Okay guys, here's the deal. I have the opportunity to buy a NIB Ruger No. 1 in .450/400 for a flat $800, from a local dealer.

Should I buy it? Why, or why not?

Only if YOU want it.

quote:

Originally posted by zimbabwe:
Only if YOU want it.

Am I wrong to read into your comment that you would NOT want it? If not, why not?

If I buy it and don't like it, will I be likely to recapture most of my price paid when I sell it, assuming the market doesn't go to hell in a hand-basket when Obama takes office? I've been told they only made 70 of them, but then, that may be because that's all the bigger the market is.

I'd like to try it out, but don't want to take a huge bath financially if it doesn't work for me.

Does that even sound like a fair price to begin with?

AC,

List price on that rifle is $1093, so the gun is already discounted.

No one can guarantee you a market for a used #1 .450-.400, so go ahead and buy it. Or walk away, if resale is that important.

George

I think it's more important to determine whether or not you want it. Do you want it? If the answer is yes, I say go for it. It could be a very fun rifle!

I got one for less than $800 USD.
I got one with very pretty wood soon as they came out. I guess I am a Ruger Collector, since 1977. Started with an M77 in '77.

There is still at least one sitting on the shelf at www.whittakerguns.com, for $779.99, new in box, Ruger No.1-H Tropical 450/400 NE3".

Is the USD/CD exchange rate about 1:1 now?

$800 bucks of either nationality is a good price.
Sweet little gun.

I am surprised to hear so few made. I would think more, don't know for sure.

So basically $800 is about the going price? The nice thing about this one is I don't have to pay shipping and/or worry about it being damaged enroute. It is already here. (Bad thing is I don't get to choose from among two or three, or more.)

Does anyone know the bore diameter Ruger is making these barrels in? With luck I will be able to use the same cast bullets I used to use in my W/R hand-detchable boxlock double .400 3-1/4".

That would pretty much make it a no-brainer, as that gun killed its share of moose out near Grand Cache, Alberta. Have always regretted selling it, but in the sheet-splitting 38 years ago it was either it or the .470.....and I kept the bigger gun.

Alberta Canuck

If you like shooting or hunting with a Ruger No1, and I do, then a 450/400 3" is an excellent choice as a calibre.
[I have a 450/400 3 1/4" double rifle, I have shot deer, wild pigs, black bear, caribou, baboon, warthog, zebra,helped on a giraffe, cape buff, lion and bull elephant with it]

Of course with full power ammo it is powerful enough for any animal on the planet, but by reloading you can duplicate loads from 405 Winchester, with 300gr bullets, up to full power 450/400 loads.

I think the "nominal" bore diameter is .410 in the Ruger No1.

I say buy it. Cool rifle at a good price. What's not to like?

I'd buy it. After the Obama/ Barny Frank/ Chuck Shumer reign of terror I doubt if you will own any guns at all. Buy it now and enjoy it while you can.

Well, I bought it.

Now I have to decide whether to buy a No. 1 in .450 Rigby IF they ever sell any. That's another cartridge for which I have owned numerous double rifles, and still miss them.

That HAS taught me something, though, too late. It is NOT what one might think though. It isn't the selling of them in itself which was the wrong decision (many times) back then. It was the letting go of the active live style which let me use them. My career took me more and more into executive board rooms, and less and less into the field. !!Hace MUCHO malo!!

Life is short, and should be enjoyed by doing, not by collecting or contemplating, if physically possible. Notice, I do not say "if possible", but "if physically possible". The money, the relationships, the life's work, etc., will take care of themselves over the years. The health will not. If you can get out and enjoy the earth's physical world, do it NOW. Tomorrow, or the tomorrow after that, you won't be able to for near as long as it seems now.

Thanks for your responses.

If I'm not mistaken there are three different variations of the number 1 in this caliber.
1.The standard #1 H Tropical
2.The limited Boddington series.
3.A special run of matte finish guns from left over Boddington parts...I think this is the one only 70 were made.

I am not sure of this though...anyone else heard anything?

Fred

WVFred: I believe you are right. I know there have been many more standard 1H's in 450/400 made than that, and I know a half dozen people myself with them. I love mine, and hope to knock over an elk and black bear in the next few weeks with it.

AC: How right you are. I had an uncle and two other friends taken unexpectedly in the last 3 weeks - so sad! Enjoy your family, friends, and favorite hobbies as much as possible, for you just never know what is ahead.

I merely meant if YOU wanted it YOU should decide. As far as I'm concerned I own a 450/400,a 405Win amd a 9.3x74r in No1's but that is because I like them not that someone ELSE likes them. If yo u are buying guns as an investment that is one thing if you buy guns because you LIKE them that is another. I don't think I have ever owned a gun with the intention of selling it.

quote:

Originally posted by zimbabwe:
I merely meant if YOU wanted it YOU should decide. As far as I'm concerned I own a 450/400,a 405Win amd a 9.3x74r in No1's but that is because I like them not that someone ELSE likes them. .

Zim - I have never done otherwise. However before I make up my mind I usually try to pick the brains of others as to their knowledge/experience/conjectures.

Sometimes I learn something (either plus or minus) which never would have occured to me otherwise. Didn't have the luck to do that this time, other than to confirm what I already suspected about the number made.

Finally decided to buy it just because I aways liked that chambering, have experience loading for it and killing game with it, and figured it could provide good company for the other rather large flock of No.1s in my vault. Besides, it's only about a tenth of what the gov't makes me take out of one of my my IRAs every year, even though I don't need it.

Y'know, I never set out to be a collector of single-shot rifles but on thinking about it now, in the vault I have good quality falling (or tipping) block single-shots in .22 Hornet, .22 K-Hornet, .222 Rem, .223 Rem, .220 Russ, .225 Win, .22-250, .220 Swift, .243 , .25-06, 6.5x53-R, 7m/m-08, 7x65-R, 7.5 Swiss, .30-40 Krag, .308 Win, .30-06, .300 Win Mag, .32-40, .375 Win, .375 NE Rimless, .405 Win (2), .450/.400-3" NE, and probably several others which can't be immediately remembered off the top of my head.

This gun accumulating is a heck of a malady, ain't it?

The one and only downside on that gun, at least for me is that it's short one barrel...

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
The one and only downside on that gun, at least for me is that it's short one barrel...

Not quite. It is not a DR

Only one shot and no second trigger.

Keith

However, with a couple of Ruger No1's, you can do a Sigorney Weaver, ie., duck tape tape two of them together.

BUT... In all SERIOUSNESS, baised on 86 days of hunting in Zimbabwe, with elephants as the primary, with a few cape buff, and a lion, as well, I would not be "afraid" to hunt Africa with a Ruger No1. in 450/400.

Now everybody on AR knows, that I much prefer a Double Rifle for Dangerous game, and most other game as well...

But I HAVE NO FEAR that I could get it done with a Ruger No1 in 450/400.

I would do only one thing different, I would try to fire my first shot on elephants at 15 yards, instead of 6 yards and under.

PS. I reload a No 1 "pretty quick", it might be a good idea for most others to give yourself a "few" extra yards.

Plus, I ALWAYS have a BIG Bore Handgun,[ don't you??] so when the elephant picks me up with his trunk, I can "whip out" my revolver, and "close his other eye".

Well, if I was going to Afrika to hunt, which I am not, I'd take one of my other rifles...probably my .404 Jeff (same ballistics as .450-.400 anyway).

My Jeffie is the first bolt action sporter (sn 404-1) in that chambering ever built by Treavor Musgrave, and is a beauty. With it's QD 2-7 variable and iron sights, together with the monolithic solids it seems to prefer above all else, I figure it would be good for just about whatever one might choose at "trigger time".

I knew I was gonna like buying this rifle. There are some really honest gun dealers out there. After I bought the rifle, the dealer tossed me a box of original Kynoch 400 grain solids and said "These go with the gun". When I asked how much, he said "Nuthin' - They're part of the deal."

Then he said, "BTW, I just found a NIB older Ruger No. 1 RSI in .250 Savage. Have you got any use for that?" Since his price was well below list for a current No. 1-B, I did. Naturally, it is following me home too........

Mr. Canuck: Two lovely calibers. You have excellent taste.

Hogkiller,
I am aware that the Ruger no. 1 is not a double rifle, thats why its short the other barrel that I prefer!

Other than that its a great caliber in a neat rifle, but for DG I like two of them. but if thats what I had at the time I am sure I could make do..I did OK with a 375 H&H in a Ruger no. 1 on one buffalo hunt..I mean you always have a PH and another hunter perhaps to bail you out, however my experience is that if the first shot is a good shot then you don't have to contend with the business of gett'en et or hooked about...