Ruger 77/22 project rifle.

[Scooter22]

Why would someone get a relatively expensive rifle and let it go to crap like that? Stupid people. Gunny, get some Vans cold blue and give the metal a wipe to even out the color.
https://vansgunblue.com/

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Why would someone get a relatively expensive rifle and let it go to crap like that? Stupid people. Gunny, get some Vans cold blue and give the metal a wipe to even out the color.
https://vansgunblue.com/

Back in August 2016 it flooded down here. Homes that had never been flooded in 40 years got more the three feet oh water.
This is the school just a mile down the road from me, three days after the water started to go down. Some people lost everything. Some were not able to recover belongings for days or even weeks after the flood. You can understand how someone trying to get their life back together can over look the care of a gun.
My house didn’t flooded, I was lucky. I took in over 50 guns that I cleaned for free. Some had been under water for three days.


I will most likely use Brownell’s Aluma-Hyde II to refinish the the rifle. I have used it in the pass and it holds up very good.
https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-...re-aerosol-paints/aluma-hyde-ii-prod1117.aspx

 

[plinker4life]

OK it's stupid kBob Questions time. I have never sat down with a 77/22 afore and seeing Gunny's phine photographs I have to ask......

does the 77/22 take plain jane old 10/22 barrels?
Could I for instance buy one in rough shape barrel wise and use say a like new 10/22 barrel that got removed to replace with an after market barrel?
Could I simply purchase a 10/22 match barrel with the features I might like.....say match chamber, 16.5 inch, threaded?
Would the same pillar bedding tricks used on a 10/22 work on the 77/22?
Would torqueing the barrel mounting screw to a specific inch poundage allow me to tune a 77/22 like a 10/22?
How secure are those Ruger scope rings? (Bad exsperience Ranch Rifle and the rings decades ago)
Anyone make a peep that fits that back set of mounting slots? (shooting eye catyracts surgery next week)

Thanks for reading this far and if you answer thanks a bunch!

-kBob

You can re profile a 10/22 barrel to fit and cut new extractor slots. Here is a project 77/22 I finished about 4 years ago. Factory barreled groups were horrible, as in 2" groups at 50 yards. I had a spare 10/22 hammer forged target barrel that I sent out to have re-chambered and profiled for my 77/22. As you can see, now the groups are much better. The last most recent pic you can see the Weigand scope mount I added. Great upgrade to give you more options on rings.

 

[Gordon]

I have a friend ho put a Shilen barrel on his. The barrel was about $250 but it is a tack driver

 

[armarsh]

Green Mountain makes 77/22 barrels. I've never had one myself and only know of a couple that do but they are both pretty good shooters.
http://www.gmriflebarrel.com/ruger-77-barrels/

 

[horsemen61]

Very cool
Project gunny!

 

[Bushpilot]

keep 10 shots in a quarter size group at 75 yards. Not as accurate as some, but the squirrels and rabbits never stood a chance.

Looks good Charlie.... The 581s, 582s and and similar 541s are usually some pretty accurate shooters... and some of my favorites..

Green Mountain makes 77/22 barrels

I wish I had kept my 77/22... I'd have gone this route and replaced the barrel.... Then maybe it would have shot as good as it looked....

 

[Scooter22]

Ahhh. I didn't see your location. I didn't think of flood damage.

 

[kBob]

Thanks guys for the barrel info.

Thanks Gunny for starting the thread and sharing your work and experience.

-kBob

 

[LoonWulf]

You can re profile a 10/22 barrel to fit and cut new extractor slots. Here is a project 77/22 I finished about 4 years ago. Factory barreled groups were horrible, as in 2" groups at 50 yards. I had a spare 10/22 hammer forged target barrel that I sent out to have re-chambered and profiled for my 77/22. As you can see, now the groups are much better. The last most recent pic you can see the Weigand scope mount I added. Great upgrade to give you more options on rings.
View attachment 789200 View attachment 789201 View attachment 789202 View attachment 789198 View attachment 789199

soo....much.....SEXY!!!!!

 

[StrawHat]

I have a 77/22. It was not a bad shooter with the factory barrel but I fitted a Winchester Model 52 barrel to it and it was much better. A little trigger work and tightening the action also improved accuracy.

Kevin

 

[bannockburn]

plinker4life

As LoonWulf so articulately put it:

soo....much.....SEXY!!!!!

One very nice looking, and shooting, 77/22 especially with that hammer forged 10/22 barrel!

 

[mshootnit]

I've always had a love/hate type of thing with 77/22's. When they first came out they were one of the few higher end 22's readily available, always in the gun press and gun writers like Clay Harvey raved about their accuracy.... I always thought they were great looking little rifles and I scrimped and save for one topped with a little Leopold 4x rimfire special scope. My rifle functioned very well but accuracy was mediocre.. It had a heavy trigger so I had a trigger job done on it and that helped a little but not much. I tried different ammo without much luck. I never did get that rifle to really shoot. Several years later I picked up a 541-T. While not quite as elegant and robust as the 77/22, accuracy wise the 541 blew my Ruger away..... Then I got into several CZ 452's and there was no point in keeping the Ruger at all after that. The Ruger was good looking and was one of the first guns I bought on my own after turning 18 but was always a disappointment. Later I did buy a 77/22 Hornet and that rifle, at least mine, can flat out shoot...

I'm looking forward to hearing how yours shoots. I hope it shoots better then mine did. Your stock does look good. That rifle has the potential to be a real looker again...

When you say mediocre accuracy what do you mean? For example it would just hit a mediocre number of squirrels at 50 yds? Or it would hit them all, just not in the same place?

 

[Bushpilot]

When you say mediocre accuracy what do you mean? For example it would just hit a mediocre number of squirrels at 50 yds? Or it would hit them all, just not in the same place?

Well, it's was quite a while ago but I remember it shooting about .5 - .75 in groups at 25 yards and 1-1.25 or so at 50 yards.... Whatever it was, I remember the 541 shooting groups about half the size of it's groups...... So, it would hit a squirrel at 50 yards but not in the same place...

 

[mshootnit]

got it... do you think a 22 mag or hornet would have worked better?

 

[Bushpilot]

do you think a 22 mag or hornet would have worked better?

I don't know about the 22 mag but I have a Ruger 77/22 Hornet that is a great rifle.. It shoots 3/4 inch 100 yard groups one after another with a cheap 3-9 scope..

 

[GunnyUSMC]

LoonWulf
The rings arrived yesterday evening. I mounted an old Redfield Five Star 3-9 compact on the rifle.
Now to find some time to go shoot it.

 

[LoonWulf]

Sweet! That old 5star looks right at home on that rifle.

Ya know.....that combo looks like what one of my buddy's hunted deer with when I was growing up. His was a .22 hornet, and he had lost the "clip" so he used it single shot.

 

[toivo]

Didn't I see that rifle on an episode of Swamp People?

JK -- starting to look good! Maybe you want to stop there while it's still got some "character."

 

[horsemen61]

Looks good gunny!