Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters How come Ruger 77`s get no respect????

I always liked the 77`s.Most I had were fairly accurate.Triggers suck,but are fixable.Main problem is resale.They do not command anywhere near the resale of a Winchester or Remmy.So are they the Rodney Dangerfield of Rifles????

Investment cast receivers turn some guys off...

Always wondered that too...why do investment cast recievers turn them off?

Don't know don't care. Let them hate....Keeps prices down and the dumb [bleep] can keep using their unsafe pos remingtons...

They don't lend themselves to backyard gunsmiths, and "customizing".

How boring to buy a rifle, leave it as manufactured - and actually be successful in hunting and shooting.

Need evidence? Ruger 10/22.

Never had a problem with 77s myself, buying cheap and selling high is not beyond realm of possibles. Ruger has a knack for making guns a bit clunky and I think that goes to both wood and metal. Lighter/slimmer/svelte would help. Oh, and screw their short barreled guns. Truly.

The short action 77's don't stick around long when advertised for sale, but the long actions (especially in 30-06) just struggle to bring a sale, even at a modest price. You can have a very nice 77 for sale -- entact, and operable -- alongside a Remington action-only for the same amount of money, and the Remington action will probably sell first.

Six-months later, the "custom" Remington will have two-grand tied up in it, and won't outdo the $450.00 Ruger (if the "build" is complete).

In my case it was because I hadn't tried them in a long, long time. My opinion was based on the crappy barrels they used to use.

I owned one Model 77 in the early 80's and it sucked. Heavy barrel .25-06 and it grouped around 2" with everything - this was supposed to be a varmint rifle!? A friend had a .220 Swift from the same era, it was okay but not great, nowhere near the accuracy of out of the box Remingtons of that era.

Fast forward 30 years. Ruger came out with a run of LH stainless 77's in a short action. I got a .308, it shot good out of the box. After free floating, bedding and a trigger job (they do require that IM limited E) it shot terrific. The trigger is crisp and breaks right at 3 lbs.

So I got another LH stainless 77, a .25-06. Same-same. Shot good out of the box (good as in 1 1/4" or so), with some bedding, floating and lightening the trigger it shoots great. 3 shot groups hovering either side of 1/2" are not uncommon.

Just bought another one two days ago from Bud's. I'll be buying more. Plus, I think so highly of these rifles I'm getting custom stocks made for the ones I have. These will be based on the factory stock with just a few modifications to fit my shooting hand better.

They are rugged, reliable, accurate enough and with minimal tweaking can be outstanding.

Their handguns have always commanded my respect, now their rifles are getting the same.

Dat was mean...

My first hunting rig was a 77 in 30/06 and I still have it, albeit as a 6.5/06 now, since I shot that barrel out.

The hit a home run with the Hawkeye stock, my slimmer. The original tang stocks were clubby, especially love the 1/2" wide flats on either side of the barrel.

Yeah, I ended up remodeling some of the original stocks just because they were so clubby. They lightened up nicely, though.

In my experience the barrels of the tang-safety weren't nearly as bad as some people believe. My first was a .30-06 and it turned out to be very accurate, as did those on several other rifles, including a pair of sporter-weight .220 Swifts. The only tang-safety 77 I still own is one of those Swifts, and it will group five of most 55-grain bullets into around 1/2" at 100, exactly how small depending on the bullet.

But a few of the barrels truly did suck, and if you got one (especially right off the bat) then your general opinion of 77's would certainly be prejudiced. Ruger started making their own hammer-forged barrels about 20 years ago, and the accuracy has been very good ever since.

The tang-safety 77's aren't used for many custom rifles, but I did have a .300 Winchester Magnum made off one about 10 years ago by Charlie Sisk, who knows how to work on 'em. It was VERY accurate, and the only reason I don't have it anymore it my magazine editors got sick of reading about it. I've always liked the tang safety a lot more than the present side-safety.

This morning (as I wait for wind to subside - hopefully), I have a Rem 722 sitting in a vice, with compound all-but dry, after a trigger adjustment, and tweaking this, and polishing that. I have at the ready, a 700 in customized 204 that has more money tied up in than should be allowed - and then one bone stock early 77 in 243 Win that are ready to go to a range session.

The 243 has never had a wrench (other than an allen for trigger pull adjustment) on it, and shoots itty-bitty groups with 80, or 100-grain bullets of all type. How can a person be all knowing when all you have to do is use it?

Yesterday I picked up a custom based on a tang safety M77. Brown Precision built it using one of their stocks, unknown after market barrel. It had been sitting in the rack for more than five months. Was told customers weren't interested because it was on a Ruger action. Cost for this 6# rifle was not much more than the price of a Brown Precision stock. In fairness, I haven't shot it yet and it was used.I won't get a chance to shoot it for a week, but am pretty sure there won't be any problems.

Mako I had a mint .22-250 just like you described your .243....so of course, I sold it.

We have more 77's we hunt with than any other rifle. Nice gun for the money. Resale doesn't really matter to me because the way they shoot I'm not planning to sell any of them.

The 77 is my favorite action for a hunting rifle now, but I had to hold my nose and wade through several experiences with bad barrels before coming to that conclusion. The 3 tang safety 77's I had way back when were good shooters but I didn't care for the stock or the push-feed design.

I had 3 early 77MKII's and, lucky me, won the bad-barrel lottery with each one. They truly sucked in the accuracy department.

I now have 2 of the later 77MKII's and they are great rifles. The action is strong, safe, slick, feeds well and they shoot accurately.

I like them and if had to replace any of my rifles over that is what I would buy. The 77 was heavy, but the Hawkeye slimmed em down. Like said, my Remingtons have a bunch of money in them and other than weight, no improvements (well ok they look good).

Seriously,

how many Rem 700s have you had problems with?

We've discussed this a little before and I think you have drunk the kool ade of the ?press?

Since 1975 (IIRC) I've had MORE 700s than any other brand/model. I've not had ONE SINGLE problem of ANY sort.

I have a long time close friend that got 1 that had a burr in the chamber. Gunny fixed in a heart beat.


About the 77s. I've had em and got over em. Ain't looking for one.

I've never owned a Remington. But if I did I'd just swap out the trigger for a Timney if I was concerned...

I own one Ruger 77 and like it very much.

I never seen a Ruger do this...?