Hi Folks, On Tuesday I took the RSI for it's firts walk in the forest having only frightened a sighting in target till then. I had been walking along trying to follow a track which I had helped mark some 12 months ago. Here in New Zealand a track is nothing more than a notch cut into an occasional tree or a bit of bunting hanging from a branch, or a bent over sapling. It's quite easy to walk off track and some times a devil of a job to find it again. Visibility is at times down to a few yards, with fifty to sixty being open country.
After having walked for a mile or so over undulating ground I was puzled. The track should have been a little more clear than it was when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Black and white. What was that I thought? A pig? Slowly I moved forward away from the track, but could not find anything more than some scuffing on the ground. Now where is that track? Then the sound of an animal moving. Yes a pig, two, no four of them. Two fair sized and two smaller ones ambling towards me in and out of view as they snorted and turned over the soil. Come on my beauties. I was trying to get a clear shot at one of the larger black ones when the second nearest, a small one, suddenly stopped, lifted it's head, snorted and did a one hundred and eighty degree turn. It ran straight into the two big guys which ran off too. No time to think it was line up on the remaing pig which was facing me a little a little away from where the others had just departed. Bang, it was down. The little RSI had blooded an animal at it's fist shot on it's first outing. What a great little rifle, with it's short length and wonderfull balance it handles perfectly. A single shot is not a handicap when all there is time for is one well placed shot, that is what a single is about. In the 7x57 the little RSI is just about perfect.
Finding the track again was fairly easy it was then just a matter of humping the pig back to the car.
There's more, when I got home my darling wife met me at the gate and after hearing my little story volunteered to butcher the pig! True, honest, she insisted she wanted to do it! She did a fine job too. How lucky can a man be?
After all this showing off there is a point to this post. It had been damp in the bush and some water had gotten on to the rifle, does any one know how best to clean and oil the action, is there any special technique? Thanks.

I would spray it with WD-40, then wipe it off and put your favorite lubricating oil on afterwards.

-Spencer

Oldun,

Great story thanks for sharing. The 7x57 is a classic cartridge to say the least and in a graceful and elegant rifle like the #1 I dare say it's perfectly matched.

My only #1 is a .458 Win but I dearly love it and find it to be wonderfully short and handy. The wood on mine is excellent and there's a certain thrill with hunting with a #1 that can't be easily explained!

Oldun - Great story! You didn't say whether you have a scope mounted on your Ruger or you use irons; be careful with the WD-40 around a scope, for it can destroy the "O" rings. I use Johnson's furniture paste wax on my guns (except for the trigger mechanism) when hunting in "wet" conditions. The wax is easy to apply and take off; I've yet to have a gun rust using this method. Mags

And I use Birchwood-casey Sheath for protection from moisature. It even works in Alaska!

Can't beat those No. 1's.

There's a Leupold v11 1-4x atop the No1. Like others I too find the scope rings set a little too far forward. However if the scope is set at about 2.5x it's fine for offhand shooting, at 4x the eye relief induces stock crawling but when I get down to the prone position its just great.
Thanks for the comments about spraying the gun.
My favourite oil is Ballistol, it was invented especially for guns. It's great on metal, doesn't attack wood or plastic and waterproofs leather. If its available in the US try it. it will surprise you how muck muck it will take off the outside of an apparently clean rifle. Its excellent for cleanings barrels too. Till now I've been using it from a bottle but the next lot will be in an aerosol can. All my leather slings, ammo pouches and knife sheaths have been treated with Ballistol it realy does seem to be the one oil does it all. There are better modern oils which will protect the metal after they are "baked" on but for an allround oil for me it's Ballistol.

Let's see if I did this right?
Here's mine.It's a #1A light sporter,but I know how you feel about the handiness,and beauty of it.
What loads are you shooting?
Mike

Here's a shot of it with a VX-III 1.5x5

Mike,
I recenttly aquired a set of RCBS dies along with a box of Sierra 140 bullets. These bullets with 45 grains of Australian ADI AR2208 powder shoot well in my rifle.
Having read that there can be problems with getting the No1 to shoot straight I thought I should try a bullet known for it's accuracy. I was not dissapointed.
The next bullet to try, I have allready bought a box, is the Nosler 140 grain Accubond. From what I've gleaned so far, these new bullets have the best aspects of the ballistic tip and the partition in one bullet. Field reports here indicate that they perform very well.
Has any one tried the Accubond? I would appreciate any comments.
Gordon.

Mike
The No1 in it's 1A form was the rifle I was looking for but when I found the RSI at a good price I bought it. The 2 inch shorter length has a slight advantage for use in the bush and the 1A is slightly better for open country. But hell, I'd use either open or tight cover. There's only one standard in all No1's and that standard is Good!

I actually prefer to leave the scope off of mine for just fun,plinking.
I've found that with the very good Ruger mounts that POA stays close enough for hunting if I need to put it on in a hurry.
It looks like an Elephant gun in my eyes without the scope.
I'm thinking about having a Williams reciever sight,and one of the glowing type front sights put on it,and leaving it scopeless permanently.
I have an M-77 MKII in 7x57 also with a VXII 4x12
to use as my scoped 7x57.
Mike

Here's a taeget I shot with the MKII
Mike