Rebarrelling a No1 to 308Win.

[Four Fingers of Death]

I have ended up with two No1s in 338WM. I am considering rebarrelling the 1B to 308Win. It will be a 1B profile barrel. After I run the barrel in it will be used for cast pretty well exclusively. I was thinking 1 in 12" would be best. Im interested to see what others here think. Also what would be the best throating for it?
I have been humming and haaring over this for some time and decided to try and duplicate the first No1 Ruger shipped. (308Win, 26" medium weight barrel with a beavertail forend Serial No 935).

[lbaize3]

Hey, FFOD. Wouldn't a 1 in 10 twist give you more accuracy with the heavier lead boolit and lower velocities? Really like your idea of changing to a .308.

[Doc Highwall]

FFOD, as a cast bullet shooter exclusively what kind of shooting are you going to use this rifle for?
If you are going to use it for hunting with heavy bullets a 1-12" twist and a short 22" barrel would work, but if you are only going to use it for range use you could use a longer barrel and a slower twist such as 1-14" or 1-16" like on the high velocity thread with full power loads with accuracy.

[Clay M]

I bought my Savage 112 BVSS .308 for shooing cast.It has the 1-10" twist..
That model rifle hold some of the records with the cast bullet association..
They have a division exclusively for it.

I would go with a 1-10" and a Varmint weight barrel for cast shooting,as most of the bullets you will use are probably going to be heavy.. like 200 grs.
for serious target work..If you are only going to shoot lighter bullets, then 1-12" twist.

[Char-Gar]

If I were going to lay out the time and/or money to rebarrel a No. 1 to a 30 caliber, I would choose the 30-40 Krag. Same powder capacity as .308 and the nice long neck to hold cast bullets. If cases are hard to come by Down Under, I would think about the 303 British. I really do like cases that head space on the rim if they don't give feeding issues in a magazine rifle, which of course the No. 1 is not.

A twist of 1-12 would provide more options for cast bullet shooting than 1-10 and do well with jacketed bullets up to about 180 grains. In other words, it should work great.

[skeettx]

Or sell the gun and buy a 308 #1
Mike

p.s.

http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/36_59_111/products_id/70631

this one is sold but gives an idea

http://www.gunsamerica.com/975714421/Ruger-Model-1B-in-308-Win-w-3x9x-Leupold.htm

[EDG]

I would never build something that already exists.

Were I to rebarrel a Ruger #1 the cartridge would have a rim, a long neck if possible and a common bullet diamter.
Hopefully it would use a common brass. For lead bullets the case would have a small capacity and at least 7mm.

1. 30-40 Krag
2. .303 British with either .308 preferred groove dia. (.311 bore second choice).
3. .35 Remington chamber with a rim recess so you can use .303 brass.
4. .33 Win. The brass is .45-70. The bullets are .338.
5. .32-40 Win/Ballard Very popular for more than 100 years with cast bullets for accuracy
6. .35 Win Common bullet diameter and .405 Win brass
7. .38-55 or .38-56 Win .30-30 brass or .45-70 brass
8. 9X57 Mauser rimmed set up for .358 bullets
9. 9.5X57 Mauser/Mannlicher rimmed .375 bullets

[ASSASSIN]

A 308 or 307 Winchester properly throated for the specific cast boolits you want to shoot, with a 1-10" or 1-11" twist rate, would provide optimum cast bullet accuracy with bullet weights up to 200 grains.

If you prefer a longer neck for cast boolits, the already mentioned 30-40 Krag would make for an excellent cartridge in your Ruger #1....

[Four Fingers of Death]

The rim doesn't seem to make much difference to the Ruger, it spits cases out of my rimless one pretty much the same as the rimmed 303 and the belted magnum No1s I own. I don't see it as copying anything more as a tribute to old Bill or a memorial / replica

[Four Fingers of Death]

The rifle has some sentimental value as well. It was owned by Nick Harvey, a gun writer that I know who lives locally and it was bought directly from Bill Ruger during a visit to the factory. It has pretty exceptional wood.

[Four Fingers of Death]

The rifle has some sentimental value as well. It was owned by Nick Harvey, a gun writer that I know who lives locally and it was bought directly from Bill Ruger during a visit to the factory. It has pretty exceptional wood.

[sisterjim]

I'm interested to hear how this progresses. I just bought Apex Bergara in 308. Twist rate is 1:11. Want to work up a full power combination with a cast boolit. I figure it will need something in the 200 grain weight category about 2000fps +/- 200 fps, maybe heavier. I have a 190grain 311407 but it will have to sit way down in case. There is an ELCO bullet with a high BC on NOE. Keep us posted.

[rollmyown]

FF, Just curious, did you keep or sell your # 1 in 303 Brit?

[Four Fingers of Death]

Nope, still got it, I haven't got around to doing much with it yet. Best be getting the finger out. I got distracted by another Ruger, an M77Mk2 in 300WM. I was all set to get rid of it when my mate turned up with a hundred reloads in new cases (he is the club armourer and reloads fr a lot of guys. I dug it out of the safe and took them to the range. First three shots almost touching on every group I fired. Looks like I might have me a new go to rifle, haha!

[Doc Highwall]

Find out what his load consists of and write it down or you will be kicking your butt if something happens to him.

[pietro]

.

Rebarreling a .338WM Ruger #1 to .308W would also entail a new/different extractor (of .30-06 size/diameter), because the .338WM's head size is larger than that of the .308/.30-06 sized.


.

[Good Cheer]

Watching 10" twist discussions with interest...

[Larry Gibson]

Four Fingers

If your intention is cast bullets then the .308W is a good choice but I suggest the 14" twist. in a 24 - 26" barrel. The oal of the rifle will be the same as most bolt action rifles with 22" barrels.

The 14" twist will stabilize the 200 gr 311299 contrary to what many "think". A fast twist for cast bullets is not optimum if top end performance with accuracy is wanted. Consider that the 12" twist is optimum for the 30-30 with cast bullets of 150 - 190 gr in weight simple because the top end velocity peaks where the accuracy peaks. With the 308W in a 10 or 12" twist barrel, especially a shorter one, all you do to maintain accuracy is download it's velocity potential. So then why have the larger case for cast bullets if all you do is down load?

I have well proven the capability of the .308W with a 14" twist in the RPM and XCB threads. I have demonstrated the 411041 cast of a ternary hunting alloy can be pushed to 2500+ fps and maintain excellent accuracy to 300 yards. That makes an excellent hunting combo.

As to throating I would suggest the 311041 with the bullet seated so the top of the GC is just at the juncture of the neck and shoulder. The leade should then just kiss the front of the driving band. That should give you sufficient neck/throat length for a wide variety of cast bullet designs, especially those that offer real accuracy capability at HV like the 311466 and the 30 XCB.

Larry Gibson

[Four Fingers of Death]

Find out what his load consists of and write it down or you will be kicking your butt if something happens to him.

Fortunately, it was on the lid of the MTM boxes they came in, the recommended starting load with my fav rifle powder.

Thanks, Larry and Pietro as well.