Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Ruger 77/22 mods

I’ve got an old V-block 77/22 that id like to modify, looking for a threaded aftermarket barrel, stock of some sort, chassis maybe, and trigger. Anybody have any leads? I haven’t found any good stock options, so I thought I’d ask

Send the barreled action to Randy at CPC and ask for the works and to have the end of the barrel threaded fo a suppressor.

^^^ YES!

Randy has touched all my 10/22’s and they all shoot.

I just looked at his site, I may send him the bolt, but I did order the Tac-Sol SBX, they had them on sale on their site for $170, and that will keep the length with a can manageable. Thanks for the info though, looking forward to using this rifle.

If you don't like the Tac-Sol barrel and want to see it let me know.

Just curious, is your rifle a blued model, All Weather or the Varment series?

Blued wood, got the SBX on it and installed the bolt shim from triggershims.com. Took a .004” shim, highly recommend that kit, easy to install and cheap.

This ^^^^

Turned my good shooter into a great shooter. If it doesn't work for you you will be out $10.

So how does it shoot?

.3 - .4 at 50 off the bench, shoots better than I can

Mine only took the .002 shim or the bolt wouldn’t close with the .003. Not sure that it is going to make that much difference.

Does changing ammo cause problems if you shimthe bolt.
I'm guessing it does, but haven't gotten around to shim mine yet.

I never thought of that. I shimmed mine using one of those blue look alike cartridges. Honestly when I looked at the gap between the two bolt halves, I thought that mine would take a lot larger shim than .002. I remember reading here that one of the members on another thread used a .005 in his and that is where I started from. My 36 grain Winchester hp’s chamber and shoot fine and since my normal red squirrel range is about 30’ it hasn’t made a difference.
My one tip about shimming the bolt is to remember not to turn the two halves of the bolt too far back or you will need a lot of hand strength to overcome the firing pin spring tension to get it back to where it belongs. Been there and done that.

I have never had a 77-22 but do own a 77-22WMR (since converted to 17HMR).

Barrel was not threaded but slides into receiver & held in place with V block. Does the presence of a V block not mean your barrel is not threaded? If so, you can buy an aftermarket barrel that will plug right in. My 17HMR barrel is from Lilja and is scary accurate.

What does shimming the bolt do?

The bolt is 2 piece and locks in the back.
Ruger makes them to crappy tolerances and there is movement .

When you chamber a rimmed round, there is movement between the bolt
haves and tolerances between the bolt face and the cartridge rim(headspace).

The bolt slop makes for excess headspace, and even sloppy inconsistent headspace.

Shimming the bolt (between the halves) effectively lengthens the bolt until it almost pinches
the rim between the bolt face and the chamber. Almost zero headspace, no slop.


Rim fire ammo is notorious for sloppy tolerances, so add that to a sloppy
gun and the best barrel is handicapped.

My question was di you run into thicker rimmed ammo binding up after you shim?

Not to start a war, but this fits in with my condemnation of Ruger.

"They too often, almost, build a really good gun."
It seems like so often they have what should be a benchmark, great gun.
But there are cottage industries around fixing stupid stuff like this they
should have figured out and fixed years ago. But they don't.

Are you saying every 77/22 needs to be shimmed?

I have one, havent messed with it for a long time, never shimmed it.
Nor any others. I do know it's common among guys trying to
get top accuracy.
Some friends went through it for indoor bench.
Then they mostly went to CZ's.

One of those, "one of these days I should..." deals.

Every would insinuate every single one ever made, using that, probably not.

If you have one and think it could/should shoot better, try it.

I need to, can make plastic shims from various thicknesses of Mylar.
Time off coming up, maybe I will?

I shimmed my 77/17 hornet. It didn’t noticeably improve accuracy. It’s obviously not a rimfire.

I love it when people trash Ruger as it has given me plenty of opportunities to own some fine firearms. I have owned 9 77/22 rifles and not one did I feel the need to shim. Good hunting/plinking accuracy, not bench rest competition accuracy mind you, but good accuracy as aforementioned. Sold six at a profit, gave two to family members and kept one with both excellent accuracy and good furniture.

Some members at the local gun club joined the shim camp, but only one offered before and after target results. Another acquaintance showed me before and after targets after shimming. Accuracy was lousy and he promptly removed the shim.

My current no shim 77/22.