Ruger #3 what to rebarrel it to?

I have a win 1886 in 40-82 and while I like it, I wish it were in 40-65, if I were to rebarrel my #3 it would be one of the straight long sharps or maybe one of the big british turn of the century African cartiges.

I would make it a 25-35

I would go for a 300 H&H. The classic British plains cartridge and period correct for the British style falling block action.

Cheerio
IronHand

I haven't seen a #3 in many a year. Mine was a .45-70.
If I owned this rifle, I might re-barrel it back to a 26" barrelled .45-70, or maybe even a .50-70 if the action would allow it.
I would put some Marbles Buckhorn sights on it and have me a Custer-era hunting rifle.
You could re-barrel it to .375 Winchester. Then you could shoot anything from a .38-55 duplicate cast lead bullet load, to a .375 Winchester factory load. Nice deer and elk gun at 100 yards.

.225 Win., which has a rim and works beautifully in the Ruger. Also the .220 Swift is a good match for same reason.

I have two .45-70s; a Marlin 1895G and a Wesson & Harrington Buffalo Classic. I enjoy shooting both but the one #3 that I fired in 45-70 was just not a fun gun to shoot. The .375 Winchester would be a good chambering but still more recoil than I would like in that lightweight rifle.

I would chamber it in 22 Hornet, .222, or .223 or maybe in a traditional lever action round like 25-35, .32-40, 30-30, .32 Special, 38-55 or even 7-30 Waters. Something with low (comparatively) recoil.

Just my two cents...

6.5 BRM from EABCO

Another vote for the 6.5 BRM ! I have been looking long and hard at this for a Greener GP I have sitting around . This rimmed case on 30-30 brass has it all going for it with 2600 fps velocities for those magical ultra low drag 6.5 bullets.
https://www.eabco.com/Reports/report03.html

Who do you intend to do the rebarrel job? In 2018 I had PacNor do a No.1 for me in 32-40 and they did a beautiful job -- the barrel, chambering and install and shipping cost $650.




I bought my own used No.3 in 45-70 in almost unfired condition -- for less than I paid for the rebarrel job! I fitted a modified WGRS (originally for the H&R single shot) in place of the rear scope base

Are you going to put an optic on it?

My vote would be for the 405 WCF. Cast or jacketed, mild, factory or wild, lots of potential.

Kevin

Greetings
We have a #3 in 375 Winchester and it makes a dandy all purpose cart it about all day rifle. But a 330 grainer is about the limits even out to 50 yards.
But a caliber 40 something (like the 40-65) would be about as versatile as any rifle I can think of for our US of A. You could hunt anything with it . If you cast your own like we do RB for any critter up to 100 pounds or a 250 grainer for up to 250 pound beasties. Then you step up to 400 grainers if you have a rather nasty big pig or grizz you desire to hunt. A 400 grainer chugging along at 1600 fps with more than put the lights out on whatever critter.
If brass was not near impossible to get I would also vote the 405 Winchester. We have one in the jap 1895 and 50 pieces of brass took me 2 years to come by. Started with 20 and was happy to have them. Or you can pay up to $4.50 if you want them now.
Put a #1 stock on it and it will feel like a real big game rifle.
Mike in Peru

I realy don,t need any more power than my #3 gives me(300-350 gr bullets at 2000fps, but I still would like to try another caliber some time and I have a extra #1` stock for the project.

7.62x54r. Options for shooting for cheap or reloading to push 30-06 velocities in a Ruger.

Bench rest is just that and while it is all Barrel , Barrel and more Barrel for that kind of accuracy the answer is NO if you want to play benchrest games. The 6.5 BRM is not really a benchrest gamer , more a easily available rimmed medium capacity long range low recoil round. I highly recommend Pac Nor for top tier non "bench rest" barrels also. Never heard nor had even a mediocre one yet . They were my go to Ruger #1 maker.

andym79 said:

Hi, guys I have been flitting between ideas for this one and I mean a whole myriad of different thoughts!

Like anything from 218 bee, 220 swift, 257 Roberts, 277 Weatherby Magnum, 7x57R, 300 Win Mag, 33 Winchester, 358 Norm Mag, 375 H&H, 405 Winchester, 40-82 and more!

Mostly when I do a project I have a limitation, this size rim or that size head, or that maximum length!

The Ruger gives me non of those constraints so the options are vast.

I got the Ruger cheap in 45-70 but because Bubba had visited it and taken the barrel down to 16".

I could put a nice 45 -70 barrel on it, but I want to barrel it in 40 cal or less.

I am going to open this one to the floor, if you had a Ruger #3 sat there what would you make it into?

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I like the idea of a .38-55, personally.

If it was me, 220Swift!!

A friend has a Ruger No 2.
No 1 wood will fit the No 3 action and look pretty good. He did cut off the tail of the finger lever to get a grasp of the pistol grip.
His started out as a .22 Hornet, rechambered to .22 K Hornet before he got it. Not particularly accurate, one gunsmith said they rechambered a lot of those to .223. Which does a lot better even though twist limited on bullet weight.

You seem confused as to caliber, I don't know what you want it to be FOR.
I had a .45-70 which mostly just kicked.
I got pretty close to having a No 1 barreled to .30-30 for a neat centerfire plinker, but I got over it.
I looked hard at the .357s for even easier centerfire plinkers, but I got over that, too.

One of the nicest #3 (types as it was a #1 ish special edition)I really liked was a Calif. Hiway Patrol commemorative originally in .357 Magnum that was rechambered to .357 Maximum ! It was really powerful as a carbine in full on Max , and still used Cat fart .38s .It had a 3x Leupold on it as I remember and the fixed sights still there. Retired CHP officer used it for his hunting rifle and it slew Calif deer and hogs very well.

i would do 7x57r. even a AI

I spotted one of those CHPs (actually a No. 1, if I recall right) in a local gunshop about 10 years ago, but couldn't afford the price. Great chambering, but the unaltered CHP version has collectible appeal and often demands a commensurate premium.

The .357 Max rechambering would hurt the value but make it more affordable and fun -- I hope Ruger gets around to making it a factory option someday! I have an NEF single shot with a .357 Max barrel that I like quite a bit.

Jim Watson said:

A friend has a Ruger No 2.
No 1 wood will fit the No 3 action and look pretty good. He did cut off the tail of the finger lever to get a grasp of the pistol grip.
His started out as a .22 Hornet, rechambered to .22 K Hornet before he got it. Not particularly accurate, one gunsmith said they rechambered a lot of those to .223. Which does a lot better even though twist limited on bullet weight.

You seem confused as to caliber, I don't know what you want it to be FOR.
I had a .45-70 which mostly just kicked.
I got pretty close to having a No 1 barreled to .30-30 for a neat centerfire plinker, but I got over it.
I looked hard at the .357s for even easier centerfire plinkers, but I got over that, too.

Click to expand...

I think Ruger skipped over Number Two for the obvious reference to bodily functions -- but I like the idea!

Dave DeLaurant said:

I spotted one of those CHPs (actually a No. 1, if I recall right) in a local gunshop about 10 years ago, but couldn't afford the price. Great chambering, but the unaltered CHP version has collectible appeal and often demands a commensurate premium.

The .357 Max rechambering would hurt the value but make it more affordable and fun -- I hope Ruger gets around to making it a factory option someday! I have an NEF single shot with a .357 Max barrel that I like quite a bit.

Click to expand...

I was trying to convey to OP the usefulness of rebarreling his to .357 Max. Here is an interesting report of such an animal , in a CVA Apex .
https://dandtcustomgunworks.websitetoolbox.com/post/357-max-test-5264779