Anthony said
I know several who shoot the Number one, and complain about it's accuracy!
I don't hear that from the many who shoot the M-1885, Single Shot!
 
Tony
  

The #1 can require some barrel tuning and bedding work because of Bill Ruger's angled forearm attachment screw, which was designed to alter barrel tension. 

Another - likely the major -  issue is the who made the barrel?  Initially, Ruger used Douglas Premium barrels but Douglas could not meet volume requirements. Ruger then began to also buy barrels from Wilson Arms, a supplier able to deliver at high volume. These barrels were, to be charitable, hit or miss in quality. Some were very rough. 

The new 1985 Model 77RSI 250 Savage I owned from 1986 until last year was extremely accurate. The 1984 #1A 243 I owned for a year was terrible. I always suspected Douglas made the 250 barrel.

In the late Eighties, Sturm Ruger bought, at a stratospheric price, Steyr hammer forging equipment and began barrel making in-house. By the time (about 1991) of the introduction of the Mark II version of the Model 77, all Ruger centerfire barrels were and still are made and hammer forge rifled entirely in- house. 

The #1AB 22 Hornet I bought in 2021 kwill shoot better than I can hold it because it's too pretty to scope. I bought it as a stalking rifle to hunt turkeys and varmint grade accuracy is irrelevant.  It has excellent irons on a short rib that even I can use at modest ranges.  

With respect to the 1885,  the few originals I've seen locally have been fitted out for targets and varmints with new custom barrels and have optics the size of a magnum of champagne. I would hope for their owners' sakes that they shoot up to their price tags. 

From all I've seen, maximum accuracy from traditional sporting rifles, as opposed to rail guns, comes from one-piece polymer stocks, blue-printed Remington 700 style bolt actions, and pillar bedded high dollar barrels by somebody like Krieger.  Ugly as a blister.

Falling block single shot rifles built with two piece stocks do not compete with the above. But we like them anyway, for our own reasons. I think Alexander Henry rifles are elegant and Farquharson rifles are funny looking. My biggest regret is passing up a Miroku-built Winchester Low Wall 22 Hornet with a tapered octagon barrel and no sights. Had it in my hands and got a fit of the cheaps. 

Tedk said
Lenard Brownell designed the stocks for the Ruger No. 1, Ruger Model 77 and all of Ruger’s Mannlicher stocked guns
  

Yes and I was fortunate enough in 1985 to get a 77RSI in 250 Savage that had an excellent barrel. Killed most of my Whitetails and Rios with it, with factory and handloaded ammunition. My load for turkeys was a Hornady 87 grain fmj spirepoint over a dose of enough 4759 to yield 1800 foot seconds. That consistently shot sub MOA 3 shot groups at 100 yards. 

The 77 RSI bore a close resemblance to a full stocked carbine made by Brownell illustrated in Gun Digest. The only significant difference was in the grade of Walnut. Brownell favored tang safeties and his custom job and my RSI both had them. Despite those safeties being sear blockers, not the striker blockers I prefer, a tang safety is mighty handy. 

I don't hear that from the many who shoot the M-1885, Single Shot!

Tony

Bert

Zebulon said
Nobody gave me a shotgun. I had to get one my ownself and that has never changed in sixty years. However, it has made me realize you can have more than one.  And six or seven is not too many, either. Or more...
  

Zeb, I was only 10 when I got the shotgun.  Everything after that I bought myself. 

When the #1 was introduced in the mid Sixties, it was never intended to be broadly popular and "affordable." It was very expensive for the times. Very nice wood and the fit and finishing was special. I handled one in 1967 at McBride's in Austin but the price was, I think, close to $250. A 30/06.  

Over the years the price went up and the quality went down. You could get one with a laminated stock in some weird metric caliber nobody ever heard of, but fewer people wanted to. 

Finally, Cabela's came along and cut an exclusive deal - we agree on a single configuration each year, you bring back the quality and we buy the entire year's production. The price jumped to two grand but the rifles were beautiful. And they sold and still do. But they are not a high volume item for Sturm Ruger. 

I owned two of the fair-to-middling guns in the Seventies and Eighties, a new full-stocked 30/06 with chair leg wood that was accurate because Ruger had started making its own barrels; and an older #1A 243 with handsome wood from when Ruger was buying barrels from outside and that one was hopeless. I was lucky to get inside 3 moa. Sold both.

The #1AB 22 Hornet I have is quite accurate although I've never scoped it. Cabela's specified a 24" 1-10 .224 barrel with ramped iron sights, an Alexander Henry forearm, barrel band sling swivel, almost exhibition grade Walnut. Well o ver 2K out the door -- they probably don't sell all that many but Ruger uses the gun in its ads as a symbol of high quality.

I personally think Ruger got that idea from John Olin's insistence on the Winchester 52 Sporting and the Model 21. 

Steve, As much as I admire the Winchester 1885, it was a workingman's gun and accordingly a high volume seller that could support numerous chamberings.  I think your future odds of seeing a #1 in ,366 Flying Saucer are slim to none.  It's a niche item for those nostalgic for the Victorian Era.

steve004 said

Bert -  I have read your article a couple of times.  It is an impressive number and variety of chamberings.  It does seem that the Ruger single-shot is slowly catching up.
  

No way, it will never happen.

Mike

My social equipment for repelling boarders is the Chinese insult to the name of the original Stevens company, a cheapish 12 gauge trench gun with heat shield and plastic furniture (but, as a cost saving measure has no extended magazine.) It was apparently spray painted with thinned wing walk. I keep it bedside with 4-buck in Condition 3, with a quick release trigger lock. It is surmounted with a blinking neon arrow and the message, "STEAL ME INSTEAD. THE SAFE IS ARMED WITH AN EXPLOSIVE CHARGE!"

In an offsite secure location, the Browning Auto-Five pre-Buck Special would enjoy a turn at Skeet. 

Neither are choked. However. I once owned a spare Auto-5 CYL (5 stars) barrel that shot beautiful 40 yard 55% patterns with #7.5 AA 1 1/8 ounce trap loads. Modern protective shot cup/wads can do wonders all by their ownselves. 

tim tomlinson said
Zeb,  You also have the option of putting lead in the magazine ahead of the follower.  If a  12 ga, fill a couple of 20's with shot and hot melt glue them shut as well.  Moves the balance forward, tho.  Or learn to NOT stop your swing!  a buddy with a cattle prod can do wonders!!  Mike would gladly assist I bet.  Tim
  

Tim-

Mike has his hands full remembering to keep his ugly face on the butt stock in addition to follow thru so we'd probably need fresh batteries for the hot shot after only one round. A few thousand volts would probably induce a case or two of the yips and I have enough trouble with that already. We should probably smuggle you down to Texas to take advantage of your coaching skills but we're just having a good time. Jeremy is taking it pretty seriously, tho. His Browning Citori CX has a 30" ribbed barrel IIRC so it has a very good balance and seems to fit him well. We may need to have a pump gun skeet round someday, Jeremy and I both use them for social equipment and there's nothing like a round of skeet with a riot gun to point out the need for familiarization!

Mike

But I like the idea of replacing the wooden plug with an equivalent length of lead shot-containing cylinders-- such as empty 20 gauge shells. Shifting the balance forward is for the good because you want the weight out front where it has a longer arm to multiply the momentum force. 

That is something I really noticed about my stubby-barreled Model 21. The 26" barrels plus no receiver length worth mentioning generate no sort of pull when you stop. It is fast to put into motion but there's zero tendency to keep going. 

In truth, my Browning Gold, a gas gun, has more forward weight than this 28" Model 12, or so it seems. The Gold has a rib and the gas plumbing. What it lacks is soul.