Reloading Ruger No. 1

DallanC · Site Admin Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 3572 Location: Utah

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Reloading Ruger No. 1

I have a Ruger No. 1 chambered in 7mm Remington Magnum. I received it from my dad, he had a box full of handloads made by someone he knew. They are about 3.5 inches OAL (sorry for the roughs, my calipers died) and some Winchester factory loads I have are about 3.27 inches. These reloads were given to me and I was told they were HOT LOADS. Thing is.....I went to seat my Nosler 120 grain ballistic tips and the rifleing didn't seat on my markings on the bullet, or the case. Then I tried with these HOT LOADS and there were no markings from the rifleing either.... What is going wrong? Is my gun shot out? Is the throat blown out? Or am I seating my bullet wrong? The cases are trimmed to the factory spec, and I made up some 120 grain loads out of the Nosler Reloading book, with IMR 4895 with 54 grains and am going to shoot them tomorrow and see how they feel and form compared the mystery HOT LOADS.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Joe Oakes

Handloader · Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 10:17 pm Post subject: Re: Reloading Ruger No. 1

Hello Joe Oakes: if I understand your concern, it is that the loaded rounds you have don't show the rifling marks when they are loaded and then extracted without firing them. If so, that's good. Loaded rounds should not engage the rifling and most manuals will suggest accuracy seating depths from .015 to .050" short of contact with the lands. Because of variations in rifle throats, many factory rounds will have bullet seating depths that will be far in excess of these figures.

Bullets that jamb into the lands will increase pressure, often to dangerous levels. It is a practice to be avoided unless you are doing specialized tasks such as fireforming with reduced loads.

Rifles that have excessive throat errosion will be obvious on visual inspection of the throat, especially when look at a Ruger No1 as you are looking almost directly into the breech of the rifle as opposed to looking through the entire receiver length of a bolt action. Look and see.

While the load you selected for the 120gr Nosler will certainly make the rifle go bang, IMR4895 may not be the best selection for accuracy or velocity. Your load of 54gr will only give a 66% load density (Nosler's manual). Slower powders will increase load density and that, in turn, often improves velocity consistency, hence accuracy, shot to shot. Again citing Nosler, Reloder 19 or 22 will increase load density to 86 and 87% respectively, while allowing a higher velocity at max levels. Powders that give the highest velocity with the highest load density are often the best choices when selecting the powder you will use.

Have fun; those Ruger No1s are special rifles for special shooters.

george20042007 · Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2006 1:06 am Post subject: Re: Reloading Ruger No. 1

And I thought I was a special shooter when I bought a Weatherby Sad

Keep it coming...

Flint54 · Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2006 5:32 am Post subject: Re: Reloading Ruger No. 1

As far as the rifle, Congrats!! Ruger #1s IMO are a beautiful rifle, durable, strong and with a little tweek are very accurate.

The "HOT" handloads from a "Friend of your Father" IMO I would use a Handloader's Eraser!! This you can quote me on: "Unknown loads may be a HAZARD to YOU and NEARBY INDIVIDUALS!!! To me 20 unknown loads are better off being pulled and the brass salvaged. There is no reason to endanger you, anyone else or a Very Fine Rifle. The last I checked you can get a box of 7 Mag for @ $20, if your rifle is worth more than that - "PULL THEM!"

The last 7 Mag I had was a #1 and unless I only seated a 120gr partway into the neck I could not get it to touch the rifling, I could with a 140gr. It seems to me that the #1s have a semi long throat in most calibers.

With 120 - 150gr bullets I would recommend RL-19, IMR 4350, AA3100, RL-22 & IMR 4831. These powders will give you a load density above 80% and should prove to be the most consistant, accurate and provide the best velocity. If you are using 160 - 175gr bullets you may want to try RL-22, IMR4831, N165 or H870 they range from @ 78% to 99% load density and recommended maximum charges.

Best Wishes and above all Safe Shooting. Cool

dontstrokeme · Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2006 5:02 pm Post subject: Re: Reloading Ruger No. 1

Thank you all very much. I did run into a problem trying to use the mystery loads in 2 firends Brownings, they got stuck and would not let the bolt close. I have already shot about 30 of these through my Ruger. Is there any specefic areas that I should look for damage?

Flint54 · Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 4:17 am Post subject: Re: Reloading Ruger No. 1

I'm not saying that you have or may have any damage. It is just very prudent to not use any ammunition that you have no knowledge about. For an example, In those rounds do you know what kind of powder is being used, what kind of primer, what is the exact bullet, was the case trimmed to legnth, was it full sized or neck sized. Not knowing this leaves you with a big blank.

As you stated, they jammed up in another rifle. Why did they jam, was it because of the seating depth of the bullet or could it have been due to the cases being too long in the neck or could they have been neck sized for your Ruger #1. A neck sized case will very seldom fit into a rifle that it was not fired in due to diffrences in actual chamber size. A chamber cut with a new reamer will be slightly larger than one cut after the reamer has been used 30 - 50 times.

I would take a good look at the fired cases to see if they show any overt signs of pressure, if not then "Erase" the remaining rounds and save the cases. Cool

Vince · Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 6:12 am Post subject: Re: Reloading Ruger No. 1

george20042007 wrote:

And I thought I was a special shooter when I bought a Weatherby Sad

Keep it coming...

Hey George, believe me mate, as a Weatherby owner you are special. The only thing that would make you more special is to also own a Winchester, preferably a Mod 94 in 30.30. Very Happy

Cheers, Vince

Jack · Member Joined: Oct 19, 2005 Posts: 98

I'm sure your Ruger #1 is just fine.
In a bolt rifle, the magazine often is what really determines how long an OAL ( Over All Length) of a cartridge can be- and you ran into that in your friend's rifle. The cartridges you had were too long for the magazine.
In a Ruger #1, you don't have that factor to worry about- a handloader can seat bullets to a length determines purely by the throat of the rifle. That's why those HOT handloads are longer.
Now, Ruger 1#'s are often known for having long throats- also allowing bullets to be seated farther out than usual without marking the bullets with land marks.
Now, as to the HOT handloads.... personally, I wouldn't shoot anyone's HOT handloads, unless I knew that person well and trusted them with my life- and maybe not even then.
As to the OAL listed in reloading manuals- that OAL is for rifles with magazines. You can seat bullets farther out in your #1, if you want to.

Deleted_User_2665 · Super Member Joined: May 06, 2006 Posts: 380

Reloading Rule #1 is..."Keep yer nogin outta yer hind end...."

Pull dem bullets...scrap the powder in the flower beds and salvage the brass if it's in good shape.

NEVER TRUST AN UNKNOWN AMMO.....................EVER!

Handloader · Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 10:42 pm Post subject: Re: Reloading Ruger No. 1

wildswalker wrote:

Reloading Rule #1 is..."Keep yer nogin outta yer hind end...."

Pull dem bullets...scrap the powder in the flower beds and salvage the brass if it's in good shape.

NEVER TRUST AN UNKNOWN AMMO.....................EVER!

wildswalker and others state a critical aspect of reloaded ammo and I agree with them. We have two very nice rifles at the gunstore that have been blown apart by reloaded ammo, both from an unidentified source and without benefit of load data.

Not being able to close the bolt could be, as noted, an incorrect OAL for the rifle being used or brass that was only partially resized for fit in a specific other rifle. Too, you may not know how many times that reloaded brass has been used, so, start with fresh components.

george20042007 · Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 10:49 pm Post subject: Re: Reloading Ruger No. 1

Not being able to close the bolt because of OAL. Fire forming can then be done by pulling the trigger. Very Happy

Just kidding Very Happy

Keep it coming...

Vince · Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 6:55 am Post subject: Re: Reloading Ruger No. 1

wildswalker wrote:

Reloading Rule #1 is..."Keep yer nogin outta yer hind end...."

Pull dem bullets...scrap the powder in the flower beds and salvage the brass if it's in good shape.

NEVER TRUST AN UNKNOWN AMMO.....................EVER!

Funny you should bring this up wildswalker. Met this guy down the range one day (pic below)...figured he was going to have a problem so I moved to the other end of the firing line. Very Happy

You are 110% right...never, NEVER, trust unknown reloaded ammo. It is an accident looking for somewhere to happen.

Cheers, Vince

george20042007 · Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 11:03 am Post subject: Re: Reloading Ruger No. 1

Hey, I recognize that guy in the picture Very Happy

Keep it coming...

SwampFox · Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 8:49 am Post subject: Re: Reloading Ruger No. 1

Thank you Vince, saved that one as Rectal Cranial Inversion.jpg Very Happy

Ed

Bushmaster · Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 9:05 am Post subject: Re: Reloading Ruger No. 1

Maybe one last reason that the bolt won't close...Brass flow to the mouth of the case, making the case mouth too thick. Have had this problem with my handloads and my .30-06.

Hummm...This guy must have a few twins running around. Good one Vince.