Ruger #1 .204 Range Report.

[Critter]

Looking forward to a range report - or better yet - seeing it in action Critter!

OK, Here it is:

Good News:

Took it to a friends private range. Shot it at 25 and 50 yards. It seems to shoot really well with loads developed for my M700 custom. Put a varmint simulator (water filled plastic bottle) at 50 yards and fired a 35 grain Federal Factory round at it. Result was steam powered mist. Bottle returned to ground about 5-7 seconds after impact. Amazing.

Bad News:

I needed 30mm rings to mount the USO 30mm 3.2-17x44 MOA/MOA scope on it. Mounted it on the rifle and put it on the paper at 50 yards. Local FFL recommended LEUPOLD RINGS. He didn't stock anything else.

Now that scope has a Mil scale reticle and Mil knobs so both are in the same mode. It has more than 37 mils of vertical travel. Because of the relation ship between the barrel and the ring center, it took every bit of vertical travel to get me on the paper. With my verniers and the help of a little Arctangent Slide rule scale, I calculated that I need .025 to .030 inch (or more) shim on the front ring to give me more range. I got to get a little ductile aluminum plate to fabricate same.

First thought was to remove rail and skim a little off the front of that with the cylindrical grinder. Unhappily the screw in the rail wouldn't come loose. Also there was no practical way to modify the bottom of the rings or the top of the rail. I just wish that LEUPOLD and/or Ruger would pay a little more attention to these details, so I don't have to go through this process to get my rifle working. I even reversed the rings, but that didn't help.

I also needed super high 30mm rings to mount the USO SN-3 1.8-10x37 Compact variable on my AR-10 flattop. Happily these steel rings worked fine. I would have preferred AL rings, but the FFL didn't stock them.

[Critter]

Well, after thinking about it all night, I think I have the solution to the above.

I installed the Hicks device in the rifle. This allows the shooter to adjust the tension on the bottom of the barrel. Right now the Hicks device is totally backed off with no tension on the barrel.

My recollection is that the Number 1 is designed to have tension on the barrel. This should move the point of impact up as well. So my next move is to put some pressure on the barrel and see where it shoots.

Any R#1 experts out there that would care to comment?

I feel much better, and can hardly wait for the rain to stop, so I can get back to the range!

[Rick in Oregon]

PM sent.....

[Critter]

Range 2: Everything comes together!

Ruger Number 1 with all mods now shoots like one of the best rifles I own.

Actions

Adjusted Hicks device as recommended in private mail above.

Moved target range to 100 yards. Shooting in zero winds unlike 10 knot winds (measured last time).

Found light R#1 unlike heavy varmint shoots best from mechanical rest with little or no pressure from shooter. Lighter replacement trigger is real benefit here.

Results

Now grouping higher with all rounds touching in three shot groups at 100 yards. Big problem causing rifle to shoot low in last outing was 1.9" Rifle-Scope center distance at 50 yards. As angle of incidence reduced this effect at 100, point of intersection moved higher. (Duh!)

Rounds developed for M700 work very well in this rifle as well.

Rifle owner is happy camper. R#1 is also very convenient to shoot compared to bolt action off bench. Rifle with long barrel is Varmint Hammer from Hades!

Down side

USO Lit MOA Scale reticle which is optimized for tactical application, is a little heavy for long range varmint shooting. Not a big problem but a concern when buying varmint scopes.

This is offset by very high resolution optics.

[Guy M]

Cool. Seems it all came together!

[Critter]

So funny!

I stopped by the Riflesmith store and reported this result to the artist that assembled this configuration.

Told him about three shot groups touching at 100 yards after adjusting the Hicks device.

"Oh," he said... "You are lucky you got a good barrel!"

But I said, "The Hicks device fixes the uneven barrel pressure, etc."

"No", he said, "I have done this to other R#1s and they didn't shoot!"

And so it goes...

PS: You don't have enough money to buy my R#1 which I have christened the "Hammer from Hades!