Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger 77/44 and 77/357 rifles

About as low as you want. I used the Ruger supplied rings to mount a Millett SP1 which was used to print the target previously posted. Note that target was fired offhand. It's a good system capable of fine accuracy beyond 100 yards. Bolt clearance is a non-issue with that particular sight.

My take on the rifle is that it's an effective tool. I use it when the weather sucks. The difference between the Ruger and a lever gun is not function or handling, it's just a personal choice. With the red dot it snap shoots as well as any of my leverguns, all of which have either a scope or aperture sights. Neck shot a buck some years back with the Win 94 in mid jump at about 15 yards...Williams aperture sight at play. I can do the same with the Ruger any day of the week.

Travis,

Had not thought about the silencer issue. That would be a bad mama jama in .44. 300 grain Keith bullet at 800 fps would make a heck of a meatpole filler, if it will cycle them. Where legal ofcourse.

FWIW, I did a fair bit of load testing with the 77/44, all with various paper patched bullets and round balls and over a broad range of velocities. Don't care much whether one uses GG or paper patch, but I would suggest lead for low velocity shooting. The more comical loads were with the round balls, being sized to .422" and patched to .430, both as single ball loads and multi-ball loads. They are useful, reasonably accurate and at low velocity fairly quiet without a muffler.

The 300 grain cupped base FRN bullet used in the loads peaked at about 1,400 fps insofar as accuracy went. They shot well at velocities in the 600 fps range but issued a rather odd flat report. They would be easy to silence. The target above was fired with a FBFRN 300 grain pure lead bullet paper patched over 17.0 grains of Li'l Gun and a card wad. Right around 1600 fps. Dunno you could shut that one up.

All in all, over 1,000 rounds thru the gun and it still shoots very well and with little attention required. Near about a perfect woods or truck gun by my experience.

Recovered from dead deer. Broke both forelegs:

After work last night, I got the new issue of Rifle. It has not just the 77/44 & 77/357 story
but also one on the 6.5 Creedmore. And John Barsness option on hunting rifle triggers. Good Stuff

My friend and I built one. (His money, my support) it was a beautiful, beautiful thing.

240gr going 950 fed great, absolutely silent, and plenty deadly.

I believe we tried the 300's but they would not stabilize in the factory tube. His was fully suppressed, not a can, and he saved a few bucks using the factory tube. If I do one, I would go with a Douglas and faster twist.


Travis

Travis, what twist is Ruger using in that gun? I ask because I've messed around with a few different 44's including an early model Ruger carbine. It had the 1-38" twist and barely stabilized 300gr XTP's at 50 yards. Anything beyond about 50 was a crap shoot. I settled on 270gr Speer Gold Dots (flat point) for my heavy in that particular gun.

I was under the impression that more recent models had gone to the 1-20" twist rate, which seems like it would stabilize the 300's for your buddy, depending on construction/shape. Maybe it was the low velocity and resulting lack of RPM?

Anyway, these Ruger rifles seem like they'd be a ball to play with, especially with a can on 'em. Unfortunately, my home state doesn't allow suppressors for hunting. Idiots.

Dan, I would be really interested to learn more about the various round ball loads you've put together. I've thought many times about buying some soft lead round balls about 3-5 thousandths larger than bore diameter for both my 44's and 357's and try to come up with a soft shooting, quiet load for pests and plinking.

His was a stainless, so it could not have been too old. I'm sure if you stood on them, you'd have the RPM but everything we were trying was 900-1000ish.

Texas did not allow them for hunting of game, but pigs ain't game...


Travis

Texas I believe just approved them this Spring.

My thought was that if you have to keep unde 100 fps to keep the sound down a heavier slug would be the medicine for it. I am with you on the custom tube for stabilization.

Sounds like a great set up though.

Scott, don't know how much I can help as I've no experience with nekkid round ball. A few suggestions if I may. Speer .430" round balls, lube with thinned Alox and dust with motor mica or graphite prior to seating. Start with 3 grains of Bullseye under the ball. Seat to ball equator and use a mild taper crimp or lacking that die a gentle kiss with a regular crimp die.

Somewhere around 2 grains of powder they sound like a healthy beer fart from a rifle. Dunno you'd expect that with a revolver. LPP primer BTW.

You might get some leading out of this if you try to run up the velocity.

You can make RBs run at 2400 fps but you can't hit a barn if you're standing inside.

Thanks Dan. One of these days I'm just going to take the plunge and try some round balls.

My plan was to go with a ball slightly over size, possibly using an unsized case if need be to prevent bulging the case mouth and to reduce the need for belling the case mouth. My thinking is that the slightly oversized ball will provide a bit more bearing surface when it swages down to fit the bore. More bearing surface should keep stripping down and help keep leading to a minimum.

That's my plan anyway.

Ruger CS answered my question yesterday, the stocks are NOT interchangable.

I don't have much experience with raw lead down barrels, being disturbed and all that. Little bit of shooting retail lead bullets in various guns over the years, not much more than that until recent times. Began the excursion away from jacketed bullets in earnest back in '99, mostly with paper patch. My life continues down that tortured path. Dunno what I'm going to do with 2 lifetimes supply of jacketed bullets, but I'll figure it out.

Regarding your plan, I doubt you need to oversize the balls to increase bearing surface if the velocity is mild. Best guess starting geometry for lead is groove diameter + .001". The barrel on my Ruger is .430 in the groove. My limited experience says if you keep the loads mild, stripping won't be an issue. When the balls engage the rifling there is some swagging involved right there, so you'll get some bearing surface improvement. A single ball is light and not hampered much by inertia or prone to develop great pressure for a given charge.

I drove some of the balls from the .44 fairly hard a few times and they shot well. Now they were paper patched, but that does not infer resistance to stripping, but does mitigate leading completely.

I would not speculate about how much pressure you can put on them before leading presents, but I ran the patched balls up to around 1,800 fps without stripping. 25 yard groups ran about 2" offhand. My recollection is the balls weighed something over 100 grains, give or take, and when I used the double ball loads I used load data appropriate for that weight. They printed as two groups, one more or less to POA, the second at 10 o'clock and about 6-8" out. Dunno why that was so but they were very consistent in that.

Was the 77/44 offered with a boat paddle Zytel stock? I think I'd have to have one! Whoa, how cool would a 96/44 in a Zytel stock be?
DMc

Dunno it was. I dunno. Might could put some pink on the stock and call it San Fran Camo?

77/44 is the only gun I got what has P.A.D.I. certification for cave divin'. It is easily humiliated in the harsh glare of sunlight.

The problem in mounting the scope on the Ruger is not the objective, its the eyepiece. The bolt locks up right in front of the rear ring. The Ruger has a high "bolt lift". You have to use medium rings in most cases to allow the bolt to lift and clear the eyepiece during cycling. That's a negative for me. But not one that would be a deal killer. From the reports I've read, the extra barrel length in getting users a additional 200fps over a revolver.

GB, when I first began working with the gun I had a Weaver K2.5 on board. That was over 10 years ago but I don't recall any problems of that sort. Used the rings supplied by Ruger, high, low, in-between, I dunno.

Ruger almost always supplies their Medium rings, which will allow you to mount up to a 42-44 mm objective. I usually send them back for the lows. I like my scope mounted as low as possible.

+1. I bought mine just after Christmas just because I like the way it feels in my hands... And I am left handed... Mounted an NECG rear peep on it to "keep it simple".

Finally took it out to sight it in this afternoon. .38 Spcl handloads with 158gr cast FRN bullets were shooting into about 1" two shot groups at 50 yards. Given that I am 55 years old and legally blind without my glasses, I figured that was pretty respectable.

Have 20 to 30 lbs of brass. Figure 2 cents for powder, 4 cents for primer, 14 cents for a cheap cast bullet, gets me 20 cents a round for hand loads. SIL has several hundred lbs of scrap lead pipe he uses for casting sinkers. Considering casting and tumble lubing which should get me down to about 6 cents per round for hand loads. Less than what I pay for premium .22LR ammo...

Just read Pearce's article last night. Left me wondering given the barrel "work" he had to do. I am more than content with my old Ruger Carbine 44 Mag. With some bedding wotk that I have done it is a consistent 2 1/2" gun at 100 yards with the 250 gr Partition. It is my truck gun in Idaho paired with my older yet 4 5/8" Flattop 44 Mag loaded the same.

Now that little rifle or similar in something like the 475 Linebaugh or 480 Ruger, now that would be fun.