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

Or, mein ersatz Vorkriegsdeutsches Sportgewehr by R. J. Renner. Some folks on the original thread for these asked me to report back about this so here you go. Read the details or skip to the pictures and captions.

Before going further a big shout out to Roger, the R of R.J. Renner. He is a great guy to work with, very friendly and helpful and loves to talk about guns. He knows a lot about this subject and is an excellent craftsman. He suggested a few things here and there for authenticity and also saved me a good bit of money by modifying the existing metal finish on my rifle when I was going to have it completely reblued. In the past I’ve worked with cantankerous gunsmiths and stockmakers that sometimes weren’t as good as they said they were but Roger is top notch in my book.

He didn’t ask me to post this, btw, but here’s his website.
http://www.rjrenner.com/about-us.html
If any of you have looked before he’s added some more options and pictures of different rifles besides Rugers he works on. He can even turn a Remington Model 700 into something that looks like an old time Jaeger might have used.

Basically the whole idea is to turn your modern Model 77 or other rifle into something that looks like a new pre-war Mauser Sporter that was stored away for 90-100 years. Since I never have been able to find those LH original Mausers at gunshows this appealed to me quite a lot.

The end result is extremely pleasing to my eye but it’s not just cosmetic, not by a long shot. Those pre-war German Sporters were slender and lively rifles and Roger tries to capture that in his work. The subtle changes in dimensions really make a big difference in handling. That can’t be shown in pictures but with the reshaped stock the rifle has a lithe and lively feel that, well, you just have to feel it to see.

Details:
Stock Ruger Model 77 Hawkeye .30-06
Timney trigger I installed for a crisp 2 pound pull.
Factory slotted screws replaced with hex head screws (free from Ruger)
R. J. Renner "pre-war 77“ treatment:
- Reshape the forend to a short, slim schnabel and rechecker.
- Add a barrel mounted sling swivel stud dovetailed and soldered in place.
- Thin and recontour the stock around the action leaving the raised panels.
- Lower and shorten the nose of the comb, recontour and slim the pistol grip and recut factory checkering.
- Lightly polish the bolt to remove the dull factory gray and give it an "in the white“ look.
We added a couple of extra touches, a steel grip cap and his "vintage“ finish. The rifle came with a 1“ black recoil pad but the stock had not been cut so I got a red pad factory replacement from Ruger (again for free, thanks Ruger!) which was installed to a factory LOP of 13 ½“.
NECG ghost ring rear peep with their Masterpiece banded ramp front sight.
Unloaded weight with sights before reshaping was 7 lbs 7.5 ounces, after reshaping it comes in at 7 lbs 3 oz.



The longer story:

Back in February Cigar posted a thread here titled "Have you seen this?“ and linked to Roger’s website, showing how he converts Ruger #1’s, 3’s and 77’s into "faux“ Rigby stalking rifles and Mauser styled pre-war German sporters. I thought that was too cool for school and contacted Roger about building one for me. I requested a work order in late February to reserve my place in line and Roger emailed the first week of May that he was ready to start work on this. I shipped it off to him on May 6th with a deposit and it arrived back here on June 17th. It’s worth noting that the rifle was shipped the same day as my final payment arrived, in fact according to tracking the payment arrived at 11:30 AM and the rifle was sent priority mail around 2:30 that afternoon.

The original plan called for converting a LH Model 70 but after a few false starts with three different rifles whose stock dimensions were incorrect or unsuitable for one reason or another I found the perfect candidate in the Classifieds here for a very reasonable price – a LH Ruger 77 Hawkeye with very decent factory wood in my most favoritest all time caliber, .30-06, and as a bonus it had an NECG Masterpiece banded ramp front sight already installed. I didn’t have time to do any load workup but tested some "loads that work“ from other rifles. Initial results show this to be a typical recent manufacture Ruger, definitely sub-moa for four shots with the best group at 5/8“ so far. More load workup may shave that some but honestly I'd be happy as is. The rifle is to be used with peep sights so even if 5/8" is the best it will do that's fine with me, I couldn't shoot a group that tight with a peep anyway.

Normally you can do a nice trigger job on Ruger 77’s but since this was going to be something special I sprang for a new Timney trigger. Took a while to file down the safety tab but it fits perfectly now and has a very clean break at 2 pounds with just enough overtravel for reliability. I may adjust it a bit heavier but will leave it there for now while I do more load workup. The safety goes on and off very smoothly but the trigger absolutely does not move when it is applied.

Same idea about it being something special went toward a couple of extra cost options in having Roger acquire and install a steel grip cap and apply his vintage finish instead of a standard hunter finish. As I understand it the vintage finish is a custom blend for each rifle that is feathered in darker toward the metal to simulate the darkening of wood from oil. Same with the metal finish – he can do a "faux rust blue“ but my rifle had the older rough matte finish Ruger put on their rifles for a couple of years, the one that scratches so easily. Roger has a "secret and proprietary“ method he uses to turn that into a more durable satin looking finish like rust blue. I know what the method is but have been sworn to secrecy on pain of death.

Turn around time for this project including shipping was just at six weeks and I understand it would have been closer to one month but the guy who does his checkering had been on vacation and had to work through a backlog.


I’m no great photographer but have tried to capture the rifle as well as I can. You really have to see it up close to notice some of the finer touches such as the subtle darkening of the finish in the corners of the stock sculpturing and the sharp ridge centered on the schnabel tip that blends perfectly into the round forearm. The wood on the factory stock is pretty nice, that was a lucky find. Not XX fancy or anything but with a very nice grain. The new finish on it gives it a more natural wood color and really shows off the grain as much as possible.

However, before this gets started, a question. When you take your brand newly refinished rifle out for pictures the day after you get it, what’s the very first thing you do?


































That’s right, you put a big *&@#*#% scratch in it right on the nicest side of the wood!

But now that the crying is out of the way, on to the pics.

This is what it looked like before, a standard LH Ruger Hawkeye.




This is what it looks like now, a Ruger Hawkeye done up as a pre-war style German Sporter. This and the pic above show a good comparison of the grip and comb area before and after. That small change makes a world of difference in the overall feel of this rifle - I am really happy with the results.

Before and after pictures.

Part of the process was to lower the comb a bit and move the nose back. This is done to provide a better head position for open sights but also to give more room for the shooting hand.

Before – this is where my hand naturally falls on a factory Hawkeye when my finger is positioned properly on the trigger. The thumb is draped over the comb and it never was comfortable.






The nose was about 2 ½“ behind the tang.





After – my hand now has plenty of room. The grip was also slimmed down and then recheckered.



This also shows some of the detail where the grip was slimmed down and contoured into the stock.




The nose of the comb is now right about 3“ behind the tang. The top of the pistol grip was contoured to maintain the original curvature and transition into the comb.

Before and after pics showing the forend and butt stock. Note the different chackering pattern on the pistol grip. I don't know if the old checkering was completely erased and recut or if some was saved and more checkering blended in. Either way it fits the new slender contour very nicely.













Showing better detail of how the grip was slimmed and the transition from action to grip.


Same pic as above but this shows how the wood was removed and contoured immediately behind the bridge and again around the tang.

Not the greatest pics but i tried to show how the forend was slimmed.

I debated about having the raised panels or not. To be honest I’m not enamored of them but they are traditional for this style of rifle. Mostly I was worried that they’d stick up and always be annoying to my hand when gripping the rifle, but they are only about 1/16“ or .06“ high and not obtrusive at all. Plus, now that I look at them in person they’re growing on me and add some detail to what would be a flat surface.



This pic also shows the lightly polished bolt. The original Ruger bolts are a dull gray, we wanted to give this an "in the white“ look since several types of German rifle bolts were left unblued as well.



A good picture of the contouring around the triggerguard and floorplate. Notice the darkening on the right here, that is part of the "vintage“ finish which gives it the appearance of age. The stock was contoured around the front and back of the floorplate and they really add a nice touch of class.



A better view in sunlight.



Detail of the forend schnabel and checkering, which is 20 lpi.

More fence post pics.

Blasphemie! Schändung!

The traditionalists are spinning in their graves at the thought of this, a modern reflex sight on a pre-war sporter. But I have to say this may be what I end up with. The front sight is a fiber optic which works well on a strictly field/hunting rifle although the way the NECG sight is set up the blade can be changed out quickly to a bead or straight post. At 64 I can still use the peep sights very well – IF the barrel is long enough to get the front sight out far enough from my eyes.

But the reflex sights like this Fastfire III do not place any such restrictions on my vision, have a wide range of adjustment and there's no need to match front and rear sight heights. It looks a bit odd but it’s not terrible and it retains the advantage of light weight and doesn’t interfere with grasping the rifle around the balance point. Early 20th Century – meet early 21st Century.

And that's all. Hope you enjoyed the pics and write up.

That's waaaay cool!
Thanks!
Enjoy it and good luck with it!
Tom

Nice.

Stock weight before and after would be interesting.

Bruce

Didn't weigh the stock separately but the total weight change was 4.5 ounces lighter. All of the weight came out of the wood except for whatever that barrel stud adds back on and the difference in the recoil pads.

Interesting!

So, how is that reflex sight going to work out for hunting? Will you be able to use it beyond 150 yards or so?

I think it actually looks pretty good as it sits. It got me to thinking that maybe one day they'll offer a reflex sight of even smaller dimensions. Some of the old target aperture sights were pretty significant in size. If they could reduce a reflex sight to similar dimensions or less, they ought to be pretty practical.

Super cool project.

I've been using a Fastfire 3 on a Ruger 77 .308 shooting at a 12x12" steel plate at 200 yards and it's fine for that. The 3 MOA dot covers 6" at that range so you just put it on the middle of the gong and fire away. The limitation on range for a sight like that is really determined by two things, how far away you can see and distinguish your target and the point blank range of your cartridge, sort of. You can hold over some but it's not that great since at any range where you start to need holdover for a modern bottle neck round the dot subtends so much it blocks out a lot of the target and these sights are really at their best when you keep both eyes open and just paste the dot where you want to hit.

The whole concept here is not for a long range rifle, there are tons of those to choose from these days that are better suited. As a blurb on the Renner website noted the rifles are for the hunter who still likes to stalk a bit closer to the game. For the past few years I've been shooting quite a bit with peep sighted centerfires and even with older eyes can still bust 5-7" diameter rocks at anywhere from 150 up to 250 yards from the kneeling position with a dead on or slightly low hold so wouldn't hesitate to take a shot at a deer sized or larger animal in the clear at up to that range. I should note that only once ever in my life have I shot a big game animal at more than about 220 yards with the vast majority less than 150. Again, the only real limitation within the rifle's point blank range is how well you can see and distinguish the target.

Beeyooteefull!!! That is some fine craftsmanship. Enjoy!

I'll take it!

Seriously that's an interesting gun, I like how you thinned the grip. The Ruger's never felt right to me either there.

I like too, though I would go the Rigby route for myself. His approach on a Remington 700 is really cool

How do you like the NEGC sight?

I like it!

See, now I'm wondering how working over the comb, slimming and doing the wood panels would look on one of these?