A Silver's recoil pad added too.

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There was a screw up on the bluing part over the barrel band soldering.I decided to leave it like that(the fellow who did it is really old).This is slow rust bluing.
I find that it all came together nicely.It points naturally and the bolt seems slicker than it was before(I don't know what he did to this one but it is slick as hell).The rear sight turned out alright.
The rear sight is nice and high.
Pac-nor barrel, NECG sights,Dressel's grip cap,Silver's recoil pad.
The longer LOP given by the new pad makes aiming easier and better.
I am going to ask him what he did to make the bolt slicker and have him do it to my other Ruger.
If this one shoots the way it looks and handles it's going to be a very good one.

That looks pretty amazing . reminds me of the older safari rifles almost like a vintage appearance .

Looks good. Also looks like you burn spruce and pine, or balsam fir.

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Originally posted by Cold Trigger Finger:
Looks good. Also looks like you burn spruce and pine, or balsam fir.

My gunsmith sent me the photo.He lives in BC.The only place and time I can enjoy a wood fire is in Africa.

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Originally posted by tk10ga:
That looks pretty amazing . reminds me of the older safari rifles almost like a vintage appearance .

That was my exact impression.It cost me a couple of hundred bucks.I supplied the recoil pad.

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Originally posted by shootaway:

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Originally posted by tk10ga:
That looks pretty amazing . reminds me of the older safari rifles almost like a vintage appearance .

That was my exact impression.It cost me a couple of hundred bucks.I supplied the recoil pad.

To be honest I never gave rugers a passing thought then I started looking at the RSMs they used to make . Very nice looking rifles , even seen one fellow build a 505 gibbs on a rsm.

I have seen a few gunsmiths who do stock reshaping and there can be alot of hidden potential under factory wood .

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Also looks like you burn spruce and pine, or balsam fir.

Funny about firewood habits. Here out east, nobody would be caught dead burning softwood (conifer) wood in their stoves or fireplaces. The thought is that the creasote builds up leading to fires. We have lots of Ash, Walnut, Oak, Cherry, Hickory and other hardwoods, so it's not a problem. Then I go out west to hunt, and just about everything used for firewood is conifer. Go figure!

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Originally posted by Biebs:

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Also looks like you burn spruce and pine, or balsam fir.

Funny about firewood habits. Here out east, nobody would be caught dead burning softwood (conifer) wood in their stoves or fireplaces. The thought is that the creasote builds up leading to fires. We have lots of Ash, Walnut, Oak, Cherry, Hickory and other hardwoods, so it's not a problem. Then I go out west to hunt, and just about everything used for firewood is conifer. Go figure!

Hardwood is better for fires but pine beetles kill a lot of conifers in the west. Besides, Aspen burns too fast. Like guns for bears, you use what you have even if it might not be your first choice.

All we have locally is 2 types of spruce. An aspen we call Silver Poplar and Cottonwood.
And we tend to get our fill of 40 below ambient and colder. Sometimes much colder. Coldest ambient temp I've seen here is -62° F.
Good hardwood would be nice. But when it gets cold, anything burns bettern snow balls.

Nice work on the stock refinish. I am thinking of doing something similar with a Ruger African in 338.

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Originally posted by JeffreyPhD:
Nice work on the stock refinish. I am thinking of doing something similar with a Ruger African in 338.

I should be getting the rifle back in a couple of weeks time.My smith has just finished with the sights.If I am satisfied with it I will do a second one.I am going to post some better pictures of it.

Looks like a nice Job.

We burn red oak mainly along with some maple, ash and then what ever if things get hard.

I go north and see the pine my friends burn I say is it free.

The best firewood is free firewood.

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Originally posted by shootaway:

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Originally posted by JeffreyPhD:
Nice work on the stock refinish. I am thinking of doing something similar with a Ruger African in 338.

I should be getting the rifle back in a couple of weeks time.My smith has just finished with the sights.If I am satisfied with it I will do a second one.I am going to post some better pictures of it.

I look forward to seeing them. Can you say more about the finishing process you used.

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Originally posted by JeffreyPhD:

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Originally posted by shootaway:

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Originally posted by JeffreyPhD:
Nice work on the stock refinish. I am thinking of doing something similar with a Ruger African in 338.

I should be getting the rifle back in a couple of weeks time.My smith has just finished with the sights.If I am satisfied with it I will do a second one.I am going to post some better pictures of it.

I look forward to seeing them. Can you say more about the finishing process you used.

From what I was told... the lacquer shell was to be removed, dents raised as much as possible,checkering refreshed, and then a sanding/polishing process in combination with a new oil finish applied in multiple layers(8-12).
The process takes about a couple of weeks.

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Originally posted by Biebs:

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Also looks like you burn spruce and pine, or balsam fir.

Funny about firewood habits. Here out east, nobody would be caught dead burning softwood (conifer) wood in their stoves or fireplaces. The thought is that the creasote builds up leading to fires. We have lots of Ash, Walnut, Oak, Cherry, Hickory and other hardwoods, so it's not a problem. Then I go out west to hunt, and just about everything used for firewood is conifer. Go figure!

creosote is not a problem if your stove is at the right temp and from time to time you clean the pipes ...

My Ruger RSM in 375 H&H before I sold it. Complete refinish with ebony plugs and epoxied all threads. New pad, some accents on front screws, new checkering, and removed the sharp edge along the bottom of the stock.

Google Pics

Nice stock there Austin Hunter.

I grew up burning Mesquite and ruining chain saws and axes...It burned 24 7 and a stove full of that hard stuff would last 24 hours or more, stoke it in the morning stick a couple of logs in the stove and good until the next morning, without a match...that's all we had, and it cooks meat best of any hard wood..Texas Mesquite has a lot more color than the California Mesquits..so best for pistol grips and if you can find a rifle stock blank its beautiful but that like finding a black pearl almost....

Stock looks nice and the satin finish is oh so much better on a hunting rifle..

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Originally posted by shootaway:

I should be getting the rifle back in a couple of weeks time.My smith has just finished with the sights.If I am satisfied with it I will do a second one.I am going to post some better pictures of it.

What are you doing with the sights?
I found a Lott for reasonable and am thinking a reshape such as yours would be nice.
Had an RSM 416Rigby for a while and the stock aesthetics really let those guns down. Looking forward to seeing the finished product on yours.

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Originally posted by Huvius:

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Originally posted by shootaway:

I should be getting the rifle back in a couple of weeks time.My smith has just finished with the sights.If I am satisfied with it I will do a second one.I am going to post some better pictures of it.

What are you doing with the sights?
I found a Lott for reasonable and am thinking a reshape such as yours would be nice.
Had an RSM 416Rigby for a while and the stock aesthetics really let those guns down. Looking forward to seeing the finished product on yours.

The sights are installed.They are NECG sights that are soldered on.Front sight has a banded ramp and the rear sight is the classic one leaf island base.The rifle was ready more than two weeks ago and when my smith tried to regulate the sights it was shooting way over a foot low.He then tig welded?? metal to increase the height of the rear sight.He says it turned out good, regulated the rifle and sent the sight in for rebluing.He says that its shooting both Woodleigh and Aframes in the same POI but it like the Woodleighs better.Whatever you do for the sights, have them soldered on.

According to the tracking info the rifle should be here in about 4 days.

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I've shoulder and dry fired it a few times since receiving it and I am more impressed.The rifle goes up against my two expensive custom builds.If one were to shoulder and cycle the bolt they would think it was not like the original Ruger.It cycles just as smooth as an expensive action.If one were to say it was just as good I would not think they were exagerating.In addition,the trigger sear spring was replaced with a Wolf spring and a lot of work was done to it.That worked out really well and now it has as good or a better trigger pull than any of my rifles.The Silver's pad also made a big improvement on the rifle.I think my smith did a very good job on it.I ordered two more pads.

I shot the first 3 rounds from the rifle this afternoon(no fouler shot).The trigger was the lightest of all my big bores.I took 5 rounds with me but shot only 3 at 50yds off the bench.I was using 500gr A-Frames that I pulled from some other rounds,76grs H4895 and new Hornady cases.I am happy with the results and look forward to shooting with it again at 100yds.
[URL= ]50yds target[/URL]

I shot it at 100yds-same load and off the bench just like I did at 50yds(target in previous post).Here is the target(fouler shot included).My smith told me that it grouped better with the Woodleighs I sent him(he tried both while sighting it in).I moved the rear sight over a little to the left and loaded up both Woodleigh RNSP and A-Frames to try again next week.
I have tried the A-Frames before and the group below is normal.
[URL= ]100yds/open sights/off the bench[/URL]

I shot the rifle with the 550grs Woodleigh RNSP's this afternoon.They shot well as you can see from the target pic below.A shorter front sight and a small adjustment to the right, I believe will get me closer to centre.I suspect the round that hit low was the one I loaded with a damaged neck rim.The group below included the fouler.I was using a stout load of 75grs of H4895.If you remember with the first rebuilt Ruger, the rear sight was not soldered on but glued, and I could not get any group at this distance.

[URL= ]100yds/open sights/off the bench[/URL]

NECG does not make a slightly lower front sight.I have no choice but to stay with the one on.I took a picture of the case with the damaged neck rim-from the round I suspect of shooting low.It is the same case I loaded for the A-Frames.

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I thought all was fine but upon further inspection/testing I found that it will not feed round nosed rounds all the time.So back it goes.This is frustrating especially after having sent dummy rounds etc.Before I sent it for rebarreliing it would feed all my ammo including the semi flat nose Hornady DGS solids which I included in the dummy rounds I sent.

I’m not sure that a dimple in the case mouth will make you shoot low - I do know I’ve shot some pretty ratty brass before and never noticed that.
If it bothers you, trim it back. I doubt your rifle will notice.

I second the motion by Huvius, not likely to make much difference has been my experience, probably just the iron sights and that awesome recoil, but it would have been a killing shot anyway on deer or moose..

I do see some signs of bedding perhaps, it seems to be stringing up and down, that would be a bowed slightly action. and the flyer means nothing unless it repeats itself. as to the right left spread of one group would probably be a loose front screw.Tighten it a bit after a shot hits center...All guns need tinkering, maybe after you tune it, glass bed it, glass bed cross bolt in the holes but allow the screw to work, lots of wax or release agent on the cross bolts makes pretty holes and the screws work.....I like your rifle..