Allure of the Ruger No1

[Nyala23]

@Nyala23
The 32-20 was the parent of the 25-20 and the 218 bee is the grandchild of the 32-20.
Bob

Thanks Bob!

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

A listing on Guns International for a 375 Flanged just had a price drop to $1615 if anyone is interested.

RUGER NO. 1 .375 FLANGED MAGNUM for sale

RUGER NO. 1 .375 FLANGED MAGNUM for sale online.

www.gunsinternational.com

 

[WAB]

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A listing on Guns International for a [emoji[emoji6]][emoji6] Flanged just had a price drop to $[emoji6][emoji6] if anyone is interested.

/ruger-no--[emoji[emoji6]][emoji6]-flanged-magnum.cfm?gun_id=[emoji[emoji6][emoji6]][emoji[emoji6]][emoji6][emoji[emoji6]][emoji[emoji6][emoji6]]" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">https://www.gunsinternational.com/g...ji6]]

Oh crap…

 

[WAB]

A listing on Guns International for a 375 Flanged just had a price drop to $1615 if anyone is interested.

RUGER NO. 1 .375 FLANGED MAGNUM for sale

RUGER NO. 1 .375 FLANGED MAGNUM for sale online.

www.gunsinternational.com

Actually interested in this gun but seller reviews online are somewhat disconcerting. Have any of you guys done business with guns.com?

 

[ThreeJacks]

Actually interested in this gun but seller reviews online are somewhat disconcerting. Have any of you guys done business with guns.com?

I have had very little success contacting them when I have been interested in one of their guns. I usually skip over their listings.

 

[kukusya]

I watch a lot of Ruger No 1s on Gunbroker. It is crazy what some of these rifles are going for.

450 NE

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257 Roberts
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6.5 x 55

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22 Hornet

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GB always have fools with their money. No1 can be had ~2K depending on model year and caliber. Classic Sporting Arms in TX have huge supply of no1. Just to remember don’t call tire kicking. Do own research what model desired first.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

GB always have fools with their money. No1 can be had ~2K depending on model year and caliber. Classic Sporting Arms in TX have huge supply of no1. Just to remember don’t call tire kicking. Do own research what model desired first.

Classic Sporting Arms hasn't updated their website in years. Do they have an actual bricks and mortar location? Or did the owner simply do an online only business?

 

[kukusya]

Classic Sporting Arms hasn't updated their website in years. Do they have an actual bricks and mortar location? Or did the owner simply do an online only business?

He does business over the phone. He is a mainly collector, and then FFL.

 

[Riflecrank]

Please allow me to join the Ruger No. 1 Love Fest.
I have 13 of them chambered from 6.5 Creedmoor to .500 A-Square.
I have let two others slip through my hands since 1984 first love,
and I cry myself to sleep over that.
In order, by caliber as they now adorn the safes:

6.5 Creedmoor:

 

[Riflecrank]

Factory ammo from Hornady and no break-in or cleaning, just fired right out of the box, closer view of the 100-yard 3-shot group, backside of cardboard and frontside of paper target.
I was aiming at big center diamond and landed closer to smaller upper right diamond on the target,
first shots after bore-sighting:

I got her zeroed dead-on at 100 yards and then let her rest in the shade before proceeding to 300 yards, where she was about 0.5-MOA for three shots in the prevailing winds.

Ruger No. 1-B from 2016 purchase.
6.5 Creedmoor
Twist 1:8"
Barrel Length 28"
Muzzle diameter 0.615"
Factory wood with LOP 13-5/8"
Bare weight of rifle 8 # 8 oz.
The pair of Ruger OEM rings of #4-height (medium) weigh about 6 oz.

If Ruger No. 1 rifles ever had accuracy problems early on, something got fixed.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

 

[Riflecrank]

This one is 2 ounces lighter and 4 inches shorter than the slick-barreled 6.5 Creedmoor:

 

[Riflecrank]

Next step up is a caliber that splits the gap between .375 and .416 as precisely as can be:

.395" monometal copper and brass (240-gr, 310-gr, 330-gr and 340-gr from CEB, S&H and GSC)
.396" LBT LFN GC Hardcast Greaser 410-grainer

Yes a wildcat, one of The Big Five Three-Ninety-Fives of my development during a long period of "wild."

Factory wood. Simple re-barrel of a 9.3x74mm Ruger No. 1-S.
Simply necked-up the 9.3mm bullet to 10.03mm, same cartridge case.
240-grainers at +2800 fps (most accurate with custom CEB MTH bullet)
410-grainers at +2200 fps (not bad with my homemade bullet)
It is no slouch.
Bare rifle weighs 7 # 8 oz.
Barrel length is 26-7/8" or call it 27".
Twist is 1:12" as it is for all of my .395 wildcats.
Harry McGowen made the barrels, special request.
After he sold to Montana the orders dried up, heh-heh-heh.
But there is one other "400/395 Nitro Express 3-Inch Aboriginal" living in Colorado, done by a friend:

I could go on and and on about the "400 Purdey Light Rifle Express" of .405-caliber/230-grain soft bullet versus a supposed .400 Nitro Express by Purdey with 230-grain FMJ solid bullet.
Ha ha.
The truth was that the ".400 S. Jeffery" of 1897 which eventually became the "450/400 NE 3-Inch" was the first ever cartridge in the later named class of Nitro Express cartridges.
400-grainer at 2150 to 2200 fps.

 

[Riflecrank]

That first 450/400 NE 3-Inch by Jeffery was done on a Farquharson, so easier to pass proof.
John Rigby came in second in Nov. 1897 with his "450 S. Rigby" on his fifth attempt at proof of a set of double rifle barrels, a greater achievement, which was later renamed the 450 NE 3-1/4".

A 450/400 NE 3-Inch Ruger No. 1 is a close re-enactment of the first ever Nitro Express rifle.

My "400/395 NE 3-Inch Aboriginal" Ruger No. 1 is a fanciful re-enactment of the imaginary
".400 Nitro Express" that never was.

Davy Crockett's first rifle was a .40-cal, before he went to Texas.
Mine shoots a .395"-diameter lead ball patched to fit its .40-bore.
Same gunsmith made my flintlock as made my 400/395 NE Ruger No. 1:

 

[Riflecrank]

The first ever cartridge in the Nitro Express class was the 450/400 NE 3" aka 400 S. Jeffery of 1897
in a Farquharson rifle like this specimen of 450/400 NE 3" by Jeffery:

Here is one that was rebuilt from a spare action, converted to tang safety, almost as pretty as a Ruger No. 1:

Rifle owner said:
"I took the rifle to the Selous area of Tanzania on my 60th birthday and shot a 43” cape buffalo at 15 yards, proving the worth of the original design and the superb work of the contemporary craftsmen."

Read about that incredible restoration here, lots to read and pictures galore:

Fantastical Story of Restoration

 

[Riflecrank]

Funny story: When Hornady and Ruger teamed up to revive the 450/400 NE, for the Ruger No. 1,
Craig Boddington lobbied for the 3-Inch version with thick rim as it is today in Hornady ammo.
Ross Seyfried wanted the 3-1/4", thin-rimmed version.
We know who won.

Some people think the old, thin-rimmed 450/400 BPE 3-1/4" was the parent case for the 450/400 NE.
Not so.
W. J. Jeffery designed a totally new, thick-rimmed case of only 3" length for the first ever Nitro Express class cartridge, the 400 S. Jeffery.
John Rigby might have started working on the 450 S. Rigby first, but by hook or by crook, Jeffery beat him to first field trials and sales in mid 1897.

The 450/400 NE 3-1/4" was a me-too later development by other makers that failed against Jeffery's version.
It had no better ballistics and had an inferior case design used that caused sticking of brass in chambers, etc.
Rigby's 450 NE 3-1/4" had no such problems.
It was much in demand, as double rifle or single, as was the 450/400 NE 3" Jeffery.
Better brass in both ?

All those old 450 BPE 3-1/4" rifles made by H&H, obsoleted by Rigby's 450 NE 3-1/4",
were strong enough to convert to Nitro Express if they were Farquharson-actioned, single-barreled.
Not so the double rifles of pre-1897 steel.
A new steel was what allowed Rigby to make the first ever Nitro Express DR, November 1897.
Thin pair of barrels in a double rifle's set required stronger steel.
The thicker barrels on the singles were often OK for conversion to NE if H&H made them and gave the OK,
and if they had Farquharson actions, strong enough, even of old steel.
Of course the Ruger No. 1 of modern steel is stronger then the old Farkie.

To allow this conversion, H&H would "cone up the breech" of the old BPE to allow the new NE ammo to be used.
This consisted of giving a No-Throat BPE a Long-Leade-Throat.

Sort of like the difference between a SAAMI .458 Lott (BPE throat)
versus the SAAMI .458 WIN MAG (H&H-coned-up-breech throat).

 

[Riflecrank]

Another humorous aside:
Purdey was cheeky enough to try calling their "400 Purdey" a "Nitro Express" when that terminology came into vogue circa 1900. That did not last long for Purdey, and they soon reverted to
"400 Purdey Light Rifle Express" and just concentrated on making them more purty/pretty than anyone else's makes.
Purdey just could not compete with a 450/400 NE 3" regarding effectiveness in the field,
even if their rifles were purtier.

Historical traces I discovered after I re-invented the .395-caliber:

 

[Riflecrank]

My 400/395 NE competes with the 450/400 NE 3" by way of THROAT THROAT THROAT.
410-grainer at 2200 fps from the 27" barrel:

OK, both targets are only 3-shot, 50-yard, but certainly minute of mouse and minute of buffalo respectively.
They showed promise, as so frequently happens from a Ruger No. 1.
Time to move on to another Ruger No. 1 chambering.

 

[Riflecrank]

But wait, before moving on, here is the elephant load for the 400/395 Nitro Express that never was:

That trio of .395-caliber bullets feeds my next Ruger No. 1 too, the .395 Tatanka, biggest case capacity of the .395-Five.

 

[Riflecrank]

I have never had any accuracy problems from Ruger No. 1 rifles whether factory chamberings or my crazy wildcats.
.395 Tatanka:
One of those 1-H Tropical .416 Rigby No. 1's was rebarreled with a custom profile 26" long and 0.710" muzzle diameter, Cerakote matte black chrome-moly.
Exactly 9.0 pounds as pictured below:

And the Master Mechanical Engineer and Gunsmith who screwed up the chambering identification,
bless his heart, might have been a medical issue with onset of a retinal condition:

I have access to laser engraving now, cheap and quick and just excellent.
One of the few things in life where you can have all three qualities,
after a half-million dollars of high-tech machinery is installed by someone else.

Patriot Laser Engraving

My first use of it was to honor my Gunsmith of over the last 23 years, to put his name on a .458 WIN MAG, not trusting his stamping anymore !

The .395 Tatanka Ruger No. 1 is dressed in drab, but somehow more appealing to me because of it.
The cartridge itself has taken deer, baboon and zebra with equal aplomb in pass-throughs from any angle with one of these:
340-gr/.395 GSC FN or HV at 2750 fps,
330-gr/.395 S&H FN at 2850 fps,
310-gr/.395 S&H Hexploder at 3000 fps
240-gr/.395 CEB MTH at 3300 fps,
from the 26" barrel.

From the bullet trap, expands in water at impact as low as 1600 fps, S&H 310-gr Hexploder:

About 2800 fps MV is most comfortable with those 310-grainers:

100-yard 3-shot group above,
50-yard 3-shot groups below:

The Ruger No. 1: Stout and accurate, even when re-barreled to a just about any wildcat with a rim no bigger than a .577 NE.
If NECG actually did a 20-gauge on a Ruger No. 1, I wonder how.
My Master Gunsmith tried and could not get the extractor to work on a rim that big.