IMO the short answer to your question is, not necessarily. In my admittedly limited experience with the No 1 (6-8 rifles worked), I've found that some factory rifles shoot fine and some don't, about equally distributed. Frank de Haas in his seminal work Single Shot Rifles and Actions deals with the Ruger in some detail and offers accuracy & barrel-bedding suggestions, and he offers more ideas with more detail in his work Mr Single Shot's Gunsmithing Idea Book. Also Karl Bosselmann wrote a number of extremely informative Ruger No 1 articles for the ASSRA Journal in past years, and I believe they're now available collected into a book.
I've found the factory No 1s to run the accuracy gamut all the way from terrible to fairly accurate but most are not acceptable as-is IMO, at least not to an accuracy shooter. Their barrels are mediocre for the most part, their forearm bedding is problematical and their ribs often give POI-shift trouble when the barrel heats up. The forearm bedding and rib conditions can be easily corrected by a careful workman and most Ruger barrels will then shoot adequately, but if I were you I wouldn't count on an out-of-the-box uncorrected No 1 shooting better than 2-3 MOA when fired normally. The books mentioned above contain about the best Ruger accuracy info that's readily available to most folks, and I recommend them highly.
Just FYI, the Ruger isn't the only single shot plagued with accuracy issues. My friend Richard K commissioned a Miller-de Haas walking varminter custom rifle from Cyle (sp?) Miller himself several years ago, before the Dakota/Miller debacle occurred, and was somewhat disappointed in its accuracy performance. When fired normally, it would string shots in a predictable vertical pattern over a 3-4 MOA range and of course this was not acceptable. One shot every five minutes yielded tight 1-MOA groups but normal firing caused the shots to spread immediately. Examination disclosed that Miller had installed not one but two barrel bedding blocks that were attached to both the barrel and the forearm wood; the rearmost served as the forearm mounting point in the typical manner but the forwardmost appeared to be merely the attachment for the forward sling swivel. Once this forward swivel base had been detatched from the barrel and the forearm wood relieved so that it didn't touch the receiver face, the rifle settled down and began to group well even when fired fairly rapidly. Of course this poor performance was completely unexpected and unacceptable in a multi-thousand-dollar custom rifle but it's typical of problems frequently encountered in rifles with 2-piece stocks.
There are two simple yet often very effective accuracy improvements detailed in the books and articles mentioned above, one (actually several) involving the forearm hanger and the other involving the rib. The subject is too extensive to properly cover here and I suggest that you try to borrow or buy the books if sufficiently interested. Also there are several smiths specializing in Rugers and so professional help is avaiable if needed.
Good luck, Joe
