Sleeping with the Enemy

[Zeke Menuar]

Warning. Sarcasim ahead. I probably shouldn't write posts while listening to Frank Zappa.


I am kinda, sorta looking for a bigger rifle. Bigger as in 9.3x62, 338 Winmag, 375 H&H kind of big.
Can't really afford to shell out that kind of chump change all at once. Been looking long and hard at getting a scrubbed and peened RC98 and sporterizing it. That is another post at another time.

So if I go new, I am down to two places here in Monsoon Central that have lay-aways. Sportsmans Warehouse and (choke-gag) Wally-World.

Saw a Ruger M77 plastic, stainless rifle in 338 Winmag at Wally-World. As some of you know. I despise Ruger since the P95 incident of 1997-1999. I refuse to be in the same room with a Ruger. I make sure all my friends don't get Rugers or sell the ones they have. In my world Rugers are junk and only useful for scrap.

But the voice of the Evil Empire is calling from the display case trying to move me over to the dark side.

Anybody have this particular version of the M77? Can the trigger be adjusted? How's it shoot? Is Ruger still putting that (insert expletive here ) warning billboard on the barrel?

If, and that is a very BIG if, I decided to compromise my values and get a ( choke-gag ) Ruger, the plastic stock would be gone.

Gotta go take a shower. All this Ruger talk makes me feel dirty.


My opinion about Ruger is an opinion. Your opinion about Ruger may vary.

Thanks
ZM

 

[Lone Star]

Gad, man, from that title, I thought you were dating Hillary Clinton or Barbara Boxer. Or Diane Sawyer, etc.

Rugers aren't as good as Winchester/USRAC, in my opinion, but are nicer than, say, Remington. Sako is nice.

Lone Star

 

[Zeke Menuar]

Gad, man, from that title, I thought you were dating Hillary Clinton or Barbara Boxer. Or Diane Sawyer, etc.

Good Gawd Man! I have standards. They may be low, but they are not that low. No amount of bad booze would drink any of the aforementioned liberal skanks good looking enough to..well. you know. That is why I quit drinking in the first place.

Now I gotta take another shower.

Can we get back to guns now?

ZM

 

[Art Eatman]

If you add the cost of a different stock to Wally's price on the rifle, you probably are up into the cost range of a non-Ruger at a different store.

So why worry about "layaway"? Go to Friendly Banker and open a savings account and stick all the money into it that you can. Or, set up a loan and pay cash at the store. You pay back the loan, you've improved your credit rating...

As far as price in general, find some small store where they'll order whatever you want. You can dicker on the price and the deal; cash talks and BS walks.

I haven't had all that many Ruger rifles, but they've all been quite accurate.

Art

 

[rbernie]

I think that you're on the right path on one respect, at least - getting a controlled feed rifle. IMHO, if you're gonna get a big boomer suitable for large and possibly dangerous game, at least get it in a design that's suitable for dangerous game hunting.

That would leave you with Ruger, Win70, CZ, and the Zastava/Charles Daly's as your first choices. Of these, I'd probably start looking at the Chuckies if only because they're probably the cheapest. Have you checked to see if anyone would get one and put it on layaway for you?

 

[Zeke Menuar]

I can get one CZ on layaway. It's a CZ550 American for $750. Too rich for my blood. Rather have a CZ 9.3 anyway.
Haven't ventured down the freeway to the People's Republick of Eugene yet either. There are two pretty good gunstores with layaways and owners that haggle and negotiate.

The RC98 is a another option. My wife, who can smell the printer's ink on dollars bills a 100 miles away, wouldn't think twice about another old milsurp. I could then nickel and dime my way into a 9.3x62 one piece/trip to the gunsmith at a time.

The Ruger is dirt cheep $429? Wally-World can order in a Savage 338, but the guys at the gun counter at this Wally-World make Beavis and Butthead look like rocket scientists. I would need to go to another Wally-World and hope for a clerk with at least a double-digit IQ

I am looking for specific comments about this particular Ruger rifle anyway.

Thanks
ZM

 

[landon74]

Ask to look at Walmart's special order catalog, you ought to be able to order another big boomer for right around the same money, get the caliber you really want and don't buy a product from a company you dislike.... win/win in my book...

 

[Yooper]

If you have to compromise your basic principles to purchase the Ruger, you will probably never enjoy it. If you purchase the Ruger and end up enjoying it, you'll need to re-assess your basic convictions. Your nickel, your choice.

 

[rbernie]

I am looking for specific comments about this particular Ruger rifle anyway.

OK - I can do that.

I like the 77Mk2, and have owned 'em in the past. The cast receiver seems to actually hold up well, the action is appropriately Mauser-like, and the trigger is really not that bad. Timney makes an adjustable trigger if the stock unit isn't to your liking. About the only thing that I traditionally DON'T like about the Rugers are their stocks. Add another couple of hundred bucks to the purchase price for a decent, bedded stock (or a bit less if you do the work yourself). But that's an optional thing - you can certainly use the rifle while you save up the extra beans for a nicer stock.

If you popped for a Savage, you'd *still* have to get a new stock AND it'd not be a controlled-feed action.

 

[spurrit]

Big gun

I shoot a customised mauser, and have thought about just buying another one, then buying a barrel in a larger caliber. FYI; Derby, Ks. Wally world has a Ruger no.1 .405 win. in stock. They don't even sell the ammo for it! Someone ordered it, but never picked it up!

 

[SHOOT1SAM]

Zeke;

Can't speak specifically to the shiny plastic Ruger, but I bought an M-77 in .338 with a Leupold scope 3 years ago. Bought it used, for a good price, but I only wanted the scope-was going to take it off & could have sold the rifle for what I paid for the whole set-up.

Took me a little over a year to get around to starting to pull the scope off, & decided I'd shoot it first. Big mistake. 3 shots, one inch, at 50 yards. 3 shots, one inch, at 100 yards. 3 shots, one inch, well, at 150 & 200 yards as well. This was with 2 different factory loads-Federal's Premium with 210 & 250 grain Noslers. Decided I just couldn't break up this combo, & the rifle was completely stock-no modifications to it whatsoever. Needless to say, it's now one of the last rifles I'll ever get rid of.

Sam

 

[TooTech]

Get a Husqvarna in 9.3x57

Sarco has Husqvarna model 46 rifles in 9.3x57. In inch terms that's .366 caliber, the case is a necked up 8mm Mauser.

You really need to be a reloader if you're going to shoot this cartridge. All components are readily available, but finding factory ammo is about impossible.

Moves a 250 grain Nosler at about 2200 fps out of a pretty light-weight rifle.

These guns are very well made, and less than $300!!

Way back when, colonials in Africa used this caliber to shoot just about everything, although it would be considered under powered for dangerous game by modern standards.