First off, let me say that I love Ruger #1 rifles and have bought and traded many of them over the years. I had a #1 Light sporter in 243 Win. that just didn't shoot as well as I wanted (early model barrel). I was considering selling or trading it when I saw a post on another site that was selling a 7X57 take-off in LS configuration. The low cost and included ammo, dies and brass sold me on it. I realized that it was a gamble since the replacement barrel might not "clock" properly, and I had no idea of the condition of the throat or bore, but what the hay, it's only money.
Now the 7X57 also happens to be one of my favorite cartridges of all time. I have harvested hundreds of hogs and goats with one and used to compete in Rifle Silhouette with one too, so it was a no brainer to me.
The barrel and components arrived quickly and a quick inspection showed the barrel appeared to not have been shot much. There was slight fouling but the rifling was clean and sharp. A couple of swipes with Kroil and JB bore paste and it was looking better than new.
Yesterday, I stripped the action, pulled the wood and rib off of the 243 barrel and got to work. There are a couple of headaches associated with rebarrelling a #1. The first I encountered was trying to get the rib hold-down screws loosened. The scope rings usually compress the rib near the rearmost on and I managed to bend/twist two allen key wrenches prior to my breaking out my impact driver and smacking the heck out of it which finally got the screws loose.
Another sore spot is that because of the location of the hanger, you have to grab the barrel about 4" ahead of the receiver face on the barrel taper. Over the years I have tried a couple of different methods to circumvent this including going as far as using acraglass to bond hardwood V blocks to the barrel. There are easier ways to remove the barrel too, think BIG pipe wrench! But a friend of mine wanted to trade me for the existing barrel. After a couple of tries with my barrel clamp and brass shim-stock I managed to loosen the barrel from the receiver. Headache number 3. The rear dowel for the rib had to be removed as it was hitting the hanger bar. Good old vise grips and a brass hammer fixed that!
Now for the moment of truth. I screwed in the 7X57 barrel, and it was 90 degrees from vertical...
Well, a quick run to a friends place to use his lathe (I live in an apartment now) and a couple of measurements later I was setting up the four-jaw. Of course, the barrel wouldn't fit through his headstock so I had to reverse it. It took longer to set up than to actually make the cut.
Now I was cooking! Headspace was minimal but still within acceptable range (GREAT) since I don't have a reamer for the chamber.
I finally put the whole thing together this morning and plan to try it out tomorrow.
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