How much would you pay for this Ruger NO. 1

[Good Cheer]

I came up with a 375 wildcat round to use in single shots. AllI did was shorten a 375 H&H sizing die by about 1/4” and form the brass on Starline 45-100 brass 2.6” and have a rimmed 375 that can be whatever power you want. I have it chambered in a handi rifle and another in a large frame Greener martini rifle.
I would like to know how you made the 375/ 45-70 round you speak of, that would be better suited to the light no. 3 Ruger.
Jedman

Hey Jedman.
About shortening a 375H&H die, yes sir, I considered going that route. And looked at several other candidate cartridges, using the dimensional drawings in reloading manuals to brainstorm the possibilities. Finally settled on a long neck and 45 degree shoulder formed from 45-70 cases.

How I made it...
Immersed myself doing the research and testing with various cartridges to find out how soft an alloy with what type of bullet geometry I could shoot how fast and accurately enough for the set criteria of deer hunting out to a minimum of 200 yards. And of course how to load to make it work. Heh, at one point I had a 788 chambered for 7-08 with the long necks formed from 30-06 cases that looked like long neck beer bottles. Basically the formula I arrived at was a gas check design with lots of lube grooves in the barrel contact surfaces (like something you'd use with black powder). The boolit caliber was chosen based upon the velocities I expected to achieve out at 200 and the projected rate of displacement in cubic inches per second. .375 ended up with the most satisfactory figures. The neck length for the case was based upon inhibiting gas cutting of the soft alloy, covering the lube grooves of the Lyman design #375296 with the gas check not extending into the powder space. And speaking of powder space, I'd come up with the plan of developing loads with powders approximately in the neighborhood of IMR4320, hence the case geometry chosen (diameters/volume/shoulder). Trusted what I'd learned and had a smith who I trusted get the reamer made and rebarrel the rifle. Same smith who had altered the chamber on the 7-08 for me.

Results...
Ended up with a hunting load of a compressed charge of WW760 and CCI-250. It worked exactly as I designed it to, quite well out to 200. And further too no doubt but I never shot a deer beyond that.
The fun part of the story for me is of course having put in the time with a hobby that I've loved and had proof in the pudding, really no different from designing a balsa and paper glider and building it and watching it dance in the air like it never wants to come back down.

Epilogue...
Form follows function. Years later discovered that what I'd done was little more than to invent a smokeless version of the 9.5mm Mauser.

[Hannibal]

It's been three years, the gun probably isn't there any longer.

Good point. Missed that.

[Bill*B]

Old thread - but: "too heavy to carry" = pass! Not worth anything if you can't enjoy it.

[drjjpdc]

I have one and I really like it. It's a new No. 1 in the 7mm-08 caliber. I take it silhouette shooting because I like how it looks. I heard negative things from some shooters about the forearm but that never bothered me. I don't hunt with it and that's a shame because the 7mm-08 is a great hunting caliber for a lot of North American animals. Here's a pic with a Leupold scope I think.