Brought Home Another No. 1

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marksman13

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Picked up a No. 1 B in 7mm Rem Mag a couple weeks ago. Serial number indicates a 1978 manufacture date and someone wrote his name and the year 1979 on the butt stock under the recoil pad. It was too cheap to pass up and she’s sporting a gorgeous piece of walnut. Unfortunately, somebody was pretty rough on the old girl in a past life, so refinish work started today.

Used an iron and wet rag to pull out most of the dents and dings. Stripped off the old finish with Citristrip this evening. I guess I’ll go at it with some sandpaper and get ready to re-stain it before finishing with Tru-Oil. At some point I suppose I’ll send the receiver and other small parts off for color case work. May even re-barrel in 308 before I’m finished. Guess we’ll see how my first stock re-finish turns out. E71A554C-46F9-4D4A-B4EF-B557096FF19F.jpeg AF92F8D6-1C4E-4BED-B5B3-06A237B4825D.jpeg 9BFB9156-2ED3-4F79-959C-524BA7F1D5AF.jpeg
 
I did an old 870 Wingmaster with Tru Oil and when I was talking to my gunsmith, he said he had is own concoction and that there were better formulas out there. I never bothered to look and the Tru Oil stock looked nice but not as nice as some rubbed oil finishes I've seen.

That is a really nice project you have going there.
 
How did you do the rag and iron trick? I have a ding in the forearm of my Win 1894 Trapper I’d like to try and raise out.

Stay safe.
 
How did you do the rag and iron trick? I have a ding in the forearm of my Win 1894 Trapper I’d like to try and raise out.

Stay safe.
Nothing to it. Grab an old rag or dish towel and get it wet. Squeeze out the excess water and lay the wet rag across the stock. Grab your iron and using the steam function hold it against the wet rag directly over the dent you would like to raise. Deep dents may take several attempts to avoid getting the stock too hot in one setting. Bear in mind that this will only work as long as the grain structure of the wood has not been cut. It may also temporarily raise the grain of the wood in other places. Sometimes it will even out when it dries. Sometimes it does not and the stock will have to be sanded down and refinished. It’s a bit of a gamble.
 
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Congrats on finding and restoring such great wood. I had a #1 .204 with gorgeous wood. Used it for several years shooting prairie dogs. The wood got dinged up in the process but no big dents__lots of small dings. Had my gunsmith refinish it using a dent removing process and a hand rubbed oil product. When he finished, it looked better than new! It was amazing. Didn't want to get it dinged up again, so I ended up selling it for twice what I paid. To date, it is still the prettiest gun I have ever owned.
 
Started sanding down the fore end this morning. Slightly re-contoured the beaver tail as I feel the edges are a bit sharp and “melting” those edges gives the rifle a cleaner look in my opinion. If my son will take a nap I’ll get the butt stock sanded down next.
 
Shouldn’t need to stain at all.

Go at it with the TruOil but it usually leaves too glossy of a finish. You will probably need to use a rubbing compound like rotten stone to get a nice satin finish.
 
Beautiful stock, and a nice score. If you are going for a satin oil finish, may I suggest taking a look at MinWax Antique Oil. It's the same technique as any other oil application, and has worked really well for me over the years for hand rubbed oil finishes. It's available at almost every hardware store I've gone in and most Home Depot or Lowes. Either way good luck, and congratulations.
 
Beautiful stock, and a nice score. If you are going for a satin oil finish, may I suggest taking a look at MinWax Antique Oil. It's the same technique as any other oil application, and has worked really well for me over the years for hand rubbed oil finishes. It's available at almost every hardware store I've gone in and most Home Depot or Lowes. Either way good luck, and congratulations.

Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll give that a try. I’ve never done a satin finish. Helped my dad with several re-finish jobs growing up, but this is the first one I’ve attempted on my own.
 
Nothing to it. Grab an old rag or dish towel and get it wet. Squeeze out the excess water and lay the wet rag across the stock. Grab your iron and using the steam function hold it against the wet rag directly over the dent you would like to raise. Deep dents may take several attempts to avoid getting the stock too hot in one setting. Bear in mind that this will only work as long as the grain structure of the wood has not been cut. It may also temporarily raise the grain of the wood in other places. Sometimes it will even out when it dries. Sometimes it does not and the stock will have to be sanded down and refinished. It’s a bit of a gamble.
We used this trick on the house pool cues at the hall I worked at, worked pretty well. Some of those cues had been steamed hundreds of times- of course they werent perfectly straight any more, either, lol.

That stock is going to turn out great, OP!
 
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Had one the same year as yours in 30-06 except the wood was not nearly as nice as yours. Also mine would not shoot anything near acceptable. Finally, after an aftermarket trigger and work on the forend got it to shoot pretty good. If yours does not shoot well I can almost guarantee that the problem will be in the forend.
 
Very pretty gun. A little divergent, but I had often thought that the ideal gun would be the 12 gauge over the 6.5x55 or some other multi purpose caliber. Not really a single shot but yes, kind of. I have mulled my confidence level with only one round ready to fire and have reasoned that it would force me to make sure that that first shot is really a good sight picture.
 
Very pretty gun. A little divergent, but I had often thought that the ideal gun would be the 12 gauge over the 6.5x55 or some other multi purpose caliber. Not really a single shot but yes, kind of. I have mulled my confidence level with only one round ready to fire and have reasoned that it would force me to make sure that that first shot is really a good sight picture.
I only hunted with Ruger No. 1s this year. Killed five deer and never needed a second shot, but I was in one situation where I wished I had a second round ready to go. I will say that those single shots have forced me to be more selective and more focused.
 
Shot only one deer w a #1. First shot was perfect but the deer didn't expire as quickly as I like. So I shot him again.
Reloaded without taking my eyes off him, never looked at gun. Just emptied it, and swapped from empty case to loaded in my pocket and then put the fresh one in. About as fast as reading it. Hadn't hunted w a #1 for proly 20 yrs.

Seamless.

You always make the first shot count. But if you have to take another, the #1 is not a problem. I did find the TC Contender being a break open made me have to look at the gun while reloading. I only shot a couple deer with it and never needed a 2nd shot.
One deer down and dead in a few bounds, the other took off and I couldn't have hit it again no matter what rifle I had.
 
Junk forearm removed.
Epoxy cleaned off hanger.
Burned it off the Redfield bases and screws.
LGS had the 86 front base
Is tilted fwd a bit since barrel contour different. Suspect it would be on a reg #3 too.

The Redfield base is contoured on bottom for factory taper, so didnt sit right on this bbl. Maybe the Burris posilines will be enough. If not epoxy bed the base to bbl ( but do a professional job of it ).

View attachment 978691
 
Might order a walnut repro AH forend off the web. Reg B would be better maybe. But think if running the factory buttstock the AH look better. Bag gun anyway
 
Update, 2 pc of masking tape at front edge of fwd base gets ring square per this bbl.
Now to find my release agent.

I know where the accraglass is LOL
 
Dont consider anybody adding their Ruger single shot stuff to anything I post as poaching.

Kind of a small group us Ruger single shot guys.

Adding stuff bumps the thread....not a bad thing.

The OP is the OP and has a nice project going. Nothing I can post would, could or should detract from that.

If it does, thats your problem.
 
Geez...elegant rifle there...have no use for a 7mm Mag, but that stock and the whole idea of a top drawer single shot appeals to me....a Ruger #3 in .22 Hornet is one of my grail guns...Rod
 
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