On 5/18, I posted that I was getting a new .35 Whelan barrel by Hart on my Ruger #1... it just came back yesterday -- beautiful... Now if I can get it to the range to shoot it!
Dan
The barrel is bead-blasted stainless -- mounted to a blued action. Together with the dark rib, it is very striking! The rifle had been a .25-06, but the throat seemed to have suffered erosion. Used, some prior owner had tried bedding fixes, all sorts of strange things. Needless to say, I followed some of that, but not all. In the end, I noticed the throat erosion, and determined that maybe it was time to rebarrel... then comes the question of caliber. I don't really need a (another) varmit gun. I do like to hunt bears, and wanted something that punched a larger exit hole (fat and hair -- don't see much trail without snow if the blood trail dies). I have some heavier bore rifles (.340 wby, .375H&H), but didn't have a larger bore '06 case-based rifle. I figger'ed either a .338-06 or .35 Whelen. I chose the Whelen (even given the paucity of commercial loads -- and I've discovered there's not even a lot of bullets available -- but there's enough). I also figured I'd like a #1 still based on a non-magnum (I have a 7mm rem), and since the extractor was already set up for '06, x08, x57, etc cases, the choice was made, and I ordered a Whelen. I also hoped a friend would do it, but he didn't want to struggle with the rib and contouring hassles (he builds straight barrel BPCR guns, has all kinds of gizmos to reconstruct original 1800's parts, etc, but doesn't deal with this kind of thing). So, Hart got to mount their own barrel... and made me very happy!!
The rifle is now very accurate. It cleans very easily. Real joy to shoot!!! The only downside is/was that I'd begun the project last November. The fact I ordered a barrel, took a couple of months to determine that my old friend didn't want to do the job, etc, then sent it back only served to slow things down. BUT -- I figgur that if I'm asking someone to do this kind of work, I'm not expecting a speedy job, just a good job. And I got that.
On the other hand, while I was waiting, I picked up a .458 win in a #1H -- that was an adventure... got it shooting very well, and I'm VERY happy with it. I plan to hunt with it (though it is outrageously over-gun for the game available where I live).
So that makes 3 #1's that I own whose accuracy make me happy!!
Dan
