RUGER M77/22 22 magnum - new to me

IMHO, 1.5” groups from .22mag ammo is good. One is limited by ammo more so than the rifle. If you like the rifle and it’s shooting 1.5” groups, a different rifle will likely not do much if any better.

22mag like .17hmr doesn’t have match ammo selections like .22lr enjoys so it is what it is to a certain extent until some manufacturers get on board to start producing match grade ammo for the 22mag and .17hmr.

Congratulations on your purchase! I am quite envious as I've wanted a 77/22 mag for ages, but can't find one in my range around here.

Inch and a half groups are certainly acceptable, especially with a stock rifle. Try a couple different types of ammo when you can, I'll bet you see improvement. My marlin doesn't group well with 30 grain bullets, but gets inch groups with certain 40 grainers.

You also might consider a higher powered scope. I have a 3-12 by 32 on my WMR, and it certainly helps. Its a Bushnell A17, CDNN had them for 49.99 at one time. Adjustable objective and the elevation turret is windage marked. A 4x scope is ok, but I prefer greater magnification. "Aim small, miss small" and all that.

Enjoy your new rifle, and by all means, let us see it too!

Mac

Very nice!

Slick rifle! Now I'm really jealous lol!

Mac

1.5" at 100 yards for a 22 WMR 77/22 is good.
1.5" at 50 yards is not.

You can get a 17 HMR barrel and it is an easy swap, no other parts are needed for the swap.
You can make it a 22 lr with just a barrel, trigger guard, and magazine.I

The the trigger can be improved with a change of geometry or aftermarket parts and usually improves the rifles group size.

Bedding the receiver, trigger guard, and barrel's first 2" also helps group size.

Bwana John said:

1.5" at 50 yards is not.

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But it might be "good enough" (I know, damning with faint praise and all of that) for the op's purposes. I'd be fine with it; I've always liked the little Ruger M77/22 and the .22 Magnum cartridge.

The 77/22’s have 2-piece bolts, and rear lugs.
The original.22lr had reasonably tight tolerances. It worked reasonably well.

When they stretched the action to create the 77/22mag, and ultimately the 77/22Hornet, the tolerance stacking became intolerable.
My 77/22 Hornet when new wouldn’t cam open the action allowing extraction of the expanded fired case. The first one a carbine, had such a loose, oversized chamber, the cases looked like Glock fired.40’s with the smiley face reaching 3/4 around the case ahead of the rim. My current one (since 1997) has a much tighter chamber, but the aforementioned bolt slop between the front and rear bolt halves.

I “fixed” it by making a washer from a piece of .032” aircraft safety wire, 7/8ths the circumference of the bolt extension that fits into the forward half. This fits inside the steel pin that holds halves together eliminating the “slop” between the halves. After about 3,000rds (mostly cast bullets), I needed to replace the shim.

The Carbine wouldn’t shoot for nothing. 2.5moa (5-shots) was a good as it ever did. Newer stainless heavy barrel, laminate stock, after free floating, glass bedding, repeated fire lapping, and trigger jobs, it finally shoots decent 1-1.2Moa groups. It has a STRONG preference for Sierra 45-50gr .224” Spitzers over 11.0gr of H110, or 40gr Sierra Varminter over 12.5gr of Hodgdon Lil’. Small Pistol primers. Also strong preference for Sellier&Bellot cases with .065” flash holes. These will occasionally shoot close to .7 MOA.

A good one will make you smile! A bad one is a frustrating mess. Hope you got a good one!

GooseGestapo said:

The 77/22’s have 2-piece bolts, and rear lugs.

When they stretched the action to create the 77/22mag, and ultimately the 77/22Hornet, the tolerance stacking became intolerable

My 77/22 Hornet My (since 1997) has a much tighter chamber, but the aforementioned bolt slop between the front and rear bolt halves.
I “fixed” it by making a washer from a piece of .032” aircraft safety wire, 7/8ths the circumference of the bolt extension that fits into the forward half. This fits inside the steel pin that holds halves together eliminating the “slop” between the halves. After about 3,000rds (mostly cast bullets), I need to replace the shim.
A good one will make you smile! A bad one is a frustrating mess. Hope you got a good one!

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The Remington 40XB uses a two piece, rear luged bolt so it can be done.

You can purchase shim washers to tighten up the 2 piece bolt slop.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Pak-BOLT...359188?hash=item2581233914:g:Xt8AAOxySOlR9TRE

The 22 WMR and 17hmr uses the exact same action as the 22LR, it is the Hornet, 357, and 44 actions that are "stretched".

Very early 22lr bolts will not swap out for 22 mag, but all 22mag bolts will work for a 22lr swap.

Of course we are talking slip barrel models, not the latest threaded option.

I have never done it, but there are some locktite products that will "glue" the barrel into the receiver, and it can be undone.

On rimfirecentral there is CMC, who specializes in slip barrel Rugers, he sets the barrel back, tightening the barrel/receiver fit, and cuts a new tighter chamber. He also tightens bolt slop with a new pin.

It might cost a little time/money to get to the same accuracy as most out of the box CZ 45X's but I think the "platform" is worth it.

Only 22 wmr I've owned, out of seven, that would reliably group under 1.5" @ 100 yards. Mine was stainless with the canoe paddle stock.

That’s a nice rifle! I couldn’t find one in my price range either so I bought the American WMR instead. It’s as accurate as yours, maybe a 1.25” gun with ammo it likes, 1.5”-1.75” with other ammo.

The poster above was right about the lack of match ammo compared to the .22 LR, the JHP, JSP and FMJ ammo I find is all hunting or plinking grade stuff. With that handicap the accuracy is ok for what I’ll use a .22 mag for.

Good find

Stay safe.

You can get better groups than that, better optics will do you wonders. I have the same rifle in all weather coating. I routinely get 1" at 50 and 75 but it gets a lot harder around 100 yards. Nice find, by the way.

Many years ago shortly after the 77/22 hit the market I bought one. Stainless/synthetic. Wouldn't shoot. Rugers are like that. Some are one hole wonders but most are simply "hunting accuracy" type. I have and do own them. I tore that 77 apart and hand polished all the trigger parts. Helped a little. Learned to never ever clean it. Helped a little more. No copper clad bullets. A little tighter. Moved to CCI standard velocity and now it's acceptable but remains in the safe because I have others that I trust to put the bullet where the cross hairs are repeatedly and I ain't that steady any more. You are right about the action, I like it. But Ruger barrels, not so much. If I were you I'd switch scopes if you got one, then I'd try Hornady or CCI 30 grain ballistic tips. Clean and then dirty. If it won't go under an inch at 50 it would be down the road if it were mine.

Dinosaur1 said:

Many years ago shortly after the 77/22 hit the market I bought one. Stainless/synthetic. Wouldn't shoot. Rugers are like that. Some are one hole wonders but most are simply "hunting accuracy" type. I have and do own them. I tore that 77 apart and hand polished all the trigger parts. Helped a little. Learned to never ever clean it. Helped a little more. No copper clad bullets. A little tighter. Moved to CCI standard velocity and now it's acceptable but remains in the safe because I have others that I trust to put the bullet where the cross hairs are repeatedly and I ain't that steady any more. You are right about the action, I like it. But Ruger barrels, not so much. If I were you I'd switch scopes if you got one, then I'd try Hornady or CCI 30 grain ballistic tips. Clean and then dirty. If it won't go under an inch at 50 it would be down the road if it were mine.

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One of the biggest problems to accuracy with these rifles is over tightening of the forearm screw.

That's a nice rifle. Mine is an all-weather with the canoe paddle stock and Leupold 2x7 compact scope. There's a reason it hangs by the back door. Good luck to you with the rifle. I bet it becomes a favorite.

Send it here to keep mine company!