#1 / .308

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Joined
Jan 10, 2005
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Location
Alexandria, LA USA
I've a friend that recently purchased new a #1 in .308. A couple of weekends ago he took it to the range to sight in for the first time. Best group was 4" @ 100 yards, and the worst was 7". Tried two different scopes, and different rests, to no avail. Best of 4 types ammo used was the Bear steel case. Worst was the high dollar Hornady. All ammo used was factory and gun was bore sighted before the range session.
The shop owner where purchased says Ruger has never been able to produce a #1 in 308 with consistant accuracy. That's why they are no longer offered in the catalog. Any truth to this statement?
I'm afraid my friend has had a bad experience with Ruger and will be off the brand after this.
A talk with Ruger service got him a transfer to the engineering dept and after a 15 minute talk with someone in that dept, they finally suggested he write a letter with his concerns and mail the whole thing back to them. At his cost of course.
I'd like to hear any other experiences or thoughts on this problem. Thanks
 

four70nitro

Single-Sixer
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Oct 24, 2008
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212
Location
SE Washington desert
The shop owners comment seems somewhat irresponsible and self-defeating. Is he admitting that he deliberately stocks poor shooting rifles and then pawns them off on unsuspecting customers? Why wouldn't he have mentioned something like this BEFORE the sale?

I have owned No. 1's in everything from .22 Hornet to .458 Mag though I have never owned a .308 Win. I have never owned one that didn't shoot well with at least one load. None of them took extensive effort to find loads that showed real promise and with a little tweaking I have always been able to get really good hunting accuracy from a variety of calibers chambered in the No. 1 -- I don't know why the .308 should be singled out to be any different.

As far as I know the .308 Win was dropped from the line because it has never been a big seller.

Did more than one person shoot the rifle with the same results? I don't mean to belittle your friends talent at shooting a rifle, but could he have been having an off day?

Poor accuracy in No. 1's is most often related to something in the forearm/barrel interface. Remove the forearm and shoot the rifle for groups without the forearm -- if the groups improve you know where to look for resolution. If they don't you will likely have to look further.

Also, four types of ammunition is not a large sampling. I would try other brands, bullet weights, etc. I don't know if your friend handloads, but that is probably a good place to start. There are lots of folks here with vast experience shooting No. 1's -- don't give up after the very first range session.

Dave
 

wunbe

Buckeye
Joined
May 19, 2002
Messages
1,240
Location
Reston VA USA
Rugere has dropped the .270 and .30-06 from most its #1 lines too. Must mean that they never shot well either. The shop owner is a schmuck.

wunbe
 

picketpin

Buckeye
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Jun 29, 2006
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Owyhee County, ID, USA
As mentioned, shoot it without the forearm. Simply rest the forearm on the bags/rest and try shooting. If I groups better then re-install the forearm and just snug it up. Shoot another group. Better or worse?? Tighten the screw a bit more and shoot another group. Btetter/worse? As long as it's improving keep snugging it up. At some point it'll go the other way.

BEFORE re-attaching the forearm be sure and check the barrel channel for uneven wear or pressure points. MOST #1s tend to shoot shot best with a bit of forearm TIP pressure UP.

Barrel harmonics are usuaklly critical. Nearly every #1 has a load with a specific bullet weight they prefer. If your friend shoot 4 loads with the same weight bullet it may only indicate that this rifle doesn't like "X" weight bullet.

As for the 308 in a #1 being inaccurate. The guy at the shop is full of B.S.

The 308 is one of the cartridges that are inhierently accurate. It's been dropped due to lack of sales, three times in the #1. It's just not a cartridge that is widely popular in the #1.

I'd try some thigns BEFORE sending it to Ruger. If they get a 2" group with factory ammo, it's coming right back as is.

More help and ideas are availble if needed.

Ross
 
Joined
Jan 10, 2005
Messages
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Alexandria, LA USA
Thanks guys, I'll pass your comments on to both.friends, shop owner and gun owner. It was special ordered from a distributor directly, not an off the shelf sale. I suggested an overtightened fore end nut but I'm not a Ruger rifle expert.
 

pisgah

Buckeye
Joined
Apr 17, 2006
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Upstate SC
If the gun is new and shooting groups like that, I'd contacy Ruger and send it back to them. I'd try to talk to someone else there before shipping it, too -- a different person may give you free shipping, which they will often do. I have heard they are pretty lax on their accuracy limits for rifles, but 4 to 7 " would seem excessive for any rifle.
 

picketpin

Buckeye
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Jun 29, 2006
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Owyhee County, ID, USA
If the 4 loads all used 150s and the factory sticks a 165 in it and gets 2" groups. It' coming right back. Might as well try it yourself unless you just want to have your rifle gone fore a while. If AFTER a bit of tinlering it's still shooting groups of 4-7" THEN I'd think about sending it back.

RWT
 

sp

Single-Sixer
Joined
Nov 6, 2010
Messages
143
Location
Near left coast
This sounds real frustrating, especially with a .308 -- one of the easiest cartridges to get to shoot well.

People have been tinkering with forend bedding for the #1 ever since Ruger started making them. For example on page 131 of the Brownell's #62 catalog there is an item called the "Hicks Designs Ruger #1 ACCURIZER"

My thoughts are: it should do better than 4-7 inches no matter how the forend is bedded, that is reasonably bedded. Check the rifle over well take a close look at the muzzle crown -- a bad ding there can really screw things up. If you find a problem there get Ruger to rebarrel or recrown the rifle.

Shooting the rifle minus the forend would be a good start. The #1 has a steel extension welded onto the receiver that supports the wood forend.

The problem/question is Ruger apparently does not accept non Ruger modifications on their weapons and the little Hick's gadget is a modification that may or may not improve accuracy that at this time is unacceptable.
 

picketpin

Buckeye
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Messages
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Owyhee County, ID, USA
The Hicks doesn't always work. Long before the Hicks guys were drilling and tapping the end of the hanger and running a set screw up to the bottom of the barrel. Imparting some pressure from the bottom SOME TIMES works but not always. If You have a Hicks on your #1 or anything else that wasn't stanadard on the rifle when it left the factory, re,ove it beore you send your rifle in. Ruger WILL NOT WORK ON A RifFLE MODIFIED FROM IT"S STOCK CONFIGURATION/CALIBER.

If you'd like a copy of THAT letter I can send you about ten of them. ;-)

This includes, Hicks Accurizers, triggers, wood, hammers, springs, re-chambering the original barrel, after market barrel a different factory barrel as to profile or caliber etc

Ross
 
Joined
Jan 10, 2005
Messages
3,051
Location
Alexandria, LA USA
OK - for an update- My friend has had several converastions with Ruger, Had a local gunsmith look at it with no improvement and at Ruger's request sent it back to them twice. First time they 'adjusted the forend"
and now this past week they called and said there was nothing they could do to make it shoot even close to MOA. The told him they would not return the gun, that it would be destroyed and for him to pick out anything else in the catalog of equal value. Guess they agreed with my Shop Owner friend- Some are great but when they are bad, nothing will fix them.
Just reporting the actual events-
 
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