Ruger Number 1

[PatMarlin]

Though I'd get this catagory started.

Found this in a hawk shop for $350 like it sits a few years back, perfect bore No. 1 in 300 Win Mag, and it is sub moa shooter with condom's but problem is I'm not a condom shooter. Sports a Leupy 3.5x10 now, after it decided to kiss my eyebrow with the old scope... :mrgreen:

Anyone have any real experience with cast boolits and the 300 Winny?

[madcaster]

My,my what a nice stick of firewood on that thar wiffle!It's a bueaty PatMarlin,
Jeff.

[cabezaverde]

Madcaster - --

Your pot is on the way. Don't tell me you like single shots too!!!

[PatMarlin]

Thanks Jeff.

Don't tell me you guys use that pot when you reload do you?.. :mrgreen:

[Nrut]

Though I'd get this catagory started.

Found this in a hawk shop for $350 like it sits a few years back, perfect bore No. 1 in 300 Win Mag, and it is sub moa shooter with condom's but problem is I'm not a condom shooter. Sports a Leupy 3.5x10 now, after it decided to kiss my eyebrow with the old scope... :mrgreen:

Anyone have any real experience with cast boolits and the 300 Winny?

You might ask Bass what he thinks about shooting cast in your No. 1 Pat....:mrgreen:

[PatMarlin]

I do. I ask him Bi- annually whether he likes it or not.. :mrgreen:

[SharpsShooter]

Well lessee....hmmm. You could take a pipe wrench and wind the barrel out and have a decent cast boolit caliber screwed onto it...say 38-55, 40-65, 45-70. 40-60SS.........you get the idea.


SS

[PatMarlin]

Hmmm... 38-55.. [smilie=1:

[9.3X62AL]

I greatly enjoy my #1 in 45-70. I've talked about it here quite a bit, so I won't belabor the matter deeply--but it is my favorite cast boolit rifle and caliber, I believe.

Just my opinion here.......the 338 Win Mag and the 375 H&H are my idea of "sensible" belted magnums. Maybe the 458 as well, but the 45-70 makes that kind of a "whatzis" for me. For cast boolits, a re-tube sounds pretty reasonable to me, and 38-55 makes a lot of sense. Dunno what mods will be required for the extractor/ejector, maybe 375 or 458 aren't such bad plans.

[onceabull]

PatMarlin: MY take on how you should spend YOUR $..24-28 " barrel, 375 Win. ( "Magnum 38/55) ..Wish my #3 barrel was that long.. Onceabull

[PatMarlin]

I had a chance to buy a no 1 in 45-70 with the wood as nice as mine but in much better condition for $450 one time and I didn't do it cause cash was tight. That's never stopped me much before, but I wish I would have bought that one.

375 Win would be nice, cept I have no molds for it. I guess that's never stopped me neither.. :mrgreen:

[Bad Ass Wallace]

Ruger custom - 28" octagonal barrel, french walnut stock 45/120 Sharps

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v152/BAWallace/45_120_Sharps.jpg

Ruger 1B in 243

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v152/BAWallace/Ruger1243b.jpg

Also have a standard factory 1V in 22PPC and a custom 38/55 Win.

[madcaster]

Seems like most Rugers I have seen have all had the prettiest wood in the Number 1 model,with some Model 77's having nicer wood as well.

[PatMarlin]

Nice Wallace... :drinks:

HEY! What about the 416 Remington Magnum?

I was flippin' through my book, and it has the exact same size case head, belt and diameter body as the 300 Winny, but is longer and of course changes at the sholder, but it looks like maybe if my barrel was fat enough, a simple reamer, and rebore would work.

I wonder how well th 416 would shoot cast? Looks like it would be awesome.

Looks like you could make the brass from the 300 Winchester too. Maybe just a little short as it stretched out.


...

[PatMarlin]

My Barrel is .622 at the muzzle so that leaves .206, and didn't someone say you need at least .100 of tube left for a rebore?

[9.3X62AL]

Dunno about that, Pat. A re-tube seems a lot simpler to me, and I don't know what the cost differential is between the two processes. I suspect a re-bore might be a little harder to find a practitioner for than would a re-barrel....perhaps someone who is knowledgeable on the subject (unlike yours truly) could provide a better answer.

I'm going to have a Rem 788 re-done into 250 Savage from 22-250. The 22-250 will have its Last Rat Season this spring to empty out the loaded ammo on hand, then off to the smithy for conversion to the more useful chambering. I already tried the 250 ammo in the magazine, both j-word and cast loads run like water right into the chamber.

[NVcurmudgeon]

Pat, having lived through the gunsmithing horror story of the twentieth century, I would strongly advise you not to have your No. 1 rebored. I had a four digit serial number, beautiful wood, .243 No. 1. After 1500 rounds, two mulies, many rats, and an antelope the throat was gone. I decided to have it rebarreled to .280 Remington because what true gun nut wants the same caliber again? I phoned Ruger for a quote and was told by a screechy female that they would only rebarrel "in the same caliber and configuration." I still wanted the rifle to look original on the outside, so decided on reboring. Luckily there was a famous, but not high volume barrelmaker in nearby Sonora who was willing to rebore my barrel. I decided on .284 Winchester as a cartridge that would clean up a .243 chamber. After about a year of every gunsmith excuse in the book, the barrelmaker confessed that he could not rebore my barrel because "the metal was too hard, and he had ruined a lot of tools, but he would replace the barrel for the original bid for reboring." Another year of monthly phone conversations went by before my rebarreled rifle was returned. This time the excuses had been more imaginative. The barrelmaker's father, after a long illness had died. Small loss there, because the barrelmaker had to be 75, so his father lived to a ripe old age! Then there was the large production run of barrels for a custom revolver manufacturer. Anyway the rifle shot good enough, but the cases came out looking UGLY. I sent two cases and the dies to RCBS and was told that my nice new barrel had excessive headspace. Fearing that the barrelmaker would croak before I could get him to fix the rifle and I'd never see it again, I had a young smith, recommended by my friendly local gun dealer, rechamber the rifle to 7mm Remington Magnum. (BTW, I hate overbore capacity belted magnum cartridges.) Well, the new smith did a clean job of rechambering, but this time there wasn't enough windage adjustment in the scope to get the rifle shooting center. As a last effort, I tried a set of special rings from Burris, which helped some. Now I could get a windage zero with 175 grain bullets only. At this point, I traded the rifle off to a friend of mine for a genuine NRA Sporter Springfield, and wrote off a large debt he owed me, and kept him from mounting a scope on the Springfield, which was one of fewer than 5,000 Sporters ever made. All's well that ends well, the Springfield is my favorite all-time rifle, shoots CB only, and has distinguished itself repeatedly in postal matches and NCBS. But I wouldn't go through it again for a free shopping spree at Holland and Holland!

[NVcurmudgeon]

P.S. for Pat, yes, reboring is a good idea for preserving a historical treasure, say reboring Townsend Whelen's Krag to .35 Krag. But with all due respect, there are a lot of No. 1 Rugers in the world and precious few reborers!

[JSH]

Funny you guys started this up on the #1's. A friend of mine has the wants and is on his way to obtaining a Tropical in 458 Lott. His thoughts are of loading it up and down with CB's and having some what of a modern spin on the older 45's.
We were talking this Am about brass for this animal. Rather than use the Lott brass, as it is pricey, we thought maybe of using the 375 blown out straight. This would be use for mild loads and plinking, if plinking could be done with such a piece of artillery.
Any of you gent thoughts on loads and bullets would be thankful.
Also, he is lookint for a good set of iron sights. He mentione the only thing he has found were the NECG sights. I beleive they monted on the Weaver base or the Ruger dove tail? Are there an other options you guys know of?
Thanks and I will pass this along to him.
Jeff

[onceabull]

NvCurmudgeon.. still outstanding patience and diplomacy at work describing that adventure in "gunsmithing" Shame you didn't know me then,as I could have warned you about trying to do business with ANYBODY from Sonora....:mrgreen: Onceabull :mrgreen:

[PatMarlin]

Points well taken Bill, and thanks for taking the time to do it!

Well- I would hate to ruin the rifle as it's got all the accuracy a 300 Winchester's known for.

This rifle's kind of on the other end of the spectrum as it could or should have been a safe queen when it was new, but the owner hunted with it, wore the blue like any other rifle that's been well used but not abused, so it would be difficult to re-barrel and match the natural wear. Put a new barrle on this rifle, and it would look like crap.

At that point you might as well restore the whole peice, and it would be a safe queen again done right, but one thing that attracted me to this rifle was the wear, and seeing such a nice piece have the wear like it does is kinda of neat.

Well damn- the more I think about a 416 Remington, utilizing my 300 Winchester brass that I have a pile, the more I like that Idea. Maybe I'll have one made out of my 1917 sporter and see how I like it.

I'd like to talk with the best reborer in the business and get his opinion, then see if he would guranntee it would work. Or not.. :mrgreen:

[longhorn]

BAW-what twist did you get in the .45-120 barrel? You ever shoot black in it?

[joeb33050]

I have had 300 WM in Ruger #1, Rem 40X and Savage Tactical rifles.
All shot well.
Glen Latham recommended, years ago, 311299 (maybe now 314299) over 24/IMR4227 and Rem 2 1/2. I shot this load with 311299 and 31141 and it is very accurate.
In the Savage another good load was 17/Unique, same bullets.
The Savage would average a little over 1" 100 yard 5 shot 5 groups. Some days a little under, this with Weaver 3-9.
The Ruger maybe a little bigger groups. I never had a #1 that shot cast as well as I wanted.
The 40X shot too good, I had to get rid of it. The guy I sold it to shot some under 2" groups, 5 shots at 300 yards, and loved to rub it in. But if it's easy, why do it?
I like the 300WM because it headspaces on the belt and cases don't shorten up; I think it can be as accurate as a 30/06 or 308.
joe b.

[PatMarlin]

Thanks Joe.

I've got those molds and that powder and we'll give her try... :drinks:

[Bad Ass Wallace]

BAW-what twist did you get in the .45-120 barrel? You ever shoot black in it?
It shoots black all the time. 540gn bullet through a 1:14 tube works very well. The scope is a Lyman 10x "All American" that has suprisingly taken the punishment for years without problems.

[fourarmed]

If you can find a copy of the cast bullet book that Wolfe Publishing put out some years back, there is an article in it by Jim Carmichel on shooting cast in the .300 Win Mag. If you can't find a copy, PM me your mailing address, and I will photocopy the article for you.

[PatMarlin]

I've done some searches and can't find it. Can I send you a self addressed stamped envelope for a copy?...... :drinks:

[fourarmed]

PM sent.

[mdatlanta]

Strange how things work out....

I just picked up my new-to-me #1 in .300 Win Mag today. It's a bit much for whitetails here in GA, but I thought maybe low-power loads with cast boolits and WC-860 or some such would work, so I did a search on cast boolits in .300 Win Mag and stumbled onto this thread.

Thanks to Joeb33050 for the info. I have one of those moulds, and will give it a try. I've also been tearing apart my "library" looking for my old Cast Boolit Annual from Wolfe--thanks for that reference, too!

Has anyone used WC-860 and J-bullets in .300 Win Mag?

Mike

[Bob S]

This is a No. 1 with a 30" 45-70 barrel:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v76/BobS1/BPCR/Ruger45-70LRFL.jpg

I built this when Black Powder Long Range rules were still provisional (1993), artificial support was *not* allowed, slings were allowed, and sights with clicks were allowed.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v76/BobS1/BPCR/Ruger45-70LRrearsight.jpg

How to get from 100 yds to 1000 yds-plus with a Redfield International or Palma:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v76/BobS1/BPCR/Ruger45-70LRrearsightbase.jpg

Move the sight up the base in steps.

As it turns out the choice of Douglas Premium barrel was a poor one because the twist is 1:22. but it sure is a hammer with a 450 grain bullet at 300 yards.

The rules have changed ... they use cross sticks or wrist rests, like in "silhouette"; and "period" only sights must be used ... although I have never ever seen a Soule-type sight on a real original Creedmoor rifle of the 1874-1880 period. I got distracted from BP-LR in 1994 as I went through a divorce, and when I came back for a look recently, I got disinterested because of the artificial support, so this rifle is a safe queen now. But if you want a big bore No. 1, rebarreling is the way to go.

Resp'y,
Bob S.

[JSH]

I will tag this thread, with a bit of an up date on my buds 458 Lott. It arrived and looks every bit as good if not a tad better than I have come to expect of #1's.
He has had this for a couple of weeks now and ran some FLGC stuff through it to smooth the bore. He was telling me that Ruger retooled a while back and are making their own barrels? If so this one is a dandy, little to no fouling. FLGC and CB's clean up with no muss no fuss.
I had some 405's cast up and pan lubed, then I cabbaged on to a handful of Lyman 500's from another friend. He has since bought a Lee 500 mould and a 450. I will say this, the lube grooves on the 500 mould are really not to my liking. The shoot well enough, but have a beveled edge and don't seem to want to hold the lube very well IMHO. The 450 mould is a typical Lee lube groves, but they work fine. The 450 part # and catalog picture show it to be a PB. The mould is stamped with the same nuber as the box, but it is a GC type.
As to loads, bare with me as I don't recall excat #'s. He used some of the milsurp powder that is known to shoot very well but leaves a lot of "gravel" in the barrel. He has also tried some H4895 loads as per Ross Seifreid. On the FLGC, I don't recall what powder.
The 4895 loads were fairly pleasant to shoot.
The milsurp stuff with a compressed load was stiff but not real abusive with the 450's, the 500's were a bit rougher.
The 500FLGC with what he refered to as a top end 458WM load was tolerable, but I would not want more than a few at a sitting.
I will say this on the 4895 load. They were not bad enough to make his 9 year old daughter back off. He asked her if she wanted to try it, sure she says. First shot went off and the kid plumb center punched the 16"x20" steel plate at 100M. She kind of rubbed her shoulder and made a stament of it has quite a bit of thump. She sat back down, jacked the action open and nicely asked for another one! The second one hit about 1" R of the 1st.
I would bet a steak dinner that there is not another 9 year old let alone a young lady that grabbed up a 458 Lott and shot it, then asked for another with in 1000 miles of here,lol.
Next time out I will get some pic's. I think you guys will get a big charge out of that.
Jeff

[Frank46]

Pat, don't know if you know about this but hornady and ruger either have or will be coming out with a ruger #1 tropical rifle chambered in one of the old time british cartridges. Memory prevents me from naming the cartridge (CRS) but it was on the latest Guns & Ammo show on the tube. I'll say one thing about the #1's stock. A buddy was shooting his marlin 1895 in 45/70 and his loads were right up there. He kinda grimaced each time he pulled the trigger. I had my #1 in 45/70 with me and let him shoot one of his cartridges in it. The difference was like night and day to him. The following week his marlin was for sale and he had a new #1 in 45/70 of course. Frank

[PatMarlin]

Sounds like Ruger listens to shooters. Bringing out the old carts like the .358 Win is smart medicine. I just don't want to buy any more brand new guns. I think I'm gonna stick with antiques and curios from now on.

Few years ago, I passed on buying a beautiful #1 in 45-70 for $450. I wish I would have got it. I like the guide gun too and would not sell it... ever. I love that Marlin, but will get a #1 in the grand old cartridge someday.

I think I'm going to go for the rebore on my 300 Win mag. It's so far shown not to be to cast friendly.

Fourarmed Bob is going to send me an article on the subject, and I'll keep trying though.. :Fire:

[PatMarlin]

Strange how things work out....

I just picked up my new-to-me #1 in .300 Win Mag today. It's a bit much for whitetails here in GA, but I thought maybe low-power loads with cast boolits and WC-860 or some such would work, so I did a search on cast boolits in .300 Win Mag and stumbled onto this thread.

Thanks to Joeb33050 for the info. I have one of those moulds, and will give it a try. I've also been tearing apart my "library" looking for my old Cast Boolit Annual from Wolfe--thanks for that reference, too!

Has anyone used WC-860 and J-bullets in .300 Win Mag?

Mike

Done any shootin' with yours yet Mike?