I just traded in my Ruger 77/50 for it misfired repeatedly. My friend has one too and he has the same problem. We both lined up on the same deer on our last day of hunting last year and guess what, "Click, Click". Ruger now sells a musket cap conversion. and Cabela's now sells a 209 primer conversion. The Thompson Center rep at Kittery Trading Post at their Septemberfest sale told me that this is a very common problem with the 77/50 and that five people that week had already traded in their 77/50's because of this. He also told me that Ruger has stopped production of this rifle. The Ruger 77/50 looks beautiful, balances perfectly, and is very accurate if and only when it goes off. Our rifles would often misfire at the range. It is also a little cumbersome to clean in that you have to strip the bolt down each time you clean it and the heavy spring makes it tricky to put back together. I am now the proud owner of a Thompson Center 50 cal. Omega. Has anyone out there heard similar stories on the Ruger 77/50?

what kind of powder were you using. I had a lot of hang fires (but never any misfires) before I started using just Black Powder

I only use Goex FF black powder and as far as percussion caps I used the German ones. I experimented with several percussion caps over the years for I also shoot a TC Hawken and I found these German caps to be the hottest.

Today I went to the range with my new Thompson Center Omega with my friend and his refurbished Ruger 77/50. On his third shot with the Ruger it misfired. He was totally frustrated. This is after Ruger took it back to their factory and fitted it with a total new bolt assembly. I convinced him to use the musket cap conversion kit I had purchased for my Ruger just before I sold it. He then proceeded to fire it with his Clean Shot powder and continued shooting his rifle to see how many shots he could go without cleaning it prior to a misfire. Well he got up to twelve shots with the musket cap converstion before it misfired and then he cleaned the rifle. I find that at the range the cleaning between shots really makes a difference with accuracy. I clean with both a wet patch followed by a dry and with my first three shots at 100 yrds I grouped to 1 1/2". I am using two 50 gr pyrodex pellets behind a 300 gr. Barnes 300 MZ sabot. I had perfect igniton and superior accuracy with this combination.

To start with, I shoot a Lyman Great Plains rifle .54 cal with patched round ball, and black powder. Hang fires and misfires are non existant. It shoots a 3 inch group at 100yd with 100gns of 2f GOEX. Now comes the reason, I use this system, and it's relevence to this subject. I have used every substitute black powder that comes along, clear shot, clean shot, pyrodex, 777. So far the only two that even come close to the ignition of black, pyrodex and 777. Pyrodex has gave me slow ignition but no hangfires, the 777, I just tried in a new rifle I bought, a TC 50cal sidelock, the 777 is the cream of the crop, as far as going off and it runs a little faster, than the black, 30gns to hit the same point of impact as 50gns of 2f. The closed breech of a in line I would think should be ideal, now a few years back a friend bought a CVA Bobcat which was a exposed hammer, albeit a inline that had the nipple in the back of the bbl and it hangfired with anything but black powder. It did not misfire. I have shot over 75 rounds in one day with out a misfire or hangfire using my lyman and patched round ball. The secret, I think is in every so often I would run a patch down the bore and then blow out the residue with one cap on a uncharged bbl. For what it is worth, I have worked on many of the in lines for friends that had the same problem, either hang or misfires. Most often it was pushing that plastic left over from the sabots, I would try this run a bore brush down the bore, a wet patch, then several dry patches, followed by a snapping a cap or two. The guns I worked on did not mis fire with this procedure, also they did not misfire, with heavy lead conicals. With black powder it was even better. Never used a shotgun primer, or a musket cap on any of these inlines. Take care and have fun. Swany

Hello,

This may help, I bought one of the first Rugers when they came out and it was a problem child at first. My first range session was a disapointment to say the least, I too experianced misfires. I use real black powder and clean after every shot at the range, messy and time consuming by well worth it in the end. Anyway I learned along time ago to always make sure the cap is seated well, if not, that "clack" you just heard instead of a "boom" just seated your cap. The misfires I experianced with the ruger acted the same way, they always went off after cocking the gun again. It did not matter how hard I pushed on the cap to seat it, the gun still misfired. So I determined that the nipple had to be oversized. I simply took one of my Lansky knife sharpener stones and twisted the nipple over it, keeping as uniform as possible I worked it until the cap fit better and then test fired in the gun. It solved the problem and a couple cans powder and several deer later, I have yet to experiance another misfire.

Basically what I found on my gun was a nipple that was to fat and prevented the cap from being seated properly.

Nimrod

I just got back from a hunt where I had two tags and I harvested two Spikehorns with my Ruger 77-50 within an hour of each other. Two shots, two bucks.

Took a shot in the rain yesterday with my 77-50 again, heres the results.

Glad to see you got one!

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MikeG

I Am Sorry , But I Could Not Shoot Such A Small Deer . How Are They Going To Grow Up If You Shoot Them When They Are Fawn,s

The 209 conversion kit pictured below can be purchased from Cabela's. I lay odds that it would cure all of your misfires

Nice deer. I got two deer this past season with my 77/50.

I have used the Cabela's conversion kit on my 77/50. It works but for me, it just created more dirt in the bolt area to cleanup. I also did not like the spent Winchester 209's working themselves back out of the breach plug. Some would lodge themselves sideways between the breach plug and the bolt.

So I am back to CCI #11's and have had no problems igniting 777. I did notice that you need to make sure that the cap is fully seated on the nipple.

Bobcabin

That deer is a bit smaller than I'd like yes but when you have a Doe only permit on property with tomany deer and property owners who want to see results, you take the shot.

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7mm Mauser fan

Doe meat is better than no meat.

If you are having problems with misfires you could try using FFFg powder. Just my .02 cents for what it's worth.

Nothing wrong with taking a yearling doe. Great meat, and has about the same effect on the herd as taking a mature doe.* The reason most hunting clubs discourage taking small does is to reduce the chance of someone shooting a button buck.

(*Actually, that mature doe you take would probably have had twin fawns next summer. The yearling doe would not likely add fawns to the herd next year.)

Old thread resurfacing, good time to add that four years later and 11 more deer, my 77/50 has not had any misfires with the factory #11 breech plug using CCI caps. Great gun and very reliable ignition system.

I have had some miss fired with my 77/50 but i got it all fixed by just sanding the nipple down a little. I have killed 2 180 class bucks with this gun and a bobcat . If people would not dry fire the guns they would not have this trouble that is what swells the nipple on the end and the caps dont fit it.

That looks like a great eating doe there Nimrod. Congratulations.

after reading about these on the net I bought one from CDNN and cleaned up the nipple. I've shot over 400 times before hunting season with it and no misfires at all. I took two nice dear this season without even worrying about it.

I did find some information about the 209 conversion and Ruger stating it's causing a problem with the sear. Regardless, #11 caps are cheaper than 209 primers and work just fine!

What a deal this was!

A local store has 2 new #11 breechplugs if you need one.