Month: September 2018

Grand Rapids, MI USA -(Ammoland.com)- In this fifth installment of my .450 Bushmaster series, I will be taking a look at a very interesting departure from what many think a .450 BM rifle to be: the Ruger No. 1. What makes this rifle special and different from other .450 offerings on the market today? Well, for starters it is a single-shot.

There has been a race for capacity when it comes to rifles these days. It is no surprise that this has lead to problems with many rifles, especially those in .450 Bushmaster. As I described in my previous articles, there are many significant problems associated with magazine-fed semiautomatics, mostly stemming from said magazines. Problems in reliability can shake a hunter’s confidence in his rifle, and I know a great many of frustrated .450 owners who lament that their ideal hunting cartridge won’t cycle in their ideal hunting rifle.

The simplicity of the single-shot rifle is hard to ignore in the context of hunting. Americans have a long and romanticized history with single-shots, going back to the Civil War era, which saw the widespread acceptance of the Sharps rifle and other big-bores. As we manifested our destiny and headed west, the large single-shot became a staple of the buffalo hunter and cavalryman alike. Our story has been intricately linked to the single-shot, but the technology simply marched past it and only the most famous survived.

Ruger’s No. 1 is a falling block action like the Sharps, but it is of fully modern design and constructed of modern materials. The strength of the No. 1 action is such that it can chamber some of the most powerful hunting cartridges ever made. The .450 is not among those in that upper class of powerful cartridges, but it is a contender for this year’s most relevant. As I’ve already written, the .450 is gaining popularity because it is the most powerful commonly available cartridge that fits not only our favorite rifles, but also into state hunting law in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, and possibly more due to its straight case walls.

The choice to make a No. 1 was entirely logical on Ruger’s part. There is a group of discerning customers that demand something different, not just effective. The .450 has traditionally been an AR cartridge, but today it widely used in bolt actions as well. There are not that many single-shots out there that chamber the .450, as it is a problematic cartridge when it comes to headspace. Unlike many other single-shot cartridges out there, like the .45-70, the .450 has no exterior rim on the case head, in fact, it has a rebated rim. This means that the .450 is less than ideal for use in a single-shot.

Ruger must’ve missed that memo and instead went ahead with making the rifle not only extremely reliable, but also exceptionally easy to use. The operation is simple, with the only moving part in the action being the block. Simply open the lever and lower the block, insert a cartridge, and close it. After firing, lowering the block allows the case to eject straight back. It quite literally shoots straight out and clear of the action. Many single-shots have an extractor, but not an ejector meaning that the case stays in the action, but are just slightly moved out of the chamber.

The rifle features a 20” barrel, but it has a short 36” overall length. The compact No.1 action allows about 4” more barrel than a typical AR while being shorter overall. Interestingly, Ruger chose to not include iron sights with the rifle. I do lament this, but most people will ultimately end up using a scope anyways. I opted for a simple, fixed 4x Bushnell to approximate what a deer hunter may use in the woods. Ruger includes a set of 1” rings that mount directly to their proprietary base attached to the rifle.

Firing the rifle was quite a bit different than when shooting with an AR. The trigger is light but crisp, allowing great precision. I was surprised at how easy and fast the gun was to reload. I am far more used to Sharps and other hammer-fired single-shots that have a multi-stage loading and cocking process and the simple speed of the No. 1 was noticeable. While not as fast as a bolt action, the rifle could be reloaded in just about a second if a spare round is handy. I would recommend a stock sleeve that has loops for spare cartridges.

The stock is very comfortable and is made of an attractive grey laminate that nicely compliments the stainless steel of the barrel and action. The stock is fixed and does not feature butt spacers. Another comfort feature is the muzzle brake. I picked up a bit of speed over my 16” Brownell’s AR rifle due to the fact that the gun has no gas system and a longer barrel.

I tested the same four loads as my prior articles from Hornady and Buffalo Bore over my Oehler 35P chronograph. Accuracy is an average if 3, 5-shot groups at 100 yards.

Buffalo Bore 250gr JHP—————————————————————————– 2259fps, 2.9”
Buffalo Bore 275gr XPB—————————————————————————– 2005fps, 1.5”
Buffalo Bore 300gr JHP—————————————————————————— 1967fps, 2.7”
Hornady 250gr FTX———————————————————————————– 2197fps, 1.25”
Hornady 250gr FTX BLACK————————————————————————–2203fps, 1.25”

I came away with the impression that this is a solid, working rifle for a serious, no-excuses hunter. The gun is exceptionally rugged, was supremely reliable, and very accurate. If you want to turn some heads at the range, this will certainly be your ticket to do so.

You can see more of the No.1 .450 Bushmaster at www.ruger.com. Ammunition used in this article can be viewed at www.buffalobore.com and www.hornady.com.

About Josh Wayner

Josh Wayner has been writing in the gun industry for five years. He is an active competition shooter with 14 medals from Camp Perry. In addition to firearms-related work, Josh enjoys working with animals and researching conservation projects in his home state of Michigan.

In 2018, we took a fresh look at the shovels available from Amazon, Home Depot, Lowe’s, and more, but none of them stood out enough to test against our current picks. We were most intrigued by the Root Assassin OS-002 One Shot Shovel, which has a special “winged” head with a larger step that extends around the sides and sets it apart from other round point #2 shovels. While we don’t think this new design can stand-up to the tried-and-true function of the standard round point shovel head, there are some people who might enjoy it, and the reviews so far are great. The fiberglass handle is also a dealbreaker for us.

The Razor-Back 2593600 is the company’s flagship heavy-duty shovel. It’s extremely robust, with its trademarked extended SuperSocket, and the traditional wood handle is comfortable and shock-absorbing. But the seam at the back of the socket (at least on our test unit) was splayed open and not flush to the handle, resulting in a pair of sharp-edged ridges that dug into my hand. And the two rivets that attach the socket to the handle are large and exposed—as with the Bully Tools 82515, not really a problem for righties, but potentially uncomfortable for lefties. The socket, where your lower hand grips the shovel, is also notably thick—a sensible design decision given that the shovel is aimed at the male-dominated construction trade, but a liability for most women and for smaller men.

The Corona SS 60020 gets high marks for build quality: The seam of its socket is neatly welded shut and ground smooth (making it very strong and also comfortable to hold), and its twin rivets are low-profile—comfortable whichever hand you use. It has a robust coating to deter rust, and its steps are crisply formed. But they are narrower than the Bully 82515’s, and the solid fiberglass handle, while ergonomically shaped and confidence-inspiring in its strength, also suffers from fiberglass’s tendency to transmit shock to the user’s hands.

The Wolverine SL600, an ultra-heavy-duty model, is almost comically burly and is also beautifully made. It lost out to the ultra-heavy-duty Corona for the minor reasons given above—no padded grip or rubber step—and because its 6-inch lift, compared with the Corona’s 4 inches, makes vertical digging a bit more cumbersome.

The Wolverine FL500 is another terrifically constructed shovel; its closed back is the most neatly formed of all the models tested, its rivets are unobtrusive, and the socket seam, though not welded shut, is flush to the handle. Its shortcomings match the Corona SS 60020’s: a crisp but relatively small step and a shuddering fiberglass handle.

The Fiskars 96685935J is certainly a very well-built tool. It’s made entirely of steel, and the welds and painted finish are flawless. And Fiskars stands behind it unconditionally: They’ll replace it for free if it ever breaks. But the all-steel construction is heavy for a general-purpose shovel: Mine weighed 94 ounces—almost 6 pounds. It’s very strong, but Fiskars creates that strength bizarrely, by running the handle-blade connection almost halfway down the blade. That means the handle gets in the way when shoving the blade into the ground and takes up valuable real estate when transferring loose material. The handle is ergonomically shaped: In cross-section it resembles an egg, with the narrow end facing the ground. It felt very comfortable at first, but under repeated loads the relatively narrow underside created a pressure point on the first joint of my fingers. And the extremely generous step—full-width and more than an inch across at its widest—meant that my foot could be placed at only a perfect perpendicular to the handle. It’s a subtle thing, but when digging you often want to be able to tilt your foot fore or aft to direct the blade in a certain way, and the Fiskars design makes doing so awkward or even impossible.

The Razor-Back 45020 is one of two solid-shank shovels tested. A solid shank is exactly what it sounds like: a solid-steel bar instead of the more common hollow socket. It’s exceedingly strong. It’s also very heavy, and tilts the balance of a shovel toward the blade end. Unless your digging requires an inordinate amount of prying (as it might if your soil is full of rocks or roots), you don’t need the added strength, and the added weight becomes a liability when you’re transferring material. Additionally, the 45020’s rivets are mounted with the heads to the left, the opposite of most shovel designs. They pressed against my palm—not hard enough to cause pain, but enough that I noticed. (Of course, lefties might appreciate this quirk.)

Finally, there’s W. W. Manufacturing’s LHV-PT-R ($80), “the King of Spades.” Refined over the course of decades, it enjoys an enviable reputation among professional gardeners, orchardists, and nursery workers, and understandably so. It’s light for an all-steel shovel at 5.75 pounds, its keenly sharpened edge slices through soil and roots, and it has a five-year guarantee even under the abusive working conditions it generally faces. The materials and construction are top-notch. But it’s a specialist tool. That keen edge is more easily dulled by rocks than the other ultra-heavy-duty models. And though lightweight for its type, it’s still too heavy for general use, and its 4-inch lift is designed chiefly for digging, not transferring loose material. Highly recommended for specialists; not the best choice for backyard generalists.

The MFi-licensed Anker PowerLine Lightning cable offers everything we look for in a cable at a great price. It can charge every Lightning-equipped device except the iPad Pro at full speed, and it is built to be sturdy. Plus, Anker stands behind its products more than most companies do.

Most Lightning cables look alike, but when you look closely at the PowerLine, its benefits show. The most evident is the sturdy housing around the USB and Lightning connectors. Each has a hard plastic casing holding the plug, with a slightly more flexible material joining the housing and the cable itself. According to Anker, the cable is designed to have a 5,000-plus-bend lifespan. Though we haven’t independently verified this number, this is some of the best construction we’ve seen in reasonably priced cables. (Overengineered models exist, of course, but we consider them overkill—and they usually cost more than most people want to spend on a cable.) Anker also claims that the PowerLine cable is “reinforced with bulletproof Kevlar fiber.” Again, we take the company at its word on this one; what we can say is that the PowerLine cables look and feel sturdier, especially at those connection points, than some of our previous picks from Monoprice, AmazonBasics, and Aduro. We of course plan to monitor long-term durability.

Anker’s cables have always been some of the best when it comes to case compatibility. Often, the plug housing on Lightning cables can be too large to fit into some cases. We tested the cable on cases with notoriously tight Lightning port openings and found no issues. It even fit the Lightning-connector opening on LifeProof cases, although Anker warns that it won’t. And as for charging and syncing, we tested the MFi-licensed PowerLine cable with nearly a dozen iPhones and iPads running various versions of iOS 9 and iOS 8; it worked as advertised with all of them.

We verified the PowerLine’s charging speed by plugging it into a USB power monitor attached to Apple’s 12W USB Power Adapter. Then we connected an iPad Air 2, which can draw 2.4 amps. The power monitor consistently showed draw of about 2.3 amps, which matches what we’ve found with other cables (the figure is never exactly at 2.4 amps due to electrical resistance and rounding).

Anker’s warranty and customer service complement its products well. In our experience, the company has been quick to replace anything that breaks within the 18-month warranty period without any hassle.

Professional reviews of cables don’t exist at this point, but thanks to Anker’s popularity on Amazon, a large base of customer reviews backs up the company’s promises. Across 1,100 reviews at the time of publication, the PowerLine Lightning cable has a 4.8-star rating (out of five). That’s an impressive number of high ratings–only 12 percent of its ratings are below five stars. FakeSpot, a website that analyzes Amazon reviews for fakes, says the reviews as a whole seem trustworthy.

At the time we’re writing this, Anker has top picks in the Wirecutter guides to multiport USB wall chargers, USB 3.0 hubs, portable solar battery chargers, USB car chargers, iPhone 6 battery cases, USB battery packs, USB 3.0 docking stations,Bluetooth keyboards, and desk lamps. This list represents hundreds of hours of research and testing, plus extended use by our staff. Anker also made some of our previous top Lightning and Micro-USB cable picks. This extended history of quality products is part of what makes us confident in choosing Anker cables.

Conserve the Sound is a project aimed at the preservation of sounds from old technologies.

»Conserve the sound« is an online museum for vanishing and endangered sounds. The sound of a dial telephone, a walkman, a analog typewriter, a pay phone, a 56k modem, a nuclear power plant or even a cell phone keypad are partially already gone or are about to disappear from our daily life.

Accompanying the archive people are interviewed and give an insight in to the world of disappearing sounds.

The project originated in Germany, so the sounds of many of the gadgets might not be super familiar to those who grew up elsewhere, but everyone (of a certain age) can recognize the sounds of a Walkman, a folding map, a car’s manual window crank, putting a cartridge into an NES, a typewriter, and manually spooling a cassette tape.

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