Picked up another Ruger No. 1… (45-70)

My only 45-70 to date is a Ruger No.3. My next will probably be some flavor of milsurp Trapdoor.

It took me several years to find a scope/mount combo for it that I could live with:

RugerNo3Scoped.jpg

So far I've just shot light-recoiling range loads at steel plates. 300 grain LRNs over a full case of Trailboss.
 
I ran a few of the Underwood 300 grainers through the No. 1 this morning and they honestly aren’t bad at all. Not even remotely as snappy as my 338 Win Mag. I was standing and shooting off of sticks, but it appears my recoil concerns were completely unwarranted. It was actually pleasant to shoot.
 
I've had a few No 1s in 45/70 and with heavier loads ot will beat you up big time.
Hopefully the recoil pads have improved,the ones I had were more like a brick
 
My only 45-70 to date is a Ruger No.3. My next will probably be some flavor of milsurp Trapdoor.

It took me several years to find a scope/mount combo for it that I could live with:

View attachment 1244123

Yup, scoping the Number One/Three is not for the easily disillusioned. The combination of integral mount location, length of pull, stock drop and height-over-bore is very challenging. Add the limited options in small-objective scopes, and it's rough. At least for .45-70, you don't need anything much over 6x on the top end. That looks like a nice combo.

I had to go with Ruger extension rings to mount a Leupold 2.5-8x32 on my Number One.

IMG_9514.jpeg
 
I had to go with Ruger extension rings to mount a Leupold 2.5-8x32 on my Number One.

1st of all beautiful RSI, what caliber?

Both of my No1's carry the same Leupold with the same extension ring setup. That scope fits well on a No1. I had to take off the rear sight leaf on my 375 Ruger, I replaced it with a low profile dovetail filler that I had to mill with a file to get to fit following some cold blue.
 
1st of all beautiful RSI, what caliber?

Both of my No1's carry the same Leupold with the same extension ring setup. That scope fits well on a No1. I had to take off the rear sight leaf on my 375 Ruger, I replaced it with a low profile dovetail filler that I had to mill with a file to get to fit.
7x57mm. It will put 3 shots at 200 yards under 2". POI varies considerably with bullet weight, and like all Number Ones POI is finicky depending on shooting position and benchrest. But I'm not about to go down the usual rabbit hole of relieving wood, glass bedding, playing with hanger screw tension, etc (I did that with my first Number One almost 50 years ago). If it was my only rifle maybe, but otherwise life is too short to bother with all that. I like it enough as is :D
 
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Yup, scoping the Number One/Three is not for the easily disillusioned. The combination of integral mount location, length of pull, stock drop and height-over-bore is very challenging. Add the limited options in small-objective scopes, and it's rough. At least for .45-70, you don't need anything much over 6x on the top end. That looks like a nice combo.

I had to go with Ruger extension rings to mount a Leupold 2.5-8x32 on my Number One.

View attachment 1244252
I am running that same scope with Leupold extended rings on my RSI in 30-06.
 
7x57mm. It will put 3 shots at 200 yards under 2". POI varies considerably with bullet weight, and like all Number Ones POI is finicky depending on shooting position and benchrest. But I'm not about to go down the usual rabbit hole of relieving wood, glass bedding, playing with hanger screw tension, etc (I did that with my first Number One almost 50 years ago). If it was my only rifle maybe, but otherwise life is too short to bother with all that. I like it enough as is :D
If you ever need to sell it..... just sayin... Beautiful rifle sir!
 
Finally got the 45-70 zeroed this morning. It was a little more fierce from the bench than it was off the shooting sticks, but not terrible. I’m going to see if I can kill a deer with it this afternoon. It looks pretty decent next to my 30-06 though.
View attachment 1245966
life is good when you can say “I’m going to see if I can kill a deer this afternoon” !!!!
 
Cool! My No. 1 is a .223, just a bit less in the recoil department than the .45/70.

I have shot some 405 gr JSP Marlin-level loads out of my 1895G, and lighter loads in the 26” barreled 1895CB. The G kicked pretty stoutly.

Both now wear aftermarket Pachmayr recoil pads, the OEM “recoil pad” on the 1895G is about as hard as the plastic buttplate the CB comes with.

Hopefully you can report back the story of filling a deer tag with it soon! :thumbup:

Stay safe.
 
Cool! My No. 1 is a .223, just a bit less in the recoil department than the .45/70.

I have shot some 405 gr JSP Marlin-level loads out of my 1895G, and lighter loads in the 26” barreled 1895CB. The G kicked pretty stoutly.

Both now wear aftermarket Pachmayr recoil pads, the OEM “recoil pad” on the 1895G is about as hard as the plastic buttplate the CB comes with.

Hopefully you can report back the story of filling a deer tag with it soon! :thumbup:

Stay safe.
this is how strong that #1 action is. At one time the were making then for Nitro Express Elephant rounds

check this video out! OUCH 🤕
 
life is good when you can say “I’m going to see if I can kill a deer this afternoon” !!!!
Didn’t see a deer until this morning, but I got to try out the 45-70 this morning. Newsflash: it worked. 49E6FA27-B425-43AC-A680-D332548A3BAA.jpeg

Got video of the whole thing. Fireball from the muzzle completely obscured the deer at the shot.
2EAE209C-EAD7-4CE9-9672-F6989AAAEAD7.jpeg
 
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Cool! My No. 1 is a .223, just a bit less in the recoil department than the .45/70.

I have shot some 405 gr JSP Marlin-level loads out of my 1895G, and lighter loads in the 26” barreled 1895CB. The G kicked pretty stoutly.

Both now wear aftermarket Pachmayr recoil pads, the OEM “recoil pad” on the 1895G is about as hard as the plastic buttplate the CB comes with.

Hopefully you can report back the story of filling a deer tag with it soon! :thumbup:

Stay safe.
I have the cb model also (remlin), but haven't loaded anything heavier than 350's.

I won a sbl in '15 in a 4h raffle which was interesting due to deciding if I'd want that cartridge? It's been fun shooting for me and my 5th child (8th grader at the time).
 
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