[TMan]

Only took a couple weeks

It's a Ruger, and will need a lighter trigger spring, and a polish on the trigger parts, but otherwise it's a very nice little rifle.

A tinier bit heavier than my 77/44, and I'll put a Williams Fire sight up front (so I can see it).

The magazine will feed .38WC's to .357HP's without a hitch, even mixed up in the mag.

I Like it.

 

[shane256]

That does sound sweet.

 

[broom_jm]

What, no pics?!

 

[William Iorg]

Looking forward to a range report and to know how long the magazine is or I should say how long a cartridge it will accept.

 

[Cheezywan]

I'd like to read and see abit more as well. Lead loads in particular. 38 vs 357 and whatever else you see fit to post!

Cheezywan

 

[m141a]

Please post pictures and your range/shooting experiences when you can!

 

[TMan]

First Trip Update

Well, I got a sticky magazine, and will try to squeeze a replacement out of Ruger. Not unanticipated as magazines for this design are, apparently, the hardest part.

Mine is prone to vertical stringing, and so was my 77/44. Just too much forend pressure on the synthetic stock. The upside, although vertical is about 4" at 50yds, horizontal is closer to an inch. The 77/44 was worse, and full power loads show the worst results. After carefully relieving forend pressure with a Dremel, the 77/44 now turns in 5 shots on a 3" dot @ 100yds, group after group, I am betting the final results with the 77/357 will be better. The trigger is brutal, and I had to look once in a while to see if the safety was on, no kidding. The 77/44 was just as bad, and after I swapped the trigger spring, and honed the contact surfaces it's very good. All of the Ruger M77 triggers are very easy to work with, and simple as dirt. One thing for sure, no court in the US would believe it went off accidently

William: The COAL is limited to problem free feeding, and loads can be longer than will feed properly. After looking at your post, I loaded 1.580"/1.590"/1.600"/1.610", with 158gr Sierra FP's and 180gr Penn TC Cast. The Sierra's with a wider meplat, stopped feeding smoothly at 1.59", the Penn's, same. The reason, looking closely at the feed cycle, is the cartridge takes a slight angle to the right while feeding. To much OAL and it catches the side of the chamber before it clears the mag, and binds. My 160gr SWC cast bullets fed smoothly at 1.580, 110gr Hornady HP's were fine at 1.58".

Cheezywan: Shooting @ 50yds with the stock open sights, and a six o'clock hold, (bench and bags), the 180gr TC Penn cast and 160gr Carrol SWC cast worked just fine. The Carrol's are loaded moderate with 6.0gr of W231, and accuracy with those at 50yds was MOQB (minute of quart bottle), the Penn cast were the best I tried for accuracy with 9.0gr of Blue Dot, and were in the 3in range @ 50yds. Again, 60 year old eyes and open sights are not my strong point.

M141A, I'd like to post pics, but I'm not much for camera's, even digitals, and would make you run the other way. Maybe one of my daughters will be kind to me.

All in all, I'm not a bit disappointed with the rifle. I'll get a couple more magazines, that won't stick, and I have a peep and Firesight on the way from Midway. Recoil, no surprise, wouldn't scare even the greenest newbie, and general handling, I rate, a beautiful thing.

 

[Davers]

Well, I got a sticky magazine, and will try to squeeze a replacement out of Ruger. Not unanticipated as magazines for this design are, apparently, the hardest part.

Mine is prone to vertical stringing, and so was my 77/44. Just too much forend pressure on the synthetic stock. The upside, although vertical is about 4" at 50yds, horizontal is closer to an inch. The 77/44 was worse, and full power loads show the worst results. After carefully relieving forend pressure with a Dremel, the 77/44 now turns in 5 shots on a 3" dot @ 100yds, group after group, I am betting the final results with the 77/357 will be better. The trigger is brutal, and I had to look once in a while to see if the safety was on, no kidding. The 77/44 was just as bad, and after I swapped the trigger spring, and honed the contact surfaces it's very good. All of the Ruger M77 triggers are very easy to work with, and simple as dirt. One thing for sure, no court in the US would believe it went off accidently
.

Sounds like with a little "tweaking", your Ruger 77/.357 should shoot well. Just wonder if it would shoot better with a walnut stock? When I bought my Ruger 77/44 back in 1999, it had a walnut stock, and it shot very accurate where I averaged 5-shot groups of 1.8" @ 100 yards, doing nothing to the rifle. The trigger on my 77/44 was also fine as it came.

 

[William Iorg]

Thanks for information on COAL. That will help me think a little.
We have a 21” TC barrel in 357 Maximum that is a lot of fun to shoot. A bolt action in Magnum would be a lot of fun to play with.

My Dads Winchester Trapper likes the 200-grain RCBS gas check bullet ahead of 13.0 grains of Hodgdon Lil Gun in 38 Special cases. We get a rough 1,375 fps depending the temperature and excellent accuracy.

A 140-grain JHP will get 1,870 fps from the 16” barrel ahead of 19.0 grains of Lil Gun. This load has 1,000 fpme and it is a useful all-around load.

For a plinker the bulk 158-grain JSP’s ahead of 6.5 grains of Alliant Bullseye give us 1,260 fps and excellent accuracy.

Someday buy some bulk Remington 110-grain JHP bullets and shoot them ahead of 9.7 grains of Bullseye - 1,870 fps in our 16” barrel - and bragging accuracy.

 

[Davers]

Ruger Model 77/.256 Mag.

I know it a "Dead" Number today, but I would like to see the old .256 Magnum revived once more. Since Ruger is now chambering their Model 77/.357 in .357 Magnum; it would be nice to see one chambered for the .256 Winchester Magnum.

 

[TMan]

OK, a quick update.

I pulled the magazine apart, cleaned up all the flashing and burrs, a bit of a PIA, but typical of most firearms these days. Pity the buyer with minimal mechanical aptitude, oh well.

I also did a trigger job in depth, and polished the surfaces and reduced the dimensions to decrease travel and letoff. I also compressed the spring from Midway in a vise to reduce the length and tension, carefully. The trigger dropped from a 8.8lb pull with the original parts, to a 3.4 lb pull with the replacement spring.

After polishing the metal and polymer surfaces in the magazine with 800 grit emory to remove the porus surface conditions and flashing on the injection molded parts, and a quick buff on the barrel at the chamber, it will now feed rounds to 1.620" with cast and jacketed bullets, and WC's, mixed in any sequence.

Not the best scenario, but it meets my personal needs and abilities to have a really sweet bolt gun in .357. I'll order up a couple extra mags, and move forward.


I'm still really happy with the rifle, and feel good with the purchase.

 

[Cheezywan]

Good reports TMan. You went after the trigger faster than I would have, but I can't argue with the results.

You got it to feed and fire most anything that I would use it for with decient accuracy. And then some! I've never tried WC in a rifle before.

Folks that own stock in Ruger will be pleased that you finished the rifle for them at no charge.

Have you tried any 38 specials? Probably not yet. Real good reduction on trigger pull. Time and use may make that better as well.

Anyway, I've been following along on your thread. Pleased that you got it working to your needs.

Cheezywan

 

[William Iorg]

Yes, good report. I am watching this thread closely. I don’t know why but the rifle appeals to me.
I measured an old R-P 158-grain SWC factory load at 1.552”

Lyman says my favorite cast bullet for the 357 Magnum, the 3358429 170-grain bullet, has a COAL of 1.5530” when seated in 357 Magnum brass.

Mesuring one of my 357429 bullets I see 1.663” with the bullet seated in a Speer 357 Magnum case.

When seated in a Midway 38 Special case I measure 1.512”.

To put it in perspective the 200-grain RCBS bullet feeds through the Winchester Model 94AE at 1.600” when seated in 38 Special cases.

The 170-grain bullet seated in 357 Maximum cases measures 1.976”.

The 180-grain NEI LBT style bullets measure 1.715” in the 38 Special case and 1.865” in the 357 Magnum case.


The Ruger appears to be not quite as useful as the Model 94AE but it is in production now. Because the Ruger will feed the button wadcutter and a long nose semi-wadcutter one after another - as will the Winchester, makes it a very useful rifle.

 

[TMan]

Glad to contribute something of use to the forum.

Cheezywan, the trigger was mandatory. At almost 9lbs, it was surely safe, but I literally found myself checking the safety to be sure it was off.
The WC's actually shoot real well in the 77/357, and although Ruger states that .38's should not be used, they cycle and shoot without a hitch. I suspect a large volume of them would crud up the chamber, but in a pinch, they work just fine.

William, I looked long and hard at the M92's from Winchester, and considered a Rossi about once a month. I wish I had grabbed a M94/357 Trapper when they were available. I cruised the shops for about two years looking for a Marlin without a crossbolt safety, but never saw one in any condition, almost went for one of the new SS models. Lever guns have some distinct advantages. I have no illusions of the superiority of the rotary clip, for instance.

For my own use, I'm very familiar with the Ruger M77's of all types, and actually have a spare parts inventory for my collection. I have yet to kill an extractor, or firing pin spring, but if I do, I can get it up and running in no time.

If anyone wanted such a rifle, the 77/44 is a better choice for hunting deer, even, or especially for, smaller hunters of any gender. Even with moderate cast bullet loads, or 200-210gr HP's, the .44 is very effective in a rifle, and recoil is not a problem. Full bore loads with heavy doses of W296 or 2400 under a 265-300gr bullet are a different story.

The .357 rifle was as much as anything, a way to utilize all of the ammo and components I have when the Democrats manage to outlaw handguns, and I have to bury them, for later.

 

[HardBall]

This thread has me jones'n so bad. My gunshop has a 77/357 ordered for me but I don't know when it will come in.

 

[Sandman1]

I just want one to pair with the .357 super blackhawk!!

 

[broom_jm]

I had a Ruger 77/357 in my hands this afternoon...it almost came home with me! The only thing I didn't like was the stainless barrel and action. I've got 1000+ pieces of 38/357 brass and have been thinking about a GP100, but now I'm wondering if one of these model 77's wouldn't be just as cool? I probably need BOTH, right?!

 

[TMan]

I probably need BOTH, right?!

Is that REALLLYYY a question???

 

[Hummer]

T Man, be advised unless something has changed your trigger job is gonna go South on you about 500 rounds. I had a 77/22 and the trigger sucked big time and I worked it down to a nice trigger. Then my friend in engineering at Ruger said don't expect it to last as they are surface hardened and to get one to feel good you cut through the hard surface and do it to yourself. If you have access to someone with a furnace you might surface harden the trigger again and it might hold up for you.

Don't know if anyone got around to making a after market trigger for them but you might start looking. This is the main reason I have not purchased another 77/anything.

I got a 77 in 260 Rem all stainless and got another quickly. First one was a used one and guy already had a after market trigger in it that was acceptable. I shot it about a thousand rounds and sold it but not before removing the after market trigger and replacing it with the trigger assembly out of the new rifle. So now I have a new stainless 77 with good trigger and laminated stock I have never shot.

You are right, if you do not have any mechanical capability you are screwed. A guy I worked with at the Army Small Cal Lab said it best. "Nowdays when you buy a rifle you are buying a rifle kit and if you know what to do you can take it apart and rebuild it and it may shoot."

Also on 260 No 1 it had horizontal stringing. I checked it out and only one locking lug was engaging so I lapped the high lug down and it started shooting round groups I didn't care about the headspace as I knew I was going to be shooting handloads so the cases were mated to that rifle.

 

[MontyF]

The Rugers I've had recent experience with have heavy forearm pressure. Recently bought a M77/MKII in .338 WM which had severe vertical stringing issues. After relieving the barrel channel it dropped the POI about 5 inches and eliminated the stringing.

Mine had the lamaniated stock but also have buddies with MKII's who have similar problems, one stock is walnut and the other is composite. Ruger at least seems to be consistant.

I've heard the same thing about Ruger triggers too. I worked mine anyway.

Tman what is the intended use for your rifle?