Fair price? Ruger No1 .458 - Now with photos

Yee gods , I shot 400 gr Speers out of my No 3 at those speeds and it was very ugly , 500's must have been nasty to say the least . Eventually I settled on 405 hard casts at about 1600 fps , nice to shoot and worked great on game .
To the OP , as others have pointed out , there are better platforms for a 458 WM . That being said , they are a very cool rig . I had one , along with a thumb safety Tropical M 77 in 458 WM , some years ago . I liked both of them very much , but loaded them both down to hot 45/70 levels . I eventually sold them off because I carried my Marlin 1895's in 45/70 most of the time . If you've got the itch brother , scratch it . I did and I don't regret it , it's all fun .
 
Scratched the itch ....
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Speaking of.....take a look at these loads. I shot these in my #3 back in 1994. From a bench. Recoil was, um, heavy.

y3mG24HrgRsLcEcdm1NMs13_3CRqM_mhnb91o8JOUCJWbVTrjovFFIYMuVwuTeJjYA0bLau5VJt9aHcylsGuala86gB6D01jOfwD6yYcWU6ornhty6cnWrWAcRvDj2sV39Jv1TtoTcBbE4TGM77kfKRuMJ6aVT0LbS1F6SmeXnDAeU

I trashed a good quality popular brand scope firing loads like that in my No.1 .45-70. My current hunting load is 350gr bullets at 2150 fps MV (mild :p ) -

45-70_No1_Bushnell_1.75-5x20mm_zpswjmh89sz.jpg

.45-70 Ruger No.1-S with Bushnell Legend Ultra HD 1.75-5x32mm scope
 
Good results with Reloder15 and 500gr RN SP bullets in my .458 Win. Mag. at 1900 fps MV. Moose stomper. :cool:

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.458 Win. Mag. Remington 798 with Leupold VX-2 1-4x20mm scope

That's a practical and useful rifle . I've been thinking along those lines myself . A friend of mine has a Zastava in 458 WM that he's not using and is thinking of selling . I would change the stock to a laminate like yours and install cross-bolts . Hopefully he can wait until after Xmas .
 
Is it common for the for-end and but stock wood to be mismatched? When I first looked at the rifle there was a black elastic cartridge carrier on the but; upon removing it I am pleased to see the grain there! It looks really good when the light is on it right. It came with 20 factory rnds (Winchester Super-X 510 grain soft point) and 20 hand loads (350 grn Hornady's over 70 grn IMR 4198) and about 100 extra bullets. The handloads were made June 19th 2000 :) I look forward to playing with this, my 'biggest' rifles to date have been 30-06, 7mm mag. (and .44 mag).
 
If you decide you don't like blasting off factory type loads, you can certainly take a considerable portion of the edge off it, with a Decelerator or a Limbsaver pad. Made a heck of a difference on my 450-400NE, like night and day, it was even quite reasonable off a bench that way. Then I stuffed it with 320gr cast bullets at the same velocity as the 400 factory, 2050, even nicer. Matching bullet weight @ 400gr with cast, and only going to 1800 was quite bearable, but not near as nice as the 320. #1 is a bit light for the bigbore cartridges, but, there really isn't much need to run them at the top, if you don't want to, and it'll still kill stuff.
 
Had a No. 1 in 45-70 and enjoyed toying with it.

The Gun Nut in me would like one in 9.3X74 andone in Norma's 6x70 ... just cause those lady-finger length cartridges are so neat looking !

And yes, a Pachmayr Decelerator to replace the Ruger "hockey puck" pad is a good idea.
 
Well I've done a little 'plinking' with factory 500grn rounds, and I really can't say the recoil was bothersome. Much less than I expected! Less perceived recoil to my shoulder than a 300 Weatherby I shot recently, and less than a light .338 win mag as well. Havn't shot off the bench on paper yet though, probably not till nice weather in March.
 
Well I've done a little 'plinking' with factory 500grn rounds, and I really can't say the recoil was bothersome. Much less than I expected! Less perceived recoil to my shoulder than a 300 Weatherby I shot recently, and less than a light .338 win mag as well. Havn't shot off the bench on paper yet though, probably not till nice weather in March.

Don't underestimate the appeal of shooting it off the bench in your winter coat. Much nicer than a t-shirt.
 
It seems everyone wants to buy a rifle with the thought of not losing any money when they sell it in the future...

My guess is you can pretty well always get $750 for a Number One... just for a project build...

I can't think of anything I would want less than a Number One in .458 Winchester.

I remember looking at one in Trail Firearms in Edmonton, they wanted $400 for it with no takers, they told me the previous owner had fired it 3 times.
 
Scratched the itch ....
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Nice wood.
I've owned a couple of these, factory or the equivalent loads were certainly a handful. Loaded down to hot 45-70 level tehy were more tolerable.

However I found the rifles much heavier then my 1S in 45-70 so down the road they went.

Both were purchased used at bargain prices and neither appreciated in value.

The fun factor was high especially from shooters that had never fired a big bore. Most did not shoot many rounds.

Enjoy

357
 
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