Does Ruger offer upgraded wood for their #1? I have been looking at old Ruger catalogs and articles from 1960-70s Gun Digests and their wood 'used to' look much higher grade than the current stock sets. Is this just a sign of the times or do they offer upgraded wood? I like the looks of the wood offered on the 50th anniversary models especially. Is the factory easy to deal with in requesting higher grade wood if I sent them my action for stock replacement?

If the factory upgraded wood is not feasible, who would you recommend to restock a #1.

Pictures would be great.

Thanks,
NorthGaAire

Think USA has just about exhausted its supply of high grade walnut. The nicest wood available for rifle stocks today comes from a region in Italy.

And Beretta gets their wood from Bulgaria. They are from Italy aren't they.

If you don't mind factory wood and just want a fancier buttstock than you currently have, I would locate a rifle with a fancy buttstock on GunBroker or AuctionArms, buy it, swap buttstocks, and resell the new rifle with the original rifle's plainer wood. MUCH less expensive than a custom stock.

Thanks for the info on Treebone.

I am already watching Gunbroker and I have even thought about sending my SS-LAM No.1 back to Ruger and asking them to swap the stocks to Walnut to see what they would supply.

Thanks,

For good blanks try http://www.hunterbid.com

ruger wont sell you a stock straight out (they want to fit it to the rifle) and they wont put a walnut stock on a ss rifle......i already tried that. very frustrating

Ruger is funny that way. I guess they don't belive in the old adage that the customer is always right.
A pox on them. I was the Alex henry forearms put on my #1Bs but I'm not sending all my #1s to them. The shipping would bankrupt me.
Paul B.

Ruger Service:

That is a feature-- you just can't get customer service just anywhere.

The laminated stock on the stainless Ruger No. 1 is there for a reason: Stainless is more weather resistant, and the laminated stock is more weather resistant too.

If you want a No. 1 in stainless, it comes with a laminated stock. Just like a John Deere comes in green/yellow.

45/70....we are all aware of the qualities of the stainless/laminate combo, that wasnt the original question, some of us would just like the option of walnut as we think the laminate looks like dung.

I called Ruger on Friday and was politely told that a SS No. 1 sporter in 45/70 could not be restocked in walnut because they were 'made different' and stocks were not interchangeable. I find that hard to believe. Do any of you have both the SS/Lam No 1 and the Blue/walnut version to be able to tell me if this is true? I will be surprized if they truly are different.

Thanks.

say "A M E N " to the dung look of laminate

replacing it with walnut improves it 50 %

replacing the shiny metal with blued steel improves it another 50 % and brings it full circle to a real rifle

Give us a call or email. We do it all the time, and we've got some awesome wood. Will send photos on request. www.buckmountainrifleworks.com
276-773-3545

Ruger will not swap parts to create a non- cataloged configuration. Heck they will not even change a barrel from one caliber to another.
I wanted to change a #3 over from 45-70 to 375 Win and they would not even rebarrel it unless it was in the same caliber.

And laminated wood especially the grey laminated stuff looks worse than do-do.
My brother has a Ruger M77 stainless with a walnut stock that is a great looking combination.