Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger 77/44 opinions

was hoping to get opinions on these rifles.

been saving my pennies for a new one, but stumbled accross a really nice used all weather version...Haven't shot it yet, hopefully this weekend. i've read that accuracy was hit or miss with these...i'm hoping mine does ok. I'm not looking for, or expecting pinpoint accuracy.

However, for my intended use (50 yard or less brush gun) if i can get decent, consistant groups @ 50 yards i will be very happy.

Does anyone know of a source for tips or tricks with these rifles? I would mainly be looking for bolt shims, or how to make & install them (if needed). I am assuming this can be done with this rifle. I am also interested in aftermarket triggers, or components to help with the 8 lb trigger pull....

thanks,
DW

Working on a Ruger trigger is very easy, you can cut a coil off or order a new spring from feebay, that in itself will drop about a pound off the weight.

A little honing/polishing and about 15 minutes of your time from start (taking out the stock) to finish (putting the stock back on) should bring the trigger weight down quite nicely.

If you don't feel comfortable doing this, than find someone who does and make sure to bump test it several times to make sure it's safe. Worse case senerio if you screw it up, you can than replace it.

I've shimmed a bolt in my 77/22 hornet and the first time doing it, it's a pain in the a$$ figuring it out but than after it it clicks in your head it's really not that bad.

I've probably got an extra couple shims if need be, not sure where they are? Otherwise you can just find some shim stock and drill the appropriate sized holes in the center. I'm guessing it's probably nothing that will need to be done to yours?

Shims...Possibly not needed. I'm not really concerned with the shims just yet. I want to shoot the rifle before i do anything to it, but i want to know what try if accuracy problems present themselves. Plus, i haven't figured out how to take the bolt apart yet...

As far as the trigger, it's actually quite crisp, just heavy...i can still shoot reasonably well with a heavy trigger. I found the parts i was thinking of for the trigger:

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=158267
or
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=943284

I think i will take your advise and order a replacement factory spring and play around with that first...

Thanks!
DW

If you have the manual it tell you how to disassemble the bolt, not the clearest directions but enough to get you by. If you don't have it or can't find a copy on-line, shoot me a pm with your e-mail address as I have a PDF copy someone sent me (if I can find it)?

There's only two pins that hold the trigger/sear assembly in, lightly polish the surface and replace the spring and you should be good to go. Somewhere or other I have a diagram for that as well, but that's also easily found via google.

Before I felt comfortable honing/polishing I did replace a 77/22 mag's sear with a Volquartsen and it alone was night and day difference.

I replaced my Hawkeyes spring with one from feebay and polished it and it's a tad under 3lbs.

A 77 7mm mag I clipped the spring and polished, now a tad over 3 lbs.

Hornet, same as above

Just purchased a boat paddle 77 .338 win mag and will be fiddling with the trigger sometime soon.

One of the best investments a guy can make in my opinion is a nice trigger pull weight scale.

Congrats on the .338 boat paddle! Missed one at a gun show ($only 300!) by a matter of minutes - took a quick look and decided to buy, only to find out that a sale was already in progress. I wuz bummed...

Ditto to what you say about Ruger triggers - they are easy to work on.

Coyote, wasn't quite that cheap but not to bad. Got it with 1/2 box ammo, hard case, absolute biggest piece of sh*t sling I've ever scene, and a Leupold VX-II 3-9 with the box/papers. Paid about what the bare rifles are bringing on GB

It was bought 13 years ago, went to the range once and has been sitting in the case ever since. You couldn't tell it from new. Found it in a Denver Classified and thankfully by brother in law was willing to drive up from CO. Springs and pick it up for me.

This is my 3rd boat paddle, 7mm mag, 77/22 mag, and now this. Have always wanted a .338 and now I'm set

I had one of the 77/44 All Weather models for awhile and killed one deer with it. Accuracy was not good with my particular rifle...about 5" at 100 yards was all I could get out of it with several loads I tried. I am sure that mine was just a lemon. Down the road it went. It was a cool and handy rifle, though.

Got one on order. Will post about it as soon as I get and shoot the little critter. Dennis

I bought one of the walnut/blued versions when they first came out. Mine has proven to be quite accurate at 50 yds, which is the range I sighted it in for. I just use the good ol' factory Remington 240's. I haven't had to tinker with it at all. A great gun for the thick stuff here in Vermont. A dream to carry and quick into action.

One thing I have noticed with every .44 Magnum rifle I have played with is that the point of impact is usually very different for different loads, so beware of substituting anything else for the load it is sighted for.

I purchased a blued/walnut one when they first came out. Bedded, triggerjob, decelerator pad, machined off the front sight and filled in the rear sight dovetail, bead blasted and reblued. It shoots 210 sierras at 1950 fps quite accurately, 1 1/2" at 100 yds.

I would think with some tinkering you will get a fine 50 yd rifle. If there was one thing I dislike it is the transition from flat to round in the forestock area. Too bad they didn't use more wood and rounded the area more.

I have a 77/44 blued / walnut one I bought used several years ago.

I had accuracy issues at the start. Turned out to be bedding issues. With the 77/44 the primary contact point and recoil bearing area is at the REAR of the mag well and rear screw behind the trigger. This opposite of most other bolts. Took me awhile to understand that. Once I did and I re-bedded the rifle and tightened down the rear screw first and checked the contact points at the rear of the mag well things started to get much better.

Also as stated the rifle seems to have strong feelings about the ammo it is feed. I reload so I have good loads is several bullet weights now.

You should be able to get 1.5 inch or less at 50yrds easily, and 2 inches at 100 should be no problem with the right ammo.

If you have issues let me know and I will see if I could point you in the right direction.

The 77/44 is my favorite deep cover deer rifle. Also is one of the funnest to shoot for me and the grand kids.

Thats funny, I just logged on to see if I could find some info on this rifle because my friend picked up one of these in blue/walnut a couple of weeks ago. Nice gun and dont think it had ever been shot. We took it out to the range this past weekend and it was accurate enough at 50 yards with Winchester 240gr white box "hunting" ammo. An odd thing happened though that after about 25 rounds were fired, the magazine started popping out after almost every shot. Is this a common problem with these? Anyone have any suggestions for a remedy?

My brother-in-law bought one of the late composite stock/blued models, the trigger was horribly heavy and creepy. I replaced the trigger with an aftermarket assembly and that solved the trigger issue, the rifle still does not group very well. I purchased an early wood stocked model, the trigger is very nice and working to develop a good handload brought group size to below 1 1/2" @ 100 yds. My rifle seems to yield best accuracy with Hornady 240 XTP's, I am hoping to develop a load that will group 1" or so at 100 yds.

Would anyone with a Ruger 44 be interested in helping with the development of a commercial 10 round mag? One of the greatest issues with the 44 both in 77 and 96 formats is that its all over after 4 shots, in Australia we usually want to have a few more up our sleeve as we will generally get onto a mob of pigs.

Yes there is other guns that have more capacity in 44RemMag but we LOVE our Rugers, it was criminal when production was stopped and so we ar taking more charge of the platform working it into its ultimate configuration.

What we need is for someone to donate their rifle for a time to ROI industries so they can test the development of the magazine. Pretty much the produce Desert Eagle .44 magazines atm so the solution everyone has seen on you tube can be made by them, hopefully for as little bucks as possible!

If anyone can help it would be a great boon for all Ruger .44 users, so please let us know or spread the word far and wide, all forums.

Cheers

ASHO

I am not in the land down under or I would be willing to help out.

I am going to keep my 77/44 close at hand as it is a Great hunting rig and I plan to do more hunting with it soon

No thanks, sounds a little bit like a scam to me. If your that interested or serious about developing a 10 round magazine, buy a 77/44 for yourself. Besides, at least where i am, i can't use a 10 round magazine to hunt with. the most i can do is 5 in the mag + 1 in the chamber. But even then i only do 4(3+1) when i carry my 30-06, so my 77/44 "limited "capacity isn't an issue.

DW

Picked up my new 77/44 yesterday...it's a beautiful rifle. I'll shoot it tomorrow. Dennis

Good Luck, hope it's a shooter