Today It Happened… a Ruger #3

[braddock]

Nice #3, Braddock. What varmints are available for hunting in the UK? That 223 would be just the thing for our Virginia groundhogs. My best friend here used to use a 222 bolt gun on them here in VA, so I guess I could keep my #3 as-is for that purpose if I weren’t Jonesing so badly for a 327 FM in a single shot rifle.
Froggie

We got rabbits, fox, muntjac deer plus all the feathered ones when they land in front of a good backstop, though, tbh, under a couple hundred yards those VGs don't stay in one piece, especially if you hit the birds smack on the breast. I don't hunt much any more especially with the 223 as it's so bloody loud.

ith

[Green Frog]

Wow Braddock, that mail boat was slow going East! Maybe this one will be quicker. I hear ya on firing that 223, but since I’m getting close to legally deaf anyway, I’d be more concerned about the bloody mess it would make of the game than the bloody noise it would make!

What’s the hunting situation there in the UK these days? Do you have to be a landowner (or good friend of one) to hunt, or are there places available for the common folk like myself? In my area, it’s not too hard to get hooked up with one of our local farmers (especially if you “know somebody who who knows somebody”). Shooting clubs for clay, steel and paper are reasonably close and the one to which I belong offers wide programs in all three.

I guess I’ll just have to try this 223 Ruger #3 on our 300 yd range. But I have been plotting for so very long to own a #3 in the versatile 327 Fed Mag chambering that if my health and finances last, it WILL be done! It took me too long to find and buy the suitable donor gun for this project to turn back now.

Froggie

[braddock]

Mail boat still slow!! Hope your health is holding out.
It's not desperately difficult to get hunting, I belong to pigeon clubs where we are welcomed for crop protection but this is shotgun/airgun hunting.
Rifle shooting is a little more involved basically because the certificate (permit) we get for rifles has conditions attached, to use them for hunting written permission is needed so the police can add the condition to the certificate once that's done the other hoop you gotta jump through is the animals you can shoot, vermin destruction covers many things, deer and hogs have to be specified and there are agreed procedures and minimum calbers that can be used.
Many police forces insist on a hunting qualification which proves your competence and safety with rifles. That's not difficult understanding the calibers is.
We have 4 countries in the UK, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
For england and wales the calibers are the same, for muntjac and chinese water deer minimum bore of 224 minimum muzzle energy of 1000 ft pounds, for the other deer minimum is 244 bore (6mm) minimum energy is 1700 foot pounds. It's very similar (but not identical) in NI but in Scotland it's a buggers muddle there are minimum energy requirements but also a minimum muzzle velocity of around 2450 fps which just about rules out old time calibers, some 30/30 scrape in but 600 NE doesn't neither does most 45/70 loads I don't even want to go there , suffice to say most full bore military calibers cut it plus all the other crap but TBH scotland isn't a place I want to return to for deer hunting. On top of all that all the countries specify a minimum bullet weight, I think it's 100 grains for 6mm up and 50 for 224 sized.
What everyone wants to get as a condition on their certificate is "any other legal quarry" or AOLQ.
I've managed to confuse myself so I'll add this link which can elucidate more :- https://bestpracticeguides.org.uk/fe...pigs-shooting/
I have a 308 if I choose to hunt again plus the 223, 30/30 and 357 mag for the smaller deer. The Win 94 in 30/30 and the rossi R92 in 357 are both "made" for woods shooting in the UK, the 223 #3 is really handy but not so good at brush bucking as the other 2 but great for open field shots.
So the answer to your query is yes provided you manage your way through all that crap I mentioned. Otherwise the credit card rules and you can buy hunting really cheap as deer are being culled in ever greater numbers as they have absolutely no predators.
The minimum caliber for hogs in England and Wales was 270 win but I think that's been relaxed somewhat

[15meter]

I’ve told this story before, but here goes. About 30+ years ago, Dad was the third owner of a #3 in 45-70. It came with the original box of factory ammo, with only 2 rounds fired. That should have been a warning to us. He shot it once and I shot it twice (I’m a slow learner!) and that carbine got swapped off with a box of 15 unfired rounds. I don’t need that kind of abuse.
Froggie

Waaaay late to the party, a buddy had a #3 in 45-70 that he loaded with full house #1 Ruger jacketed loads. I shot 1 (one!) and went looking for a shoulder to cry on and reduced loads.

Settled on 4.4 grains of Clays under a Lyman 457122. Made a very nice load.

After my buddy passed away I ended up with some of his loads, including the shoulder busters. I just disassembled the last of them this past winter. Best thing that happened to them.

[pietro]

The only thing I didn’t like was how cramped the lever became when used with a pistol grip. Has anyone here tried to heat and reshape one of these levers?

Froggie

FWIW, the lever doesn't need to be re-shaped IME

Once upon a time, I bought a used #3 that some amateur had fitted an aftermarket PG buttstock on - and, as you said, the lever was cramped because the owner just installed the buttstock w/o adjusting the PG profile. (or shortening the extra-long LOP that the stockmaker left on the stock wood)

I cut the lower end of the PG to an angle equal to a straight line from the PG bottom flat to the top of the buttstock's heel after I shortened the stock to a 14" LOP - both of which operations also moved the fwd end of the PG bottom away from the lever towards the rear, thereby "un-cramping" the lever.