For over 20 years, or so, I’ve considered having a Ruger No.1-S in 218 Bee rebored or rebarreled to 7x57. I like the light 26” contour with open sights (even though I’ll be throwing on a 4x leupould). Is this rifle’s contour the same as typical 1-B rifles, or is it thinner? I’m wondering what kind of accuracy I can expect. In my experience number ones can be a craps shoot, accuracy wise. I would be happy with 1.5 MOA for three shot groups, as I’m not trying to shoot the dingleberries off a gnat’s hiney at 600 paces (I mainly care about where the first shot goes with such rifles.). I would load up 160 grain partitions or accubonds, pretty warm, for Elk and blacks. BTW, I know that Ruger has recently made 24” 275 Rigby marked 1-A’s. I want a light contour 26” 1-S, if it can be reasonably accurate for hunting. Thanks

Is the 218 useful for you? If it is and shoots well leave it. If sat in the safe for the last 20 years rebarrel it to a lightweight long barrel in 7x57. Should be a sweet shooting rifle for just about anything you want to shoot this side of where a 375 H&H becomes a sensible choice. With a longish barrel a 7x57 will push a slippery 140 or 156 gn bullet at 2800 fps which is more than adequate for most game out to sensible ranges.

quote:

Originally posted by Heym SR20:
Is the 218 useful for you? If it is and shoots well leave it. If sat in the safe for the last 20 years rebarrel it to a lightweight long barrel in 7x57. Should be a sweet shooting rifle for just about anything you want to shoot this side of where a 375 H&H becomes a sensible choice. With a longish barrel a 7x57 will push a slippery 140 or 156 gn bullet at 2800 fps which is more than adequate for most game out to sensible ranges.

My certerfire varmint caliber preferences start with the 222 hand loaded to 223+ pressures on up to 22-250. I like 221 fireball as well, but that’s really not the point. If I had loads of cash, I would try to find a few of these 26” 1-S 218 bee rifles and make a 257 roberts, and 6.5 Swede or Creedmoor, as well. I like the rifles configuration that much. Sexy. The 218 bee is not a bad round, but I don’t have much use for it in this configuration.

BTW, I think one might get a little over 2800 FPS, with 160’s, out of the 7x57 with a 26” barrel. Individual barrel smoothness varies. I have a 24” 721 in 7mm-06. I’ve had good luck with 160 grain grand slams loaded over 4831SC at about 2800fps. It’s drills nice holes through muleys, anyway. No special aerodynamics needed. Just a good hunting bullet for hunting distances.

I agree on the svelte configuration of the 218 Bees.
Ruger seemed to package the No.1 perfectly in some calibers and not so much in others.
The 26” 338 Win Mags are the same way, but I don’t really want a 338.
Good looking rifle though.

quote:

Originally posted by Huvius:
I agree on the svelte configuration of the 218 Bees.
Ruger seemed to package the No.1 perfectly in some calibers and not so much in others.
The 26” 338 Win Mags are the same way, but I don’t really want a 338.
Good looking rifle though.

I had a Boddington 26” 1-S 300 H&H that I sold to fund a project. Wish I’d held on to that one! That’s the only small to medium bore (under .375”) magnum round I care to own. I wouldn’t mind having that rifle in 375, as the 24” “C” weight barrel found on the 1-H 375 is a bit heavy, in my opinion, but I tend toward the thin barrels. Accuracy might not be good enough with such a thin barrel in 375. I’d sure like to find out. I think Ruger hit a home run when they made a couple small runs of 26” 1-s-c 45-70’s. The “c” stands for “c” weight barrel. The same contour, but two inches longer, as the 375 no.1. I like to think that if Ruger had offered that configuration from the beginning, it would have been a bigger seller that the light 22” version. Who knows.

I've got one of the Boddington 300 H&H just because that is how Ruger No 1s should have always been made. The Boddington 7x57 and 450NE are also pretty close contenders in their configuration.

Rebarreling your rifle is likely to be cheaper than reboring.

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Originally posted by Mike Scott:
I've got one of the Boddington 300 H&H just because that is how Ruger No 1s should have always been made.

I could not agree more. That’s a great rifle.

the 218 Bee has become very collectable and is bringing big bucks and going sky high as we speak, Id give it a bit more time, sell it and buy whatever you want..that usually works better than a project option..A 1-A in a 7x57 would be ideal, and it was a production gun at one time as I recall, the 275 Rigbys are high dollar now and somewhat difficult to come by...

There is nothing nicer than a trim mod. 1-A or the 1-S IMO...