Had a chance to buy a barely shot used one the other day for a great price.

Seems like it’ll be a great little thick cover/short range hog/deer rifle.

For those that have used/shot them, what’s your take?

I just bought one also and mounted a Leupold 1.5-5 scope on it. That scope fits with low rings and no changes to the open sights. The Ruger 77/xx rifles are a great fit for me and are a pleasure to shoot offhand.
The last of my ammo order arrived today. Will be shooting Hornady 225's and 300's, Winchester 240's and PPU 300's. I'll be shooting it as soon as the weather cools a little. I'll post what ammo it likes best. I'll be interested to hear how yours does.

I was trying to get to the range today, but didn’t pan out.
I’ll post back my results with iron sights and possibly add a red dot.

I have owned a couple of 77/44's and have been very satisfied with accuracy and performance on whitetails, I handload mine using Hornady 240gr. XTP's. My BIL owns one and between him and his son and other family members his rifle has accounted for 25+ Hoosier whitetails, he shoots Winchester white box 240gr. loads from Wallyworld. I have replaced the Ruger pad that's hard as a brick with a Pachmyer Decelerator which makes a big improvement.

Wow, that’s a great track record.

I don’t plan on using mine past 100 yards

The two I owned were very disappointing from an accuracy standpoint. They were 50-yard rifles at best.

Did you have to grind a pad to fit or does Pachmyer make a pad that fits the 77/44 without alteration?

Fingers crossed I don’t have that issue

A huge improvement is to change the sear and spring. 5 minute job and it makes the trigger way better.

wish mine hadnt shot patterns. they are the handy-dandiest rifles out there.

Been shooting one since around '98. Red dot sight and it runs about 1.5 MOA with 300 gr paper patch and Lil Gun. Never had to shoot anything twice.

I've been shooting a 77/357 for a while now, mainly with the kids using 38 specials and iron sights lately. A lot of fun. Previously I had a 1-4 scope on it but never really shot it for accuracy or tried to find a load for it.....it's not the type of rifle I'm worried about 1" groups with. It seemed respectable enough with .357 loads when sighting the scope in, good enough to hunt with at shorter ranges. I'd think a fair amount could be gained by going with a laminate stock, fitting, and bedding it securely.....maybe worth trying full length bedding.

I had one. It was very handy to carry while hunting the thick stuff, and packed a surprising punch. Don't sell a .44 Mag rifle short when loaded with a heavy cast bullet.

I had changed sear and spring, then shimmed the bolt. With the load I was shooting, I could count on 1.5 to 2 inch groups at 100 yards. That would've been a long shot in the terrain I hunted with it.

L'il gun and a 300 grain Beartooth WFN at just under 1600 fps shot through every deer I shot with it, from any angle.

Recoil was surprisingly stout, looking at the little rifle and cartridge.

That rifle falls into the group of "Just why in hell did I sell it?".

I traded mine on something that turned into a "forever" rifle, so no regrets, but wouldn't mind another. At about half the price, one of the Henry SSs might work too.

Good question you pose there.

I had one for a while. Thought it would make a good big brother to my 77/22 Mag.
No matter what load or tweaking I did, it would not shoot better than 4.5" groups at 100 yds with scope.

I just was not happy with that so it has moved on.

I got one of the blue/walnut 77/44's back when they first appeared on the scene, and i liked the feel, balance, etc...but accuracy turbo-sucked & it averaged 3-5" 3 shot groups at 50 yards on a good day with most hunting loads.

When the stainless 77/357 came to be, i gave that one a try & it was considerably better....i've packed it around quite a bit since then & i like it quite a lot.
When i later found a stainless 77/44 i gave it a second chance, and that one turned out to be a nice shooter, with quite a few 200/240gr loads clustering at around an inch at 50 yards.

I stuck 1-4x glass on both, and i pack around the .357 & the .44 quite a bit when running around on the farm....very handy package.

The one I had was as well. I was pretty disappointed in it. It was an older model though. I'd give it another try on a newer one.

eblake, not quite apples to apples but I have a model 92 Browning lever action 20" barrel 1:38 twist. A few points- and wonder if you find the same with your Ruger:
1. the 225 FTX - Lever Revolution???? ammo shot great - BUT did not like its on game performance. Multiple hogs shot - one large axis doe at close range. They don't seem to open up- or at least, anchor animals well. (I know I will get flamed and the usual responses....just telling you what I have seen with them). Not the only one reporting same for this particular load. Not writing off all other Lever revo's....

2. I tried shooting lighter bullets and found the lower I went the wilder the groups spread. 300 grain bullets shot well and most did ok down to 225. 200 grain less so and anything under were slinging everywhere -and I mean wildly.
Perhaps the added velocity of the longer barrel plays into it. My older eyes have me keeping this a 50 yard gun. Surprising accurately. Got me some 240 Hornady xtp I plan to try.

3. I had not tried 44spc in mine though by all accounts it will cycle in both our rifles. I consistently hear it won't be as accurate as Magnum loads- just fyi. A shame because my steel butt plate.....is a steel butt plate!

Good luck to you and the OP on his new purchase. Should be fun.

I recently picked up a 77/44 with the intent of having it chopped and threaded for use as a supressed subsonic thumper. I haven't gotten it to the range yet, but did go ahead and install a spring and shim kit from MCARBO. The bolt only took a .001 shim to get as tight as I wanted it, and the spring dropped the trigger pull weight from 5.5 lb to 4.5 lb. I might wind up getting the Volquartsen sear as well to drop the trigger more.

I did get around to loading up some 305 gr cast HPs (sized to .432, I've heard that the 77/44 bores run big) over W231 last night. Hopefully they shoot ok, I'm really only looking for ~3 moa from this rifle once it's finished.

I have 3 Ruger 44 carbines semi autos. One scoped, one iron sights and one is the model with the factory peeps. It is a long story on how I ended up with 3 but I have $1200 bucks wrapped up in 3 so I figure $400 a unit is not a bad price position to keep them so my estate can sell them and make a few bucks. Ha Ha! I shot 2 whitetails in the river bottoms of Iowa last year. All three shoot well and have not found a load they do not like as long as you are shooting the hotter stuff. I ended up with a Marlin 336 in 44 rem mag also. Have not shot it much so I can not attest to its accuracy but will report back after I shot it.

The local big box store Scheels had a 44 Ruger lever gun for $550 awhile back. I should of bought it. I like the 44 mag.for hunting. The bolt gun like you have is a nice platform. I am sure you will like it.

I’ve got one of the synthetic stainless ones very compact and light kicks like a mule with hot magnum loads kicks and sounds like a 22 mag with 44 sold loads good accuracy with either

Anyone have feedback on the little brother.... 77/357
Rifle?

I wish I could get the 77/357
In a nice wood stock.

It's no tack driver but I like mine. Most accurate factory load I've found so far is Blazer Brass 158s which does 3 inch groups at 100 yards. Put a Volquartsen sear in it to drop the trigger from 5.5lbs to just under 3lbs.

i shoot mine a fair bit....when i first tested assorted factory loads in mine, i found it didnt care for the majority of stuff i tried. But the Win Silvertip HP, shot great....but those are about $1 a pop.

Already had a bunch of handloads used in my other .357rifles (contender carbine, H&R handy rifle, and 1885 lo-wall.). Some time ago, Brian Pearce had published some peppy hodgdon lil gun loads in handloader,
and i found the Sierra 150JHC with a max load of lil gun shot pretty well, 3 shots into 1.5" at 100. But, i still havent found any 170/180gr loads that shot really well.

And, that 150gr bullet was discontinued, still got 200 of 'em loaded, after that i'll go back to trying other assorted weights.

Just bought one. Gonna put a can on it.

I assume you're going to run it with 38spl loads. Be aware that even at 25 yards the difference in POI between .357 and 38spl is significant. Finding that out really changed my planned use of the rifle.

The one I am keeping an eye open for it the Ruger M96 lever action. Maybe I can find someone who would trade for some gunsmithing or is interested in muzzleloaders.
Why? I don't really have a good reason. There is nothing that rifle can do that I can't do as well or better with something I already have. I just like them.

I know a man in AZ that has one and he likes it a lot. His groups into about 2 MOA and for a handgun cartridge I think that's all I would ever ask for.

My friend Randy has a marlin M94 that I worked over and lapped the bore on. It shoots just over MOA and he absolutely loves the gun. A group that small at 100 yards is a delight, but in all truth it is not going to any more useful for killing deer out to the practical range of a 44 mag then one that shot 2 MOA. Neither is a long range rifle.

I used to own a Browning M92 in 44 mag and it also shot to about 2MOA. I sold it to get moving money, but I did kill deer and antelope both with it, as well a a few dozen coyotes and one Mt. Lion, and I never has a complaint. The 44 from a handgun is quite effective and only more so from a rifle. They are wonderful little carbines to carry around in the thick weeds of timber.

Well the 44 mag is a short range proposition. But my experience with multiple Ruger rifles is that accuracy is nearly non existent. I won’t ever own another.

That's why I got my 77/44, it's not liking cast subs so far, so that's a bit of a problem.

Have wanted a Ruger 77/44 for years but have a Browning B92 in .44 Mag. It shoots great - better than needed for the .44's effective range, so no need for the Ruger. They sure look nice, though, especially in stainless.

I had one of the Marlin 1894P's (Blue, 16.x inch barrel, straight grip), I scoped it and tried 3 or 4 loads for it and I could outshoot it with my (unscoped) RugerRedhawk, so I sent it down the road.

Wish I had not, as now I have the time to tinker with it and it was the handiest little rifle I have ever handled.

Jerry