My Last Ever No. 1

[gewehrfreund]

of 2020, that is. :wink:

An impulse buy that I'll blame on sheltering in place and/or early cabin fever. This was a bit of a Bubba'd rifle that I wouldn't have bothered with except for the price and being chambered in 7x57 Ackley Improved, an easy wildcat that I've never owned.
After getting this in hand, I realized I should have asked more questions. Some of the "issues" the seller forgot to mention: it had a very short LOP on the vintage DIY Bishop stock, was originally chambered in 7mm-08 , was missing the ejector spring and plunger and had some sort of epoxy "spacer" between the quarter-rib and barrel. On the plus side, it has a 3-screw Ruger trigger with a great crisp pull and the 24" barrel duplicates the "B" profile.

Before-

I fixed what needed fixing, replaced the quarter-rib with a set of Redfield bases and Burris offset rings, added an OEM barrel band swivel and replaced the stocks with a 1S set from 1977 (the rifle is a 131-prefix from 1978) that I've had for a long time. It's a lot easier to look at now IMO, and I hope to get some 7x57 ammo shot in it this week to see how the case forming will go.

After-

 

[338reddog]

Looks really nice. I bought my last no 1 in November. Im glad 2021 is here and I find more of my last rifles
Jeff

 

[Cholo]

The finished product looks really nice!

 

[hittman]

Way gooder!

Congrats to you.

 

[gewehrfreund]

Thanks. Even with the shipping and transfer fee, it was still less than the most recent (if ever) stimulus hush money. Hard to find any No.1 that's not a basket case for that price these days. 8)

 

[Nomosendero]

Good job and a great round!

 

[dfletcher]

Doesn't even look like the same rifle - fortunately.

Any insight as to why the quarter rib had the epoxy underside? Maybe the previous owner was trying to do a "20 MOA" No1 base. :roll:

 

[gewehrfreund]

No idea what the epoxy spacer was about unless someone had removed metal from the bottom of the quarter-rib that needed to be "brought back to specs". Otherwise, adding height to the front is only going to make it shoot low. :roll:
The barrel has the same profile as a Ruger B-weight (medium sporter) and the rib has the "B" stamp on the underside, so why that was done to the rib is anybody's guess.

 

[WendyZXZ]

Looks like a real beauty!

 

[Rumrunner]

Title shocked me until I read into it. Kind of the ugly duckling story.

 

[mike7mm08]

Nice,who says you can't turn a whore into a lady.

 

[RSIno1]

The red buttpad is the crowning touch. I got my first No1 before I knew of the difference. I think the only ones black buttpads are correct for are the gray & black laminated stocks.

 

[Stubshaft]

Looks great!

 

[gewehrfreund]

Thanks for the comments. I got to the cold, snowy, breezy range on Wednesday and fireformed 10 rounds to see how it would go. Everything went according to plan, now I just have to figure out what it's going to take to get the AI cases reloaded, without having to buy a complete 7x57AI die set. :wink: