After starting hunting 5 years ago my wife developed a soft spot for Ruger No1 rifles due to their handy size. Eventually she bought a 338 Win Mag for plains game, a 416 Rigby for dangerous game and 22-250 for playing around with. 2 years ago we chanced upon a second hand No 1 in 458 Win Mag which we bought because it was cheap and unused.

After the Christmas holidays my wife decided that she wanted it converted to a beautiful rifle in 500 NE. We consulted with a gunmaker named Danie Joubert here in South Africa. Danie is a lover of single shot rifles and a magician with machine tools. His eyes immediately brightened when a woman wanted to order a custom rifle. There was some scepticism about the choice of calibre but my wife primarily hunts with her 416 Rigby and a session with a Krieghoff in 500NE clinched the decision.

To put the work Danie does in perspective he prefers to build the components on a once off basis as far as possible. So sights, swivels, barrel band and quarter ribs are manufactured from bar stock for your rifle rather than ordering from Recknagel or NECG and assembling and fitting components to create a rifle.

To start off with a barrel was ordered in 500. Meanwhile the 458 was disassembled and everything discarded except for the action. The action was stripped and the surfaces of the actions was trued on a milling machine, the front lower part of the action was completely re-profiled. The hanger was shortened.

A recess for the safety to move in was milled and a complete new safety was manufactured for the action.

The barrel was profiled to retain as much weight as possible without resembling a piece of plumbing, the quarter rib is an integral part as well as a mounting block for the fore end. A front sight ramp, barrel band for swivel and rear sight was machined from stock and fitted.

Fortunately Danie could source an adequate piece of walnut blank for a stock, high quality blanks are scarce and expensive in the RSA. The stock was made by Faan de Vos with great attention to detail and fit. It was optimised for open sights as a scope is not going tot be fitted to this rifle. Checkering was done by hand 22 lines per inch.

Armin Winkler was asked to engrave the rifle. My wife chose rhino and elephant for the action flats with some further vine engraving to achieve understated elegance.

Rhino on the right hand action flat


Elephant on the left action flat


Recessed safety


Express sight


Barrel band for sling swivel



Front sight


Action from top


New profile at bottom of action


Grip cap









The happy new owner


and her blood tracker


This rifle has its first buffalo lined up with CM Safaris in Dande Safari Area next year.
We'll see if an irresponsible giraffe or zebra doesn't wander into the sights meanwhile.

quote:

Originally posted by Balule:

Edit: Looks like you fixed them while I was fixing them in a reply.

You had some broken links and this rifle is to beutiful not to post all the pictures!

Very nice job, I've always wanted a 500 #1.

Absolutely beautiful rifle Balule!! You had some of the best crafstmen work on that rifle and the results are clear to see. Please post some range results when you are able.

To be used and enjoyed !!
Send us the field results.

Absolutely lovely!

Nice rifle! How much does it weigh?

3 ounces shy of 10lbs.

As a #1 lover that is just awsome. It would make a nice top end for my collection.

Great looking rifle. I hope your wife has great success with it. That's alot of gun for such a little lady; my hat's off to her.

Mike

Nice looking rifle. Hope she is sucessful with it.

This rifle is absolutely stunning !

I am enamored with Ruger No 1's and like to hunt with them for similar reasons, they are compact and handy to carry. I like their British influence in style and design.

How about some measurments of the barrel profile. Are you hand loading the ammunition? Loads?

The satin finish of the wood was very well done. What sort of finish did the maker use?

a 500 used without care by a 110 lbs woman.
Man up all of you and stop whining about recoil.

Lucky lady and I should say you are lucky as well. Wish my wife had the passion...

quote:

Originally posted by xile84:
Man up all of you and stop whining about recoil.

+1

Craftsman

The barrel is 24" in length, in terms of diameter it is 1.18" at the breech, 0.95" at the end of the fore end and 0.83" at the muzzle.

As far as loads are concerned I have only started loading for 500NE with this rifle.

The projectile of choice for us would be the South African made Dzombo flat nose brass solid which is available in 570gr and 535gr.
For soft noses I would like A-frames in a similiar weight.

In terms of propellant we can choose between Somchem S355 and S365, which is similiar in burn rate to ReL-15 and Rel-17 respectively.
We have absolutely no other propellants available from the US or European manufacturers, if Somchem stops producing locally we will be finished reloading in SA.

I have already run into case capacity problems with the combibation of 100 -105 grains propellant with the 570gr Dzombo, it will be a severely compressed load. In terms of the Krieghoff doubles they regulate with 105gr S365, but they usually shoot the much shorter Woodleigh and Hornady projectiles.

This afternoon we shot for a trial run 105gr S365 behind the Hornady 570gr DGX which produced 2150fps.

Next I want to look at 100gr S365 behind the 535gr Dzombo, which I figure will be a full capacity load with little to no compression. I will be happy if I achieve 2050fps with that.

With modern bullets that will still be a pachyderm and buffalo attention getter and make the rifle more shootable for my wives small frame.

Recoil recovery is obviously an issue and I want to achieve a ballistic package that she can use confidently from awkward field positions.

Please pass along any reloading tips for this grand old classic.

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I'm currently having a 500ne built on a #1 action. I was curious if you had an update from that buff hunt and any more thoughts on the rifles overall feel and performance?

I'm glad you revived this old thread as I'd not seen it before. Lovely rifle, metal, wood and engraving. I'd love to hear an update as well~
Very nicely done, all the way around including lovely lady and basset hound!

I eventually settled on CEB 510gr solids and 475gr Raptors at 2200fps and my wife shot her buffalo on day 8 of a blistering hot November hunt in the Zambezi Valley.

We are very satisfied with the overall package and it is a very practical rifle setup. The only addition has been a Trijicon RMR sight as my wife felt that she her eyesight and the open sights didn't mix well.

This rifle has now been used on elephant, buffalo, giraffe, blue wildebeest and impala.
At sub 10lbs recoil is definitely brisk but I have happily shot numerous BASA competition with it, which is usually 15-18 rounds.

I intend to switch over to Peregrine 500gr solids and Bushmasters when my CEB run out, it is a fraction of the cost of CEB.

For an sub 10lb 500NE I think the optimal ballistic spot to aim for is 500gr bullets at 2200fps, a wee bit of recoil reduction from 570gr bullets but still more oomph than a 458 because of the frontal area.

Would we build a rifle like this again? At the drop of a hat!

We have been offered this rifle's brother from the same gunmaker in 450NE, one of the reasons we declined the offer is because it is not a 500!

Congrats on all of the above ....
But, why no mention on the good looking Basset?

Cool rifle.

How did you mount the RMR?

There may be some equal, but none better than that Number 1.

I think it is cool your wife shoots a 500 NE. I wish my wife could or would. I am going to show my wife this tonight.

Nice rifle, great wife. I love the basset hound.
Dave

Thank you for the reply amd hunting report! I dream of the day I'd ever be able to afford going to africa. But im hoping my 500ne no1 turns out as well as your wifes. I'm thinking I'm going to stick to 570gr woodleighs for hunting in N.A. may try finding something cheaper for plinking. I'm hoping to get mine to about 11lbs, contouring the new lilja to the factory 458lott barrel to reuse the wood and adding 2". Going to add mercury for weight and balance and then get it fit to my LOP. My smith has never built one like this before but he's built lots of no1s in other calibers and has been at it for 60 years. Hopefully it turns out well

I purchased one of the blank bases for the RMR from Trijicon which was machined to fit into the dovetail of the rear sight.

The basset (Rigby by name) is now 12 years old and grey, he is retired from tracking, he is however still active around the house and still a character to have around.

Balule
Congrats to your wife on her success with the rifle. That’s an inspiring rifle if you’re a No. 1 nut, which I am. If you would care to share details, I interested in how the hanger was modified and how the forend is secured.
Thanks

Jeffrey

The modification breaks all the 'rules' for accurising a No1.
The hanger is cut just in front of the mainspring thus removing the mounting hole for the forend screw.
Provision was then made to accommodate a threaded screw hole in a lump of metal projecting from the lower surface of the new barrel, the forend is then screwed directly into this hole which is at a 90 degree to the bore.

Obviously the 500 is not exactly a benchrest candidate but my wife has a 338 Win Mag which is a consistent 0,5MOA shooter with this mounting method.

Thanks for the explanation. Kind of thought it was something along those lines. The No. 1 sure can be sensitive to the tension between the barrel, forend, and hanger. On your wife's rifle I like the look of the forend as it abuts the receiver, without the curved steel portion that would extend forward from the bottom of the receiver. Makes for a very nice appearance, at least to my eyes.

quote:

Originally posted by Balule:
Jeffrey

The modification breaks all the 'rules' for accurising a No1.
The hanger is cut just in front of the mainspring thus removing the mounting hole for the forend screw.
Provision was then made to accommodate a threaded screw hole in a lump of metal projecting from the lower surface of the new barrel, the forend is then screwed directly into this hole which is at a 90 degree to the bore.

Obviously the 500 is not exactly a benchrest candidate but my wife has a 338 Win Mag which is a consistent 0,5MOA shooter with this mounting method.

quote:

Originally posted by xile84:
a 500 used without care by a 110 lbs woman.
Man up all of you and stop whining about recoil.

+2 ...

Thanks for sharing. Good for you on all counts.