Hi guys, I managed to pick up my ruger number 1 in .577 NE yesterday, and shot it for the first time today. The rifle was originaly a .375 H&H, so I had my 'smith fit a minimaly contured Walther barrel which measures 1 inch at the muzzle and is 26 inches long. I also had two recoil reducers added to ballance the long heavy barrel and also to add some much needed weight to tame the recoil. I also had the gunsmith fit a custom made set of iron sights and a sling swivel mounted on the barrel, as well as make a custom set of stock bolts to add some more weight. All up the rifle weighs in a 12 lbs 7 oz, a fraction under the 13 lbs I wanted.

I was having a hard time finding some loading data for the 650 grain bullets I want to use but managed to find one load that used an IMR powder which are hard to get here, so I subsituted it for 135 grains of ADI 2213sc which was a fraction slower according to my powder burn chart, and hence I added an extre 5 grains od powder over the load I found. Having been constantly told how stupid I was for building a .577 on a ruger number 1 and that the recoil would be massive, I was a little nervous for the first shot. I am however happy to report that the recoil is actualy very mild and feels less than my .416 Rigby shooting 410 grain bullets at 2700 fps.

I am booked in for a buff hunt soon so I'll be taking it along for the ride to see how it goes against a water buff in the top end of Australia.

Steve