Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger 77/357

Anybody have any experience with this rifle? I was thinking about buying one and would like to hear how they shoot. The good and the not so good. Any first hand experience with one I would love hear about.Thanks...

I don't have a .357, but rather a .44, and it's a 2 to 2.5" gun at 100 yards with some of the various 300 grain bullets I've tried.

I recently replaced the factory trigger with a Volquartsen. It's a big improvement. I also free-floated the barrel at the same time, and now groups have a much more "round" appearance to them, probably due to the better trigger.

As far as hunting, for the terrain I hunt, it's great. Light and accurate enough for the ranges I typically shoot deer at.

I have a Leupold VX-2 1-4X20 on mine.

Vic about said it all.. the only thing not mentioned is "durable" they are a well built carry gun.

Sweet little short range gun. I have a friend that hunts with one in 44. I shot it many times and handload for it. The 357 is slightly heavier, probably using the same barrel contour.

Trigger is not good: With such a light gun and heavy trigger, that is one thing that doesn't help accuracy in the gun.

Because of the weight, make sure you have a nice steady rest (or even Bull's Bag. When bench shooting it, there is a lot of movement because of the lack of weight and short barrel.

Accuracy certainly won't be much to get excited about, but you can play with loads and see what it likes. Good enough for the intended purposes of a shorter range hunting carbine.

It is a fun gun. With 38's it's a grown up's Red Ryder. Kids love shooting it. I intended to hunt with it a couple of times this past year but never did.

I also had a .44, wood-stocked, some years back. They are solid, but do need trigger work. My .44 was very difficult to shoot well due to the trigger and the balance. A Timney or other aftermarket trigger will go a long way towards making one easier to shoot in the field.

I'm a big fan of the action and recently picked up a RSI in .22LR. It balances a bit better, but still needs trigger work. I replaced the spring, which lightened the pull, but also revealed some creep. Eventually it will probably get the Timney. I put one on another .22 years ago and it was easy, cheap, and worked like a champ.

I looked long and hard at one of the .357s not long ago, but ended up with somthing else. The trigger on that one was actually not bad.

I had been considering the Marlin or Rossi lever action .357 as a sidekick to my handguns, but this 77/357 makes more sense for the shooting that I do. Does Timney or anyone else make an aftermarket trigger for this rifle? How expensive would it be to add that new trigger? I've added new triggers to a couple of my rifles, and as most of us recognize, once you use a great trigger, bad ones are simply unacceptable.

Timney makes a 2.5# sear and spring kit. $46 at Midway

I intended to buy one but when I looked at one it was so ugly I couldn't bring myself to look any closer. I have never seen polishing which was so poorly done. It would be OK if it sold for 299. Maybe painting it flat black would help. GD

Ugly it is and a heavy trigger I was guessing it would have but that sounds like that can be fixed at least the trigger part. It looks to be a super tough little rifle how do they feed with 38spl or 44spl rounds?

Had one. Very handy. no recoil. Put a NECG rear peep on it. Never shot groups. Had to put a taller Williams front blade on it to regulate the elevation with the peep site. Also had to drift the front site to regulate windage. Finally gave to my daughter when I started thinning the herd. Given that I have a good stock of .38 Spcl / .357 Mag components, would buy another one in a heart beat if I wanted a bolt action carbine chambered for a pistol cartridge. Although second time around, I would put a low power scope on it like picture above...

I am so hoping they come out with one in .327.

I love mine. It's incredibly handy and I think it looks great.

My gunsmith did a trigger job for $25.

These are accurate enough although no tack-drivers. I put a scope on mine, but it would be a wonderfully handy little carbine with an aperture sight.

Very short and light, yet accurate enough and with sufficient power for deer out to close to 200 yards with good 158 grain ammo.

As some have said, the light weight also means you will benefit from some sort of rest. A sling is a great option and I can drop to a sitting position with it tightened up with my forearm through the sling and be almost as precise as from a rest.

All in all......this is a rifle you will love to carry and probably fall in love with.

Oh, I should add. Ruger does not recommend .38s in it as it may not be reliable with the shorter round.

It can shoot .38s from the magazine. The point of impact will be quite a bit lower than .357 at 50 yards. With some testing I think you can figure out how to hold for small game and it won't be all that difficult to make good hits at the closer ranges.

Mine shoots .38s ok.......there may be a malfunction now and then, although the FMJ bullets are totally reliable in mine.

I had a 44/77 that patterend. I'd not take a chance on another even if it was a .357

You guys with the .357 version - what is the max cartridge OAL the magazine will hold?

Thanks

I've got the .44 version and LOVE it! The Volquartsen sear/spring kit is an absolute MUST and I had mine in hand before the rifle even arrived at my FFL. Piece of cake to install and turned a heavy trigger into near target grade (ISYN).

I free floated the barrel and shimmed the bolt head while I was at it. I installed a NECG peep on it which necessitated a taller front sight. Another option for open signts is Skinners Peep sight which fits in the rear sight dovetail and doesn't need a different front sight. It's gotten good reviews from what I've read.

I MAY someday try a red dot or a Leupy compact 2.5 but it's so damn fun and handy with the peep I'm keeping it as is for now. Makes it a real joy to carry as you can wrap your hand right around the receiver for carry...

Best group to date for me is 4 shots in 1.9" at 100 yds with the peep sight. Ringing a 10" gong at 100 offhand ain't no thang and I'm working my way down to clay pigeons at 100 offhand (50 yds is easy). Best load so far was CP 300 WFN cast with 4227.

While a little pricey for what you're getting the best thing about these rifles is their versatility.

Small game? Check.
Varmints? Check.
Big game? Check.
Schit's and Giggles? ABSOLUTLEY!

At the height of loonieisum I converted one to .256 Winchester Magnum....for use as truck gun/turkey gun/coyote gun/etc....

Is more accurate (as you might expect)as a .256 but was "acceptable" within the range of the .357.

What can I say......I have a pile of 60grain spire points

PennDog

A little late to the party and a little off subject...I have a 77/44 that would not shoot under 2.5"@100 until I tried BB 270gr. Speer gold dots...they clock exactly 1800fps. and shoot to 1.25"@100yds....very good enough for me crawling around under the hemlocks here in PA...same snot as a 3" mag. 20ga. slug.....regards.....bearit....

Sorry...meant to say 270gr. deep curl loaded by Buffalo Bore....bearit....

What's not to like? Spend $750+ for a bolt action "carbine" and another $50 on a decent trigger. Then spend a few more hundred trying to figure out which 44mag ammo works better than Ye Olde 240gr JHP.

Once again Ruger has invented a better mousetrap.

I like it because I could get away from 240 grain jacketed. From the get-go, it has worked good with 300 grain LBT Hardcast. Some of the lever-actions I looked at wouldn't work with that bullet, having a 1/38 twist.

No additional expense was incurred for components. I have several .44 mag revolvers.

I have less than $750, less scope, in mine, but then I have several rifles that you won't get any change out of a $2000 bill, either.

It's what *I* wanted and like.

I shore needs me one of those!

I have a close friend back in Indiana who gave up on his 77/44 and sold it. He said he could not get it to shoot.

I am switching to .357 handguns. With some skepticism, I bought a 77/357 as a companion to them. I mounted a 4x scope with parallax set at 50 yards. I sighted it in at 50 yards with American Eagle 158 grain jacketed hollow point ammunition. It put 5 shots in one .5" hole at 50 yards.

I wonder if its the heavier barrel on the .357 Magnum version?

GrimJim

Would be interesting in a 357 maximum

Even more interesting in a 454. Action is strong enough

I doubt that. The .454 has a SAAMI MAP of 65 KPSI. The .44 Mag is 36 KPSI and the .357 is 35 KPSI. The 77/XX action uses a rear locking bolt, a design that is perfectly suitable for current chamberings in the rifle, but supreme strength is not great with that design I think.

Of course if you don't care much for your face...

My sample of one says that accuracy in the MOA realm is doable with the 77/44, don't see any reason for the .357 model to do worse.

100 yard target w/300 gr. paper patch



End of the road:

I think people have unrealistic expectations for accuracy in many cases. I am looking at either or bot the 44 and the 357 for my grandchildren for Blacktail deer hunting.

I like removable magazines for safety over tubular magazines, getting in and out of trucks is part and parcel of hunting.

I have a Savage 340 in 30/30 for this application, but I also have 5 grandkids.

If I only get one it will be the 357 as I already have a Marlin 44.

i stuck a 1.5-5x on my 77/357; have tried several load combinations so far to see if it would shoot well with 170/180gr bullets, but so far it has far preferred 140-weight-class bullets far over the various heavies i have tried.

the hornady 140XTP, some old Super-Vel 137 JSP's, and the Barnes 140 XPB all shot pretty well, so did the Winchester 145gr Silvertip factory loads.

i like the rifle quite a bit, still need to do something to the heavy factory trigger, but its a pretty useful trail gun for me.

Or buy a Ruger American for half the price with ten times better trigger and shoots 1" all day long

Yeah - if they made one in 357, that would be great, and might have some relevance to this discussion...