Author Topic: Accurizing a Ruger #1 (Read 2886 times)

zrifleman · « **on:** June 22, 2005, 08:36:31 AM »

I hear comments at the range frequently about the difficulty of getting a #1 to shoot. The fore-end is easier to fix thand most realize. Shims between the hanger and the fore-end will float the barrel with the screw tight. Sandpaper wrapped around a wooden dowel can open up the barrel channel asmuch as needed. The trigger sears respond well to being stoned and polished. Changing the trigger return spring and the sear spring to lighter springs drops the pull weight by about 1 lb. My #1 and #3 have a 2 1/2 lb pull, If the barrel is any good it will shoot.

marlinman93 · « **Reply #1 on:** June 22, 2005, 03:52:35 PM »

DeHaas' book, Single Shot Rifles and Actions details a method for accurizing Ruger #1. It involves drilling and tapping the forearm hanger for a 1/4-20 set screw, with locknut, so you can adjust tension between the hanger and the barrel.
I've used this method on a couple #1's and it works excellent! It allows the gun to be dialed in regardless of the load, or conditions.

zrifleman · « **Reply #2 on:** June 26, 2005, 07:16:31 PM »

To accurize any rifle it is more often desireable to float the barrel first, then if that does not work you bed it or put pressure on the forend. My experience with #1's is that any screw contact on the hanger is detrimental to accuracy. I understand the principle of using a pressure point on the hanger but would use it as a second choice. If the screw was installed toward the rear it would serve to help float the rest of the barrel and act some what like bedding the rear of the barrel. These are just my experences and opinions.

oneb · « **Reply #3 on:** July 13, 2005, 03:28:16 AM »

Z,

I disagree with you on the set screw option. It has proven very successful for me in delivering reliable accuracy over a variety of bullet weights and styles in Ruger #1s that previously gave me fits.

I have six Ruger #1s so accurized because they needed it to perform as I require. Four other #1s are just free floated and work OK but they have not had a long time to prove themselves. (Several of my #1s started out OK but went bad in time. They had to be fullly accurized later.) My two laminate stocked #1s also have had just had trigger work and they are doing well too -- so far.

The screw under discussion is set in the hanger to contact a resting point 'divot' on the barrel. Otherwise, these two extensions from the receiver can vibrate at different rates and give inconsistent POIs. When that happens, no other fiddling will make that Ruger shoot consistent groups to the same POI over time. With the set screw, they will thereafter vibrate as one unit and you can begin to tweak in the full acuracy the rifle is capable of acheiving with a variety of bullet weights and styles.

Screw pressure on the barrel can be adjusted over a large range. You can actually see the barrrel move away from the wood when the screw is turned in. The adjustments have always worked me in taming erratic #1s.

Along with free floating the barrel and a trigger job, the set screw is the surest way I know to build consistent below MOA accuracy over time into a balky #1. Often, with the time and patience of Job, you can find a certain reload that works too. But this in my experience this approach has left me frustrated in the end with a one bullet choice that is not my preferred round.

oneb

Lone Star · « **Reply #4 on:** July 13, 2005, 04:30:12 AM »

My No. 1 stainless laminated varint in .22-250 grouped around 1.5 moa out of the box. I installed a Moyers trigger and placed a hard plastic wedge between the hanger and the heavy barrel. (The wedge was made out of a shotgun sabot found on the range and was an expedient over drilling and tapping for a screw.) This floated the barrel slightly (1/16") and dampened the terrible harmonics endemic to the No 1 hanger. With these changes the rifle now shoots between 0.5 and 0.75 moa for four, five shot groups with the same loads it would not group before. One of the best is Bruce's own 38.0 grains of H380 and a 50-grain bullet, mild but very effective.

My No. 1 in .257 Weatherby (Lilja barrel) has a standard profile barrel and now shoots .6 moa for three, 3-shot groups. It wears a Bell and Carlson 'glass stock and I set it up to free-float the barrel and hanger. This didn't work so well, so I put release agent on the barrel and put a spot of RTV sealant 1" back from the forend tip, screwed on the forend, and stood the rifle in the corner for a couple days. This resulted in a near-zero forend pressure on the lighter barrel and is both very accurate and consistent in POI.

The common thread in both rifles is a dampening of the forend hanger vibrations. This is a well known fault with the No 1s and when mitigated the results can be excellent. I'm just happy that the Ruger barrel on the .22-250 was good enough in quality to shoot so well....

oneb · « **Reply #5 on:** July 13, 2005, 09:46:08 AM »

Z,

Some interesting experiences. Lots of ways to skin a cat I guess.

Your .257 WBY is an interesting project. I have a .25-06 and .257 Roberts in 1Bs -- one with a set screw, one not --- that really like 100 gr bullets --partitions and Barnes XLCs mostly. Have you chron-oed your WBY? I have considered havinmg one of mine rechambered but they shoot more than well enough as is. and I have a WBY SBGM in 257 WBY too.

1B

Lone Star · « **Reply #6 on:** July 13, 2005, 12:45:19 PM »

My No. 1 in .257 was chambered without the Weatherby freebore - it has a normal throat which is one reason it delivers such good accuracy. Actually I miss-typed, it's barrel is by Jarrett, not Lilja (different rifle, doh!). My main long range load is with 100-grain BTips over RL22 for 3631 fps at the muzzle. This particular load shoots so well I won't quote the exact group sizes - you wouldn't believe me.

For moose (when I lived in Alaska) I used the 100 Barnes XLC bullets at 3555 fps over IMR4831. It didn't group as well but gave outstanding terminal performance. 3-shot groups averaged 0.6 moa, more than good enough for moose!

drdougrx · « **Reply #7 on:** July 15, 2005, 03:40:17 PM »

Hi Guys,

Jut getting back into the fray on GB. Didn't I see some kinda doohickey in one of the gun rags that attaches to the hanger and does not require any gunsmithing???

Doug

smk · « **Reply #8 on:** July 19, 2005, 06:17:11 AM »

You might be referring to a Hicks Accurizer. www.eabco.com

drdougrx · « **Reply #9 on:** July 19, 2005, 03:06:39 PM »

Yep....that's it! Thanks SMK

zrifleman · « **Reply #10 on:** July 20, 2005, 09:00:55 PM »

Oneb--Do your rifles shoot sub .500" five shot groups at 100yds with favorable conditions? Both my ruger #3 custom and my #1 custom regularly do with occasional .250"-300" groups. Both guns are free floated and have factory triggers. Is it possible that installing the contact screw could cause harmonic vibrations to be transfered to the barrel from the hanger?? A #1 in 300 Win Mag shot 1" 5 shot groups for many years. I even tried it out on a 40" steel target at 1000 yds which I hit 6 times in a row. My worst #1 was a .458 tropical that the foreend screw was tight up against the barrel. My best .458, best 22-250, best .223 all were floated. So understand my reluctance to to arbitrarily install a pressure screw if floating works so well.

marlinman93 · « **Reply #11 on:** July 21, 2005, 03:32:25 PM »

I sure wont argue with what worked on your guns Z, but the two that I installed set screwqs on had both been floated previously. They had also been bedded in another attempt, and still no luck. In an attempt to save the owners from total frustration I tried DeHaas' method, and in both cases it worked wonders!
One gun was a .22-250 that never shot les than 2" groups at 100 yds. After the setscrew was added, it shot groups that could be covered with a dime at 100 yds. The other was a .30-06 that shot equally poor, and shot under 3/4" after the modification.
I'm sure there are a number of methods to accurize Ruger #1's, and it's always good to have options.

oneb · « **Reply #12 on:** July 23, 2005, 04:17:22 AM »

Z,

Sorry it took me so long to get to your last question. I have been offline here for a while.

The fully accurized #1s I own --a 22 Hornet, 6mm Rem, .25-06, 280 Rem, 300 H&H, .45-70 and 375 H&H -- that I have had substantial range time with all shoot sub-MOA consistently. A few of those -- the ,22 Hornet, .280 and .375 do get close to .5MOA, most of the time. Working on load develoment when I fully retire I trust will bring out better performance on some of these latter rifles.

I have a few other fully accurized #1s -- custom .338-06 and 7mm Rem Mag-- that I have yet to get fully broken in and a couple of non -fully-accurized rifles that at least get free floated and trigger work. (I have never had to install an after market trigger on a Ruger one.)

Two of mine are as is from factory -- a SS/laminate ;7mm-08 and .257 Roberts, both Bs -- and they shoot around MOA w/o any tinkering -- for now. Our region has large humidity swings and this often plays hob with my wood stocked #1s accuracy if they are not accurized.

oneb

oneb

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