I had a 1990s manufactured #1 Tropical model in .416 Rigby. If that rifle hadn't been lost in a fire, I'd probably still be carrying it today. For a big rifle it carried well, was quick to get into action, and for me, handled recoil well, although others found it objectionable. It produced better accuracy than I could exploit, and had a very good trigger that I could exploit. If a couple of rounds were held between the fingers of the support hand, an impressive rate of fire could be realized when the rifle was cycled at the shoulder. It was a very good rifle, but it wasn't a perfect rifle, so what is? But that's another way of saying I wasn't blind to its shortcomings which are as follows.
The first issue I was faced with was that the recoil split the butt stock on the first outing. Possibly it split with the first shot, but I didn't notice it until later. Foolishly, I sent the rifle to the Ruger Warranty Center and they dutifully replaced the stock, without making any attempt to match the new wood with the forend wood, and sent it back to me. This stock failed on its first outing. Possibly with the first shot, but again, I didn't notice it until later. This time I sent the rifle to a gunsmith who quickly determined that the butt stock bedding was uneven, and the problem was quickly and inexpensively resolved.
The flip up factory rear sight is right up there with a Williams flip up sight, and does no justice to a rifle of that screams for an express style rear sight. I'm a fan of the Ruger barrel band front sight, but not of a gold bead. I should have found a way of adapting a ghost ring aperture rear sight and a brass faced rectangular blade front sight to the rifle, but the rifle was lost before I got there, and the 1.5-5X Leupold never left me wanting. But mounting the scope was an issue. The factory quarter rib left something to be desired for a rifle with this recoil level, since IMHO, the scope's ocular extends too far rearward, particularly if the LOP is reduced to maximize handling under threat. My solution was a custom quarter rib that, and idea that I've carried over to later rifles, that achieved two things, first it ensured that I would never get tagged when the rifle recoiled, regardless of the position or angle I fired from, since the ocular was in line with the face of the falling block. Secondly this scope position kept the rifle's loading/ejection port free of encumbrance, which partially accounted for the rate of fire I could achieve. The only disadvantage of this arrangement was that I could only turn up the magnification to 3X before the image began to shadow on the edges, this proved to be no disadvantage at all; I don't recall ever wishing for more magnification while I carried this rifle, even if I didn't have the full range of magnification available to me. I have heard that some folks with other models of the #1 observe the opposite problem, in that they can't get their scope ocular far enough rearward.
The last issue that got my attention and just learned to live with was that after a few hours on the trail, I'd unsling and find the safety had moved to the fire position. With the muzzle of the rifle just a few inches from my right ear, this didn't leave me with a warm fuzzy feeling. There appeared to be no immediate, simple, or cost effective solution to the problem, which I understand has to do with the geometry of the action, so I began to carry the rifle slung muzzle down, and ensured no companions ever walked on my port side, where the muzzle pointed. I attempted to carry the rifle out of battery, but this resulted in simply decorating the tundra with expensive .416 Rigby ammo.
