Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger "Tangers" Advice

Not a 77, but my brother bought a Ruger 44 Magnum Super Red Hawk. The diameter of the barrel seemed to be somewhere between a 44 and a 45. It was on his estate sale. I warned friends not to bid on that revolver.

I don't hate Ruger's, it's just I've had more than my share of bad luck with them. I've always wanted a nice Ruger #1 but am scared that it might shoot 6 MOA with the best loads. BTW, I applied at Ruger for a quality control engineering job but didn't get it. I would have loved that job.

I read where some people love them and had good luck with them. It hasn't been so with me.

The Ruger Super Blackhawk may be one of the best revolvers ever made. They can go through terrible brush and abuse and continue to offer good results. I call them homestead hammers because they are built well enough to hammer nails in a pinch.

I have a 77 in a 270.. It has a tang safety.. Zero issues.. Buy killing deer with starting in the early 80s…

I got my 30-06 Tanger out of the safe the other day. I bought for $100 back in the 80s. Shoots great, smooth action. It spent two decades killing hogs and deer in South Florida and the Carolinas. Rain ,sweaty hands all over it and bouncing around on a swamp buggy. Metal still looks great. Its got one of those whippy thin barrels. First two shots always touch and the third is usually out to the right about an inch.
I got many other rifles these but I got no complaints with my Tanger. Frankly its my rifle that all the others where judged by.

I have an early '80's M77 in 7mm Rem Mag with a #75 prefix. The gun looks nice, but printed shotgun patterns out of the box. I had the trigger smoothed, the action bedded, and tried to work up some handloads. It still shot horribly. I sent it back to Ruger, and it came back shooting 2" groups. I hunted with it for a few years, but finally put it in the back of the safe to be forgotten.

It's true that my experience is only one data point. But when that data point is you, it makes a big impression. I did not touch another Ruger product for decades after that. I finally bought the wife a left-hand Hawkeye in .223 Rem off the "used rack" at the Cabelas in Billings, MT, a couple of years ago. There are not a lot of lefty options available, and it was priced right, so I took a chance. It shoots pretty good, but nothing to gush over.

I have a couple of Tangers I was given by my father and use them a fair bit. The limited COAL on the LA models is a bit of a pain, but I get by. The ergos have always suited me for a basic sporter platform.

My experience also with CF rifles.

Now 10-22's and 22 RF pistols are a different story. Have shot tens of thousands of rounds through them since the 80's.

[quoteBoarmaster123]I got my 30-06 Tanger out of the safe the other day. I bought for $100 back in the 80s. Shoots great, smooth action. It spent two decades killing hogs and deer in South Florida and the Carolinas. Rain ,sweaty hands all over it and bouncing around on a swamp buggy. Metal still looks great. Its got one of those whippy thin barrels. First two shots always touch and the third is usually out to the right about an inch.
I got many other rifles these but I got no complaints with my Tanger. Frankly its my rifle that all the others where judged by.[/quote]

I have the same thing with my 270.. 1st 2 gets your hopes up for a one hole at 100 yards… 😆

I got my Tanger 77 in 1980 NIB from a trade. It's in 280. At first it was vertically stringing shots. After free-floating the barrel and bedding the action it became a great shooter. It's my most accurate centerfire rifle.

Got a few Tangers have had good luck with them by checking the torque

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/4362689/Ruger_M77_torque_specs

Then a shim i have even used cut up pop or beer can shims infront of the lug if it is not shooting good try it then you can put some bedding there.

I have free floated the barrel and shimmed in that spot with real good luck.


Only one rifle a 338 Mag i could not get down to touching doing this. It ended up getting a new barrel on it.

Love my 77's

But now hunting i got this crazy rifle that i take everywhere hunting and the old Tangers are becoming safe queens.

My 257 AI Tanger is as accurate as they come and love that rifle.

But the Nula has won me over and the little 257 will have to sit for a bit until this fasanation cools.