The attraction of hunting with a single-shot rifle is more than its simplicity. There are significant benefits, such as giving higher muzzle velocity in a compact firearm.
For any type of hunting, the first shot is the one that counts and if you miss, you generally miss with your follow-up shots.
Most hunters I know think that a single-shot would be a handicap, but over the years I have owned and hunted with them.
Because a single-shot rifle does not have the long receiver of a bolt action, the barrel can be 26” (66cm) or so long without making the rifle unhandy.
Decades ago I shot a mule deer in New Mexico with a rifle I borrowed from Les Bowman, a Ruger No 1 in .270 Winchester with a 30” barrel that gave .270 Weatherby velocity. Years later, I owned a similar rifle in .338 Win Mag that I used very successfully on buffaloes in the NT.
I suppose we could argue that one shot should be enough for the trophy hunter, as today’s rifleman does not mow down herds of deer and is very selective about what he shoots.
Once I had become a fair marksman and learned something about deer hunting, I killed 99 percent of the animals I shot at with one bullet.
When he designed his No 1 Single Shot in 1966, Bill Ruger combined modern gun design with the latest gun-manufacturing techniques. Many smart people in the gun world prophesied that he was going to lose his shirt by introducing what was an obsolete design and that the single-shot was as dead as the dodo.
Most single-shot rifles had been discontinued by about 1920, with some exceptions — notably in England, where the single-shot rifle persevered and even flourished.
Many hunters wouldn’t be caught dead with a single-shot rifle. Too many of them actually think the more shots they have at their disposal, the better. The more rapidly they can empty the magazine, the better they like ’em.
However, for many types of hunting and target shooting, the single-shot is as good as anything else. Varmint hunters, for example, are just as well served with a single-shot as they would be with a repeater, as are the stalkers. When a stalker gets into position to ambush a stag, goat or boar, their best shot is always the first.
Personally, I have a hunch that if deer hunters were limited to single-shot rifles, they’d make more clean kills.
I also think that having a single-shot rifle in hand has a steadying effect on the hunter, who soon realises that in order to score a clean kill, he’ll have to be pretty sure that the bullet is going to land in the right place.
Perhaps the greatest advantages of the single-shot are its strength, simple construction and ruggedness.
Possibly more important, however, is that a single-shot with a 26” (66cm) barrel has about the same overall length as a bolt-action repeater with a 22” (56cm) barrel.
These days it has become standard practice to measure magnum velocities in a 26” barrel and then furnish rifles for magnum cartridges with 22” and 24” barrels. Consequently, the magnum shooter has to put up with a considerable velocity loss in the field. With a single-shot rifle, magnum cartridges will deliver their full potential.
Today, the Ruger No 1 series is available only in select limited editions and chamberings each year. But the aficionado is well catered for with one of the 30-odd different makes and models listed in world-wide gunmakers’ catalogues.
True, many are Italian replicas, but serious hunters can choose between the modern Henry Single Shot Steel, the Krieghoff Hubertus, the Merkel K1, the Rossi series, the Thompson/Centre Encore Pro Hunter Predator rifle and G2 Contender, as well as the Blaser K95, Uberti’s 1885 Courteney Stalking Rifle and the affordable Bergara.
All are chambered for popular high-velocity cartridges and can be depended upon to uphold their end as long as the hunters are capable of doing their part.
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