Well that was unpleasant; Ruger #1 chambered in .375 H&H Ackley Improved.

[Trey Veston]

I took my late father's Ruger #1 to my range today to shoot it and confirm the chambering. It was sketchy using rounds that were rescued from a smoke and water damaged reloading room, but they went off and performed well.

Not sure what is more powerful; the .375 H&H Ackley Improved, or the .45-90 blackpowder cartridge, but the .375 in the lighter Ruger #1 certainly was the hardest hitting rifle I have ever fired. A close second would be my brother's Marlin 1895 Guide Gun in .45-70 shooting Hornady Leverevolution ammo.

The .375 actually gave me a headache.

 

[Hookeye]

Ruger #1s hit harder than they should IMHO.
The factory red pads don't do much for recoil.
What pad does yours wear (possibly Pachmayr Decelerator)?
Maybe when you get to a certain point they all hurt no matter what (like turkey loads in shotguns) LOL

 

[LoonWulf]

Kickeez.......and stand up lol.

Ive taken my .375 Ruger to our long range spot, shot mostly prone..... at the end of the day i was done done.

 

[troy fairweather]

The no1's can be pretty snappy, never thought the 375 was to bad tho. Dad had a few and the 458lott had some punch, his friend had one made up in 600 nitro years ago and that thing was pretty brutal. The no3 in 45-70 were pretty hard kicking being so light.

 

[1KPerDay]

I took my late father's Ruger #1 to my range today to shoot it and confirm the chambering. It was sketchy using rounds that were rescued from a smoke and water damaged reloading room, but they went off and performed well.

Not sure what is more powerful; the .375 H&H Ackley Improved, or the .45-90 blackpowder cartridge, but the .375 in the lighter Ruger #1 certainly was the hardest hitting rifle I have ever fired. A close second would be my brother's Marlin 1895 Guide Gun in .45-70 shooting Hornady Leverevolution ammo.

The .375 actually gave me a headache.

I saw one in .458 winmag and thought mmmmmmmm nah

 

[1KPerDay]

That is a gorgeous rifle though. Maybe load it with trail boss or something.

 

[Trey Veston]

That is a gorgeous rifle though. Maybe load it with trail boss or something.

I'm giving it to my brother for Christmas. He has some back issues, so will be making some nice soft loads for him to enjoy at the range. Another member here is sending me some light 235gr bullets for it.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

I'm giving it to my brother for Christmas. He has some back issues, so will be making some nice soft loads for him to enjoy at the range. Another member here is sending me some light 235gr bullets for it.

A kingly gift indeed! Good for you, hope he appreciates it.

Oh ya, looks like she had some wallop. Not sure how the round compares, but my old boss tried to hand me a .375RUM once. I politely declined......

 

[Ks5shooter]

I own a #1 in 458 win mag. I load it to 40-70 velocity and it's not a bad shooter.

 

[trackskippy]

LOL. If you think the #1's are bad you should try the #3's with their 10-22 stocks!

 

[GooseGestapo]

My .375 Ruger M77MkII “African” was a beast until I replaced the factory recoil pad with a Pachmayer Brown “Old English” recoil pad. It took several hours to do the install, but it looks like it “grew there”.
(Also cut stock 1” resulting in a 1/2” reduction in length of pull)
It really takes the sting out, and makes it a pleasant rifle to shoot. About like a 12ga shooting 1-1/4oz heavy field loads.

Btw, 16.0gr of Unique under a Lee 255gr .378” RFN cast bullet roughly duplicates the original.38-55 loads. For plinking or short range shooting does for the freezer, it’s marvelous…
(FWIW, factory .375R run about 100fps faster than the .375 H&H.)

 

[Anchorite]

My father has a 375HH in a No1. He has a kdf muzzle break on it, so it’s like about like a 20 gauge recoil wise. Sweet rifle.

 

[Litetrigger]

On the subject of the recoil of Ruger No.1's, the recoil of this custom Ruger .416 Rigby is rather distinctive. .

 

[berettaprofessor]

That "headache" is a concussion occurring.....stop firing that rifle with those loads!

 

[Rlafever]

I have a .375 Ruger African , left handed . It's all the rifle I can stand from the bench , I think it injured my shoulder though I'm 64 years old and everything hurts, just not at the same time . the .375 should be shot standing up , like through a window or some kind of chest high rail , or off hand or Col. Cooper's jack ass prone.( just cribbed up on something, rock fence post etc, while hunting). I want to get to loading 230 gr. bullets for but i haven't gotten that far. The 1895 Marlin with full power loads id bad but not as bad as the .375. I wouldn't shoot it prone tho kneeling or sitting Isn't bad, well not as bad

 

[silicosys4]

My .375H&H No 1 is a pussycat even with full loads. After hearing other peoples experiences, all I can say is the limbsaver recoil pad that was installed on my gun changes the game entirely. It had the pad on it when I got it, and its always felt like a 30-06 to me.

 

[Hookeye]

Snot slosh is a thing.
Could be a sinus headache, not brain headache
Maybe more worrisome, is risk of retina detachment.

I shot a .45-70 Ruger #1S with full throttle handloads.
Shot it a few times.
Shot good.

In my best Mr. Horse voice (Ren and Stimpy).........."No sir, didn't like it".

 

[Hookeye]

I have a .375 Ruger African , left handed . It's all the rifle I can stand from the bench , I think it injured my shoulder though I'm 64 years old and everything hurts, just not at the same time . the .375 should be shot standing up , like through a window or some kind of chest high rail , or off hand or Col. Cooper's jack ass prone.( just cribbed up on something, rock fence post etc, while hunting). I want to get to loading 230 gr. bullets for but i haven't gotten that far. The 1895 Marlin with full power loads id bad but not as bad as the .375. I wouldn't shoot it prone tho kneeling or sitting Isn't bad, well not as bad

Im at 60 and everything hurts (have RA).
Also all the fun stuff done as a kid (at any time) rudely knocks on memory's door.

FWIW my bench positon is pretty upright.

Moved a ladder stand yesterday, two of us.
Am feeling it today LOL.

 

[Litetrigger]

Maybe more worrisome, is risk of retina detachment.

I'm in full agreement. I'd had a few shooting friends who did a lot of shooting and testing with heavy bore rifles and also suffered detached retinas. I'm convenced it was more than a coincendence.

 

[redneck2]

Long ago I shot (once) a #3 in .45-70 with “Ruger only” loads, about 100 fps less than a .458 WM. It was dusk and the fireball seemed about the size of a bushel basket. Muzzle ended straight up in the air

Next day my right shoulder was black and blue from my collar bone to the middle of my rib cage.

 

[Captcurt]

Had a friend ask me about a No. 1 at a gun show. I told him to get a 458 and I would get a box of ammo so we could say that we had shot one. I was just kidding but he walked up with it an hour later. Ammo at that time was $95 a box. Yeah, I know it was a lo-o-o-ng time ago. We each shot it one time. It was sold at the next show. No mas por favor!

 

[someguy2800]

I always realize there is a lot of power here when the gasses from my 375 ruger blow my chronograph over.

 

[d2wing]

I have no idea why people buy and shoot guns that hurt themselves. A 30-06 is the most gun I will ever need and now days I shoot a 7-08. I do understand that you need more gun for Africa Biggest game or special hunts of some kind. I do admit I liked a big fireball when I was a youngster.

 

[JeffG]

I took my late father's Ruger #1 to my range today to shoot it and confirm the chambering. It was sketchy using rounds that were rescued from a smoke and water damaged reloading room, but they went off and performed well.

Not sure what is more powerful; the .375 H&H Ackley Improved, or the .45-90 blackpowder cartridge, but the .375 in the lighter Ruger #1 certainly was the hardest hitting rifle I have ever fired. A close second would be my brother's Marlin 1895 Guide Gun in .45-70 shooting Hornady Leverevolution ammo.

The .375 actually gave me a headache.

Looks like a great rifle for cast bullet loads!

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

I have no idea why people buy and shoot guns that hurt themselves. A 30-06 is the most gun I will ever need and now days I shoot a 7-08. I do understand that you need more gun for Africa Biggest game or special hunts of some kind. I do admit I liked a big fireball when I was a youngster.

Strictly on paper, the Ought-Six is technically the most powerful round Ive ever fired, but subjectively the worst rifle beating I took was from a buddys' Hawkeye in 7mm-08. Can't explain why, but ouch!

Got knocked on my arse by a 7.65 Argentine Mauser once, but that doesn't count because I was 11 at the time.

I've also got some really nasty Black Aces 12GA buckshot loads that I don't ever want to shoot from the shoulder again. Come to think of it, I don't want to fire them from the hip either....