Ruger 77/17 Lottery

Dixiedog1

Dixiedog1

Active member
Well I got my Ruger 77/17 Hornet scoped up this morning and headed off to the range to see if I made wrong choice going Ruger....it was a toss up between the Ruger 77 and the CZ 527 and the flush mag along with the laminate stock won me over

The rifle is a nice looking rifle with good lines and I've been a fan of all the Ruger laminate stocks I've had so far...they are stable and hold up well


Now for my prep....I mounted the Ruger rings that came with the rifle and my Wheeler pointers were a mile off so I lapped the rings....they are the first set of rings I've ever used a power drill to lap...they were that bad. I got about 80% cleanup and mounted a Monarch 3 4-16 scope. I looked down the bore and saw the fouling in the barrel from the factory test shots so I never bothered swab or clean the bore in any way. The ring screws were all torqued to 20 in lbs and the rifle prep was done.

I didn't have a boresighter that would go down to .17 caliber so I went the eyeball the bore and dial the scope in route....right out of the box my scope appeared to be spot on for this rifle....I didn't adjust the windage or elevation.

First 5 shot group @ 100 yards...how I got a scope that was just slapped in the rings and it hit this close is beyond me. I doubt I'll ever see that happen again. I did screw myself over on the one hole group on my fifth shot...I hate it when that happens.



Next 5 shot group I had cranked my scope over too far....this is the first time I've used these targets and I though the center dot was 1"....it's not so I over comped it



Next group


Next group


The fifth and final group of the day....figured I better stop while I was ahead.




I'm extremely pleased with how this rifle performed so far, I just pulled it from the box...mounted my scope and shot it using factory Hornady Superformance 20 gr ammo off a bipod. I'm sure the groups could shrink if I bothered shooting it off a good rest but since this is a hunting rifle I'm shooting it how I would for that. I was very close to purchasing a CZ 527 because I had read a few horror stories about the 2 pc bolt...bad triggers...inaccurate rifles the Ruger 77 Hornets were....I'm not seeing it in my rifle. I think I may have hit the Ruger Lotto on this one.

 
The 2-piece bolt isn't the best in ANY of these rifles. I would suggest you go to http://triggershims.com/ruger_m77.html and order a set of shims from them. They ship immediately and are GREAT folks. There is also a video there showing how simple it is to place them in the bolt. They cut the groups on my M77/22Hornet by HALF. Worth the small investment.
 
Originally Posted By: HidalgoThe 2-piece bolt isn't the best in ANY of these rifles. I would suggest you go to http://triggershims.com/ruger_m77.html and order a set of shims from them. They ship immediately and are GREAT folks. There is also a video there showing how simple it is to place them in the bolt. They cut the groups on my M77/22Hornet by HALF. Worth the small investment.

I can see the benefit if you're bolt has play in it but if not I don't see the benefit and if anything I would expect more wear from camming the bolt. If I notice any play I've always worked in machining so I'll punch a couple shims out of stainless shim. The link provided gives me a time out error and doesn't open, I wouldn't be surprised if the price is reasonable enough that it wouldn't be worth making them.


I have the same 2 pc bolt design on my 77/44 and haven't had any issues with that either so I'm not sure how big of a problem it is and I don't know that I can agree that not "ANY" rifle is fine with it's 2 pc bolt Ruger has been at the game a long time and at least in my personal experience they usually offer a good US made product at a competitive price point.
 
Probably a poor choice of words on my part.
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The Rugers are GREAT rifles. I love mine. And it's probably true that not all of them need attention to the bolt. But the vast majority do. The bolt is a poor design. Plain and simple. Mine was terrible. I do agree that if the bolt is tight there is nothing that needs to be done. If that is the case with yours, consider yourself fortunate.
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The link worked at the time I posted it. If you're still interested I'd try it again tomorrow. Probably down for maintenance or such.

Have fun with that new rifle!
 
Originally Posted By: Dixiedog1Originally Posted By: HidalgoThe 2-piece bolt isn't the best in ANY of these rifles. I would suggest you go to http://triggershims.com/ruger_m77.html and order a set of shims from them. They ship immediately and are GREAT folks. There is also a video there showing how simple it is to place them in the bolt. They cut the groups on my M77/22Hornet by HALF. Worth the small investment.

I can see the benefit if you're bolt has play in it but if not I don't see the benefit and if anything I would expect more wear from camming the bolt. If I notice any play I've always worked in machining so I'll punch a couple shims out of stainless shim. The link provided gives me a time out error and doesn't open, I wouldn't be surprised if the price is reasonable enough that it wouldn't be worth making them.


I have the same 2 pc bolt design on my 77/44 and haven't had any issues with that either so I'm not sure how big of a problem it is and I don't know that I can agree that not "ANY" rifle is fine with it's 2 pc bolt Ruger has been at the game a long time and at least in my personal experience they usually offer a good US made product at a competitive price point.

This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

And don't try to fix something that isn't broken. That's like chasing your tail when you're wanting to move forward.

These aren't bench rest capable rifles so enjoy it as it is.
 
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