ruger no. 3 45/70

[Deaf Smith]

Found one for sale.

Is there any way to keep it from kicking to much?

Seem to weigh 5 lb. Neat size gun but I worry about the kick.

Anyone hunt with them?

Deaf

 

[tark]

Can't do much about the laws of physics. A light gun shooting a powerful cartridge is gonna kick. Either add weight to the gun or handload the cartridge to lower levels. Only the second option is practical. Recoil pads and recoil reducers can only do so much.

 

[TwoEyedJack]

You could send the rifle to Mag-na-port

http://magnaport.com/rifle.html

I shot a ..338 Win mag with a magnaported barrel once and it kicked more like a .30-06. My own .338 does not have any kind of a brake on it since I don't like hunting with hearing protection and shooting a braked rifle without protection is just dumb. Since you are already deaf it might not make any difference for you.

If I shot my .338 more often and wanted a brake, I would probably look at the Savage. It has two concentric cylinders. When you want recoil reduction, you line up the holes, and when you are hunting without hearing protection, you twist it so the holes don't line up to disable it.

 

[toplot]

Ruger #3 45/70 recoil

What I did was replace the "Carbine" style stock with the 90 deg edges and replaced it with a Ruger #1 factory stock with recoil pad. That's just my take, but I'm a large man? 6'2" and 250# and it does make a difference with perceived recoil. Hope this helps, improved the looks a bunch too.

 

[greyling22]

for price reference, I saw a #5 in 45/70 in a pawn shop the other day in about 80% condition for $550. it was kind of cute, but life is too short to get beaten up like that for fun

edit: OP, I noticed you were in texas as well. did you see that #3 in tyler? there can't be that many of them for sale.

 

[klausman]

I hunt with my #1 in 45-70. I had it rebarreled with a 28 inch octagonal. It weighs in at a bit over 9 lbs without a scope. It is definitely a classic for the confident hunter. (Your magazine is in your pocket.) I put a decelerator pad on it, and it is no worse than a 7 Rem Mag. I shoot 400 grain soft points at about 1800 fps. Lots of folks use 350 or even 300 grain bullets. That would help with the recoil too. Good luck.

 

[eastbank]

i hunt early season deer with a #3 ruger in 45-70 with the 300hr hornady with 50grs H4198 and a 4x leupold scope and its a deer killer for sure. eastbank.

 

[TexasPatriot.308]

I had a couple of No. 3s in small calibers. don't think they were meant for large calibers....have fun and hope your eye retinas don't come unattached.

 

[MikeJackmin]

If you don't reload, find some 'cowboy' ammo that's loaded light for competition. I would not be surprised if even downloaded ammo wouldn't be plenty for whitetail.

 

[AK103K]

I was just shooting mine today.

300 grain LRNFP over 14 grains of Trail Boss, and you can shoot them all day with no discomfort. Fun guns to shoot with that load. Not so much with heavy loads.

 

[Jlr2267]

life is too short to get beaten up like that for fun .

Come on, life is too short *not* to get beaten up like that. That's the stuff life's made of

 

[Deaf Smith]

for price reference, I saw a #5 in 45/70 in a pawn shop the other day in about 80% condition for $550. it was kind of cute, but life is too short to get beaten up like that for fun

edit: OP, I noticed you were in texas as well. did you see that #3 in tyler? there can't be that many of them for sale.

Yep, going to back to Dallas and a pawn shop near the center of Tyler had it. $650 they want (but no, I won't pay that much!)

It had a cheeze Tasco scope on it that was not even centered right.

AK103,

Where did you get that peep sight! Now if I did get it, that is the kind of sight I want on it. Maybe add one of those recoil pads made for the N0. 3. Like this one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ruger-10-22...er-Butt-Pad-Buttstock-Pad-Plate-/231406153858

Then add a butt cuff to hold 4 or 5 rounds.

I still have my 45/70 dies and some shells as well as brass. I used to have a Marlin guide gun in 45/70.

Deaf

 

[AK103K]

XS Sights

https://www.xssights.com/Products.aspx?CAT=8410

 

[Deaf Smith]

Man you guy are tempting me!!!

I do wish the #3 had been made in 30/30 or 30/40 krag but .22 hornet and .45/47 were it (I think maybe .44 magnum to but I might be wrong.)

Ops.. I was wrong!!!

No. 3 Single-Shot Rifle
(Manufactured from 1973 to 1986)
Calibers: 22 Hornet, 223, 30-40 Krag, 375 Win, 44 Mag, 45-70 Govt

yea.. .30-40 Krag, wish I knew where to find one!

Deaf

 

[AK103K]

Ive seen a couple of nice ones in 30-40 on Gun Broker.

If youre not in a hurry, I usually do a search and save it, and it emails me when something shows up.

 

[wendellgj]

Get a "Limb Saver" for the stock butt. It will take a ton of the kick out and they are cheap. That is the brand name. They work for me on light firearms with huge payloads.

 

[greyling22]

Yep, going to back to Dallas and a pawn shop near the center of Tyler had it. $650 they want (but no, I won't pay that much!)

It had a cheeze Tasco scope on it that was not even centered right.

AK103,

Where did you get that peep sight! Now if I did get it, that is the kind of sight I want on it. Maybe add one of those recoil pads made for the N0. 3. Like this one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ruger-10-22...er-Butt-Pad-Buttstock-Pad-Plate-/231406153858

Then add a butt cuff to hold 4 or 5 rounds.

I still have my 45/70 dies and some shells as well as brass. I used to have a Marlin guide gun in 45/70.

Deaf

yep, that's the one. They must have gone up on it though. It was stickered at 600 when I was in there, and he said he would go as low as 550 cash. Store guy said he had refinished the stock, but I couldn't figure out why he didn't bother at least leveling the scope while he was working on it. I don't know why I even bother going into pawn shops. I have seen something worth buying in maybe 1 in 50 I poke my head in.

 

[eastbank]

what a bunch of wusses, if recoil bothers you, sight it in on a lead sled. when hunting i can,t remember a time recoil got to me and made me miss a shot. how many shots do you normaly shoot at game in a year? in the winter deer season you will have heavy coats on too. man up and buy it. eastbank.

 

[AK103K]

Youve obviously never shot a #3 with heavy loads in a tee shirt.

 

[Deaf Smith]

Youve obviously never shot a #3 with heavy loads in a tee shirt.

Well I hotloaded my Marlin Guide gun and shot it.

I've shot my Mossberg 500 riot gun with 3 inch buckshot, and I've shot both the .458 WM and 416 Rigby (neither one was my gun.) All with factory loads.

Killed deer with .300 and .338 WM rifles to (besides .223, .243, 30/30, .308, and 30-06.)

And that is why I could calculate the weight of the No. 3 in .45/70 and easily see it was gonna hurt.

Ok, I'm a wuss.

Deaf

 

[AK103K]

I grew up with the #3 I now have, and used to hate the thing as a teenager. I never made it through a box of twenty with the heavy factory loads, and I was accustomed to shooting a lot of 8mm and .30 caliber military bolt rifles, with steel butt plates and in nothing but a tee shirt. They are nothing compared to the #3 with heavy loads. The #3 is like shooting a 10-22 in 45-70 with that factory stock.

For deer, I really dont see the need to hot load them, I would think even the light, 300 grain loads would easily get the job done, especially at the range most deer are shot around here.

I have a Guide gun as well. Now that I got that silly recoil pad off and the gun has a better LOP, its a lot more pleasant to shoot. Those 300 grainers are really pussy cats in it. Factory or hotter loads arent bad either.

 

[eastbank]

am i going to shoot 20 rounds of full power 45-70 loads with a tee shirt on? no!, but to sight it in use a lead sled with two 25lbs bags of of shot to hold it down. and shooting a few hi power hunting loads at game does not bother me. on my last two hunting trips to africa i used a .375 H&H in a cz 550 and a .416 rem with no problems at all and no scope cuts either. with the higher FPS in the 45-70 you can shoot at a longer range with out alot of hold over(out to 150yds). eastbank.

 

[Coltdriver]

I had a #3 in 45 70. If you put a limbsaver on it you can make it tolerable.

And if you handload you can work up to your personal limit. Most of the really heavy bullets are like artillery arc rounds anyway. I never saw the benefit of getting a 450 grain bullet up over 1500 fps. The 325s at ~2000 fps are sharp but tolerable.

I sold the Ruger, actually traded it for a #3 in .223. But I had an encore, also around five and a half pounds and the limbsaver made it possible to shoot it.

Now I have a Marlin in 45 70. First thing I did was put a limbsaver on it.

45 70 is a great and very versatile round. One thing is for sure, you can go as hot as you want with that Ruger.

 

[TexasPatriot.308]

sometimes, some us that you call wusses, are old hands with bad backs, had surgeries of different kinds (like you might when you get older), us old wussess develop common sense from experience and have no interest in impressing anybody, so we hunt with a firearm that we are comfortable with.

 

[Deaf Smith]

.375 and .416 weigh a tad more than a Ruger no. 3.

I'm thinking that if anyone makes a 250 grain LSWC hard cast slug that is .458 instead of .454 diameter one can make a good plunking load. About 1100 fps ought to do it.

I found a flat sided Lyman receiver sight that might work to.

Deaf