Macchina
Member
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2006
- Messages
- 998
This post is both a praise of the rifle and a review on the way I decided to carry an extra magazine while hunting this year.
I hunted (and harvested a nice whitetail buck) with my 77/357 rifle this year. It took me about 10 days of solid hunting to get a deer (and at least that again in scouting) this year due to a reduced heard. In those 10 days I sat in a snowy stand on the edge of a swamp, I still hunted for miles and miles in the oaks that are still dropping late acorns, I followed the tracks of a buck that wandered for miles before slipping onto private land, I drove a briar thicket at the base of a ledge with my brothers, and got in and out of my vehicle countless times.
Being the first year I hunted with the 77/357 I noticed several things:
-This is my first stainless deer rifle and I don’t know if I’ll go ever back to using my blued savage when it snows. Snow turns to water and bringing a rifle indoors causes condensation everywhere. The stainless 77/357 dealt with the weather superbly.
-Scope covers are essential when you’re really pushing for deer. The snowfall was early and very heavy this year (we got about 2 feet in the week before deer season) and I completely covered the objective lens on my scope several times and had to actually scoop snow off the lens often. I have not experienced this before due to mostly stand hunting in the past and will now equip all of my deer scopes with flip-up covers.
-I shot the buck in the shoulder with a handload of a 158g XTP-HP over a max load of H110 (chrono’d at 1746 FPS in 20° winter temps) at about 50 yards. The buck was down in his tracks and dead after a single kick. The recovered bullet punched through bone, muscle, upper lungs, more bone, and was resting under the far side hide in a perfect mushroom. I went into this hunting season with a bit of reservation with the 357 (having never used this handload on a deer before) but am supremely confident in it now. The shot was less than perfect but the bullet performed textbook perfect without damaging more than a pound of shoulder meat.
-When I stand hunt I bring a small backpack and some items in my pockets. When I still hunt I like to have everything in the backpack. When I drive I like to leave the backpack if possible to streamline myself for pushing through brush. I packed/unpacked the rifle 20 or 30 times this year and each time involves an insert or removal of the magazine. In all of these transfers things can be forgotten and ruin a hunt. This is why I decided to attach a magazine to the rifle itself. By having a loaded magazine on (but not in) the gun I will have ammo no matter if I only grab my rifle from my house, if I forget to grab my magazine as I head out for the day, or if the magazine is accidently dropped at any time in the field. Not that I need it but it also gives me 11 rounds on the rifle which can also be used in my 4.2” SP101 that I carry when I hunt. If you count the revolver and speedstrip I carry I have 21 rounds of completely interchangeable ammo on me at all times. I also have 2 ways of using that ammo should anything happen to either gun.
When looking for a way to carry that extra magazine I thought about the 5.11 stock pouch many people use, but they’re big and don’t hold the magazine tightly. I thought about attaching a speedloader case to the sling or butt but I couldn’t find one large enough. I purchased a Cabela’s nylon “Clip Carrier” that someone said worked for their 77/44 but it was woefully too small (it was made for the 10/22).
I finally started looking at MOLLE pouches and spent an hour looking at the measurements online for just about every pouch. Grenade pouches are close but a bit too big, some cellphone pouches are close but a bit too small. I finally found current issue 40mm grenade pouches and they’re “almost” perfect. Width and depth are good (a bit snug but I’m not planning on any tactical reloads), but height had to be modified by my wife. She pulled the threads on the upper part of the carrier and removed the rear snap flap and reduced the length of the front snap cover. It’s about perfect now and aside from the rattle of the rounds in the magazine (if you really shake it) the carrier is silent and completely unobtrusive during hunting. I mounted the carrier on the fantastic Ruger brand leather sling (one of the best slings I’ve ever used) using the 2 straps on the rear of the carrier for a very secure mount. These 40mm grenade carriers are available brand new all over the internet. I picked up 2 NIB on eBay for $6 shipped. It’s made in the USA, very tough, and about as perfect a setup as I could want. If you have any questions feel free to ask.
Sitting in my stand:
And still hunting a creek after about 3 miles of following an active trail:
I hunted (and harvested a nice whitetail buck) with my 77/357 rifle this year. It took me about 10 days of solid hunting to get a deer (and at least that again in scouting) this year due to a reduced heard. In those 10 days I sat in a snowy stand on the edge of a swamp, I still hunted for miles and miles in the oaks that are still dropping late acorns, I followed the tracks of a buck that wandered for miles before slipping onto private land, I drove a briar thicket at the base of a ledge with my brothers, and got in and out of my vehicle countless times.
Being the first year I hunted with the 77/357 I noticed several things:
-This is my first stainless deer rifle and I don’t know if I’ll go ever back to using my blued savage when it snows. Snow turns to water and bringing a rifle indoors causes condensation everywhere. The stainless 77/357 dealt with the weather superbly.
-Scope covers are essential when you’re really pushing for deer. The snowfall was early and very heavy this year (we got about 2 feet in the week before deer season) and I completely covered the objective lens on my scope several times and had to actually scoop snow off the lens often. I have not experienced this before due to mostly stand hunting in the past and will now equip all of my deer scopes with flip-up covers.
-I shot the buck in the shoulder with a handload of a 158g XTP-HP over a max load of H110 (chrono’d at 1746 FPS in 20° winter temps) at about 50 yards. The buck was down in his tracks and dead after a single kick. The recovered bullet punched through bone, muscle, upper lungs, more bone, and was resting under the far side hide in a perfect mushroom. I went into this hunting season with a bit of reservation with the 357 (having never used this handload on a deer before) but am supremely confident in it now. The shot was less than perfect but the bullet performed textbook perfect without damaging more than a pound of shoulder meat.
-When I stand hunt I bring a small backpack and some items in my pockets. When I still hunt I like to have everything in the backpack. When I drive I like to leave the backpack if possible to streamline myself for pushing through brush. I packed/unpacked the rifle 20 or 30 times this year and each time involves an insert or removal of the magazine. In all of these transfers things can be forgotten and ruin a hunt. This is why I decided to attach a magazine to the rifle itself. By having a loaded magazine on (but not in) the gun I will have ammo no matter if I only grab my rifle from my house, if I forget to grab my magazine as I head out for the day, or if the magazine is accidently dropped at any time in the field. Not that I need it but it also gives me 11 rounds on the rifle which can also be used in my 4.2” SP101 that I carry when I hunt. If you count the revolver and speedstrip I carry I have 21 rounds of completely interchangeable ammo on me at all times. I also have 2 ways of using that ammo should anything happen to either gun.
When looking for a way to carry that extra magazine I thought about the 5.11 stock pouch many people use, but they’re big and don’t hold the magazine tightly. I thought about attaching a speedloader case to the sling or butt but I couldn’t find one large enough. I purchased a Cabela’s nylon “Clip Carrier” that someone said worked for their 77/44 but it was woefully too small (it was made for the 10/22).
I finally started looking at MOLLE pouches and spent an hour looking at the measurements online for just about every pouch. Grenade pouches are close but a bit too big, some cellphone pouches are close but a bit too small. I finally found current issue 40mm grenade pouches and they’re “almost” perfect. Width and depth are good (a bit snug but I’m not planning on any tactical reloads), but height had to be modified by my wife. She pulled the threads on the upper part of the carrier and removed the rear snap flap and reduced the length of the front snap cover. It’s about perfect now and aside from the rattle of the rounds in the magazine (if you really shake it) the carrier is silent and completely unobtrusive during hunting. I mounted the carrier on the fantastic Ruger brand leather sling (one of the best slings I’ve ever used) using the 2 straps on the rear of the carrier for a very secure mount. These 40mm grenade carriers are available brand new all over the internet. I picked up 2 NIB on eBay for $6 shipped. It’s made in the USA, very tough, and about as perfect a setup as I could want. If you have any questions feel free to ask.
Sitting in my stand:
And still hunting a creek after about 3 miles of following an active trail:
