Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger 77/44

Just picked one of these up the other day. Put a 2x7 scope on it. Nice little rifle so it seems. Can anyone date the rifle #740 40685. Interested on what others think of this gun. Figured I'd use it in Ohio for deer. thanks

2014

Nice handy little rifles. The .44 is a good deer killer within its range limitations.

They aren't balanced very well for offhand shooting IMHO, and the triggers generally need work as well. I had one for a while, killed a deer with it, but traded it off for something I liked better. We don't have any of those pesky limitations on rifles here, and other cartridges are more versatile.

Contact Ruger about the date if you must, or go googling. I can't see a reason to myself, as they're not rare, and have zero collector interest so far as I know.

Ruger website has serial number search for date.

Thank you for the information. Looking forward to shooting it.

I'm in Iowa so I ended up with 3 ruger 44 carbines. Shot 2 river bottom deer. One 8 pts and big doe. 60 yards in the river bottoms. Both one shot bang flop. I know it's not a 77 but i was just relating that I found the 44 mag in a rifle configuration to be light and handy. I used hornady 240 gr xtp

They suck.







I cheat.







Stuff dies.



I use a Millett red dot.

I've owned a couple of 77/44's both were early models that had good triggers, I loaded 240 gr. XTP's in mine too and got accuracy like the target shown in the above post. I shot a young whitetail buck with my BIL's rifle using Winchester white box 240's, it was a bang flop @ 30 yds. never knew what hit him. I scoped both my rifles with Leupold 4x compacts though if I were to do another the 2-7x compact would be my choice.

Thank.yoj. hope mine shoots as well.

On the newer ones, a simple trigger job makes a huge difference. The volquartsen 77/22 sear kit is a 5 minute job that makes a world of difference. Some also do bolt shimming on the 2 piece bolt, but that is less dramatic of an improvement.

The 44 Magnum is a decidedly good deer killer within its range. A 240 grain Remington JHP will sail right through smaller coastal deer, and wreck its innards in the process. The two 77/44s I have owned were frustratingly inaccurate. Certainly accurate enough for deer. I have since learned that bolt shims can work wonders. The rifles themselves are a dream to handle. The recoil never bothered me, though some commended that it was more brisk than anticipated.

my experience is that they are great handling little carbines. one of my favorite in that respect.

the downside is that they dont have a good ballistics to recoil ratio. and the triggers usually need work. mine was very innacurate out of the box, but as you can see others have done very well with them.

I picked one up just before Christmas. Threw a 3-9x40 meopta on it that I had laying around. It stacks 240gr bullets with boring regularity. Trigger is kinda stiff but I plan to put the volquartsen kit in it when I get the chance. Killed a little 5 point with it new years eve at 30yds. Bang flop. Very low recoil and noise to me. Some say they recoil more than a 30-30 but to me its way less. Would make a great kids gun imo. Here in swamps in SC its about as perfect as it can be.

I love mine. Had it shimmed and the barrel threaded. I take it to stands that present shots 100 yards or less. As those above have noted, they handle well in stands, especially in tight quarters and are minute of deer accurate every time.

I love mine. Had it shimmed and the barrel threaded. I take it to stands that present shots 100 yards or less. As those above have noted, they handle well in stands, especially in tight quarters and are minute of deer accurate every time.