Ruger No 1 safety modification?

A pet peeve of mine is the fact that ejected brass does not clear the safety switch on my Ruger No 1s, causing brass to sometimes be thrown BACK into the chamber. While removing some of the forward edge of the safety seems easy enough, the removal of the part from the rifle is my issue. Can someone explain the dissassembly procedure to remove the safety selector??

Just curious. Wghat cal;iber and model is your #1?

wunbe

pull the buttstock and start driving out pins....

There are two roll pins that hold and guide the safety, those have to be removed.

There is a part (part of the sear linkage) that needs to be removed also, then it's just a matter of angling the safety selector out of the slot.

Once you get the buttstock pulled, you will see what needs to happen.

Make sure you install the safety roll pins back in the same orientation. The smooth side should be the part that sliding on the receiver.

singleshot

Caliber doesn't seem to matter. I have 4 different ones, and they all do it. Nice feature for bench or varmint shooting, where saving the brass is Job 1. For hunting, that top tab needs to be about 3/16 inch shorter, so the fired case will fly clear. I want to modify all of mine, and soften the action of the safety notch to make it quieter. Still trying to get a Round Tuit........

My NO 1s are Medium Sporters in 7 Rem Mag and 45/70. I find it interesting that Rugers are chambered in dangerous game cartridges yet they will not reliably eject fired brass clear of the action.

Have you tried adjusting the spring tension of the ectractor/ejector??

Most of the problems can be taken care of by adjusting the tension, but not all.

How much OOMPH you want that makes it eject clear is predicated on the brass and that varies from rifle to rifle because of shape and weight of brass.

I haven't had the problem with my 338, 300 Win., 30-338 or even my 7mmSTW and if anything is big a long and might/should hang up it's the STW/416 Remington case.

The modification I HAVE done to many in larger calibers #1s safety switch is to filed the top surface flat and radius the edges and then have the top checkered. My issue was recoil from bigger things smacking the web between the index finger and the thumb under recoil.

There are several custom smiths that inlet the safety to fit flush but cost more than I want to pay.

Ross

4306 said:

A pet peeve of mine is the fact that ejected brass does not clear the safety switch on my Ruger No 1s, causing brass to sometimes be thrown BACK into the chamber.

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Me too...You have to wonder why they did that.

Corbi

Ross,
I saw that No.1 220 Swift with the safety modification you describe. Very nice with the checkering - if I did want to modify a No.1 that is one thing I would do. I have had a fired case slip back into the chamber after hitting the safety while hunting with No.1-S 7 Mag. I learned to tilt the rifle to the right side while ejecting the shell so it will fall clear of the action. A whitetail can cover about a 100 yards before you can recover from that and reload the rifle!

Brass clears on my 7 mag. Guess I got lucky...

Ross it is not the sprig or the tension. The safety switch is too long. I modified the one on my 475 till it cleared and I now have a fair amount of the channel showing. I will weld it in before I color case it but they are not right.

I have a 475, 6.5x55 and 257 Roberts and they all do it.

I am not real happy with it either. I have not got into it to see what they changed but I will

Dave

Guess I got lucky also. One or two of the ones I've owned and hunted with over the years have hung up but PART of the problem isn't just the length of the cartridge but HOW it is extracted/ejected and the path it takes back to the safety switch. "Sometimes" removing the forearm and adjusting the spring tension elliviates the problem.

I find it amazing that I've owned or built at leasy 9 #1s in 7mm STW and none have exibited the problem. I don't know if the actually chamber anything longer than the 8mm Mag case (7STW, 416 Rem Mag)

In looking at all of my current #1s, 50 or so there is some difference in the safety selector switch. Some do fit a bit higher. If one were to thin the front edge of the safety and then heat it and peen it down at the front edge and get it to fit closer to flush I would thiink it might help with the problem.

I doudt that Ruger is going to be changing the selector switch , not if they haven't domne it in the last 44 year, but hey, I could be wrong.

Therre are smiths that specialize in #1s that fit the safety selector to fit below flush and solve the problem. If I was really going to hunt dangerous game with a #1 (Besides bears I guess) it might be a alteration I'd be willing to pay for.

Ross

The safety switch is too long. I modified the one on my 475 till it cleared and I now have a fair amount of the channel showing.

Click to expand...

Same thing on both of the Ruger No. 1's I have. I trimmed and polished the front of the safeties but didn't change the dimensions of the channel. It looked to me like it wasn't oversized, so filling it would change the throw of the safety.

I can't believe this was a deliberate design feature of the No. 1, and I can't believe Ruger didn't fix it.

It works great if you are shooting from a bench or at varmints. The case comes out, hits the safety, and stops. Either roll the rifle, or pluck the case by hand, but the case does not fly off into the weeds.

I rather like the stopping feature of the safety selector, especially at the bench. When I hunt with mine, I tilt the rifle to the side and the empty case falls clear with no trouble. I guess if it really bugs you, you can put the rifle on 'safe' and then operate the lever.

There is really no need to have kittens over the matter. The Ruger No. 1 is not a dangerous game rifle.

Watergoat: If it's a varmint or target rifle, you can simply remove the spring and the ejector becomes an extractor. Cycle the levr and it will EXTRACT the case and leave it in front of the safety, without ever contacting the safety.

RWT

My father just picked up a 1A 308 and the safety sticks up like many others have mentioned on the forum. Kinda a pain in the butt! I do not see any reason the front of the safety cannot be manufactured to sit flush with the receiver.

I know of one reason.To be able to install the safety into its slot in the tang, if bent down very much, the front extension on the safety will prevent the part from being inserted into the slot. The part has to be rotated into the slot. I found this out when I bent the front extension down, just trying to make it look better. you can bend it down just a tad, but not much. Now, that being said, if you modify the shape of the part of the safety that is below the tang, you can bend the front extension down to where it is almost touching the tang.

I guess if it really bugs you, you can put the rifle on 'safe' and then operate the lever.

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The Ruger No 1's I have do not permit putting the rifle on safe unless it is cocked...

For unloading an unfired round, you are correct. However, those of us who prefer the fired brass to be ejected over our shoulder aren't going to get this without modifying the safety.

Good point. When I hunt with mine, I like to grab the empty (even if you don't reload, don't litter ) and stick it in my pocket while grabbing another cartridge and slipping it in the chamber.

I usually operate the lever L-handed and catch the cartridge with my R hand, cupped around the scope. Butt propped against R thigh, this works for me.

I also reload and don't like to leave brass in the field. My preference for clear ejection is based on a possible need for a follow-up shot. If I don't want to mess with the empty case, I want it gone, like my bolt-action and lever-action.

I prefer CRF bolt-actions because they make it easier to eject brass and catch it. They have the option, of course, of pulling the bolt back smartly and pitching the case clear.