Curious, can a Ruger No. 1 barrel be removed and installed on a Model 77? I understand that the threads are the same. Other issues? Thanks!

Hey Mike,
I'll give you a call tomorrow... yes, it's possible, of course the timing and headspace will have to be worked out

jeffe

Jeffe,

I have two Ruger No. 1's, one in .458 WM and the other in .416 Rigby. My thought was that I could buy a long action Ruger M77 action, take one of the No. 1 barrels (with the sights, quarter rib, barrel band) and make a bastardized RSM. I like the big thick No. 1 tropical barrels and all the hardware is already on them. Is this a doable project with reasonable time and expense or the mother of all bad ideas?

Mike

Mike,
we can put the tropical barrel on a standard action, time it, and make you a nifty 458 win mag... just add money, and it's a niftier 458 lott ... or it can become a 458 AR...

the quarterrib is screwed on, btw.. just make certain you REALLY want a tang safety on a kicking rifle

Barrel and all the barrel goodies are paid for, the Model 77 action would be . . . , well you know how much the action would be, to remove the Ruger No. 1 barrel and put it on the Model 77, what gunsmithing cost are you looking at? Reason I ask, if I can buy the action, put another $250 into it and have a new big bore, that all sounds neat. But at some point this project has diminishing returns.

Here is a Ruger 77 with a barrel from a #1 installed on it. It was originally chambered in 375 H&H but the threads were removed making it about 1 inch shorter. It now is a wildcat 9.5X64 improved caliber which is based on the 9.3X64 case with minimum taper and 40 degree shoulder. I chose not to use the original quarter rib but it would have been fairly easy to have fitted it. It also has a PME three position safety added because of the exact concern Jeffeosso mentioned. A piece of ivory fills in the slot where the tang safety button once was.

Idared,

Thanks for sharing the photo. I now have a M77 action (with the tang safety which I actually prefer), a Ruger No. 1 Tropical barrel in .458 Win Mag and Ruger M77 stock on the way care of E-bay. Next stop the gunsmith to turn that baby into thumper. I want to keep the quarter rib since I think they look neat.

Mike

There is an extractor cut in the threaded shank of the #1 barrel that will need to be dealt with. The M77 barrel shanks don't have um.