I fondled a stainless laminated #1 today at the local gun emporeum, and must say it sure has a good feeling in the hands.

I know many on this board will turn their eyes at the thought of the 45-70 Don't be alarmed, I'm looking at it as a candidate to re-chamber to a NE round, but I don't know of the chamber has enough metal to allow this, which is what begs the question. Anyhow want to venture yeah or neh of the tube has enough meat to be safely poked out?

Paul,
Not having measured it, from handling them I'd guess it would be very close or a no go. Have to get out the calipers to be sure.
But.....after shooting the #1 .458 I had done to 450NE#2, you wouldnt want to be shooting that light gun much unless you didnt like your shoulder.
Ron

How about that # 1 in the new 458 Lott? That might be just the thing for you. Good hunting "D"

Paul H, the chambering to go to, on the 45-70 No1, is 45-110, or even 45-120, if you use the smokeless equivelant of old sharps loads, all that will be nessecary is to rechamber, and the ejector will work like a charm. I would replace the Ruger rubber butt plate with a good recoil pad, as this rifle is light, for even HOT 45-70 loads. The modern version of the two above sugestions is the 458 RCBS, if you can stand full loads it will stop anything in North America. All the above chamberings require only lengthening the chamber, and all have the same head dia, and rim thickness, and diameter of the 45-70!

I have a blued No1 that is chambered for 458 RCBS, that started life as a 45-70. I shoot it with some pritty heavy loads, but it does get my attention! I also have an unfired 458 Win Mag No1, that I plane rechambering to 450NE 3.25" but that is a far heavier rifle than the 45-70.

Aw! come on Mac you know the only way to fly is like mine chamber it out to 450 3 1/4" nitro and hang on

I have had a Ruger No. 1 in 45-70 and in stainless with a laminated stock and forearm. It was a very accurate rifle and very handy to shoulder. The barrel profile for the 45-70 is much lighter than the one for the 458 Lott, making it feel like to handle. I do not regrett selling that rifle but I do miss it a lot. One of these days, I will have to find an excuse to get another one. As much as I like those big old British nitro cartridges, I still perfer a 45-70 in a No. 1. No one in our local club at the time would have thought that the 45-70 cartridge could be loaded that hot and I proved it to them with my No. 1. It was a lot of fun to shoot and the rifle as well as the cartridge had a lot of class to show. Good luck.

Paul- As I remember, I did a 45-70 to 45-120 conversion and could darn well get 2400 fps out of the thing with a 500 gr bullet. As you know the conversion will take about a half hour once the barrel is off and you don't need any extractor mods. That's 450 ackley mag territory. I used Bertram brass and it seemed to hold up ok!The looks on the faces of the guys at the range when you show them the round is really impressive.I did alot of paper patch bullet work in those days and A soft lead bullet at 2400fps will mushroom out to about a inch or so! Now recoil gets downright unpleasant and at one point the stock developed some cracks and had to be reinforced with accraglass, but it was a fun gun and when loaded down was a first class varmint rig!-Rob

Dave James and all,
If one were to take a Ruger #1 in 45/70 out to 450 NE 3 1/4", would the extractor need work or function fine as is?

Also, would the pressures involved require that the stock be strengthened with cross-bolts or anything?

Thanks,
Bill in NE

Bill,I'm sure if Mac see's the post he will answer up, but i think the answer is yes, the one I have I bought for JudgeG, and its the converted 45-70. I had to replace the butt stock,it split through the wrist, but am pretty sure this is my fault,the smith said it looked like the stock had become a litle loose.With the full tilt boogie rounds recoil is impressive to say the lest,but its fun. If I were going to change any thing I would go to a heavier barrel and maybe go to the 45-120,or 45-110 just because i have about 500 rounds on hand,and they are a little cheaper then the Nitro,not to mention dies are cheaper .

Dave, were you napping?? It took 8 minutes for you to answer!

Thanks for the info. I am just looking at a #1 with absolutely gorgeous wood and was thinking that a 450 3 1/4" would be less pedestrian. I really like my #1 in 416 Rigby, and thought that perhaps this conversion would be possible without too much trouble??

Again, thanks,
Bill in NE

Bill you caught me, I was doping off in between arrest's tonight,trying to squeeze in some chats before the next call
You mite want to e-mail John Lewis I understand from his and others postings the No-1 is his thing and he does alot of work on them

Many years ago -- about 20, as I recall -- I had a Ruger #1 .45-70 that had been rechambered to .45-120. No other changes had been made to the rifle. I acquired 40 rounds of BELL Basic brass, and sized it in .45-70 dies. I was running 400 gr Barnes Originals at about 2400 fps, with some load or the other of IMR 3031. It was pretty spectacular to touch off. It was a lot more fun to shoot with 500 gr hard cast gas check bullets at about 1800 fps. Everything seemed to work out pretty well with the rechambering, except it wouldn't shoot standard .45-70 loads accurately at all. Too much chamber length, I imagine.

Hmmmm.... makes me want to get an H&R handi-rifle and get that done to it... the 45-110 or 120 that is. Would be a lot cheaper for something to play around with than the Ruger.

But would you have to change your handle then????

Rugar#1; I have a NEF in 45/70 that I have loaded up to 45/100 specs with smokeless powder. I haven't been out shooting or reloading in quite some time so I don't remember the powder wts. sorry. derF