The Ruger #1 is a fine hunting rifle - IMHO one of the best. The #1 does have a couple of design problems - at least I considered them problems which I think need to be addressed before taking the rifle too far afield.
I carried a #1 in .416 Rigby hundreds of miles when working as a bear monitor for tourist groups, for survey crews, and for my own protection. As much as I loved the rifle I would never use a #1 for that purpose again. Much could be made of the fact that is was a single shot, but I never considered that to be an issue because with two rounds between the fingers of my weak hand I was able to reload almost as quickly as I could a bolt gun.
The first and most easily corrected issue was the bedding. The butt stock split on the first shooting session due to uneven bedding, so off it went and 3 weeks later it returned - actually the wrong rifle returned (Wholesale Sports) - but a couple more weeks and mine was safe and sound back home. The stock was replaced but the uneven bedding was not cured, this stock also split, so no warranty this time, I just sent it to a gunsmith that knew what he was doing.
The factory rear sight is poor being of the flip up Williams persuasion inletted into the quarter rib. With this sight at the bottom of it's adjustment the rifle shot 6" high at 100 yards - the front sight was too low. Since I detested the flip up rear sight I concentrated on scoping the rifle - and I had envisioned an express sight replacing the flip up. As you know the factory quarter rib is inletted for scope rings, but with my Leupold 1.5-5X so mounted I was very much afraid of getting hit by the scope which extended well behind the falling block. Another issue with the scope this far back is that it obscures the loading port and ramp, and ejected cases would hit it. I sent it off for a second visit to the gunsmith for a custom quarter rib. This new rib inletted for Talley QD rings had the scope's ocular in line with the front edge of the falling block. So positioned, there was no way I could be hit by the scope, regardless of position or inclination. Neither did the scope now interfere with the loading and unloading of the rifle. Due to it's forward position, it did limit the use to the lower powers - up to 3X actually - but I normally just left it at 1.5X and I did some good shooting with that setting right out to 300 yards on realistically sized targets - 12"X12". The express sight never happened because I wanted the scope as low as possible, so there was not enough clearance for an express sight and the scope. At the time there was no ghost ring available, but if faced with the delima now, a detachable ghost ring and post front sight would be my choice.
There was a problem with the safety which I was unable to resolve. More times than not, I would check the rifle after a few miles of hiking to find the safety in the off position! The #1, of coarse has no magazine so the rifle must be carried loaded with the safety on - if you are going to be able to use it quickly. When hunting, if the rifle was carried unloaded that wouldn't prove to be much of a handicap, but for a protection rifle this is not acceptable.
I often carried the rifle slung muzzle down and left across my back, and I would not allow anyone to walk on my left side for that reason. Nor was I ever tempted to sling the rifle conventionally so the muzzle was behind my ear. I never had an accidental discharge, but I was acutely aware that the potential was always present. I tried carrying the rifle with the action out of battery but gave that up quickly after decorating several miles of tundra with $5.00 rounds.
The next step would of been the gunsmith route. However the safety had the normal amount of resistance when moving from safe to fire, and I was very hesitant to increase the difficulty, given the purpose of the rifle.
The experiment ended when the rifle was lost in a fire, and I have not been tempted to repeat it. However someday a #1 will again decorate my gun rack...it's just a matter of time.
I've never dealt with so fiddly a rifle to diassemble. Eventually it became easier but the first couple of times were a challenge. 
