Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger 77 Tanger Vortex Viper

My hunting bud has a way of running into bargains.

He and a friend went to an estate sale, bought three rifles, this Ruger with an old Redfield Widefield, was sorta thrown in for $250. He had earlier picked up the Vortex on sale, had it in inventory for a time such as this.

I lightened up the trigger, did about the best I could with a Ruger factory trigger. It's now 3 1/2 #'s with only a suggestion of creep, breaks pretty clean otherwise. Trigger pull was a lot heavier. I fixed the safety to not lock the bolt. He doesn't like that feature, so it's gone. He wants to load on safety.

The bore was dirty, cleaned it, although I can still see some carbon streaks with the Hawkeye. I hit it with Carb Out, but didn't get it all. Copper fouling is gone. Bore looks pretty good thru the bore scope, should shoot OK. Pard loves those old 77 Tangers. Sometimes rifles shoot better with some carbon, i.e. that famous "foul shot".

He commented it probably had spent most of it's life in the closet. I told him it was time for a "coming out party". It's a .270, he's not a Fire member, so he probably doesn't understand the full implication of that statement...

Not sure what he paid for the Vortex, but you can be sure it was a deal. $250 for this old 77 Tanger, IMO, was a steal. Action's worth more than that. And with his luck, I'll probably be a tack driver....He plans to put that old Redfield on a rimfire.

He mentioned steel wooling the stock and hitting it with a couple coats of Tru-Oil. It looks pretty good now, should look even better after that.

BTW, I'm impressed with this Vortex. Glass is as good as a Leupold VX-3i, the power selector is a lot easier to rotate and smoother. It has the BDC (MOA) reticle, I would have preferred a simple duplex, but this is the one that was on sale. It's a 3-9x40, Philippine mfg.

DF

The next time he finds one for $250 tell him to give me a call! 😂😇

The 2X7 and 3x9 Vortex Vipers are nice prefer them to Leupolds

For sure....

DF

That’s a nice rifle for 250.. I don’t run across those sorta deals often or honestly ever

Me either.

DF

Wrap an old bronze brush with some 0000 wool, load it with JB compound and go to it.

I got it in pretty good shape with lots of brushing and soaking with Patch Out.

DF

A hollow bolt too! Less of those sold than flatbolts.

A hollow bolt too! Less of those sold than flatbolts.

I had to get the rust and crud out of that bolt handle hole.

DF

That’s a hell of a deal for a hollow bolt. I bet it shoots great, probably much better chances of having an above average shooter being it’s a 270 of that vintage.

My pard seems to back into those kinda deals.

DF

I heard early barrels may have been Douglas. Later, Wilson before they started making their own.

DF

Hellava deal there. Nice snag. 👍

I read that the hollow bolt handle was briefly made in ‘71. Serial number either late ‘71 or early ‘72. And these rifles reportedly have Douglas barrels.

So, seems bud was pretty lucky.

Vortex Viper looks good on it.

Look forward to sighting it in. Bet it’s a shooter.

DF