Why Choose a Falling Block Single Shot Rifle?

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Who is Ron Spomer
For 44 years I’ve had the good fortune to photograph and write about my passion – the outdoor life. Wild creatures and wild places have always stirred me – from the first flushing pheasant that frightened me out of my socks in grandpa’s cornfield to the last whitetail that dismissed me with a wag of its tail. In my attempts to connect with this natural wonder, to become an integral part of our ecosystem and capture a bit of its mystery, I’ve photographed, hiked, hunted, birded, and fished across much of this planet. I've seen the beauty that everyone should see, survived adventures that everyone should experience. I may not have climbed the highest mountains, canoed the wildest rivers, caught the largest fish or shot the biggest bucks, but I’ve tried. Perhaps you have, too. And that’s the essential thing. Being out there, an active participant in our outdoor world.

Disclaimer
All loading, handloading, gunsmithing, shooting and associated activities and demonstrations depicted in our videos are conducted by trained, certified, professional gun handlers, instructors, and shooters for instructional and entertainment purposes only with emphasis on safety and responsible gun handling. Always check at least 3 industry handloading manuals for handloading data, 2 or 3 online ballistic calculators for ballistic data. Do not modify any cartridge or firearm beyond what the manufacturer recommends. Do not attempt to duplicate, mimic, or replicate anything you see in our videos. Firearms, ammunition, and constituent parts can be extremely dangerous if not used safely.

[geraldblackburn]

I looked these up and seems that they are still making them, and I would LOVE to have one in .275 that looks really sweet !

[miketyson]

The Canyon shooter octagon barrel 28" in .300 WSM is a BEAST!!

[joshuabutherus]

Out of the 19th century breach loading rifles the remington rolling block has always been my favorite.

[DesertJacks]

Love my Ruger no.1 chambered in .300 win mag. 10 years taking big game. Favorite rifle.

[charlesdemay]

The Ruger is REALLY NICE RIFLE, I LIKE IT. I was FORTUNATE to get a 2nd year production Winchester 1885 in 22short. It was the ORIGINAL single shot designed by THE MAN HIMSELF "JOHN MOSES BROWNING" in 1879 patent, he was only 23 years old at the time. He then sold the patent in 1873 to Winchester. My acquisition was pretty cool but in kinda sad shape, bore was HORRIBLE because of the numerous black powder cartridges shot in it through it's life and sometime in it's life someone cut about 4-5" from the heavy octagon barrel. It wasn't cut SQUARE either when it was shortened. 2 of the flat springs were broken so it didn't function. I was able to resurrect it by changing the barrel for a original barrel that had been RELINED to 22lr. I was able to get the 2 replacement flat springs (parts are actually kinda easy to get because of the popularity of the rifle being Browning 's FIRST PATENT) I was able to install the parts myself 😯😁👍. I was PROUD of MYSELF for being able to resurrect this piece of HISTORY. Another interesting feature of that rifle was the sides of the receiver was MILLED which was RARE for a LOW WALL 1885 but common for a HIGH WALL which was for the MORE POWERFUL CARTILAGES. It was also very early production of the LOW WALL (under 600). A REAL PIECE OF HISTORY.🤔😯😁👍

[bcallahan]

Have to look it up.
But in my experience, I've hunted with semis, bolt and muzzle loader.
It's that first shot that counts.
Unless your hunting dangerous game. I will take accuracy and performance over repeat capabilities any day. Besides if you practice you can run a bolt pretty darn fast. Same with reloading a muzzle loader.
Semis have a tendency to be shorter which makes them a better brush gun. As you covered in previous video. But as always be comfortable, know your gun and make that first shot count.
Sounds easy but when it all happens in a fraction of a second that seems to be eternity you'll understand.
First step reload and acquire target make sure everyone is safe zone .
Have stories about that. All ended well except a for a couple red arse cheeks from a spanking.
But that's another story.
Know yourself, your gun both your limitations, make that first shot count.
Be comfortable with it.

[lovethehuntOutdoors]

I love mine Ron it's the most beautiful rifle I ever owned. It was a gift from a older friend that don't hunt any more. It chambered in the 270 Winchester caliber. I was overcome with emotion and tears rolled down my face when I received it at Christmas in a case given to me from my wife because we didn't not have money for anything like a gun. I thought she tricked me and put weights in a case. When I opened it up I couldn't believe what laid before me.

[uralbob]

I always wanted a #1 in a classic European cal. like 7x57, 6.5x55, or an old Holland & Holland round.
All those Farquharson based falling blocks were beautiful.

[OldGeezer]

I had a Ruger number 1 heavy barrel in 22.250 with a luepold optic which was great medicine on varmints. Great rifles and I had always heard they weren't accurate, but mine with seirra handloads would print about 1/2 moa at 100 yards which was more than good enough here in Indiana for groundhog's, fox, and coyotes. ♥️

[Iceburg]

We had one chambered in .223 and another one in 22LR. Great fun to shoot and with practice you can get shots off fast. I used to put extra rounds in my shirt pocket and place one round in my mouth. You could fire a round drop the breach and slide a new round in pretty fast. Both guns were extremely accurate as well.

[sharonrigs]

I've got a Greener long lever Martini Henry that was re barreled ( from an M2) to .50-70 as part of a smith school project.
This allows me shoot stiff ( 400ish gn @ 1900fps) smokeless handloads. For a reliable moose thumping load, I saw a .50 BMG bullet in half and seat the bottom half in a case charged with 60gn of 4064.

[tomfouche]

Spot on. I just love my no.1 and nevever found it to be a disadvantage using a single shot for hunting. There are some excellent break actions, called kipplauf rifles in Europe. It would be nice to see a video of the single shot variants, calibers and their advanages.

[elgato]

The coolest ruger 1 imo is the 7x57. Good luck finding one. Scads of good 30-06s and all that rot. But coolness is priceless

[jamesharrison]

Love both my Ruger Nr. 1 in 257 Robert’s, as well as my C. Sharps longer range in .45-70.

[davidgendron]

Or keep the barrel to 20-22” and have a super compact rifle!! I have 2 no1 RSI and one “S” and man they are sweet guns!!

[michaelvogel]

Absolutely love the Ruger number one in any caliber

[coreymerrill]

Yessir . I want to make a falling block side by side double rifle w/ ejectors... for my life time masterpiece. With some secret sauce to it. Like some I can mention, duel cone receiver/ barrel interface with an adjustable regulator on a worm gear for using different loads.
The adjustment locks in place with a cross pin, and is not for field adjustment. Duel cone interface means the barrels totally float when not bound with the regulator. A ball and cone interface for one barrel and a fixed barrel on the other side is how most adjustable regulating barrels are set up from what I can tell. Traditional SxS are just screwed in and tensioned with a silver soldered regulator fixed to one type of ammo. ( And takes as many as 200 rounds to regulate, that gets ridiculously expensive and is one of the main reasons these guns are out of reach to most buyers. Some ammo costs about $100 per round for dangerous game rifles. That's $2000 in ammo alone to regulate, not to mention the time of roughly one hour per adjustment. That's gunsmithing time, with a specialty service a.k.a $100 an hour job, up to 200 hours of labor to regulate the barrels on a stubborn gun .you are talking $22, 000 for that service alone on some of those guns, upper estimate of course, but that has to be done to cover everything. Services not rendered and time and ammo not spent will be returned and not included in the final fee.) These videos are good info. They get my gun knowledge and desires all a flutter.

[huntershetters]

My dad had a ruger one in 30-06 he loved it but traded my grandpa for my ruger m77 markii 280

[tahoe]

Notice that anything John Moses Browning made from Shotguns, rifles, machineguns, to handguns was powerful and robustly made and works!

He’s the firearm genius of all time.

[davidpreston]

E.A. brown 97d is my favorite falling block