I grew up shooting a ruger m77 of my father's and now own it myself. My question is why have I always heard soo much of the Winchester and the Remington rifles and never the ruger? I have owned the Remington 700 and shot the Winchester many times along with the Browning and have always preferred my old ruger to any of them. Why do you never hear talk of the ruger? The caliber in question is 30/06 but have had and shot them all in. 270 as well
ruger m77
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Reloadron
Contributing Member
I have a Ruger 77 in 7mm Rem Mag and while one of my older rifles it has always been a great rifle. It's also a left hand model and shooting left handed I like that. I have others but that Ruger carries its own.
Ron
Ron
Kachok
Member
Ruger accuracy has varied greatly over the years, this was due to them outsourcing their barrels, recently they have started making their own and are coming up in the world enough so that I want one once I get back to work. Saw a stainless 358 Win yesterday that had me drooling.
Tolkachi Robotnik
Member
The best.
I don't want to talk about the best shooting rifle I own. I also don't want to shoot a whole lot of ammo through it, to make sure it lasts my lifetime and maybe another or two.
Bought in 1975, it has a light crisp trigger, which was subject to a recall that resulted in a new trigger sent to replace the original. Father said: "you have a hair trigger rifle, LIVE with it...." He did not put in the replacement trigger. It does not appear to be an unstable or dangerous trigger in and of itself.
It has worked for forty deer and will work for many more.
I shoot a lot of 7.62X54R for practice. Trigger for that has a lot of slack and I can feel when it is about to go, a sort of crepitation. M77 shoots when you decide to pull trigger, which is better deal.
I don't want to talk about the best shooting rifle I own. I also don't want to shoot a whole lot of ammo through it, to make sure it lasts my lifetime and maybe another or two.
Bought in 1975, it has a light crisp trigger, which was subject to a recall that resulted in a new trigger sent to replace the original. Father said: "you have a hair trigger rifle, LIVE with it...." He did not put in the replacement trigger. It does not appear to be an unstable or dangerous trigger in and of itself.
It has worked for forty deer and will work for many more.
I shoot a lot of 7.62X54R for practice. Trigger for that has a lot of slack and I can feel when it is about to go, a sort of crepitation. M77 shoots when you decide to pull trigger, which is better deal.
I've always seen ruger has some very high end rifles such as their single shots. This old deerslayer I have is just plain dead-nut accurate though to be some what mass produced. Just always been qureous why they're never mentioned. I really love this rifle but unfortunately tomorrow I'm trading it back to my pops. He's been after me since I bought it from him to get it back. We all know how hard it is to lose your favorite gun you've had for soo many years. I'm getting a savage 7mm/08 that I've killed many white tail with and a substantial boot but I'd rather have the 06 for two reasons. It like few newer rifles has a fixed sight and ofcourse the extra nock-down.
Tolkachi Robotnik
Member
Feel for your loss....
Forty years of success is hard to argue. Sorry you are about to lose a good tool.
At least it is in the family.
Yours probably has simple tang safety and no safe load and unload position.
Forty years of success is hard to argue. Sorry you are about to lose a good tool.
At least it is in the family.
Yours probably has simple tang safety and no safe load and unload position.
Yes it is the tang safety, which is surprisingly quiet taking off while in the stand if u do it very slowly. Releasing the safety on this savage isn't quiet as quiet but I do love this savage. The ruger is so very accurate but this savage in 7/08 is just plain dead-nut. But I am such a fan of ruger and don't think they get near enough coverage and accolades. I've had a number of ruger pistols that although not the MOST accurate, they just may be the most dependable. It may not come across but I am a ruger fan after many years of owning many higher priced guns aswell
Mauser lover
Member
Because we don't want the M77 to become popular! If it becomes too popular, Ruger will raise the price! We don't want Ruger to raise the price, because I want one!
tahunua001
Member
until recently ruger has always floated under the radar. they built good guns but not in the numbers that remington and winchester did. it has only been in recent years that they have actively started introducing models that the public wants rather than what everybody else is doing.
the M77 hasn't changed much in that time so the people that grew up with them can remain happy but those that are just discovering them are all falling in love. my whole family grew up with remingtons and now all prefer rugers.
the M77 hasn't changed much in that time so the people that grew up with them can remain happy but those that are just discovering them are all falling in love. my whole family grew up with remingtons and now all prefer rugers.
I'd bet they are currently outselling Remington and Winchester. They are very much respected by hunters, especially those hunting dangerous game, or in harsh conditions. Not so much by target shooters. Not the most accurate rifle, but as rugged and dependable as ever made. The pre-1992 rifles were fitted with barrels bought from outside vendors. Accuracy varied greatly dependng on the barrel on your gun and who made it. Some were match grade, while another wouldn't do any better than 2 MOA. The original 77's with a tang safety were not CRF, they just had the large extractor.
In 1992 they introduced the MK-II with barrels made in house. The first few weeks of production were not true CRF. That was quickly changed. The MK-II's without CRF are now quite rare and have some collectors value. Accuracy improved, but factroy triggers were awful. To get the rifles full potential the trigger really needs some work on most rifles.
The Hawkeye was bought out in 2006. It is the same basic rifle as the MK-II with some cosmetic changes, but a much improved factroy trigger. I still have a preference for the similar Winchester or a Kimber. But a Ruger is about $100 less than a Winchester, and $400 less than a Kimber. It would be close to the top of my list, especially if I were trying to save a little money.
In 1992 they introduced the MK-II with barrels made in house. The first few weeks of production were not true CRF. That was quickly changed. The MK-II's without CRF are now quite rare and have some collectors value. Accuracy improved, but factroy triggers were awful. To get the rifles full potential the trigger really needs some work on most rifles.
The Hawkeye was bought out in 2006. It is the same basic rifle as the MK-II with some cosmetic changes, but a much improved factroy trigger. I still have a preference for the similar Winchester or a Kimber. But a Ruger is about $100 less than a Winchester, and $400 less than a Kimber. It would be close to the top of my list, especially if I were trying to save a little money.
X-Rap
Member
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I haven't seen the horrible accuracy that some have experienced, certainly no worse than any other off the rack rifle.
Most of the 77's in my family are the old tang safety models and a big disappointment is the lack of support from the factory of parts for the old ones.
Most of the 77's in my family are the old tang safety models and a big disappointment is the lack of support from the factory of parts for the old ones.
BADUNAME30
Member
Let's not over look Rugers' hard to beat SOLID lock down factory ring system.
tahunua001
Member
JMR, for us uninitiated, what is CRF?
Kachok
Member
I don't think Ruger is outselling Winchester but that is not because of merit. I have a hard time finding new Rugers around here, on occasion Basspro will carry a couple of them and once in a while I see a lightly used one at local gun stores, but all in all it is a hellava lot harder to find a Ruger 77 then a 70 or 700. Kimbers and CZs are even harder to find I have yet to ever see one in person around here, there are "dealers" listed in the area but they always seem out of stock. Brownings, Marlins, Savages, Remingtons, and Tikkas are everywhere.
One thing I like about Ruger is they always have focused on making a real sporter weight rifle and they feel like they are built like a tank.
One thing I like about Ruger is they always have focused on making a real sporter weight rifle and they feel like they are built like a tank.
tahunua001
Member
out here Ruger is outselling jsut about everyone in every field when people can get them in stock. 2 weeks ago there was an entire rack of Ruger american rifles and not 1 but 2 SR1911s in the rack. went back yesterday, only 1 american left and no SR1911s.
M77s are almost never on the shelves, I think not because of lack of supply but because of no lack of demand.
M77s are almost never on the shelves, I think not because of lack of supply but because of no lack of demand.
Kachok
Member
The Ruger American is a completely different rifle, it is much closer to the Savage 110 (another great gun) in design. Bedding blocks, free floated barrels, inner blade trigger, barrel nut, and heck they even borrowed the Savage extractor. Some Savage buffs take offense to this, but I see it as a good thing, it is simply the evolution of the featherweight rifle which is much more accurate now then they were 20 years ago. I personally like the super slim feel of the American, I was going to buy one in 243 before I lost my job.
I used to be a Winchester man but Ruger has won me over with their products and remarkable customer service. While my M70 30-06 shoots 'slightly' better then my M77 MkII, the Ruger 'feels' better thus makes it my go to gun. Now 'slightly' better is just under MOA for the M70 and just over MOA for the M77.
We talked about Winchesters because the Ruger is new to the market.
I got my first CF rifle in 1953 and bought my first good one, a M70, in 1957.
Long before the M77 came out I had a complete battery of M70's, Savage 99's etc.
When Ruger came out with the No. 1 I had to get one. Wore the barrel out on that one and Ruger put on a new one.
The Ruger pistols are good values.
I got my first CF rifle in 1953 and bought my first good one, a M70, in 1957.
Long before the M77 came out I had a complete battery of M70's, Savage 99's etc.
When Ruger came out with the No. 1 I had to get one. Wore the barrel out on that one and Ruger put on a new one.
The Ruger pistols are good values.
Xrap, how did you know I have but one good eye? Lol.
Savage99 I agree on their pistols. Had an old p89 mkll for many years before my truck window was busted and it become a casualty. Never the most accurate but not too bad. It's main virtue was absolute dependability. After many years and many thousands of rds, not a single issue, ever!
Savage99 I agree on their pistols. Had an old p89 mkll for many years before my truck window was busted and it become a casualty. Never the most accurate but not too bad. It's main virtue was absolute dependability. After many years and many thousands of rds, not a single issue, ever!
Still Shooting
Member
Ruger M77 and Accuray
My wife and I have 4 Ruger M77 variants:
An M77/22 Hornet (ca. May 2000)
An M77 Mk2 "Ultralight" in .243 win (ca. Apr 2001)
An M77 tang safety in .257 Roberts (ca. May 1981)
An M77 Mk2 in .270 win. (ca. Mar. 1997)
The Hornet is a carbine, produced for a short time around 1990. It was about a 2 moa rifle "out of the box," largely due to the 2-piece bolt (lots of play). Had that pinned, had the gun re-chambered to 22 K-Hornet, had the trigger worked over, and it is 1 moa every day.
The .257 Bob and the .243 both had a typical Ruger wood stock problem, where I think a lot of the talk about accuracy comes from. On both, the forend had taken a "set" so that there was uneven pressure on the barrel. Cold shot right on POA, following shots wandering or stringing. A littls light sanding, relieving the forend tip "barrel rest" so that it becomes a point rest at 6 o'clock, and both are now 5 shots into one ragged hole at 100 yds. (1/2moa or better).
The .270, with the right load, will also produce 1/2moa groups all day long, and without any modifications.
I expect with synthetic stocks, the need to "fuss with" a Ruger rifle to get really good accuracy is history.
As far as barrels go, I have not experienced a bad one. The .257 Bob is pre-1992, but the barrel is outstanding. I've been told it is likely a Douglas, as they were a volume source for Ruger's barrels in the early '80's when mine was produced.
My wife and I have 4 Ruger M77 variants:
An M77/22 Hornet (ca. May 2000)
An M77 Mk2 "Ultralight" in .243 win (ca. Apr 2001)
An M77 tang safety in .257 Roberts (ca. May 1981)
An M77 Mk2 in .270 win. (ca. Mar. 1997)
The Hornet is a carbine, produced for a short time around 1990. It was about a 2 moa rifle "out of the box," largely due to the 2-piece bolt (lots of play). Had that pinned, had the gun re-chambered to 22 K-Hornet, had the trigger worked over, and it is 1 moa every day.
The .257 Bob and the .243 both had a typical Ruger wood stock problem, where I think a lot of the talk about accuracy comes from. On both, the forend had taken a "set" so that there was uneven pressure on the barrel. Cold shot right on POA, following shots wandering or stringing. A littls light sanding, relieving the forend tip "barrel rest" so that it becomes a point rest at 6 o'clock, and both are now 5 shots into one ragged hole at 100 yds. (1/2moa or better).
The .270, with the right load, will also produce 1/2moa groups all day long, and without any modifications.
I expect with synthetic stocks, the need to "fuss with" a Ruger rifle to get really good accuracy is history.
As far as barrels go, I have not experienced a bad one. The .257 Bob is pre-1992, but the barrel is outstanding. I've been told it is likely a Douglas, as they were a volume source for Ruger's barrels in the early '80's when mine was produced.
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