Ruger 1A 7x57 Results

[ram161]

I finally had time to shoot my 1A this last weekend
I started with 140 grain remington accupoints results were not good about 6 inch group
I then went with 150 grain NPT and 45 grains of H414 results were about 6 inch groups
I then started thinking that I had got a bad one and it would go on the trade market.
I then remembered take about the long throat on the #1s so i loaded some 140 grain nbt with 49 grains of IMR 4350
but i set OAL to 3.174 and went out to shoot
I was shootin from a make shift bench with sand bags and shot this group

The 5 shot group mausers 1.5 center to center
the 2 outside the group was called pulls
I thing i have a load to do some fine tuning with.

 

[FOTIS]

Pull the forearm off. Get a metal washer and wedge it between the barrel and the hangar. Then try again. It will stay in place. My 1S 338 went from 1.5" to .8" immediately.

 

[DrMike]

That looks as if you are headed in the right direction. It will be neat to see what happens as you refine the load.

 

[ram161]

Pop i have read about the washer trick and plan on trying it but first i heed to get on a solid bench with the lead sled to make sure what the group is doing.
My first plan is to play with the load a little and see what that does.

 

[JD338]

ram161

Ruger No 1's usually shoot well, some just need a little TLC.
Keep us posted with your load development.

JD338

 

[FOTIS]

Pop i have read about the washer trick and plan on trying it but first i heed to get on a solid bench with the lead sled to make sure what the group is doing.
My first plan is to play with the load a little and see what that does.

And keep to 3 shot groups. Heat wreaks havoc in #1's

 

[lefty315]

Ram161, I spaced out and forgot to send you my loads with 140 and 160 grain Accubonds. Check your PM.

 

[PJGunner]

How old is your Ruger 7x57? The reason I ask is mine was made in 1979 and it had a thoat way out of spec. One of those Wilson contract barrels. I couldn't seat a 175 g. Hornady round nose far out enough to touch the lands so I took it to my gunsmith and had a chamber cast made. The throat was over 2" long. :shock: A call to Ruger had me sending it in and after a 7 month wait, I got it back with a new barrel. It might even be one of their barrels that they now make themselves but all I can say is it's decent shooter now. My accuracy standard is different from most people. If a rifle will group in 1.5" consistantly, then I'm a happy camper. That will allow me to hit whatever game animal I hunt out to a reasonable range. Most of my rifles do much better than that including the Ruger 7x57.
How you shoot a Number One from the bench can make a big difference in groups. The gun should be resting on the sandbags with the bag under the receiver and against the trigger guard. It's a bit awkward to work with but it does work. I prefer to have my hand resting on the bag and the forearm resting in my hand, something like taking a rest while hunting. Using either method, my rifle will do 1.25" when I do my part. You don't need a quarter minute rifle for big game.
Considering your long throat, you might look at something in the 160 gr. range. I like the Speer but use whatever bullet shoots best for you.
Paul B.

 

[FOTIS]

Any updates?

 

[ram161]

I have not shot it for awhile, but the last group was right at an inch.
I have have been waiting for better weather to confirm the group.
I have also been considering selling this one and a 2 others to purchase a cooper or Legacey with a highend scope.
Waiting on better weather to go over to bend to check out the Legacy.

 

[Mountain Goat]

I had a Ruger #1 addiction back in the mid-90's. The only one that I saw for sale at a decent price that I passed on was a .257 Roberts. Most of what I had were the #1B configuration, nor did I get any in .375 or larger.

The only one that wouldn't shoot for beans was a .243. No matter what factory or handload, that thing was wouldn't even put two bullets close to each other. I told that to the guy who bought it from me, and he was happy to have it.

I wouldn't give up on yours too quickly. I'm also not aware the the No 1's were fitted with Wilson barrels. My understanding is that all No 1's had Douglas barrels until Ruger started to manufacture their own. It does sound like yours got a dose of double throat!

With that, I'm still not convinced that the M77's had a run of "bad barrels" either. Sure, there were some much better than others, and the rate of a bad one is no different than any other make, take M70's for example.

I have owned more tang safety Rugers than any other rifle and have put a "Ruger Tune" on plenty others that weren't good shooters prior to the tune. Remember that when the tang safety versions were prolific sellers, the common practice was to either completerly free-float or completely glass bed. Rugers do not like either method. Sure, there are always exceptions. Without getting into specifics, M77's like the barrel floated from the action to the pressure point at the fore-end. The front action screw should be tightened just enough so that a business card shim placed at the fore-end should barely be able to be pulled out. The rear action screw should be tight. There are some other tuning details and tricks, but setting up your M77 this way turns many scatter rifles into groupers.

The only one that gave me fits was a 25-06 which the previous owner said that he tried all factory loads he could, and it just doesn't shoot. I noticed that it had no modifications done to it, so I took a chance and bought it well bleow reasonable. I put the tune to it, worked up a couple handloads, and he was right. This thing didn't shoot. Once I took the time to measure the chamber and realized that it was dangerously short throated, thngs came together nicely. Factory ammo was well into the lands. This barrel shouldn't have made it off the production line, but I'm glad it did. Once the 115gr NBT's were .030" off the lands, the IMR7828ssc load was making me look like a stellar shot with a high-dollar custom. :grin:

 

[spires5d]

I had some old shells that were loaded up with 140 gr. speer and IMR4064 powder that needed to be shot. the shells were about 8-10 years old and used CCI primers,I never had a miss fire.I put a new scope on it and I'm going to load it up with 49-50 grains of IMR4831 powder to use for a deer hunting.The old shells that I shot did fine. I'm going to get another batch of 7mm Mauser shells to load up in a few weeks and get this old war rifle for the up and coming deer season to use along with my 7mm Mag.The groups that you shot look good. I got a new lead sled for Christmas that I'm wanting to try out. Never used one before,but I think that I will like it.



7mm's forever and a 30 cal. will "Slam Dunk Um"

 

[flashhole]

This is what I did to mine in 2004.


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