Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Ruger 77-44 opinions

Have a line on a Ruger 77-44, blued, wood stock.

Looking for input from anyone with experience with them. How do they handle, shoot, etc?

If I recall correctly, they cannot be shot with cast bullets, and there were problems with the rotary mag at first. But my memory is fuzzy on both issues.

It must be at the top of the list for rifles people are not happy about, when they have it, but want, when not.

I want one.

Myself I would mind one in .357

I have one currently and really like it for Indiana deer hunting, I handload and am shooting Hornady 240 gr. XTP bullets over a charge of Winchester 296. Only taken one deer so far, a button buck at 60yds. he was a bang-flop. Accuracy wise I am well satisfied with the 77/44, like the one you're considering mine is a blued wood stock model. The only negative I can think of is the later rifles had horrible triggers but there are aftermarket replacements that are really nice. Both of the 77/44's I have owned have been earlier models and had good triggers, I put an aftermarket trigger in my BIL's later modes and it was a vast improvement over what the rifle left the Ruger factory with.

Think one with a can on it would be great.

Is the rifle fairly light? I have been trying to find specs for the wood stock ones, am only seeing the synthetic stock ones at 5.5 pounds.

I want a good 44 mag semi-auto carbine.

I just don't see any use for one. Bolt action .44Mag just does not excite me.
.44 mag in a rifle is well covered by the Marlin lever 1894, or the Ruger semi auto.

I have one.

I like it because it has the twist to support heavy bullets, the Marlin does not, and the 77/44 can handle cast lead which is not recommended for the semi-auto Ruger.

It's not a tack-driver, expect an honest 2 to 3 MOA (all day long) but the occasional tight group will sneak in there. Given the intent and the effective range of the weapon, it will suffice. I floated the barrel to make the groups round.

It is very light and handy in the brush or a treestand, being the same length but lighter than a M94 Winchester.

The Rotary mag limits it to 1.6" oal, and that's all. If you were able to use a 1.775" oal like with the Redhawk, that would allow some additional performance with the heavies. But, I've found out that a .44 mag with a 300 grain LBT at 1575 fps ain't no slouch in the penetration department.

The trigger on mine was atrocious. I replaced it with a Volquartson (sp?).

I was surprised at the recoil. You look at that little cartridge and think "Ahhh, this thing's a powder-puff.", but recoil is almost on par with my .308. Not bad, mind you, it just surprised me the first time I shot it. I reckon when you vigorously chunk a heavy bullet one way, it pushes a light rifle back the other way to show you it's on its way.

It's really handy in cover like this.

A buddy of mine has a 77-357 that I've shot a bunch. Will get a 77/44 first chance..

Disregard my first post. My eyes saw 77/44 but my mind locked into the semi-suto. I apologize.

My wife and I both use one for deer hunting in Indiana. Both are stainless/synthetic. I hand load for them using a 240 gr. Sierra hollow core over H110. Accuracy will average 2 MOA for five shots at 100 yards. Feed and function is fine. The trigger like mentioned above is bad. I replace both of ours. They are handy little woods rifles. If we can ever hunt with real rifles in Indiana we are going to use our 6.5 Grendles.

cv540...I have a 77/44 synthetic with a Leupold 1.5x5 on top...2.5" groups off the bench was the norm before putting in an aftermarket trigger....buffalo bore 270gr. loads now do an honest 1.5" at 100yds....and they do clock 1800fps...as advertised....I think it weighs about 6.5lbs all up and is the equal of a 20ga. 3" slug...needless to say I would not part with it....Timney trigger.....regards....bearit....

Go find an old original semi-auto Carbine. Mine is a very early one and just a couple of weeks I had it out prepping for spring bear. A book (Hodgdon) max load of 110 pushing a 250 gr Partition had five landing inside 2 1/2" at a hundred yards and the 8" gong was routine at 200 yards. It does the same with the 270 gr GD. I have shot cast just fine though a tear down and cleaning is required.