Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger Model 77 as a “faux” Pre-war German Sporter (tons of pictures)

Very nice rifle! Too bad about the scratch but stuff happens.. I think I might give him a call for my M77 Ruger RSM.. a Rigby look might be nice..

Who makes the reflex mount?
I have a 375 Ruger Alaskan I would like to put a Trijicon RMR on.

I recently saw a DG double rifle fitted with a reflex sight.

For older eyes, that may be faster than conventional irons.

Would like follow up reports.

DF

My first thought was for the Rigby as well but the more I looked at it the German style it started to appeal to me. AFAIK the grip reshaping would be the same and you’d get the same narrow forend as well. The styling of either one looks cool in pictures but the feel of the grip and forend are the real benefits.

The NECG ghost ring is a great sight for the Ruger since it mounts into the existing scope base. It is definitely set and forget, not something you want to fiddle with a lot. I haven’t had the rifle and sight long enough to prove this but supposedly you can remove it then remount it and as long as you tighten the mount screw down with the same tension – position the cross slot in the same place – it will come back to zero.

The front blade slides in from the front just like a Ruger but is held in place with a plunger on the muzzle side. NECG is real proud of their blades and hits you up for $8 shipping even for a 2/10 oz part but they are well made and tap in snugly with no looseness nor have I needed to do any filing to get them to fit.

On the RSI, you could call Roger and talk to him, he can do all kinds of things that aren’t shown specifically on his website. He could probably work up something pretty slick.

The mount shown is from Burris and made specifically for the Fastfire sights. From the Burris website it's the "410332 Ruger M77, No. 1, Super Redhawk, Super Blackhawk Hunter". I wouldn't know if anyone makes a Trijicon mount to fit, but I've seen someone makes a Ruger to Weaver style conversion base so anything that fits a Weaver style would then work,

FWIW, that rear mount doesn't work on a Ruger short action, the bridge on those is a tad shorter so the bolt hits it, but you can mount it in the front sight mount which is what I did with the M77 .308. Looks funky mounted there but it still works.

How fast is the reflex sight compared to peep and post?

Which configuration would you use on a hunt?

Your thoughts, reflex sight on a DG rifle.

DF

I made similar changes to a Ruger Hawkeye in 338 RCM which I had for a time but I think he did it better. The original stock shape was just ugly. I also kind of like the Fastfire sight. GD

I’m no dangerous game expert, not even a novice so take that into consideration. Once you get used to it the reflex sight is definitely a tad faster than a peep, which is still a pretty fast sight. With the peep of course you just look through the rear aperture and focus on the front sight but you still have to line them up. With the reflex sight that dot can be anywhere in the viewing window and as long as it’s on your target that’s where the bullet will hit so your head position is not as critical.

I grew up using peep sights since I was a kid but have to say that these lightweight dot sights are the wave of the future. I’ve done all kinds of geometric gyrations over the years getting a front sight matched up properly to the height of the rear sight so you don’t have the rear aperture hanging way up in the air, the reflex eliminates all of that. A good simple peep from NECG, XS or Skinner is still rugged as hell, this ghost ring is solid solid and those ears really protect the rear aperture, but they’re making the reflex sights pretty strong these days as well. Leupold’s Deltapoint is steel or covered with steel IIRC and soldiers have been using red dots and reflex sights in combat for quite a while now. Battery life is measured in years but they’re so cheap you can buy a new one each hunting season and pretty much guarantee it won’t quit on you.

I still like peep sights and have them on three .22’s and six centerfires from .30-30 up to this .30-06 because they still let me take a finer sight picture for longer range and smaller targets, but for general big game use or even for dangerous game I’d say the reflex sight has more advantages. Just MHO, of course.

Good commentary.

Yeah, battle tested reflex sights should hold up about anywhere.

And for older eyes, single visual plane (reflex) vs. two planes (peep and post), is a bonus.

Any sight that can hold up in Afghanistan should work OK in Zim.

DF

I'm taking a reflex equipped Win M70 375 H&H to Australia on a buff cull hunt. Should get 2-4 a day. I will report on how it works on DG.

Outstanding! What did you decide to do with your MRC?

Which reflex sight did you end up with?

Would like to hear how you chose the one you're using. There seems to be a lot of different versions, am currently trying to sort thru the herd.

DF

I like the whole idea. May get one myself.

It's still in original form,just going to shoot it as is until or if I figure out something to do with it. I'm trying to talk myself into going whole hog the other way from this Ruger and rebarreling to a .260 or something in a Winchester Fwt contour and drop it in a McMillan Featherweight stock, or keep it as a 6.5x55 but rebarrel with a much shorter throat. It's only money...

Hi Jim,

I sure like mine. I decided not to have the forestock checkered only because most of the Pre War Mausers I've seen just had the schnabel and panels w/o checkering. I also had (at Roger's suggestion) the action screws and extractor nitre blued. And I decided on a Williams foolproof. I did not weigh the rifle prior to the work, but it is now 6 3/4# and really comes up like a nice shotgun. Roger is, indeed, a pleasure to work with and my turnaround time was between 5 - 6 weeks. He got my check on a Thursday and I had the rifle Saturday.







Terry

Neat idea. One has to wonder with modern cnc machines and the incentive to sell more rifles some of the rifles makers aka Ruger, Remington, Winchester would offer a European style rifle even if thru a distributor such as Linsey's. Shouldn't really cost that much more. I would venture the costs would be the logistical costs of having a different set of catalog/ inventory numbers etc as opposed to raw material costs.

That's a gorgeous rifle, those tang safeties really clean up nice. Seriously, I prefer the blued bolt handle and extractor but the Hawkeye is what it is with an all stainless bolt. Roger called me about that very thing, a blued extractor. After looking at it he said he could probably take an extractor from a right handed tang safety and modify it to work with the left handed Hawkeye but I just wasn’t comfortable with experimenting on it so left mine as is.

This project turned out so well and he does such nice work I’m already looking around the collection for the next likely candidate. Plus having talked to him you learn that there are all kinds of little mods he can do – within reason - to create a one of a kind that reflects someone’s personal style.

How does he do the Williams? Drill and tap for 2 screws on the starboard side of the receiver I'm guessing?

I have a sweet little RJ Renner pre-war M77tang safety 7x57 with the keyed forearm and I am sending him 2 more M77's for a matching Faux Rigby set. Great guy and awesome rifles!

Another great post from a man that understands the importance of the proper ergonomics in making a rifle really just right. And a nod to a classic style that many have appreciated for many years. A tipoff the hat to you sir. E