Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/641958
R uger's #1 falling-block single-shot rifle is a timeless classic. Like the Farquharson that inspired it, the Ruger is sleek, beautifully balanced, rugged, extremely strong, and reliable. It looks classy, too. And now it's available as a 20 gauge. Sort of. To my knowledge Ruger does not build its #1 as a 20 gauge. But New England Custom Guns does. At the Dallas Safari Club convention last January, Mark Cromwell—gun builder, life member of the American Custom Gunmakers Guild and co-owner of NECG—lured me to his booth with what looked like a seriously big big-bore Ruger #1. The black cavern at the muzzle suggested a .600 Nitro Express. It spanned .615-inch, but it was chambered for a 20-gauge slug, raising the obvious question—why? "Whitetail hunting," Cromwell answered. "Shotgun only regulations." But of course. We westerners tend to forget that many of our distant cousins in the East and Midwest are saddled with obsolete state regulations mandating "shotguns only" for deer hunting—and whitetail deer hunting is about the only hunting a lot of those states have left. You might not think this sufficient incentive to convert a #1 from, say, a perfectly functional .270 Win. into a 20-gauge slug gun . . . unless you know the dismal accuracy of most 20-gauge slug guns. Light-frame shotguns built to throw birdshot do not become single-projectile tack drivers when you push single slugs down them. Screwing a rifled choke tube on can help. Mounting a rifled barrel helps even more. Mounting an extra-heavy, thick- walled rifled barrel improves accuracy yet again, but the barrel-to-action connection of most pumps and autoloaders is much too sloppy for rifle-like accuracy. Precise, tight tolerances, and overall stiffness are keys to single-projectile accuracy. The Ruger #1 platform provides that. "It's the perfect platform," Cromwell explained. "Beefy enough to handle the necessary barrel diameter. More than strong enough. Good balance potential even with a heavier barrel and more than adequate recoil control. The single-shot action is slick, fast, and simple to operate." "But it's still a single-shot," I countered. "Aren't hunters who are used to pumps and autos going to want more firepower? Some kind of repeater?" "Maybe. But do you want to miss with three shots or hit with one?" Checkmate. So the gunsmiths at NECG build the #1 20 gauge, and according to my hands-on range testing, they build them right. From the outside looking in, NECG's If you're one of those hunters forced by law to use a shotgun, New England Custom Guns can convert your Ruger #1 into the perfect deer rifle. S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S 7 7 Ron Spomer i f l e s R