm still waiting to hear back from them. If that works out I'll likely do the whichever I decide to use for my winter activities (snow, rain, brrrrrr, etc).

-- Jeff

Thank you for the information, Jeff.

(That's quite a nice first post! Welcome to the group.)

I was at a gun show about a year ago, central WI. A guy was walking around with his Ruger #1 for sale, don’t know the exact version. It was in at least decent shape, 270 Win. His price was $1k.

I like them, didn’t need that chambering or another deer type rifle. I did offer him $750 later, he declined.

If I found the right deal, but now prices are going up.

I had been looking for quite some time.

I wanted a stainless International, in .308, with a red pad and really nice wood.

After many months, I found this.

There is a member here who has one with exceptional wood, I am happy with this one.

Still looking for the right glass.

To answer the OP question, how cool ia No.1, very. Extremely. I am currently down to just two. A 30-06 in 1S that will hold MOA with factory ammunition, and a really cool .44 magnum. I replaced the rear sight on the .44 magnum with a Skinner sight. It's an absolute joy and now that I'm writing this, I realize I need to shoot it more.

Most good clean ones seem to be going for $1700 and up. That's not to say good deals can't be found, but yeah I was shocked how much No. 1's have gone up in the last decade. List per Lipsey's for new ones appears to be $2229-2459 and seems to go up every year.

quote:

Originally posted by sourdough44:
I was at a gun show about a year ago, central WI. A guy was walking around with his Ruger #1 for sale, don’t know the exact version. It was in at least decent shape, 270 Win. His price was $1k.

I like them, didn’t need that chambering or another deer type rifle. I did offer him $750 later, he declined.

If I found the right deal, but now prices are going up.

I've owned several in everything from 22 hornet to 45-70. None have been super tack drivers, but all were nice looking rifles and fun to shoot.

I started out falling into possession of a Ruger #3 in .375 and fell in love. Recently, a good friend brought an opportunity for an inside track on an estate sale of sorts. Family and their friends were invited to come pick what they wanted from an extensive collection prior to the estate sale. I picked up a beautiful 70’s model Ruger #1 in .45/70. Paid around $400. Looks like it had never been shot.

I like Ruger No. 1 rifles. All I ever seem to do with them is plink, on wooded family land, at relatively close range, so, the ultimate in accuracy has never been important.

Yes, indeed, one can plink, with .375 H&H, and .45-70.

Feral hogs would be targets of opportunity, but opportunities have never seemed to happen when I have had a No 1 rifle with me.

The #1 that's tempting me is in .270, but I figure one in .45-70 would be awesome.

A friend at work refers to .375 H&H as ".375 ouch and ouch."

I have a Number 1 in .458 Winchester Magnum. Believe it or not, the recoil is not bad at all.

Tim