I'm planning to build a cast bullet breech seater target rifle with what I have, on the cheap. I have the means to do all the work myself and this is just for fun, I'm not trying to build a competition gun to win at EG.  

This is an effort to cut down on the jump and vibration caused by the current Ruger setup..... I'm planning to remove the forend hanger, on one of my #1s, and fix a flatspring to the barrel (like the old highwalls). The ejector will be mounted to the barrel as well. Then a shorter throw hammer.

I know this has been done before but how have the results been? 

Flat spring versus coil mainsprings? 

Thoughts on hammers?

Not to sound rude but I would appreciate only first hand experience and suggestions... no theories please, yes, we all have them  .... I want to know what has worked or not, for better or worse.

This should be fun:-)

Best Regards,

Darryl

Darryl,
I don't have any experience cutting off the hanger on a Ruger # 1, but do have some  experience shooting Ruger # 1's in matches for the past 5 years and tuning them for accuracy. 

Like you I have noticed that on a bench when dry firing with an empty cart. in the chamber some 1-V's do jump a bit, and the lighter # 1's jump even more. sometimes as much as an inch or so at 100 yds, this is not easy to see with a low power scope but very easy to see with a 20 X or more scope, I use a 24 X so the jump is easy for me to see. What I did was install a light weight Speed Hammer, after that all the jump and vibrations seemed to stop, or at least I could not detect any movement, and as long as I could not detect any movement I stopped doing any thing else in that area.

I've been playing around with # 1's for more than a few years and I've never heard of anyone cutting off the hanger to reduce jump and vibration. Maybe I don't hang in the right places. 

My thoughts on hammers is that in my experience you should not lighten one below 350 Grs. if you go much below that you may end up with poor ignition, and that's not good for accuracy.

One important thing I learned in all my shooting of # 1's is the # 1 barrel is subject to some weird barrel harmonics, and anything that you may hang on it can/may up-set things in the accuracy dept.   

I would like to learn more about the cutting off of the hanger and how much it improves the shooting of the # 1,  hopefully someone that has done this will let us know the before and after results.
  Set Trigger

No experience with moving the block, but putting a Moulds (Frank Zika) competition hammer and Wolff mainspring into my Schuetzen No. 3 cut down the rifle movement on the bags to a major degree.  The coil spring and fairly open forend to accomodate it are noisy, especially when dry firing, but I never hear it when shooting a match.

David
Montezuma, IA

Actually, both Moulds hammers have the same throw.  Additional machining is done on the competition model to lighten it.  The competition version is not recommended for field use other than varmint hunting, especially if you're going after anything with teeth and/or claws.      

David
Montezuma, IA

Thanks for all the info so far!

Another question... Are the Moulds hammers a shorter throw than the OEM Ruger?

Regards,

Darryl

Brozbows wrote on Jan 1^st, 2009 at 7:28pm:


Darryl,
Both of the hammers made by Moulds ( Frank Zika ) have the same throw as the OEM Ruger hammers. I'm not sure what MI-shooter ment when he said he did not have the short throw competion hammer, like 38_cal said, both of Moulds hammers have the same throw.
   Set Trigger

Brozbows wrote on Jan 1^st, 2009 at 8:31pm:


One other way to dampen any hanger vibration that you may have is to install a Hicks Accurizer or a tension screw at the end of the hanger. This will also help dampen any barrel vibration 

I may be wrong on this but I don't think the hammer position on the Ruger is any more of a problem than the hammer position on most any other rifle that has a swinging hammer, and if anything the relationship between the hammer and firing pin may be in better alignment than a lot of other very popular swinging hammer rifles.
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MI-shooter,
Ah, that's how it's done. That explains it, thanks. 
I also have shot thousands of shots, with both the competition speed hammer and the standard speed hammer, and I cant tell the difference between the two of them, and like you have not had a single misfire with eather of them.
Set Trigger