Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Any Ruger historians? - The Legend of Zytel / Skeleton / Boat Paddle stocks

I posted an thread in the classifieds asking for some background and possible value of two Ruger "Zytel", "Skeleton" , "Boat Paddle" stocked rifles.

I've gotten conflicting reports about which models came with which inserts in the stock.

Does anyone have intimate knowledge how these were rolled out?

Thank you very much

People either love them or hate them, value will be determined by which camp you ask. I've owned them in the past and wouldn't touch one again at any price.

As far as I know almost all of them came with plain plastic inserts. There were some sftermarket wood and other options for inserts. I suppose Ruger could have made a special run of them with different inserts.

the boat paddles all have inserts. the first ones were green, then they were changed to black. I bought the first two I could lay hands on. one was a .22 LR and the other was a .308. both had green inserts. can't tell you the value.

Towards the end of there life span, Ruger made some with wooden inserts.

Some of them came with wood inserts from the factory, like my .300WM. I later swapped out the wood for synthetic inserts.

Only one of my three Zytel-stocked rifles (.30-06, .300WM and .338WM) came to me that way. The other two stocks were purchased online, one from Brownells and one from an individual.

While I agree that people tend to love them or hate them, I'm in the 'love them' camp. They are lightweight, rugged and impervious to weather - just what I want on my rifles that go elk hunting. On the .338WM I replaced the factory tire tread with a Limbsaver recoil pad. Big difference for the better.

These rifles are bomb proof for sure. Ruger seems to be one of those manufacturers who have little eccentricities that excite and confuse.

All of the Lipseys and limited release firearms will probably cause a lot of head scratching in 20 years.

Thanks for the information. I'm told that the 30-06 I have couldn't have come from the factory in a Zytel stock with green inserts by one gentleman, and fully assured they were available this way by another.

I sent a e-mail to a Ruger historian. He said the 22 is correct. Some had rings and some did not if they had sights. You could buy either way. The 30-06 was never made with green inserts. If they were you have the only one. Not to be a critic but this guy knows pretty much about Rugers.

There were not too many made with wooden inserts. You could buy the inserts from Ruger for a while. I know the 7.62 x 39 was factory with the wood inserts. I had a couple in my life and wish I had them now. They demand a premium.

Don't understantd the premium for wood, but to each their own.

I sold my wood for synthetic. Didn't think the wood would last and didn't want to get caught with a cracked insert I couldn't replace. No worry with the synthetic - they will outlast me.

I bought two of the original 7.62x39s from Davidson's in the early 90's. Still have one; they came with the wood inserts.

The KM-77RP MKII (stainless)is the early model of the skeleton/boat paddle Zytel stocked guns. This model, not all but some, do have green inserts. The 30-06 in this range could very well have green inserts. This KM model starts in the 780-10XXX range.



The later M-77RP MKII (blue) Special Distributor models start in the 788-XXXXX range. Probably no green inserts, but with Ruger.....

M-77RPDLX MKII (Deluxe with wood inserts)special distributor models start in the 789-8XXXX range.

So....if you have a Stainless KM-77RP MKII in the 780-10XXX to when ever they ran out of green inserts, it could very well be factory.

All the info from above is from the "RED EAGLE NEWS EXCHANGE", all things RUGER. 1961 to date.

^ your generosity puts me to shame. Thank you

780-27327 so maybe it made it under the wire

Maybe, that is an early one.

Stainless?

Yes sir

This.

Once upon a time, I had a 35 Whelen in a Zytel stock with black inserts. This was before the Limbsaver came along, and that thing kicked like a team of mules. My only beef with these stocks is that I don't know of a way to shorten them.


Okie John

This might seem obvious, but the value is only what the market will bear for these. The rarer short action guns bring a tidy sum. If you have one in 7mm-08, you have the holy grail. 260 Rem or 22-250, you made a good investment there too. But what you have is a pair of the more common versions. Even with the green inserts, I haven't seen them bring significantly more money then other versions of rimfire or long actions.

A Gunbroker search of finished auctions will give you the best approximate value of your rifles.

If I was making an educated guess, the 22lr will bring somewhere around $550-600 and about the same (maybe a little more) say $600-700 for the 30-06. If you want to sell them, you'll do best NOT selling them as a pair. List them individually on GunBroker with a reserve price you can live with and let them ride. The last 308 I had in the zytel stock sold in 30 minutes for the buy it now price of $900. But the short action version always bring more then the long actions.

I suspect both your rifles are from the factory with the green inserts. I too owned a 22lr with the green inserts. But I wasn't attached to it in any way and sold it. And I've owned more than a handful of the zytel stocked rifles, including 22lr, 17hmr, 22 mag, 243, 308, 30-06 & 270 Win. I've also had a bunch of the stocks pass through my hands over the years. I like them just fine, but in the end always end up with something different.

Just my $0.02. YMMV. Good luck with your sale when you get there.

Rob

CC, just looked at the K-77/22RSP (SN 702-46241) in the classifieds. (produced in the year 2000)I would say the green inserts on that year K-77/22RSP are not correct.

Looks like the last year for the green insert on the K-77/22 was in 1991. Which makes sense as the last year for green inserts for the KM-77RP was 1990-91.



Again, all info from "RED EAGLE NEWS EXCHANGE" all thing Ruger.