Brought Home Another Ruger No. 1 Today...

Added a KRSI in 6.5x55. Really wanted a blued RSI, but after over a year of looking I only found one and the starting bid on it was over $1700 which was more than I could stomach. Found this stainless rifle through Lee Newton at Classic Sporting Arms and had an extremely smooth transaction with one of the most knowledgeable people in the world when it comes to the Ruger No. 1. Looking forward to many more purchases from Lee.

That said, I feel like I can hit the pause button on buying No. 1s for a little while. This 6.5x55 International felt like a hole in my collection and now it is filled. The next No. 1 I buy is either going to be an absolute beater for a project I‘ve been brain storming on, or a 300 Win Mag in the Stainless / Laminate 1B variety. By the way, has anybody ever seen a real beater of a No. 1? I can’t seem to find one in rough shape with a correspondingly low price.

Anyhow, mandatory photo included. Certainly not the nicest wood I have on a No. 1, but pretty decent for the newer No. 1s.

Dave DeLaurant said:

A real looker -- congratulations!

As for beaters, my No.1b .270 had some minor buttstock cracks, a missing screw in the rib and a fair bit of shallow pitting on the right side of the receiver when I bought it. Who does that to a rifle like this? Anyway, she still set me back $600.

After shooting it as-is for about a decade I polished the pits out of the receiver and had it Armoloy plated, then sent the action to PacNor for rebarrelling to 32-40. I found a factory laminated stock set on eBay and had barrel-mounted sights fitted (the front sight blade in the photo was later trimmed to better fit the ramp). Looks good to me now, and shoots great.

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I would be completely happy with $600 if I could find a No. 1 for that. I can’t find anything locally for less than $900. I am thinking along the same lines as you except I’m going to Cerakote it. Send it to Pac-Nor for a short, threaded 308 barrel and throw some synthetic stocks on it for an all-weather deer rifle that I can suppress.

Demi-human said:

Didn’t you... hmm. Déjà vu?


Nice! You know what you like!
And I like them too!

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C-grunt said:

Ruger No 1 accuracy is a mixed bag. Some shoot great, some dont. Ive had 2 and both shot okay, but nothing to write home about. Around 2 MOA on average with sub MOA groups occasionally.

Im not expert but I believe it has more to do with the age of the rifle than necessarily the design. I believe Ruger had a time frame where their barrels weren't known for great accuracy.

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Indeed I did just... my wife had the same response.


Yeah. Ruger had some issues with Wilson barrels early on, but the design does not really lend itself to accuracy either. I’ve been able to make all of mine shoot reasonably well with a few tips found on various forums, but only my 1Vs and 1B are what I would call “accurate”.

Meeks36 said:

Yall out here buying two and ive yet to see one in person. Admittedly I haven't sought them out. Might be time to save my nickels, dimes, and quarter's.

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Careful. I started off with one last year and now I’m up to seven and looking for number eight.

SwampWolf said:

I've heard this too and I don't know how true it is but I can attest to the superb accuracy my No. 1 (a Varmint model chambered in .220 Swift) exhibits-the most accurate of the many rifles that I've had over the past half century. Maybe a fluke but it's one of the last rifles I'd ever part with.

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I’ve posted this photo a few times, but my 1B in 257 Weatherby Mag is plenty accurate for three rounds. It will start to open up after those first three, but I’m not going to shoot a single shot rifle at a game animal more than a time or two, so I’m good with it.

adcoch1 said:

Or sports cars, or motorcycles. Or women and whiskey for that matter.
I'd willingly start a ruger #1 addiction if I could get ahold of one.

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Hard to find in your neck of the woods?