Anyone Into Ruger No 1's and 3's?

It's winter, too cold to fish (for me anyway-too old) and time to tone down the board. Always wanted a Ruger Mini 30, well I was back home in Owatonna (MN) and bought one at Cabela's in 7.62.x39. Course that got me hooked (it was about 99%) so when I got back home I managed to find a Mini 14 in .223 cal at our local Vances (it was about (90%). I love re-finishing wood, etc., especially guns so I disassembled the 14 and started working on the wood as the stainless was just fine (it was an old Spjringfield Police swat weapon). Both of the mini's are pre-1984. Course, I finished it up and went lookin again :-) Came upon a Ruger No 3 in .223 cal stock was chipped, etc.,, fore arm was scratched up and its sights were missing as someone took them off to mount a scope, metal was in great shape though, even if it did have scope holes. threw the stock away, found a great deal on Ebay and replaced it, refinished the fore arm and stock and here's the result.

Looks nice. Rugers are built to last. I have several guns of theirs.
I am a gun nut(kimber, Glock, Ruger, Springfield, Mossberg, CZ), golf nut (mizuno), fishing nut(shimano,loomis), knife nut(Spyderco) and a few other hobbies that occupy my time. I don't do any refinishing as most what I have is either new or used with "character" marks that I won't fix since they shoot fine. Mainly hunting rifles that have some dings but that's part of it.
I have a buddy here at work who is a mini-14 fan but I haven't jumped on board with it. I stuck with the AR platform just for the cool crap I can put on it.
I pretty much tweak my Glocks to my liking with some basic upgrades but never over the top.

Guess you could say I'm "over-gunned" :-) My brother and I share our dad's collection of some 114 rifles as well as 27 handguns of various types, he was a Marine firearms instructor and loved anything High Standard, Garrand-type, Springfield, etc. Of course we've added to our own personal collections as well to the point that neither one of us could actually put a figure on the numbers as we've "farmed" them out to our kids (not dad's collection though). Definitely don't need another one BUT that No 1 sure looks fine

[QUOTE=GonFishn;543293]Guess you could say I'm "over-gunned" :-) My brother and I share our dad's collection of some 114 rifles as well as 27 handguns of various types, he was a Marine firearms instructor and loved anything High Standard, Garrand-type, Springfield, etc. Of course we've added to our own personal collections as well to the point that neither one of us could actually put a figure on the numbers as we've "farmed" them out to our kids (not dad's collection though). Definitely don't need another one BUT that No 1 sure looks fine[/QUOTE]

Yeah man things that go bang are good with me!! That's one thing I loved about the army...I always volunteered to train with the Mortar guys or the scouts, always volunteered to help expend any grenades or load the tank with extra ammo (50 cal, 105mm and the 7.62 rounds) because one thing you learn in the Military is you don't bring ammo back because that means paperwork.....plus fire power is addicting and just flat out fun. I trained with the German army and several of theirs weapons just to get the chance to fire Uzis and their machine guns. I look back on all of it and smile!!!

[QUOTE=GonFishn;543293]Guess you could say I'm "over-gunned" :-) My brother and I share our dad's collection of some 114 rifles as well as 27 handguns of various types, he was a Marine firearms instructor and loved anything High Standard, Garrand-type, Springfield, etc. Of course we've added to our own personal collections as well to the point that neither one of us could actually put a figure on the numbers as we've "farmed" them out to our kids (not dad's collection though). Definitely don't need another one BUT that No 1 sure looks fine[/QUOTE] man that is a nice collection, my neighbors dad collected guns and knifes all his life, just before he passed away he gave his collection to his son my neighbor. he only had them for a few months and his house was broken into and his gun collection was stolen. the police caught the two thieves, a man and a woman, but he never got his guns back.

[QUOTE=waterdog101;543604]man that is a nice collection, my neighbors dad collected guns and knifes all his life, just before he passed away he gave his collection to his son my neighbor. he only had them for a few months and his house was broken into and his gun collection was stolen. the police caught the two thieves, a man and a woman, but he never got his guns back.[/QUOTE]
Yes Sir....exactly why I installed a monitored home security system and purchased a nice safe and bolted that sucked to the slab! It's all you can do but it stops the average tool from stealing you blind!

[QUOTE=GonFishn;543289]It's winter, too cold to fish (for me anyway-too old) and time to tone down the board. Always wanted a Ruger Mini 30, well I was back home in Owatonna (MN) and bought one at Cabela's in 7.62.x39. Course that got me hooked (it was about 99%) so when I got back home I managed to find a Mini 14 in .223 cal at our local Vances (it was about (90%). I love re-finishing wood, etc., especially guns so I disassembled the 14 and started working on the wood as the stainless was just fine (it was an old Spjringfield Police swat weapon). Both of the mini's are pre-1984. Course, I finished it up and went lookin again :-) Came upon a Ruger No 3 in .223 cal stock was chipped, etc.,, fore arm was scratched up and its sights were missing as someone took them off to mount a scope, metal was in great shape though, even if it did have scope holes. threw the stock away, found a great deal on Ebay and replaced it, refinished the fore arm and stock and here's the result.[/QUOTE] nice job finishing the wood, I have a woodworking shop, I like working with wood to, and I like older guns as well, I have a couple older handguns both are Belgium made Browning's and were made in 1962, older than most of these guys on this forum. these two Belgium made Browning Nomads aren't made any more, the barrels on these were machined from solid metal, one has a 4 1/2'' barrel and one has a 6 3/4'' barrel, both are real sweet shooters.