I am thinking about getting a Ruger No.1 450/400 and there are some things i would like to know. On average how good does the wood look on them? I've heard the action is very strong on a Ruger No.1 so how powerful can a 450/400 be loaded up to in one? I would like to be able to hunt elephant at least once with it, so how well would the 450/400 work for that? How is the balance of a Ruger No1 in 450/400? I want to findout as much as i can about this rifle/cartridge combo so i appreciate any and all the info i can get about it. Thanks very much. the gunshop i buy from most of the time gave me a price of $939.95 for it.

Hi Pez. The Ruger No. 1 is a very strong action and you would have no trouble loading up the 450/400 if that is what you want. The cartridge has killed a lot of big game and was a favourite of people like Pondoro Taylor.
Factory ballistics should be fine and you can buy Hornady ammo off the shelf.

Wood is variable and to get a good looking piece you may have to look at a few. Mine is ok but not spectacular like some, especially some of the early No. 1's.

Balance is fine. I don't like the rear sight but there are other options to pursue from firms like NECG for front and rear sights. A low powered variable or fixed power scope sight in low mounts can be extremely useful. Or there are a couple of options for peep sights.

I fitted a Limbsaver pre-fit pad to mine, a vast improvement over the Ruger pad.

There is quite a bit of reloading information about for the 450/400 and I read somewhere that the round was covered in Handloader (?) or some similar name magazing in February, with some hot loads for the No. 1.

I am havng the safety on mine modified (without grinding it) so that it does not stop the empty cartridge case from ejecting claer of the action.

I hope this helps. I like the No.1's so good luck with it and keep us informed as to your progress please.

Cheers, Chris

Pez, I have a #1 in 450-400 and I'll try to answer a few of your questions if I can.
the wood is just luck of the draw, some have fairly plain wood, some high figure. Mine has pretty nice figure on one side of the butt with the other side straight grained. The somewhat standard nitro express velocity of 2,150 f.p.s. is easy to obtain in the #1. A recent article in Handloader magazine had the writer running velocities up to the 2,400 f.p.s. range without any apparent trouble. I've never hunted elephant so can't speak from experience but the 450-400 has a good reputation in african hunting literature. As for the handling qualities, that tends to be very subjective to each shooter but after 300 odd rounds down range I think mine is a delight to shoot. The only change I made from the stock rifle is to install a Decellerator recoil pad in place of the factory pad.

quote:

Originally posted by Rockdoc:
Hi Pez. The Ruger No. 1 is a very strong action and you would have no trouble loading up the 450/400 if that is what you want. The cartridge has killed a lot of big game and was a favourite of people like Pondoro Taylor.
Factory ballistics should be fine and you can buy Hornady ammo off the shelf.

Wood is variable and to get a good looking piece you may have to look at a few. Mine is ok but not spectacular like some, especially some of the early No. 1's.

Balance is fine. I don't like the rear sight but there are other options to pursue from firms like NECG for front and rear sights. A low powered variable or fixed power scope sight in low mounts can be extremely useful. Or there are a couple of options for peep sights.

I fitted a Limbsaver pre-fit pad to mine, a vast improvement over the Ruger pad.

There is quite a bit of reloading information about for the 450/400 and I read somewhere that the round was covered in Handloader (?) or some similar name magazing in February, with some hot loads for the No. 1.

I am havng the safety on mine modified (without grinding it) so that it does not stop the empty cartridge case from ejecting claer of the action.

I hope this helps. I like the No.1's so good luck with it and keep us informed as to your progress please.

Cheers, Chris

Thanks a lot! the info you've given me is very helpful and it sounds like this is just what i'm looking for. i'm sure the Ruger No.1 450/400 will be my next purchase. I'll post it on here when i get mine. thanks again!

quote:

Originally posted by chuckT:
Pez, I have a #1 in 450-400 and I'll try to answer a few of your questions if I can.
the wood is just luck of the draw, some have fairly plain wood, some high figure. Mine has pretty nice figure on one side of the butt with the other side straight grained. The somewhat standard nitro express velocity of 2,150 f.p.s. is easy to obtain in the #1. A recent article in Handloader magazine had the writer running velocities up to the 2,400 f.p.s. range without any apparent trouble. I've never hunted elephant so can't speak from experience but the 450-400 has a good reputation in african hunting literature. As for the handling qualities, that tends to be very subjective to each shooter but after 300 odd rounds down range I think mine is a delight to shoot. The only change I made from the stock rifle is to install a Decellerator recoil pad in place of the factory pad.

thanks a lot for the very helpful info. i like what i've been reading and this will be the next rifle i buy. take care.

The wood on my 450/400 Ruger #1 is actually pretty nice. As stated earlier though, with a Ruger this is pretty much luck of the draw.
What has not been mentioned much so far is accuracy. My #1 will clover leaf 3 shots at 100 yds using my handloads of 76.4 gr of IMR 4831 and a 400 gr Woodleigh soft OR solid. It will do the same with Hornady factory ammo, although I only use the Hornady stuff for range practice. It is a great rifle for the price, and recoil is quite soft compared to the larger Nitro Express calibers.
Mangwana

My 450/400 also shoots very well. The wood is generally nicer than most factory rifles but nothing to brag about. I bought several No 1's in the 60's and 70's and they all had wood that looked like top end custom stocks.

As to performance, I have had more trouble duplicating factory loads than getting higher performance. The case is large for the factory ballistics and with modern powders is really underloaded to protect the doubles it is chambered in. There has been a lot of discussion about, hangfires, fillers, crimping etc. I found that, in my experience, a good hard crimp was the most reliable method to eliminate the "instantaneous hangfires". I didn't see any difference with fillers. A lot of people here have strong opinions about this, but that's my experience.

I found it very easy to load up in the Ruger, due to it's higher pressure capabilities. The loads were generally better performing. However, you soon reach a point where the recoil gets punishing. I favor a good stout load just a little above factory ballistics, with a good crimp.

Pez, I have a new unfired 450/400 stocked by Luxux Walnut that is drop dead beautiful. 24 LPI checkering. PM me you email address if you're seriously looking and I'll send pics..

quote:

Originally posted by Mike Brooks:
Pez, I have a new unfired 450/400 stocked by Luxux Walnut that is drop dead beautiful. 24 LPI checkering. PM me you email address if you're seriously looking and I'll send pics..

PM sent

Thanks,
William(Pez)

When I went to Luxus to pickmout some wood they had on clearance (they're only about 90 miles from me) they showed me the last No. 1 stock they were going to do. It had just been checkered and was ready to ship. It was gorgeous. I hated that they got out of that business.

Art - Did they mention WHY they quit doing the Ruger No. 1's? Is it info you can share?

They were gearing up for the Lux production and didn't have time for it. I haven't been back lately, but they were CNC'ing Lux stocks as fast as they could make them, and were having their $75 blank sale to clean out a building to dedicate to rifle production. I suspect they only had so much manpower and space.

We had a discussion about stocking No 1's, nd they commented on the same thing I have noticed over the years. For a production rifle, every No 1 seems unique when it comes to stocking.

That's too bad. Hate to lose a source of good stocking service for No.1's.

For custom stocking you and they are probably right about each Ruger No.1 being its own pattern. But over the years I have swapped factory stocks on a BUNCH of No. 1 rifles with no problems at all from a fit and using point of view. The fit wasn't perfect, but it was as good as it was when the stocks were on the rifles the factory put them on.

Maybe that "generic" two-piece stock fit is one of the reasons some folks have real trouble getting their individual No.1 rifles to shoot as well as they want?

That's my impression. There is a generic factory stock fit, 'cause I have swapped all kinds of factory stocks around, including a lot of No 1's to No 3's, with no problems. The difference seems to be the internal clearances. When you stock one rifle to minimum clearances, as you would normally do, i often doesn't fit onto another rifle without some extra fitting.

I think the accuracy problems reported are often a result of technique. I had always seen good accuracy with No. 1's, not the problems everyone reported, and I have had a bunch. Just recently, I read a reprint of an article Frank DeHaas wrote on this subject in, I believe, the late 70's. He took a couple of rifles, shot them stock with the factory pressure pad, full length bedded, and free floated. He also used a pressure screw, if I remember correctly. The surprising thing was that he also shot each variation with a rear, center, and front forearm rest on the front bag. With all this work, the only shining pieceof data was that there was a huge accuracy difference with the three positions. The rear was best, followed by center, then front. All the stocking variations shot well when using the rear forearm bag contact. This happens to be the way I normally shoot, to make the rifle barrel heavy and stabilize it, unless it is a varmint weight or heavy barrel rig. I have tried it, and it does make a difference. It alo best simulates the way you hold a rifle to shoot in the field (at least for me). This may be the No 1 equivalent of not resting a double on its forearm when benching, which is an accepted fact with double shooters. Could be theat Rugers (and other singles) also are critical as to this.

One thing I have noticed is that there were some early Rugers which had the forend screw going directly into the hanger without the little round toggle. I suspect this change, along with the addition of the forend pressure pad were an effort on their part to improve accuracy. The DeHaas article was written after the advent of these changes. I wonder if it could be that the changes improved accuracy, but made technique more critical, since the toggle doesn't provide any torsional support and would seem to allow any pressure in front of the toggle to be "swivelled" upward into the fron to the barrel.

The next time I am shooting a No 1, I may try it with the forearm, and then remove the forearm, and shoot it with the rifle supported only on the bottom of the action and see if there is a change. I am also tempted at some point to cut off the front of the hanger in front of the ejector attachment and weld on a longer hanger ala a Browning HiWall, which I have always seen shoot well, and bed it with two solid screws and a floated barrel. If I do it, I will have to wait until I restock one, since you would have to trash the forearm due to the existing mounting hole. This would have a further benefit on heavy rifles, I think, in that there would be no tendency for recoil to put a load on the forened screw and estucheon and set it back in the stock, which I have seen of some walnut. The solution to this is to glass bed it from the back to prevent the setback.

#1 wood is not as good as it used to be but they try to get some figure in each piece. I have a 450-400; lots of fun to shoot and you can load from 210 pistol bullets to300 grainers made for the 405 Win, to full house 400 grainers, and can load them up to higher pressure if you want to. Get one. I also shoot 400 grain cast bullets in it too.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
#1 wood is not as good as it used to be but they try to get some figure in each piece. I have a 450-400; lots of fun to shoot and you can load from 210 pistol bullets to300 grainers made for the 405 Win, to full house 400 grainers, and can load them up to higher pressure if you want to. Get one. I also shoot 400 grain cast bullets in it too.

thanks for the info. i'm taking Mike Brooks up on the offer he made to me in this thread and if the rifle looks as good as it does in the pics i saw i'll be a very happy man. i like the Ruger No.1 and the 450/400 NE cartridge a lot. i think the rifle/cartridge combo will be very useful to me.

I'm quite pleased with the wood on mine, and it has taken several buffalo, scrub bulls, pigs, a wild dog, chital, donkeys and a brumby. The Woodleigh Hydros out of it are lethal on the big animals. And on the small animals, for that matter.

Ben,
It was nice to talk to you last week! Too bad we didn't have a chance to sit down ans swap tales!

Cave Creek Armory in Cave Creek, AZ has one brand new, unfired, with the box, rings, and all the factory paper (warrnty registry card, owner's manual, etc.), very nice wood, for sale right now. I didn't notice what they are asking for it, as I already have one.

But you could call and ask Jeff, the owner.

Their phone is (480) 595-2858.

Pez

While the Ruger No1 will take loads of higher pressure than factory 450/400 loads suitable for double rifles, they are not really necessary to kill cape buff, lion or elephants.

"Standard" 450/400 ballistics from the early 1900's work just fine...

And in the Ruger No1 would make for a faster reload as well...

If you intend to load any big Bore No. 1 to the maximum possible you probably don't want fancy wood as it is usually weaker. Nice, dense straight grain is better as the American walnut on Rugers is not the greatest stuff to start with. Of coutse you can always find fancy wood to hang on the wall and pick up a laminated stock and fore end for that Heffalump hunting. My African Red Pad No. 1 is never gonna see a full house 300 grain load. First of all it hurts and second I'd hate to lose this piece of wood from the days when Bill was still in charge.