{"id":25013,"date":"2024-01-12T00:01:51","date_gmt":"2024-01-12T08:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=25013"},"modified":"2024-01-09T12:44:33","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T20:44:33","slug":"the-wayback-machine-resurrecting-a-405-ruger-no-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2024\/01\/12\/the-wayback-machine-resurrecting-a-405-ruger-no-1\/","title":{"rendered":"The Wayback Machine: Resurrecting a .405 Ruger No. 1"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Joe Cota<\/h6>\n

I’ve never had any desire to hunt African game and I probably never will. But I’ve enjoyed reading about the African plains rifles since I was a kid in junior high school. Bringing a copy of Guns & Ammo<\/em> magazine to school would probably get you a quick trip to the principal’s office these days…but I digress.<\/p>\n

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Exquisite walnut is often found on the older Ruger No. 1 rifles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Quite a few years ago I saw an old Ruger No.1 Tropical in the consignment rack of a small gun shop that is now long gone. The owner said, “just pick it up and feel the heft.”\u00a0 And of course, I did and the next thing you know we were talking price, knowing I would never pay $2,000 for a collectible Ruger No. 1.\u00a0 Shaun confided in me that the rifle’s owner couldn’t find the obsolete 405 ammo for it anywhere and he wasn’t a handloader, so he wanted to sell the rifle. Another problem with the rifle was that a previous owner had cut down the front sight, probably because he had been shooting handloads with .41 caliber pistol bullets. So we settled on $500 and I became the owner of my first “unobtainable” Ruger No. 1!<\/p>\n

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In the gun shop years ago eyeing the Ruger No. 1. Salesman Shaun said, “hand me your phone and let me take a photo of you so you can see how good you look with that rifle!”\u00a0 Shaun passed away a couple of years ago, but I know he smiled down from Heaven yesterday as I fired the Ruger No. 1H Tropical for the first time. And he was right, this gun was meant for me!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It took me a lot of searching over the past few years, but I finally located a set of 405 Win reloading dies, the shell holder, and all the components to bring this rifle back to life.<\/p>\n

Hornady had made a run of new 405 Winchester brass and I was lucky enough to find a new old stock box of 50 shells. I also located some new Barnes .412, 300-grain TSX bullets.<\/p>\n

The first step in restoring the old 1H Tropical was to contact Ruger and purchase a new gold bead front sight. That was a simple install as the blade is held in place by a small detent spring.<\/p>\n

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New Ruger NOS gold bead front sight blade installed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Not wanting to use the expensive Barnes TSX bullets quite yet, lead bullets were cast from lead wheel weights with a bit of tin added using a Lyman 412263 plain base mold to cast 288 grain bullets. These were sized to 0.413 inch and lubed with Alox. Lyman has since discontinued this fine old bullet mold.<\/p>\n

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A Lyman 412263 bullet, lubed and sized.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Finally, yesterday morning I decided it was time to resurrect this old rifle! Besides, the project would give me the opportunity to test some old “salvage” Hodgdon 4198 powder I’ve had sitting on the shelf for nearly two decades. The powder is probably from the 1950s or early 1960s. I also had some ancient CCI 200 large rifle primers on hand.<\/p>\n

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Hodgdon “salvage” 4198 smokeless powder. The powder is probably WW II US Military surplus powder that Hogdon bought in bulk and repackaged in the late 1950s or early 1960s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Vintage components for a vintage cartridge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I loaded 20 rounds of 405 Winchester ammo using the cast lead bullets and a starting load of 38.5 grains of 4198 and headed down the hill with good friend Yvon to an informal shooting range on BLM land.<\/p>\n

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The obsolete 405 Winchester cartridge (left) and the popular 45-70 Government cartridge (right) used by 1880s plains buffalo hunters of the American west. I don’t shoot buffalo and never will. But I enjoy reviving and firing old guns!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Let me say that this Ruger No. 1H Tropical in 405 Winchester lives again. It shoots incredibly tight groups with the cast bullets and gold bead open sights.<\/p>\n

My next project will be to develop a non-lead hunting load using the 300 grain Barnes TSX bullets.<\/p>\n

Bringing life back into old obsolete rifles can be tons of fun.<\/p>\n

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More Tales of the Gun<\/a>!<\/p>\n

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Never miss an ExNotes blog:<\/p>\n

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