Ruger s No. 1 Favorite! 7

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1 Sharps Model 1874s- Setting the Record Straight! Anschütz Model 1727F Gold Medal Sporter Short Bolt Actions Less Is More May 2014 No. 274 $ Ruger s No. 1 Favorite! Display until 6/14/ Printed in USA $5.99 U.S./Canada

2 Sporting Firearms Journal May 2014 Volume 46, Number 3 ISSN Issue No WCF Spotting Scope - Dave Scovill 32 Ruger No. 1 Beauty, Accuracy and Bill Ruger s Favorite Brian Pearce Long Rifle Shooting the Newest Loads John Haviland Page Page Determining Rifle Barrel Groove Diameter Light Gunsmithing - Gil Sengel.257 Roberts Ackley Improved Classic Cartridges - John Haviland Where Are Marlin s Leverguns? Mostly Long Guns - Brian Pearce 28 Carbine Pretenders Down Range - Mike Venturino 38 Sharps Model 1874s Setting the Record Straight Mike Venturino Page Short Bolt Actions Making a Case for a Short Throw John Barsness 50 Anschütz Model 1727F Shooting a Biathlon Modified Sporter Stan Trzoniec Page Unraveling the Ross Mystery Questions Still Burn, a Century Later Terry Wieland Page Background Photo: 2014 Mitch Kezar/Windigoimages.com

3 On the cover... This month s cover is a Ruger No. 1-A Tropical.404 Jeffery with a nicely figured stock. Rifle photos by G. Hudson. Lion photo by D. Robert & Lori Franz/Windigoimages.com. 68 Nelson Custom Guns Custom Corner - Stan Trzoniec 70 Page What s New in the Marketplace Inside Product News - Clair Rees 78 Charles Gordon: Lessons for Today s Collector Walnut Hill - Terry Wieland Page Page Issue No. 274 May 2014 Sporting Firearms Journal Publisher/President Don Polacek Publishing Consultant Mark Harris Editor in Chief Dave Scovill Associate Editor Lee J. Hoots Managing Editor Roberta Scovill Senior Art Director Gerald Hudson Production Director Becky Pinkley Contributing Editors John Haviland Ron Spomer Brian Pearce Stan Trzoniec Clair Rees Mike Venturino Gil Sengel Ken Waters Terry Wieland Advertising Advertising Director - Tammy Rossi [email protected] Advertising Representative - Tom Bowman [email protected] Advertising Representative - James Dietsch [email protected] Advertising Information: Circulation Circulation Manager Kendra Newell [email protected] Subscription Information: Rifle (ISSN ) is published bimonthly with one annual special edition by Polacek Publishing Corporation, dba Wolfe Publishing Company (Don Polacek, President), 2180 Gulfstream, Ste. A, Prescott, Arizona (Also publisher of Handloader magazine.) Telephone (928) Periodical Postage paid at Prescott, Arizona, and additional mailing offices. Subscription prices: U.S. possessions single issue, $5.99; 6 issues, $19.97; 12 issues, $36. Foreign and Canada single issue, $5.99; 6 issues $26; 12 issues, $48. Please allow 8-10 weeks for first issue. Advertising rates furnished on request. All rights reserved. Change of address: Please give six weeks notice. Send both the old and new address, plus mailing label if possible, to Circulation Department, Rifle Magazine, 2180 Gulfstream, Suite A, Prescott, Arizona POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Rifle, 2180 Gulfstream, Suite A, Prescott, Arizona Canadian returns: PM # Pitney Bowes, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2. Wolfe Publishing Co Gulfstream, Ste. A Prescott, AZ Tel: (928) Fax: (928) Polacek Publishing Corporation Publisher of Rifle is not responsible for mishaps of any nature that might occur from use of published loading data or from recommendations by any member of The Staff. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. All authors are contracted under work for hire. Publisher retains all copyrights upon payment for all manuscripts. Although all possible care is exercised, the publisher cannot accept responsibility for lost or mutilated manuscripts. 6 Background Photo: 2014 Mitch Kezar/Windigoimages.com

4 CLASSIC CARTRIDGES The.257 Roberts Ackley Improved is a perfect example of the fallacy that merely improving a case by reducing its body taper and adding a sharp shoulder makes a cartridge more efficient. The original Roberts is set with a maximum pressure of a relatively mild 54,000 pounds per square inch (psi) and the Roberts +P pressure at 58,000 psi. However, the.257 Roberts Improved has no established standard pressure. When the improved cartridge is handloaded to excessive pressures, the resulting increased velocity is incorrectly attributed to its case design. Still, loaded to a sensible pressure level, the.257 Improved 20 ROBERTS ACKLEY IMPROVED by John Haviland provides an excellent return for the powder invested. In Volume 1 of Handbook for Shooters & Reloaders, P.O. Ackley does not beat his own drum about inventing the.257 Improved, referring to it as the Improved.257, or with his name in parentheses,.257 Roberts Improved (Ackley). He does write good things about the cartridge.... the design of the improved case is such that after fire forming has occurred the loads can be increased considerably over and above the original to achieve a considerably higher total velocity, he wrote. In the case of the Improved.257 the velocities are approximately 10% higher than for the standard cartridge in the average rifle. Pressures must be considered when working with such cartridges, but here again it can be demonstrated that the improved designed cases can safely handle higher pressures as they are normally measured than could be safely used in the original case. There seems to be no accepted explanation for this because pressures which would be considered ab - normally high for cases of rather tapered design seem to show no detrimental effects in a case of similar capacity with the improved design. It is a relatively efficient cartridge, flexible and comes close to the mythical all around cartridge. The additional four to nine grains of various powders above what is loaded in the regular.257 Roberts do provide a noticeable step up in velocities for the.257 Improved, but I take exception to Ackley s statement that the same case in its improved shape is better able to withstand higher pressures. Pres- The.257 Ackley Improved cartridge is nothing more than the original.257 Roberts case with some of its body taper removed and a sharper shoulder angle added. sure intensity from the correct powder in a rifle case is mostly what determines bullet velocity. No magical increase in bullet speed results from a case with a minimum amount of body taper or shoulders with sharp angles that supposedly act like a nozzle to direct powder gases toward the base of a bullet. As an example of loads on the edge of excessive for the.257 Im- The Remington cartridge (left) is much more popular than either the.257 Improved (center) or the.257 Roberts (right).

5 proved, the Speer Manual for Reloading Ammunition Number 8 (1970) contains loads for 100-grain bullets at 3,400 fps and 120-grain bullets at 3,100 fps. Powder weights for those loads are a few grains less than the same weights for powders listed for the Remington. Velocities for the were about 60 to 100 fps faster, mainly because the rifle had a 25-inch barrel while the Improved rifle had a 22-inch barrel. These loads were developed when Speer measured case head expansion of a fired case to determine when maximum pressure was reached. Western Powders Reloading & Load Data Guide, edition 5.0, lists 63,500 psi as the highest pressure for its Ackley Improved loads. At that pressure Selected Loads for the.257 Improved Ackley bullet powder charge velocity (grains) (grains) (fps) 75 Hornady V-MAX H ,462 IMR , Barnes Tipped Triple-Shock Big Game ,383 VV-N , Sierra Varminter Big Game ,246 W , Sierra Pro-Hunter H ,295 Varget , Swift Scirocco Hunter ,233 IMR ,262 RL , Nosler AccuBond Hunter ,060 H ,162 RL , Hornady SST H ,941 IMR ,814 RL , Swift A-Frame IMR ,848 IMR ,905 Be Alert Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in published load data. level, 3,293 fps was the fastest velocity for 100-grain bullets and 3,023 fps for 120s fired from a 24- inch barrel. Near as I can measure, blowing out the Roberts case to the improved shape results in an increase of about 7 percent of total case capacity. That increase in case volume is approximately 10 percent less than the Remington. Comparing my handloading records and loads from recent handloading manuals for the.257 Roberts and the.257 Improved, the latter burns 12 to 17 percent more propellant than the standard Roberts to achieve 4 to 7 percent higher velocities. So the increased propellant capacity of the improved case is providing that additional velocity, not because of its shape, but because it s loaded to a higher pressure. This is good, though, because pressure is the handloader s friend. May-June

6 Single-Shot Rifles Built, Repaired & Restored. Manufacturer of Freund Patent Sharps Rifles & J.P. Gemmer s Conversions 1523 W. Hwy. 34 Loveland, CO Mon-Fri schuetzenguncompany.com RMS CUSTOM GUNSMITHING Robert M. Szweda Classic Style Stocks and Custom Checkering. Call: (928) or visit my web site: The.257 Improved remains popular enough that Redding and other manufacturers make reloading dies for the cartridge. These dies are for the Improved cartridge with a 40-degree shoulder angle. Other versions of the Improved have other shoulder angles. WORLD S FINEST PRODUCTION RIFLE BARRELS DOUGLAS ULTRARIFLED BARRELS IN MOST SIZES, SHAPES AND CALIBERS. Stainless Steel or Chrome Moly AFFORDABLE QUALITY Write for free information to: DOUGLAS BARRELS, INC Big Tyler Rd., RM5 Charleston, WV FAX Roberts cartridges loaded to their +P pressure level and shot from a 21-inch barrel reached just short of 3,300 fps with 75-grain bullets, 3,200 fps with 87-grain bullets, slightly over 3,000 fps with 100- grain bullets and slightly under 2,900 fps with 115-grain bullets. An additional 4.0 to 6.0 grains of the same propellants, with Reloder 15 on the fast-burning side and Reloder 22 on the slow-burning end, loaded in the improved case somewhat increased those veloc - ities. (Roughly 75 fps of that step up in speed was the result of the Improved rifle s 3-inch longer barrel.) Seventy-five grain bullets reached 3,460 fps; 87s, 3,400 fps; 100s, 3,295 fps; and 117s, 2,995 fps. That s a pretty good return for the extra powder and only about 100 fps short of what the Remington produces from a 24-inch barrel. One appeal of the Improved cartridge is it fits in a short action. A Montana Rifle Company Woodland Classic rifle.257 Improved I ve shot quite a bit has a magazine Barrel & Gun Works Reboring Rerifling Custom Barrels Lengths to 36 Calibers.22 to.585 Chrome moly or Stainless Steel Dan Pedersen, Barrel Maker 339 Grove Avenue Prescott, AZ [email protected] that accepts cartridges with a length of 3.0 inches and a chamber throat just short of that length. The Hornady reloading handbook lists a maximum Improved cartridge length of inches. Some fans of the Improved think the cartridge is better suited to a standard-length action so bullets can be seated out even farther to provide room for more powder, but with a standard-length action you re better off with a Remington. With that cartridge the option is available to shoot factory-loaded ammunition, and cases are readily available without having to spend the time fireforming them. Not much is heard about.257 Improved these days. Montana Rifle Company and Cooper Firearms are the only manufacturers chambering the cartridge, although it is fairly easy for a gunsmith to ream the chamber of a.257 Roberts to the Improved. The.25 Winchester Super Short Magnum delivers nearly the same velocities as the Improved, in even more compact rifles that Browning and Winchester offered up until a few years ago. But the.25 WSSM is as com - atose as congressional bipartisanship. The Remington garners the majority of interest in.25- caliber cartridges, although an increased amount of attention is focusing on the voracious.257 Weatherby Magnum. However, before declaring the.257 Improved s time has passed, remember it is a good return for the powder burned. R

7 RUGER No.1 Brian Pearce The first Ruger No. 1 rifles were produced in 1966, which was a surprising and bold move on the part of Bill Ruger, who had only been in the firearms business a mere 17 years. Previous firearms offered by Ruger were widely accepted and were in a continual back-order mode, sometimes for years. His designs were new, and their success proved he had a unique talent for understanding what shooters and hunters wanted in the way of handguns and rifles. A classic-styled, highquality single-shot rifle, with a notably higher price tag than competitors bolt-action rifles, had some critics speculating that Ruger had possibly missed his target. Beauty, Accuracy and Bill Ruger s Favorite The No. 1 offered elegant lines reminiscent of the big British/Scottish Farquharson rifles, though notably trimmer, and internally it was completely modern. The falling block breech lockup was carefully engineered to offer improved support and strength and easily housed modern high-pressure cartridges. The trigger was adjustable, reliable and broke cleanly. Most versions came with factory integral steel rings 32

8 Left to right: Ruger No. 1-A Light Sporter 9.3x74R with 22-inch barrel, No. 1-B Standard.243 Winchester with 26-inch barrel and Ruger M77 MKII with 22-inch barrel. Note the 1-A is notably shorter than the M77 while sharing the same barrel length. The 1-B has a 4-inch longer barrel but is slightly shorter than the M77. that clamped directly to the quarter-rib via dovetailed slots. On select models, the quarter-rib also housed a folding rear sight, while the front sight was mounted atop a barrel band, which added beauty to an already handsome rifle. During his previous years of fire - arms manufacturing, Ruger had been innovative in using investment castings that effectively shaped firearms receivers and other parts close to form that were then machined to their final state. This substantially reduced machining costs and manufacturing time. But in Ruger s testing, this casting technique also changed or rearranged the metal s grain structure, when compared to bar stock, and actually increased its strength. The No. from the axis of the bore. Additional clever engineering allows dry firing without damage to the firing pin. The upper edge of the breechblock is beveled and helps push cartridges home when the action is closed. The extractor works reliably with rimmed and rimless cartridges and is unusually positive. Considering that it extracts cases directly backward and lacks the camming power associated with bolt-action rifles, its positive function is a great accomplishment. I recently worked with two No. 1s, a.270 Weatherby Magnum and.416 Remington Magnum. Each was fired extensively, first with factory loads, then with a variety of handloads with some at maximum pressures of 65,000 psi. In each case, the rifles extracted cases with ease, illustrating the reliability of the extractor even when dealing with comparatively highpressure sporting cartridges. The sliding two-position, tangmounted safety blocks the sear while a safety bar blocks the hammer. That said, when carrying No. The No. 1 action is compact and features a lever-operated falling block and tang safety. 1 receiver was cast and machined from 4150 chrome-moly steel, then heat-treated. When subjected to controlled destruction tests, it passed with flying colors. Other No. 1 features include a firing pin that is angled at 5 degrees 1s on horses, I leave the chamber empty. Neither do I consider it safe to place a round in the chamber and pull the trigger while closing the action; it s a potential disaster waiting to happen. Early guns offered beautiful machine work and displayed outstand- May-June

9 RUGER No. 1 The NEW Gebhardt Machine Co. Rimfire Cartridge Gage The Gage That Works! $ This is a gage to measure consistency of rim thickness on.22 rimfire ammunition (a.22 rimfire rifle s headspace is determined by case rim thickness). The more consistent the rim thickness, the more consistent the ignition of the primer and the powder charge in the case. In other words, the firing pin will fall the same distance every time if the same rim thickness is used on every case being fired for a particular group. By sorting the shells into various groups by rim thickness, a reduction in group size of up to 25% can be realized in some IF NOT MOST rimfire rifles. This information about group reduction comes from the.22 rimfire benchrest participants who compete in the extremely difficult BR-50 matches. All of the top shooters sort their shells into groups by checking rims and weighing the unfired cartridges. Gebhardt Machine Co. 101 Allison St. Lock Haven, PA TEL (570) Bill Gebhardt, Owner (NRA Benefactor Member - IBS Life Member) 34 ing wood-to-metal fit. The Amer - ican black walnut stocks often displayed considerable figure and beauty, offering a truly custom look. Essentially, the No. 1 was a factory-produced rifle with classicstyled stock; clean, artistic lines; and elegant beauty that was pleasing to the eye. Suggested retail was $280.00, or approximately twice the price of competing bolt-action rifles from Remington and Winchester. In spite of steady inflation, the price was eventually lowered, and it is unclear if this was an effort to gain more sales, or perhaps the company became more efficient at producing the rifle. Regardless, with the exception of the Deer Stalker 44, Ruger had not previously produced a centerfire sporting rifle, but this rifle caught the attention of savvy riflemen, and due to high demand, for several years they were extremely difficult to find on dealers shelves. Single-shot rifles have some advantages over traditional bolt-action repeaters. Perhaps the most obvious is the psychology associated with carrying a rifle afield that has only one shot. Rather than rely on a magazine full of cartridges for repeat shots, a hunter must place the first and perhaps the only shot correctly the first time. The falling block action design also results in an overall shorter rifle when compared to a bolt gun with the same barrel length. A conventional bolt-action with a 22-inch barrel has an overall length of around inches, whereas the No. 1 fitted with the same length barrel measures just 38.5 inches, around 4.25 inches shorter. If a shorter rifle is not important, then barrel length can be increased to 26 inches (No. 1 Medium Sporter with 42.5-inch overall length), which usually results in notably greater velocities. Most single shots, especially the No. 1, are excellent for either rightor left-hand shooters. Many times I have been asked if Left, many No. 1 rifles feature highly figured walnut stocks, such as this 1-A Above, all No. 1s feature a quarterrib that houses a rear sight (when appropriate) and is cut with dovetails to accept factory scope rings. I would hunt dangerous game with a single shot, such as the Ruger No. 1. Absolutely. The key word here is hunt. Again, the first shot is critical and should be placed with precision. Would I use a single-shot rifle as backup on dangerous game? Not my first choice, unless that was the only rifle available. In these circumstances, a reliable repeater can offer distinct advantages. Generally, No. 1s offer respect - able accuracy, at least with correct load development. Over the years I have owned and shot several dozen in many different calibers. Often the big-bore calibers, such as.375 H&H, inch,.458 Winchester and.458 Lott (Tropical), will stack bullets under Many No. 1s, including Light Sporter and Tropical rifles, feature attractive and functional iron sights.

10 Above, the sliding tang safety works equally well for right- or left-handed shooters. Right, the extractor is suitable for rimmed or rimless cartridges. one inch with correct loads, and some groups have been recorded at under.5 inch. For example, a No H&H (1976 manufacture with Wilson barrel) was prepared with lightened trigger pull and carefully tailored handloads, with no accuracy work being performed to the rifle. Using Barnes 270-grain XLC bullets seated to an overall length of inches, pushed with 74.0 grains of IMR powder and Federal 215 primers, this rifle could put three shots in a single, ragged hole. The first.458 Winchester Magnum I owned was a No. 1, which likewise would place Hornady 500- grain FMJ bullets atop 75.0 grains of Hodgdon H-4895 (2,150 fps) under.75 inch, at least until the glass in the scope let go. (It sounded like a baby rattle.) Recently, while using a No Remington Magnum to develop loads for LoadData.com, and neck sizing cases only, one group measured under.75 inch using Hornady 400-grain DGX bullets pushed 2,300 fps by 78.0 grains of Hodgdon Varget. With correct loads bigbore Tropical rifles often shoot well. The heavy barrel Varminter, with stiff barrels and small caliber cartridges, also generally shoots well. Recently I was at a friend s house while he was trying a new handload in his No. 1-V.220 Swift. I watched as he placed four shots into about.40 inch. I commented that was a pretty good group, to which he replied: Yeah, but about twice as big as my old handload. A few years back I used a No. 1-V.223 Remington on a prairie dog shoot, and while I never put it on paper, it quickly became apparent that this rifle hit where it was aimed, shot after shot, as far out as 400 yards and beyond. No. 1 Light and Medium Sporters can occasionally be a bit more temperamental and are often re- May-June

11 RUGER No. 1 liant upon a load that is tailored to a given rifle. Early rifles manu - factured from 1966 through 1973 were fitted with Douglas match barrels and most of those had the potential to shoot well. Many years ago I owned a two digit serial numbered No. 1-B Standard This rifle would stay inside.75 inch with a handloaded Nosler 180-grain Solid Base, as well as with Federal Premium factory ammunition with Sierra 200-grain bullets, and occasionally it would stay inside.5 inch. In 1973 the use of Wilson barrels 36 Left, with handloads, a No Winchester produced this.25-inch group with Barnes 80- grain TTSX bullets. Right, the No. 1 has recently be come available in.475 Linebaugh, which makes an excellent companion rifle to revolvers. It is capable of pushing a 420-grain bullet around 1,800 fps from the 22-inch barrel. began, which occasionally produced substandard performance. In 1985 Ruger began manufacturing hammer-forged (or swaged) barrels, which have been continually improved over the years. These are generally quality barrels that shoot well. Handloads for a No x74R were recently tried using Hornady 286-grain Spire Points; 54.0 grains of Norma 2030B powder provided 2,250 fps, and groups were consistently ranging from 1.2 inches to.80 inch. This is plenty accurate for hunting any big game species. The importance of tuning loads (factory or handloads) to a specific rifle can be seen with my son s No. 1-B.243 Winchester. Using conventional 100-grain factory loads from three manufacturers, this rifle was a very consistent 2- to 2.5- inch gun. We experimented with several handloads with different bullets but settled on the Barnes 80-grain Tipped TSX and 45.0 grains of Winchester 760 for over 3,400 fps. He then experimented Ed LaPour Gunsmithing 3-Position Safeties for: M-98, CZ 550 & BRNO ZKK 600 Win. 70,54 - Spgfd. 1903, 1922, - Enf Swedish Mauser 94, 96 - Rem. M30 Sako Pre Model 75 Sako Vixen Send $2.00 for information: 908 Hayward Ave. - Bremerton, WA Tel: (360) Fax: (360) with eight different bullet seating depths and recorded group sizes with each, ultimately settling on an overall cartridge length of inches, which will consistently produce sub-.5-inch groups. When a No. 1 just won t shoot, often it is because of the accuracy trap built into the forearm hanger, or perhaps incorrect forearm pressure against the barrel or even the receiver. A great first step solution is to install a Hicks No. 1 Accurizer system, which requires minimal modification (inletting) to the forearm and then acts as a tension adjuster that allows tuning the barrel vibration to a specific load. With a little effort and tuning, accuracy improvements can be significant. The Hicks No. 1 Accurizer (available from or call ) sells for less than $60 and is a great step for a struggling rifle. The late Bill Ruger was clearly a great firearms designer, with words such as strong, durable and reliable often being used to describe his many firearms. But Ruger also appreciated and owned fine guns that displayed beauty, elegance and outstanding workmanship. Although the No. 1 rifle has never been priced out of the reach of the average working man or woman, it has all the above attributes. Incidentally, it was Ruger s favorite rifle. R