Finally took of my 77/.357 on the fencepost. A really fun rifle.

Trijicon 1.25x4x post reticule.

There you go! I love the idea of those little rifles, but the tariff is more than I can abide. Hopefully one of these days I'll find one after someone shoots the new off of it.

I got this one at really decent price, 'course I had to drive 300 miles to get it.

This one is doing great with cheap ammo. True average groups in the 1.300" range. It is much better than the 77/44 I briefly owned.

I may swap the Trijicon over to an AR, for something lighter and smaller.

How's it shoot ?

1 big hole at 50yds. and between 1.25"-1.3/8" at 100yds. Warm or cold.

If I shoot 1, wait 5 minutes and repeat it will put all 4 under 1.25".

Trigger is the best Ruger, from the box, I've ever owned. Slightly over 4 lbs. and very little creep.

Ruger roulette finally paid off.

I have to say I am a Ruger fan. I've always had good luck with them.

Glad to hear yours is doing you right.

By the way, what weight are you shooting through it?

Joel

158GR. JSP's.
I only had 2 loadings in .38spl. it did not like either.

Somewhere I have some Remington 180 Grain SJHP's. I am sure they were intended for the .357 Max, but I bought them when I had a Marlin Lever gun, intending to hunt deer with them. Never got around to it though.

That is a great looking little rifle. The 357 is really a neat userful rifle round.

Sounds like your Ruger is shooting groups about half the size of what my Marlin 357 is getting with either 38 or 357 cases.

Did 38spl. loads work through the roatary mag?

That's nice Terry!

It needs a silver Loopy though.

The .38's worked perfectly thru the mag.
Yeh, my .44 Marlin was a solid 4"@100 rifle too.

I've been very pleased with the little rifle. And it is little, at least it feels that way in hand.

It has some minor cosmetic issues, the stock has very visible "sprue" marks. The recoil pad is "proud" all the way around.

Very handy in thick cover.

I want one of those in the worse way, nice.

Where do I click "like"? Neat little gun there Terry. I'd like to have one to go with my Marlin 1894C, Beretta Stampede, and S&W 60, but I'm a little over on my gun budget. 38/357 is cheap to shoot, low noise and recoil, yet big enough to do the job on stuff up to whitetails.

I sold an old Savage in .32-20 and a Marlin .44mag to fund this one.
The Savage dated to 1928 and had been shortened to 20" and drilled and tapped. It was very accurate. The .32-20 was just a little too lite for piggies at 100yds.

The Marlin just not that accurate.

As I said earlier, I'm impressed with the little Ruger.

I had one in my hands at the local gun shop 3 weeks ago. I left it there. Went back last week and it was gone. I didn't ask if they had another one in stock. Would go nice with my stainless 4" Ruger Security Six 357 Mag.

Ken

I picked one up recently. Strapped on a Leupold VX-II 3-9x40mm but haven't had time to get down to the rifle range. Quite pleased with my purchase so far.

I'm a bit surprised Ruger didn't chamber this in the 357 Maximum. Imagine a rifle that could have chambered 3 different cartridges, 38, 357 Mag and 357 Max? Imagine a 170/180gr projectile moving at 110gr Magnum velocities. It would have been a great way to breath new life into the Max. <SIGH>

I think it would be a cool squirrel rifle.

From the way the 158gr. tears up a 'dillo You'd have squill pate'.

Headshots only sir!

Is the rotary mag on the Ruger long enough for the Max? If so I think that'd be a way cool rig. I'd like to see how a 125gr Barnes works out of either a Mag or Max on a deer. I'm betting it won't bounce off...

To the OP - any chance you have weighed the stock? My wheels are turning about dropping one of these in a short LOP mickey for my son. Too bad McM wont do edge fill for rugers...

The mag is wayyyy short for the Max unfortunately. Ejection would be an issue too.

Thanks for that! Contemplating what to get for my 5yo for deer. If I don't get him a Ruger it'll probably be a Contender and if so I might go with that Max.

The rotary mag is too short to load the Max round. I really think Ruger short changed themselves on this one (no pun intended). If they had just stretched the chamber and mag a tiny bit they could have had a whole different animal ...

125 is too light for deer. Even at Max velocities. 140 is minimum but 158 or heavier is best. I would like to use the 170gr Speer GDSP but I'm not pleased with the velocity it gets out of a Magnum. The 158gr loaded a little hot (as in don't try this at home) works for ME. I just have to be careful to keep them separate so I don't accidentally use it in my revolver.

I wouldn't even want a maximum. If I felt the need for more juice than the .357 mag. could muster I'd go straight to my .35 Remington or .30-30. The .357 mag. has proven more than up to the task with 158 gr. sp's on whitetails out of my Marlin 1894C. In fact, I killed one big doe with it from 185 yards. It was a broadside, behind the shoulder lung shot and the bullet passed completely through. She ran 40 yards and fell over dead. Another shot through the shoulder joint from 30 yards as it quartered to me dropped in it's tracks. That bullet pulped the shoulder, wrecked both lungs and exited the rear of the rib cage on the far side.

Blackheart, you make a good point. The Maximum would only stretch your effective distance to 150 and MAYBE even 200 yds. Anything larger or farther and you would need to use something that can deliver more velocity (I'm leaning towards a 7mm-08 as my next investment). It's just seems like there's some magical mystique surrounding the 357. Maybe it's the history. Maybe it's the sound and fireball. Maybe I'm just nuts ....