Off the top of my head can recall two .220 Swift sporter-weights, a 6mm Remington sporter, a .250 Savage UL, a 7x57, a 7mm Remington Magnum, and a .30-06.

The .30-06 was my only big game rifle for several years when young and relatively poor, though kept it for a while after I could afford more rifles, fitted with a light synthetic stock. It was pretty accurate, and I used two different loads, one with 165 cup-and-cores for deer-sized game, and one with 200-grain Partitions for bigger game--both of which shot to the same point of impact.

Both Swifts shot accurately, but I grew weary of the 1-14 twists.

The 6mm Remington shot well, but I wanted it less than something else it got traded it for.

Could not get the .250 UL to shoot consistently below about 1.5 inches at 100 yards for 3-shot groups, no matter what I tried in handloads and bedding, so it went down the road pretty quickly.

The 7x57 had one of the rare terrible barrels, and would generally group 2-3 at 100. This was because the "tight" spots in the barrel measured .287". Had it rebarreled to .358 Winchester, and it shot OK, but went down the road too.

Bought the 7mm RM in very used condition for the action, with the barrel already toast, because I really like the tang safety. Had it turned into a very accurate .300 Winchester Magnum by Charlie Sisk, and used it for several years, among other animals taking big mule deer and elk.

My most recent started out as an UL in some unknown chambering. Somebody had it fitted with a 22" No. 1 contour Douglas barrel in 7mm-08, which with the UL stock made it noticeably lighter than the standard 77 sporter. It shot very well, and I hunted with it some before recently having it rechambered to .284 Winchester, partly because Ruger offered the .284 briefly in the 1970s, and I'd wanted one then but couldn't find one. It still shoots very well, and will probably go hunting soon.

There are probably a few others I've forgotten.





“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.”
John Steinbeck