I have a Ruger 77 V in 243 chambering. It has the old dogleg style bolt handle. Serial number is 70-701XX. When I look it up on the Ruger website, it can't be found. From the number range, I assume it was made in 1973. Can Mule Deer or anyone else help out? Also - I think (hope) this rifle may have a Douglas barrel. I think it was made during the transition period from Douglas to Wilson. Any help will be appreciated.

It would be a late manufactured short action tang safety 'Flatboat' M77V. Most likely a Douglas barrel, but might be late enough (1973) to have a Wilson barrel.

There is no way to physically prove who made the barrel. There will be no markings on the barrel to indicate the company that manufactured it.

However, whether it is a Douglas barrel or a Wilson barrel it should shoot very well. In my experience, the QC problems with Wilson barrels started later than 1973. But, even most of the Wilson barrels are fine. My flatbolt .250Savage is also a late manufactured rifle and it shoots its favorite loads well under MOA.

mcknight's experience has been very similar to mine. Have owned a bunch of Ruger rifles, a few with the original Douglas barrels, many with barrels by Wilson, and many with the the hammer-forged barrels Ruger has been making for around 20 years now. While there were a few not-so-good Wilson barrels, the vast majority were pretty darn good.

February 1973 22-250, Douglas or Wilson barrel, no idea, but the most accurate rifle I have ever owned.

Thanks for the replies. I hope to shoot it this week if weather permits. I cleaned the bore and scoped it. It looks pretty good, not shot out. Someone had a Canjar single-set trigger installed. I have owned a number of tang-safety M77s. Some shot well, and some were real stinkers.

Glad to know I'm not the only tang-safety Ruger fan in NJ.

Nice tanger! I have a 1976 200th Year of American Liberty M77 .257 Roberts that shoots very well with 100 gr TTSX handloads. I like it because it’s a long action and don’t have to worry about seating depth / OAL of cartridges like the short action magazines on 700’s etc.

Got a tanger 243V. Always an accurate rifle, only issue was it’s a 12 twist. Never has shot anything over 87 grains. 90-100 always keyholed. Killed a lot of coyotes with it using 70-75 grainers. Nice rifle you got there.

Free Classifieds WTS: 77 Tang 7mm RM

I have not checked the twist rate for myself, but I thought Ruger used a 1 in 9" twist rate, not 1 in 12" as Swifty says. WAM, I had one of those "200th Year of Liberty" 257 Roberts Ruger 77s, too. Mine shot well. Don't ask why I sold it...

Myself and my gunsmith checked, both of us came up with 2 turns in 24”. First 243 I ever saw with that twist, but then again it is a Varminter. You never know what Ruger will put out.

I sold a Win M70 Featherweight some years ago that was a great shooter in pristine condition. I confess I sold it to finance an elk hunt…

After reading Swifty's post, I did a quick check on the twist rate. It appears to be 1 in 12", not that I doubted Swifty. I'm going to try some 87 grain VMAXs, hope they stabilize.

I sent an email to Ruger customer service on Friday about the manufacture date of my 77 V 243. They replied today:

Serial number 70-70120 is a M-77V, .243 Winchester, model 00762, manufactured and shipped in April 1973.
Through 1973 it was a Douglas barrel. Starting in 1974 it would have been a Wilson barrel. Ruger started hammer forged shot gun barrels in 1977 and the rifles followed shortly after that.'


Great customer service, and just the answer I was looking for - barrel by Douglas.

One of the rifles I regret ever sending down the road was a 77V tanger in .25-06 that I bought new in 1974. I always wondered if it had a somewhat slow twist barrel but don't recall ever checking it. I never could get decent accuracy with 100 grain bullets but 75 grain Sierra flat-based hollow points would shoot between 1/2" and 3/4" with IMR3031 or IMR 4064. Eventually I decided it was overkill for shooting woodchucks (but a lot of fun) and sent it down the road, keeping my 77V .220 Swift that I still have.

Ruger customer service, different time, different answer to my question on barrels. M77 barrels: "1968 to 1973 Douglas, Wilson until 1992". "Douglas barrels to about 1973-1974, Wilson barrels 1973-1974 to 1990-1991".

roundoak,

Yeah, that's what I've come up with in my sources too.

There was probably a little cross-over too, as they used their supply of Douglas barrels. That's pretty common among rifle manufacturers: I have owned at least two pre-'64 Model 70 Winchesters with serial numbers that were "earlier" than the numbers are listed in the standard sources. This is because they had already made the actions, but didn't put the rifles together and sell 'em until a year later.

So my 1982 M-77 in .270 Winchester would have been a hammer forged Ruger barrel?

I sincerely doubt it. I knew some of the Ruger folks pretty well for a while when Bill was still there, and they all said the hammer-forged rifle barrels didn't appear until the early 1990s.

Thanks MD, l always thought it was a Ruger vendor barrel, mine was very slim in a lightweight taper in the 22" length with a forend to match. Another guy had one about the same vintage in .280 Remington and his barrel was more of a heavy taper and had quite a thicker forearm to match.

I bet it shoots well. I read somewhere that the varmint barrels were Douglas barrels. I have one in 6MM Remington with the Varmint barrel and dog leg bolt. I’ve got some hand loads to try in it but haven’t had a chance to take it out yet.

If you own a Flatbolt M77V in 6mm Remington, then you possess a vary rare rifle indeed!

Bet that thing shoots like a house on fire.

The M77 Guru himself, Terry Wolosek stated only 6 of the Flatbolt M77V Varmint rifles in 6mm Remington were made.