Just acquired a #1V in .220 Swift. Shoots well mostly but getting some fliers. At 100 yards I might get the first two touching and the third an inch or so above. Any known problems to be aware of?

Mike,

I wrote a story on Ruger No1s and someone smarter than me gave me even better advice.

PM me with your email and I will send the story and his advice.

Please e-mail the #1article to me.Thank you, Herb

I have a #1B in a 220 Swift. It is very finicky about the bullet it likes. I tried several before I settled on the Nosler 52gr flat base at about 3750fps as I recall. I don't have my loading notes in front of me at the moment. It shoots that load into about 1/2 to 3/4" groups all the time.

My good hunting buddy had a #1V and the poor guy poured a ton of bling at the thing and could not get it group at all.

My understanding of them, in general, was that they did not live up to their hype.

I have never owned one, so I have no experience with them, just shot one and came away unimpressed. If the one you have is starting to work though, stick with it and see where it goes. Good luck.

quote:

My understanding of them, in general, was that they did not live up to their hype.

What hype? Maybe I missed it. They’re a single shot rifle (strike one), two piece stock (Strike two), and made by Ruger (Strike three). What are the expectations you had? The No.1 is a hunting rifle, no more or no less. They work just fine as hunting rifles.

I'm sure you have heard at least some of the horror stories regarding early Rugers...that is, essentially, that it was the luck of the draw from a bottom dollar barrel maker or two who supplied Ruger with their barrels.

To some extent, that MAY be an urban legend with a grain of truth to it. I have owned a LOT of Ruger No. 1's and 3's, and still have about 15 or more of them. All of the ones I have gottten rid of went down the road because I just couldn't get them to group as tightly as I wanted.

At the same time, I now have a bunch of them I kept which shoot like gangbusters with their factory barrels.

I love the No 1s, though, either way.

One reason I like them so much is that I have had a number of them rebarreled with high quality tubes, ones which I would have sold in earlier days. Those rebarreled ones ALL shoot very excellently for me.

So, I guess a person can take any lesson they want from my experiences with them.

To some folks they are not worth the risk of getting a lousy shooter, accuracy-wise.

To others who really like hunting with single shots, and like the aesthetics of their lines (that group includes me), they are well worth the risk, even at a wholesale price of around $800 these days.

Some of the time that $800 gets one just an action, trigger, stock, forend, scope rings, and a ticket which says:

"Do Not Pass GO. Instead fork out another $225 to $600 for a new barrel (depending on whether you do it yourself or have the work done by someone else)."

But in the end you can have a really sweet rifle, which is a joy to hunt with and deadly at its work.

And of course, a person can do what I do now...buy used ones for hundreds of bucks less than a new one,and don't sweat the rebarreling unless you find you need to. Then even if you DO have to rebarrel it doesn't cost much if any more than a new one.

I guess I am as lucky as I think I am. I have 3 no 1s. A Bee, 7x 57 and 6.5 x 300 Wby. The first 2 are stock, the 3rd a Shilen barreled. I'm not a bechrester, but w/ adjusted triggers and anal handloads, the all shoot sub inch. I bought another to build into a full custom, but then found Bailey Bradshaw.

A friend left me a 1984 vintage #1B in .257 Roberts. The rifle had a long throat and did not do well with 75 or 87gr. bullets. Found some 100 gr. Sierra Match bullets and loaded them using IMR4350. It was a revelation. My take on it is that some of those guns can be very finicky. The #1's here in .375 H&H and 30-06 are easier to live with. The Swift is a great cartridge. Also, make sure the barrel is not fouled.

I've been around hunting buddies that have had a combined 4 #1's back a while ago in various calibers and configurations.

I was taken back that none of this small sample size seemed to come up to the expectations of the owners for the uses that they were purchased for and all were sold. Some were in varmint calibers and varmint configurations and others were in hunting calibers.

I always thought that they looked cool and had my eyeball on one for a while but got turned off them due to their accuracy experiences.

I would expect, with better manufacturing standards these days that every rifle maker could produce accurate rifles with factory barrels. I hate having to get things re-barreled because the factory cannot make it accurate. You would not a defective car? Why accept a less than MOA accuarte rifle from a maker.

I have several,had many more and have found them to be as fixable as any other rifle.I'm having a .300HH custom stocked right now.
Proper bedding of the forearm and a bedded presure point is normaly all it take.They are like any other rifle in that they want the correct powder charge and seating depth.
I'll have photos later....

It is possible to make a No.1 shoot extremely well, but it may take a lot of time and $$$ to do so. My most accurate No.1 started out as a .270 WCF barrelled action. With some work I got it to shoot moa, sometimes. At one point I had more money than sense and it was rebarrelled by Kenny Jarrett in .257 Weatherby with no freebore. He set up the action, I did the trigger work and bedded the action in a B&C glass stock. Believe it or not it will agg in the .5s for five, 3-shot groups. Not many Weatherbys will do that no matter what the action type. There are tricks to do this that are beyond what you can do to a factory rifle. Jarrett knew several of them.

There has also been a lot of BS written about accurizing the No.1, and a little that was right on. It took me some years to wade through it all to find out what worked on my No.1s. All the rest of them are now 5-shot moa shooters with factory barrels and stocks. It required trigger work, spring replacement, and forearm attachment mods.

If you are getting flyers it may just be the nature of your rifle. Some barrels will warp or unkink as they heat up, not much to do about that. A simple mod is to shim the forend hanger to relieve some pressure on the barrel, but free floating does not always work. My most accurate No.1 is set up with "zero" forend pressure using a silicone pad at the end of the forend. As others have stated, many will never shoot moa consistently.


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quote:

Originally posted:
I hate having to get things re-barreled because the factory cannot make it accurate. You would not a defective car? Why accept a less than MOA accuarte rifle from a maker.

Everyone hates doing that. No one is suggesting it be viewed as fun. Unfortunately we live in THIS world, not the "should be" one.

So, if we like single shots to hunt with, one of our options is to buy Ruger No.1s, knowing that some of them may not shoot up to our hopes with the barrels they come with, particularly among used older ones we run across which are for sale.

And then we can either live with the one(s) we get, spend a lot of time putzing with various "maybe" tweaks, or bite the bullet and put a good barrel on some of them. Everyone has to make their own choices in the game.

I used to own a #1B in a .270 Win that shot under 1" with most all loads I shot in it.


The only problem I had with it was that I like to shoot all bullets in all weights to the same point of impact out to @ 200 yards.


I like to do this with all my rifles and calibers. But for what ever reason I could not get this rifle to comform to these standards.

If I was sighted with my best 130 grain load at 100 yards and then grabbed a 150 grain load , well then It shot appox 6 inches lower at 100 yards.


Other than that I would still have it in my collection. For most people this would not be a problem but I was a bit fussy in those days.



Cal30

I've got 3 #1 that I got new 1st was a 7mag it is now a 30-338mag did that 27yrs ago. Next one is varmint model 220 swift that I wore the barrel out and is now a 22BR next one was a 22ppc and it's a 6ppc (tight neck)now.

One guy in our gun club had a 300 H&H and I'm first in line if he decides to sell it.

I've enjoyed shooting the # 1 and you shoot any rifle enough barrels need to be replace.

I do this, to get this....

.404, For us mechanically challenged, what exactly is this (wad of gum) showing me and how do I do it too? Thanks, Mike

" some barrels warp as they heat up "
If they had been stress relieved after machining that wouldn't happen !

I have had seven of them over the years and all could be made to shoot around 1-1/4" or better. A No. 1S in .338 WM would do what you described when I bought it. I fixed the problem by removing just enough wood from the foreend that it would not touch the receiver. The gun was also bullet sensitive and would not shoot Barnes bullets under three inches, but after playing with it I was able to get it to consistently shoot around 3/4-inch three shot groups using Hornady Interbonds.

I have two #1s and #3 the light sporter in 06 is a 1.25 inch can't count the amount of game killed with it.

The 1B in 2506 puts 87gr serris into.750 all day long really flips p dogs. Frist load I tried in it.

The number 3 in 45-70 puts 460gr cast into 1.5 at 50 haven't shot it further. Kills TX hogs in the thick just fine.

I have more accurate rifles less accurate rifles these 3 do want I need them to do.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike Michalski:
.404, For us mechanically challenged, what exactly is this (wad of gum) showing me and how do I do it too? Thanks, Mike

That is the result of lightly sanding any contact points,then bedding accu-gel pressure point.I also go over the entire rifle to be sure everything is tight and square.I check ring alignment,lap and square up.I shoot slow and have a good bag set up.
My bud and I have done over 20 #1's like this over a 15 year period and it works! We also work up a good load up in small batchs and then dial in on the best with hunting bullets.

quote:

Originally posted by MickinColo:

quote:

My understanding of them, in general, was that they did not live up to their hype.

What hype? Maybe I missed it. They’re a single shot rifle (strike one), two piece stock (Strike two), and made by Ruger (Strike three) . What are the expectations you had? The No.1 is a hunting rifle, no more or no less. They work just fine as hunting rifles.

Good post Mike!!!!

agreed....

Pressure bedding and not allowing the back of the forearm touch the receiver is a great way to start. A consistent amount of torque on the hanger screw affects the pressure so keep it constant. Then get a good grip on your hair and start pulling. I'm guessing you'll have unexplained flyers for as long as you have the rifle. Luckily it seems No. 1 Swifts seem to shoot better than other chamberings. I keep buying them because they are gorgeous and get tired of making them shoot the same everyday.

My best was a 1-V in 6mm Remington. I was young and almost glued the forearm on the rifle full length glass bedding. It shot tiny groups with the old Speer 105 gr bullet, not my idea of a varmint bullet, but it worked. I restocked a No. 3 in what I interpreted to be a classic American style. It shot okay, consistent 1" groups. A 1-H in 7x57 with the best factory wood I've ever seen? Still can't talk about it. Worst accuracy in a factory rifle I've ever had.