“Single shot rifles are really a misnomer. Hunting with a single-shot rifle doesn’t mean you can only shoot once, just like any other hunting rifle action, it simply means making your first shot count. As hunters, this is something we all should aspire to do, no matter how fast you are at firing a second shot or how many rounds you have as backup in your magazine.” I was responding to a question from an audience member, while giving a presentation on hunting.
“I shot my first cape buffalo with a 416 Rigby single-shot, using Hornady ammo.” I continued. “In split second, I’d removed the spent case and replaced it with a fresh round. Months before going on the hunt, I practiced this skill a lot before I was proficient, teaching myself how to reload quickly and eventually reducing the reloading time to be as quick as cycling the bolt on a bolt-action rifle. It became automatic, rather than thinking about what I was doing, it became second nature, muscle memory if you will.” With dedication and practice anyone could do the same.
I wrote an article about my single-shot cape buffalo hunt for Sports Afield. One of the ‘Letters to the Editor’ essentially called me an idiot for using a single-shot on dangerous game. I guess he forgot how many buffalo, elephant and other dangerous game had been taken, back when explorers and hunters only had single-shot rifles and especially muzzleloaders, which took considerably longer to reload than breech loading rifles. In doing some research I learned my ‘accuser’ had never shot anything larger than a couple of whitetail does.
Why would someone want to shoot a single-shot at dangerous game, or for that matter any game animal? With me, I love the challenge of hunting with such a firearm. I grew up shooting single-shot 22s and single-shot shotguns, I learned to make the first shot count. I learned not to pull the trigger unless I was certain I could make a killing shot.
I have often stated I am a long-range shooter, but not a long-range hunter. I love shooting at paper and steel at extreme distances, but when it comes to hunting I want to get as close to the animal as possible before pulling the trigger, to me that is real hunting. Shooting at critters a long way away off, is just that, shooting.
For the past many years I have been a huge fan of the Ruger №1. I am fortunate to have hunted with numerous different calibers in this single-shot and proud to say I own several, although not nearly as many as I would like to. That said, hopefully there are numerous №1s still in my future.
I love the sleek lines of the Ruger №1, many of which have very attractive wood. I like blued steel and wood guns, although I use many Ruger bolt actions that are stainless and stocked with synthetics.
When it comes to Ruger №1s, I love the older rounds, such as the 275 Rigby, 300 H&H Mag, 405 Winchester and 450/400 NE 3”, with these I’ve taken a variety of game both in North America and Africa.
This immediate past hunting season I used my 275 Rigby primarily on whitetail deer shooting Hornady’s 140 gr InterLock SP ammo. With it I took, with one shot, some impressive whitetails at distances out to about 120 yards. I also used it on wild hogs including one that bottomed-out a 300-pound scale. This is a rifle I am seriously thinking of taking to Africa this coming year to hunt sable and other plains game. I might even use it hunting leopard. Hopefully during the next month I’ll be able to get some of Hornady’s ELD-X bullets and work up a load that would do well on leopard. The late John Wootters, long one the finest outdoor writers in the world and one of my mentors and heroes, used a Ruger №1 in 45–70 for his leopard.
Why the №1 on leopard? In almost all instances when hunting leopard, I am told the shooter almost never gets more than one shot before the leopard is gone, so the normal quick follow-up shot is non-existent. But what of accuracy? My Ruger №1s, all will shoot with Hornady ammo one inch or less (mostly all less) groups at 100 yards, so, they are more than sufficiently accurate and as I have mentioned, I dearly love the look of Ruger Number 1s.
A couple of years ago I borrowed a 450–400 NE 3” №1 from Lee Newton, a truly serious collector of Ruger №1 rifles, and to me he’s the world’s greatest authority on them. The borrowed rifle loaded with Hornady’s 400 grain DGX (expandable) and DGS (solid) at 75 yards essentially put any shots I fired from a good solid rest into the same hole. Shooting from sticks, I tended to shoot one inch or less groups. During a hunt in Namibia, I used the №1 to shoot an impala at 75 yards. Having done so, I then moved on to hunting hippo. Several days into the hunt, we stalked to within less than 12 yards of a huge bull hippo on land. I shot him below and behind the ear, having spent considerable time looking at anatomy charts. The ancient and huge bull simply fell to the ground. No sooner had he started to fall straight down, I reloaded and shot him a second time and then again a third.
Once the hippo was down, one of the trackers who had stayed with the boat walked up and asked to inspect my rifle, I proudly handed it to him. He looked it over carefully as if to see if he could find a bolt or other mechanism where by I quickly reloaded. Not finding any such, he asked my PH in his native dialect, how I had shot three shots so quickly. He was convinced there was no way anyone could shoot a single-shot so rapid, I simply smiled.
Years ago when I worked as a wildlife biologist taking care of numerous ranches where we specialized in whitetail deer hunting, and where I often served as a guide, I used to love seeing hunters arrive in camp with a single-shot rifle. Experience told me they tended to shoot more accurately than those who came to hunt with other rifle actions. I was never wrong. Those who hunted with a single-shots, precisely placed bullets into the deer’s vital with their first shot. The other things I judged hunters by, beyond what rifle action they hunted with was the length of the knife at there side. The longer the blade a hunter carried, the less hunting experience he or she had, the shorter the blade, the more experience they had.
When it comes to hunting rifles, of course I use bolt action rifles quite often and I do like them, but I do not own any semi-auto rifles, other than two Ruger 10–22s. Way back in my gun safe there are four lever actions, one belonged to my father and another was owned by my father-in-law, both these are Winchester Model 94s, one in 30 WCF and the other a 30–30 Win (both the exact same round). I also own a couple of Marlin lever actions, one a 45–70 and the other a 444 Marlin. These latter two are from my days as the Hunting Editor for Shooting Times. If ever I retire, and I have no plans of doing so, I will go to hunting with Ruger №1s exclusively.
I’m currently planning hunts for our 2018 show season for “DSC’s Trailing the Hunter’s Moon”, which appears on Sportsman Channel. I’m also planning the different Ruger rifles Blake and I be using. I would love to hear from you as to whether or not you think I should do several hunts with Ruger №1’s. What do you think?
Photo credit: Larry Weishuhn Outdoors