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

Congratulations, Jim, that's a beautiful rifle. The scratch just adds character.

Steelhead,

You are correct. The sight has 2 screws into the action and the sight is labeled as for an "SMLE". There was enough adjustment to use the front sight as the rifle came to me. The insert was a .406" "high" (I do not know if it was the original front sight insert from Ruger as I purchased this rifle from another gentleman online). But, I didn't like having the rear sight so high off the action, so I ordered a shorter sight from Brownell's - Ruger no longer supports parts for this rifle and the folks at Brownell's worked very patiently with me to find a substitute. These mods really are nice and do justice to not having to have such "clunky" stocks on American rifles of most manufacture - maybe the Winchester featherweight as an exception.

Peeshooter,

Nice rifle! Probably my all time favorite caliber - by far! My rifle is 30/06, but I seriously considered another 77 in 7X64 Brenneke just because of the German flavor. Congrats!

Terry

Hey Jim

That's a sweet rig right there. IMO it looks much better 'customized' and I've always liked the snobel end.

Congrats

Jerry

7x64 would be hard to beat in one of these, IMO.

Damn you, Jim!

i had almost forgot about that old thread!

Great work and a beautiful rifle. Saw this thread this morning and have been thinking about it all day at work. I've gone to mostly 'utilitarian' rifles nowadays (SS and synthetic) and don't really have an 'heirloom' type rifle (though I love my No.1 RSI 757).

I do have a No.1 in 9.3 Mauser that is begging for that stalker rifle package. I'm gonna be trying to unload some of my collection I don't shoot much and I think I'll stash some cash to have that No.1 get the Jagd Stutzen treatment. I'll take off the Leupy FX2.5 and throw a Skinner on there to complete the package. Thinking I could really love that setup.

Thanks for the thread and info.

You're very welcome. That 9.3 or any classic caliber is a great match for these treatments. I keep throwing this rifle to my shoulder and it mounts and fits like almost nothing I've ever owned, and that's not hyperbole (well, not too much). However, I just found the downside to this project. Every other rife I own now feels like a club! Seriously.


Don't say I didn't warn you guys...

Is it the angle of the photo, or are a scalloped out sections on either side not symmetric?

The very forward part of the left scallop does reach the floorplate while the one on the right is about a millimeter short but lighting and position of the floorplate artificially magnify the difference. These were taken in my garage in mid-afternoon with the door open so there is a source of very bright light from one side with shadow on the other, and the floorplate has a tiny bit of left-right wiggle and is over to the leftmost here; you can see the small gap of inletting just to the right of where it narrows down, while it overhangs on the left just a tiny bit. I noticed the same thing when I looked at the picture but when I pushed the floorplate over it centered up. Due to the lighting the flat of the wood around the trigger guard and floorplate on the left is hidden while the right one is emphasized, when you look at them lit equally it is all centered.

Super awesome 👍😎

I think setting it up as a Featherweight would be the ticket, considering the fact that the current stock configuration won't allow for a Renner conversion. Perhaps another stock then off to Renner? As you said, it's only money.

Wow, very cool to see that stock work. Congrats on a beautiful rifle.

The barrel on the MRC is about a #3 contour so the rifle in factory form is a tad muzzle heavy already. Lightening a wooden stock or just dropping it in a lightweight fiberglass stock without reducing the barrel weight would really unbalance things. For now it's okay as is until I can think of something - and replenish the play money fund a bit as well.

I completely agree. I'd like to compare the profile of the MRC barrel to a M70 standard to see if there's any difference. I've tried to get Jeff Sipe to consider putting together a Featherweight, but they seem to be going the way of synthetic stocks, 24 inch barrels, and muzzle breaks. Not everyone wants a Colorado Buck clone.

Anyway, you have a great looking rifle and I hope it shoots just as well. Have you tried the ergos with a scope? My eyes are so bad that any form of iron would be an exercise in very short-range shooting.

That turned out great!! Congrats!

Very cool, thanks for sharing.

The stock is definitely optimized for iron or peep sights so your head is down low with a good cheek weld but when mounting a scope the head position is about the same as when you put one on a lever action like a Marlin. It's not terrible, you can certainly still use a scope but you just have to raise your head a bit. The reflex sight shown in the pics is about as high as you want to go and still have a good natural mounting point on the stock.

It reminds me of my Husqvarna 46 in 9.3x57. It's about the best handling rifle I own.

That's a great hunting rifle. Ones like that inspired me to do this project. You see them at gunshows or Cabela's gun library, all walnut and milled steel but trim and graceful. Being left handed they just weren't suited to me so this Ruger is the next best thing.

I've thought about having that stock duplicated but from a nice chunk of walnut. It's like swinging a shotgun.

" but I seriously considered another 77 in 7X64 Brenneke just because of the German flavor."

Terry

The minute I saw all these pics, I'm wondering which one of my rifles I should give this treatment to... Then I remembered I have a Round top Tang Safety in 7x64 Brenneke... Oh Boy! I fear this is going to cost me some $'s