I just happened to stumble across the ruger website and see they've brought back the 450/400 in the Tropical series , as well as choosing to go with the 9,3x62 and not x74 in the Medium sporter. Very few of the 450/400's made their way to South Africa and I have been looking to get my hands on one for the last year yet they are scarce as hens teeth. So tomorrow morning I will definitely be placing an order, don't want to miss out again..

Deon, keep in mind that Ruger has cataloged No. 1s in a number of different calibers in the past and never made any or made just a few. Don't get too excited until you see one for sale.

I ordered a Ruger #1-V in 6.5-284 that they had shown in their 2013 catalog. It took months to deliver and I was told that they did a very short run on them at the end of the year.

My wife has also been looking for one ever since they came out the first time, the importers are useless at importing one. Would also love one in 9.3 x whatever, but I think we'll probably buy one and rebarrel at some stage.

No. 1s today are not what No. 1s were when Bill was around. I have a modest collection of "Red pad" No. 1s and the wood is always 3 or 4X and the guts are actually finished even the parts that don't rub anything.
Last year I had a chance to buy a black pad fresh off Safari where it took two Buffs. It came with top grade dies and lotsa bullets cases and loaded Hornady ammo. The wood was about 2X and had the usual (current) Ruger horrible stain and finish.
At the same time I ran across an early red pad 458 that underneath the 1/4" of spar varnish had great wood. The AH foreends will not interchange due to barrel size, so I had to make the 458 forend match up the black pad wood. Did it and sold the 1976 458 and made a bit. Many applications of stripper got the 458 buttstock and 450 forend to bare wood. Much more work and they got Brownells 20 buck a tiny bottle English red stain and now have about 8 coats of MinWax gloss wipe on poly (love gloss on stocks with figure). When done it will become a fun cast bullet gun as I have a 375 gr NEI DD mold .411 that shoots as well as jacketed bullets with less punishing loads (400 Whelen, 400 H&H and now this one). When done it will have better wood than any of the current No.1s including the Boddington series for about $800 net.

375 H&H I did last year same method except it came with great wood.

Cabelas in Rogers Mn has a 450/400 for sale.

It appears that Ruger will only offer one caliber per rifle style this year. At the end of the year a new caliber will be selected for each style. The medium sporter will be a 9.3x62, the International a 257, the old 1A will be a 280, the varminter a 220 Swift and the 1H a 450/400.

I don't understand what they've been doing for the last few years with these. They used to offer all of the models in a variety of calibers. Now, we're stuck with this nonsense.

It's become pretty clear to me that if you want to find a No. 1 in a particular caliber, the place to go is the secondhand market. If they ever made it, that's the place to find it.

there is a 450/400 in the classified section for $1095.

quote:

Originally posted by Deon:
I just happened to stumble across the ruger website and see they've brought back the 450/400 in the Tropical series , as well as choosing to go with the 9,3x62 and not x74 in the Medium sporter. Very few of the 450/400's made their way to South Africa and I have been looking to get my hands on one for the last year yet they are scarce as hens teeth. So tomorrow morning I will definitely be placing an order, don't want to miss out again..

They're too busy making ugly plastic crap these days....imho

Bill Ruger was a user of the products his company made. Bill and a few friends (in hunting camp) came up with the idea of a modern single shot hunting rife. His problem was that his management staff didn't want anything to do with a single shot rifle. Bill used his muscle to push the issue and start the R & D.

Bill was the driving force behind the No. 1, he's gone now. Management does what they want to do now.