Need some light loads for the kids to use in my Ruger No.1. Don't wanna get them recoil-shy or scope-bit. Would still like it to be nicely accurate out to 100 yards though.

Have 400 gr.Barnes originals, 300 gr. Hornadys, 300 gr. Barnes Xs, and several weights in between of cast bullets, all on hand. What can you suggest for any of them which will kick about like a healthy .45-70 or a 9.3x62?

I've worked up some very accurate plinkers with my double using 300 gr Hornady flat points and 300 cast gc, using 5744 powder. My load that regulates is 38 grains of 5744. I'd start there. Since you don't need to worry about regulation, you can probably work up from there. The gun hardly feels like its going off. My 300 grain Hornady SP load is 63 grains of RL 15 with 3 grains Dacron filler. It replicates the 405 Winchester at about 2200 fps. Bob

%Thanks very much for the info, Bob. that's just the kind of advice I'm looking for.
I wonder if I could get similar results using SR-4759? (I have a few pounds of that on hand, and don't happen to have any 5744.) I don't remember their relative burning speeds, but suspect 4759 is substantially faster...so would have to decrease charge weight.

I too, have a Ruger in 450/400 and am wondering about the 300gr Hornady's your using. Do you use them at the .411 diameter they are made or do you swage them down? What is the bore diameter of your double?

Oregon45 -

Hi, I'm not Bob, and I sold my .450/400 WR double in 1973, so can't help there.

BUT, I noticed in another thread that you are using .408" bullets in your Ruger No. 1 450/400. Why? According to the info I have received, the No. 1 450/400s are made to the same groove diameter as their .405 Winchester No. 1s, i.e., .411" for both.

Is yours an aftermarket barrel? Or, have I been misinformed about Ruger's bore size(s)?

Anyway, I have both the .405 and the 450/400 in Ruger-barreled No. 1s and so far use the same bullets in both with no concerns yet. (That may change depending on what you can tell me.)
-----------------------------------

I hvae the .408's as they bump up to groove diameter when fired. I was under the impression that the Ruger's bore diameter was .410", not .411" like the 405 Winchester.

Guess I'm gonna have to slug both my bores to see what they tell me.

You may well be right, but it dosn't make a lot of sense to me if they chose to do it that way...i.e., make barrels just .001" different in size for what amounts to very small runs of each chambering.

Would seem a poor business practice to pay the added cost for different barrel tooling in so much as there would be no significant difference in pressures or performances with either size.

Will probably be about Wednesday before I get around to slugging them. When I do, I'll let you know what I found.

I agree with your reasoning, it does seem like Ruger would want to use the .411 bore, but, on the other hand, Hornady is using .410 bullets in its ammo for this caliber.

And of course it is always possible that both rifles have .410" groove diameter bores.

It is even possible that the barrel manufacturing process has +/- .0005" tolerances (half a thousandth) and that they use the ones which gauge on the small end of the tolerance for the 450/400 and the ones on the big end for the .405 Winchester.

It is possible too that Hornady is using .410" diameter bullets because they will work okay in the Rugers and still be closer to the .408" bores used in many of the older english guns in which they will inevitably be fired.

Anyway, will have (maybe) learned something when I "slug" the barrels. Just am not quite sure what any of it will mean, even after gauging.

Lord knows, even though I have been a loyal Ruger customer since 1959, they have certainly never reciprocated in any way, shape, form, or fashion, so it is not likely I could call them and get any kind of a reliable answer. Rather, any service I have received from them has been little short of abominable.

I'm lucky to have a .411 bore double. The Hornady bullets work fine. Bob

I have .414 bullets for my 10.3x60R being made in a 250 grain weight. They are of the HVLD type. Talk to the folks in Africa or Yukon Delta about getting you some made that size.

I think the .414 bullets would work in 416, 405, and 400 Jefferys rifles.