Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger’s current 77/22 Hornet offering

I am looking at the 18.5” barrel option it’s factory threaded. I have a CZ 527 that’s a shooter, but I’ve never warmed up to the 527 fit and feel. Am I making a mistake if I can find a Ruger?

I purchased 3 NIB Ruger 77/22 Hornet rifles trying to find one that would shoot moa but I had no luck. I only had to buy 1 CZ 527 .22 Hornet to get a sub-moa shooter....just my .02....Good luck...Hb

The Winchester/Browning Low Walls and CZ 527 (discontinued) are my top picks and what I’d look for if I needed to replace mine. For less money, about half the price of the Ruger, look at the Savage 25. There are also Ruger No. 1s floating around.

Single shots allow you to seat pointy bullets out where they belong. My loads for my LW are about 1.91” using 40gr VMaxes.

If you have a nice 527, you’re a fortunate feller. I doubt the Ruger would be an improvement in any way.

Thanks guys for the reply’s. I know the 527 will be hard to beat for out of the box accuracy. Guess I was hoping that in recent years the Ruger’s had improved. I really like the Ruger’s magazine. Wished the 527’s magazine didn’t hang down out of the stock.

If you’re looking for a handy, nice looking gun with a nice functional magazine, the Ruger fits. If accuracy is important, don’t get the Ruger. I had several of them in 22H and one 17 hornet, 77/17. Accuracy was poor in all of them, despite trigger work, glass bedding, bolt shims, and multiple bullets and powders.
BTW, I have two Anschutz 22h that shoot well under one inch groups. And I also have a new Win 1885 22h that’s an inch shooter or slightly better.
That fugly box magazine on the CZ has kept me from buying one.

Get a SS follower from James Calhoun. No longer are you confined to mag length, and No more protruding mag. Although that has never been an issue for me.

Excellent idea. I had an Original Bob’s Sled for my 527 Grendel and it made life on the bench much easier.

Did Cooper stop offering Hornets?

Looked it up, it appears they no longer make them.

I know a lot of guys would get the Ruger, cut back, recrown and punch K hornet and have a shooter pretty well.

for all you guys that use a ss follower or bob sled for the cz-527 does it feed well. i've always been told the mini mauser action cz 527 has to be fed from a mag to operate correctly and to not single feed as the extractor has to snap over the case rim doing it like that.
Big Ed

“Bob” sent me one on approval. When I saw how well it worked, he got a check. You’re correct about the 527, but the sled puts the round in the right spot to get picked up. Very handy.

…. This is what I did😁

Thanks for the idea, I will pick one up and give it a try. I forgot all about Calhoun and his products.

I had a 77/22 Hornet that was a 1/2" shooter with everything I tried. I've heard that's not the norm. Not sure what if anything had been done to it in that I bought it used.

sad that current 22 hornet rifles have so much trouble shooting well. a friends ruger #1 has really great wood and is a under Moa shooter. his son has a ruger #3 and it is ugly but shoots as good if not better than the #1. I will stick to my mod. 70 Winchester . a pre war gun. it loves nosler 45 gr. hornet bullets!! I haven't found anybody that has a 70 that can't get it to shoot. turkeys hate it a lot. enjoy yours no matter and keep shooting. D O M I T !

One more for the Ruger fan club. Bought a used 77/22 in Hornet with a Nikon Buckmaster scope for $500. Sent it to Connecticut Precision Chambering for their accuracy job, rechambered to K, recrowned barrel, shimmed bolt, and did the trigger to 2 lbs. Total bill $225. Gun shot under an inch while fireforming factory ammo. Worked up a K load with LilGun and 40 gr Varminators at 3050 fps, under an inch. I want nothing more out of a gun.

I had a Ruger in Hornet, it was a disappointing.

I and a couple of buddies use the SS followers in 527s, no problemo.

The newer ones aren’t your grandpa’s Ruger Hornets; those two-piece bolts caused all kinds of accuracy misery. A few years back, Rifle magazine (I think) did a test of the 3 brands of Hornet rifles being produced then - CZ, Savage, and Ruger - and all shot surprisingly well, with no issues. I’ve owned Savage M40 and 25, H&R, and CZ (currently) rifles chambered in .22 Hornet. For the money and time wasted over the years switching between them, I now wish I’d just stayed with the old Savage 40. Even though it didn’t have a magazine (but you could load any bullet length), it was (relatively) cheap to buy/own, simple, reliable and accurate - just as a .22 Hornet should be.

that's a lot of work done for a very reasonable price.

I must have an oddball. My Ruger 77/22 RS Hornet shoots into an inch without anything done. Lil Gun Powder and Hornady 40 gr bullets.