What's the overall consensus on these? I have a few ruger 77 rimfires that I like but I was thinking about adding an american model in either 22 mag or 17 hm2. I'm a fan of the rotary mags but not sure about the trigger on these, are they essentially the same thing as the savage accu-trigger? Would like to hear some real world opinions on them.
Thanks.
I bought my first m77//22 in 1985. I have also owned an American.
Here is my opinion-
1)Overall ,the American action is more user friendly out if the box than the m77 rimfire.
2) The acccuracy of the Ruger Americans out of the box is just as good as any m77 rimfires from any era.
3) The American has a better safety design(tang).
4)The Anerican has a MUCH more versatile scope mounting setup.
5)The American action is more rigid and is also tighter toleranced.
6)The American takes 10/22 mags- not 77/22 mags .
7) The American It has a lower bolt lift with more clearance for the scope bell.
8)The trigger design IS BETTER than the Savage accutrigger in that you can remove the tab safety from the Ruger trigger snd it still functions. It is fullly adjustable and MUCH easier to get a good pull weight than in the stock m77/22 triggers.
9) The stock bedding arrangement on the Ameican is much better than the m77. The barrel channel pressure point setup is horrible on the m77s. It induces a lot of action stress and the easiest way to get a m77 to shoot better is to properly bed the action and float the barrel
The only area I can say the old M77 rimfire is superior to the American is stock styling. The m77 shows Rugers origional Leonard Brownell inspired American classic styling.
The American stock is a mere handle ,designed by a commitee of tasteess marketing twits that obviously don't mind making a decent rifle look cheap and ugly.
BTW. I don't dislike the m77 rimfires. They are great guns once the trigger and bedding assorted out.
