I ran across a used ruger 7x57, tang safety at a pawn shop. The barrel looks good, trigger seems crisp and it has some type of synthetic stock that feels light and stiff. I removed gun from stock but I could find no way of telling what stock maker it is. the gun had a cheap bushnell scope on it and they were wanting $450 out the door. Stock seemed fairly weathered and could use a repaint job and was not bedded. It looked roughly finished on the inside.I think I could get them down to $400 out the door. I have two questions...

1. is this a good deal, and...
2. How do you tell who makes a syntetic stock if there are no markings on it. It definately didn't feel like a cheap plastic, factory stock, but looked to have the same dimensions of a factory wood stock. It did have a decelerator pad on it.

To buy or not to buy...???

Buy.

And my guess is Ramline on the stock.

If YOU like the gun & cartridge, YEP.

You are the only one who needs to be happy.

The Ruger 7x57s of this era are famous for having a throat about a mile long. I've been around one, and wasn't terribly impressed with the accuracy. But as always, YMMV.

If it has rifle sights, I'd be thinkin' 'bout it at $400.00.

Luke warm, not a smokin' deal.

Yep. For $350 or so I'd think about it.

Let me be the cheapskate on this.

1)Huntin' season is over.
2)Not that many folks coming in to a pawn shop want a 7x57, especially when huntin' season is over.
3)Huntin' rifle business was iffy even during huntin' season.
4)You can bet easy money the proprietor paid nowhere near $400 for the Ruger.

If it were in 90% or better condition with the original wood stock then maybe $450 would be more in line. With a weathered Ramline or comparable stock $350 is about all I'd put in it and should be a decent net profit for the owner. Just personal opinion.

Thanks for the info. just what I needed. rbh

what kind of stock is a "ramline". Any good???

I'd buy and the stock could also be a B&C. Does it have factory irons??

Ramlines are cheapies. Take a pic and post it. Maybe a good one after all.

Tang safety Rugers have a well-deserved reputation for inaccuracy. YMMV.

No factory irons

Very interesting. Thanks for input.

Like this old tang safety in 30-06 that has a Wilson barrel from the factory. The Wilsons were supposed to be one of those crappy barrel makers of the time. It always shoots like this at a 100m with 165 sierras. The other manufacturer was Douglas from what I have read and heard (in earlier years). The 7x57s does have long throats and though that might cause issues.


Pieter

Yeah, that reminds me, I couldn't remember what barrel maker provided Ruger with their reject/cull barrels early on. Thanks. You got lucky.

I picked up a '72 vintage 7x57 M77 in September NIB with the hang tags on it still for $500, I've only sent 15 rounds down the barrel, factor Winchester 145 Power Points, they produced a 2" group at 125 yards, I didn't even check to see if the action screws were tight?, I expect it to come a round some with more break in and hand loads?, maybe float the barrel?, I'll have to work with it.

I got real lucky as well. Both my tang safety m77's shoot well. One is a 270 and the other a 300 win mag:

3 shot group from the first outing with my 270 using crapola remington corelokts. One of these damn days I'll work up a good load for it. I have the 130 noz parts on hand but haven't made it a priority yet:


5 shot group with my 300 win mag and el-cheapo 180 gr. win power points that I use for practice. It shoots 180 partitions just as well:

This has no bearing one what a rifle is worth or how much one can get it for. Just saying.

Buy now!

Mule Deer: Re: old or new Ruger77 accuracy
I've owned a pile of 77's of all eras. While one barrel truly sucked (a 7x57 with a bore that had numerous loose spots, with the tight spots measuring .287"), all the others shot anywhere from acceptably to very well. My acceptable rating is three shots in an inch for big game rifles, and five shots in an inch for varmint rifles, and very well is half that. Most of them required some work on the bedding and the trigger, but then a lot of factory rifles do.

The big problem I've seen with some of the tang-safety rifles is very long throats in some older chamberings, such as 7x57.

Boxer � Big Stick
I�ve Ruger familiarity and accept them for what they are. Light or bullet proof they are not, though curiously enough they are oft maligned by the masses for �accuracy� woe which I�ve yet to see, though of course I shoot a bit, which tend to tip numerous scales.

My experience with tang safety Rugers pretty much mirror the above.

It has a direct bearing on what it is worth and what one can get it for. If there is a limited market and the owner gave, for the sake of arguement, $200 pawn for it then $350 yields a quite decent profit. What a firearm is worth is based on a number of things including demand. If there is little demand for a particular firearm it will have little worth.

I've had a couple of tang safety Rugers that were outstanding, accuracy-wise: a .220 Swift that will shoot .5 for 5 and a .25-06 that would shoot .6 - .8 with a couple of loads under 75 grain Sierra HP's. Also had a TS Ruger 7mm RM that would run right around 1.0, no sweat.

ime the older ruger 7x57s shoot well with heavier bullets loaded long. 7x57 with 175 hornadys at 2400-2500 fips is a very effective hunting rifle and shoots flatter than many guys can take advantage of in hunting situations. nice original 77s in 7x57 go for about $400-$450 so its up to the op what the synthetic stock is worth. i prefer wood on mine.

Pretty good buy at $450. At $400 I like it a lot. You don't get much in the new stuff for that change.

I'd have a hard time waling away from it.