Ruger rifle in 350 mag?

[lastmanout]

Howdy all. My local dealer has a Ruger 77 (newer model) in rem 350 magnum. I like the 35 caliber (have a Whelen) and am tempted to buy the Ruger. However I have gotten terrible accuracy from in the past from my early Ruger 77's and Number ones. They look nice, but my cheap Savages shoot better. Does the mark II model 77 have a better track record? Opinions welcome.

[swheeler]

LMO: I bought an early(tang safety) 7mmExpress Rem, beautiful rifle but it wouldn't shoot for s**t, I tried everything as far as loads and never got it shoot accurately enough for me. It had a barrel that was the "copper king" and no amount of shooting and cleaning seemed to help, everything went downhill after the first group, these were the barrels made by Wilson for them. In 1995 I bought a Stainless MII in 300 Win Mag, it shot good right out of the box and still does, and it leaves very little copper in the barrel, so in 1997 I bought a stainless 22/250, shot good and still does. Ruger makes their own hammered barrels now and seem to do a good job, I've shot several of the newer ones and have yet to see a "lamo", several of the Grey VT are real tack drivers. I think when they got rid of the Wilson barrels, the HIT or MISS on accuracy problem was taken care of IMHO. Scot

[NickSS]

I have owned a number of Rugers over the years with spotty luck as to accuracy. Some were good and some not. The ones that were not were not fixable with usual remedies. So I quit buying them in spite of my liking their lines. Then two years ago I bought a new Mk II 308 stainless and it is a tack driver. The reason I bought it was that the dealer had it and did not have the Savage I wanted. Well I am happy with this rifle but I am still leary of Ruger.

[Bullshop]

LMO: I bought an early(tang safety) 7mmExpress Rem, beautiful rifle but it wouldn't shoot for s**t, I tried everything as far as loads and never got it shoot accurately enough for me. It had a barrel that was the "copper king" and no amount of shooting and cleaning seemed to help, everything went downhill after the first group, these were the barrels made by Wilson for them. In 1995 I bought a Stainless MII in 300 Win Mag, it shot good right out of the box and still does, and it leaves very little copper in the barrel, so in 1997 I bought a stainless 22/250, shot good and still does. Ruger makes their own hammered barrels now and seem to do a good job, I've shot several of the newer ones and have yet to see a "lamo", several of the Grey VT are real tack drivers. I think when they got rid of the Wilson barrels, the HIT or MISS on accuracy problem was taken care of IMHO. Scot

swheeler
Recently I had a customer bring in a new Ruger mkII stainless lam 30/06. He has a young doughter that drew a bison permit and wanted to get her practicing with the rifle with light loads.
He also wanted me to load some state legal ammo for the hunt. To be lagal for bison it has to have a bullet not less than 200gn with not less than 2000 fpe at 200 yds.
I loaded some of the 150gn Lyman Loverin to about 1500 fps for her practice load and was impressed with the accuracy that hung at just over 1" for five shots at 100 yards.
The hunting load used a 200gn Nosler Partition at 2500 fps.
The target I gave him back with the gun and ammo had three shots at 100 yds touching at just over 1/2"
I hope this will be typicle of the new Rugers and not just a 1 in 1,000,000!
BIC/BS

[swheeler]

Dan; from what I've seen at the range, and friends experiences, and my personal experiences with the MkII Rugers I think they have the former accuracy problems worked out. The thing that I find interesting is that Cooper Arms, Stevi MT, uses wilson barrels exclusively on their rifles, and nobody can say they don't shoot! About a dozen years ago I rebarreled a P14 to 375H&H using a Wilson barrel, that thing seemed to make it's own copper, got tired of trying to get it all out after a day at the range, some other lucky guy owns it now-HAR.

Scot

[35remington]

Friend has that very rifle-a 77 350 Magnum. Shoots very well, and the overall package is light and compact-about as light as compact as you'd want in a rifle of this power. Surprising cartridge, and I've got to get one of these myself. Equals the Whelen in a shorter, more compact rifle. Cast friendly twist.

You'll have no regrets, I predict.

[Lloyd Smale]

if its one of those new frontier scouts in 350 i want one too!

[versifier]

....The thing that I find interesting is that Cooper Arms, Stevi MT, uses wilson barrels exclusively on their rifles, and nobody can say they don't shoot!.....Scot

A smaller custom shop that prides itself on accuracy will demand (and get) a better grade of barrel than a larger company that orders them produced in bulk for the best available price.

There are lots of ways to cut corners in the production of barrels, but you pay for what you get. More frequent sharpening of deep hole drills, rejecting of off-center blanks, more careful reaming and more passes of finer graduated diameter reamers, careful cleaning before the buttoning lube is sprayed in, actual inspections at each step and not just a random sampling every few hundred barrels, all have a lot to do with the final quality of the finished product. They are labor intensive operations performed by skilled machine operators, not something you can program a CNC machine to do for you while being fed blanks by some illegal imigrant from West Chumpistan being paid in packages of Ramen noodles.

Buy it and try it out. If nothing else, it will keep you out of trouble for a good while, and you might get lucky with a great one. The reputation thing is always helpful to get the price down to reasonable on used Rugers.

Ruger's attempt to save a few bucks many years ago has had a very negative and long lasting effect on their reputation, even though they fixed the problem long ago and have been making superbly accurate barrels in recent years. You will never start a conversation about Ruger rifles in a group of shooters without someone making the "I had one that wouldn't shoot for **** and won't buy another one" comment. Sadly, this is now a firmly fixed attitude in the minds of many shooters, and I bet it still has a negative effect on Ruger sales. I like Ruger rifles, have owned and sold a few older lemons over the years, but enjoy the fine accuracy of the ones I now own and/or load for. I suppose I could do the smart thing and look up the serial numbers to figure out when they were made before buying, but each new acquisition is like a puzzle to be figured out, and hearing "I can't get it to shoot" is generally a challenge I find hard to resist. Usually, I don't resist it, and can at least get them shooting better than they do with factory ammo. If I can't, there's always someone around looking for a good action to rebarrel to his latest favorite round. The old barrels make great tent stakes, or so I'm told.

[fatnhappy]

I guess I'm fortunate. I picked up a tang safety 77R in 7-08 years ago. Like others have experienced, it seemed to produce it's own copper. I tend to overlook it though, since it puts 139 grain plain based hornadys into tiny little groups. If I was looking for a varmit rifle, maybe I'd look elsewhere, but I don't believe fouling is the slightest bit detrimental when you might only fire half a dozen rounds afield, all season.

[bobthenailer]

bought a new ruger m77 in 22 hornet when they first came out, the gun just would not shoot!!!! i sent it back to the factory 2 times for the in accuracy problem, they put it in a stock, recrowned the barrel and i cant remember what else. i tried 2 proven leupold scopes, and alot of different powders & bullet combniations, i also tried busness cards under the barrel in every conceivalible varation. the best it wold do was 1 inch at 50 yards. traded off . i also had a m77 in 7mag early model it would shoot 1 1/2 at 200 yards, a #3 in 22hornet it shot excellent then it developed headspace problems , the action would close on a no go guage , sent it back , ruger said it was ok traded i also had a #1 in 22x250 1976 vintage it would shoot a inch at 100 yards , altouugh i did not play with it very much, sold it to my brother in law and he still has it.

[lastmanout]

Thanks for all the input guys. I really like the 35 caliber for lead hunting bullets. The Ruger mark 2 looks to be improved over the older mk 1. But the killer for me was the higher price of the 350 mag dies . They are not exactly big sellers and a low production item. I will stick with my Whelen for now. I am leaning towards a Tikka rifle in 308 winchester. Looks to be a really nicely made firearm:lovebooli

[Bass Ackward]

Thanks for all the input guys. I really like the 35 caliber for lead hunting bullets. The Ruger mark 2 looks to be improved over the older mk 1. But the killer for me was the higher price of the 350 mag dies . They are not exactly big sellers and a low production item. I will stick with my Whelen for now. I am leaning towards a Tikka rifle in 308 winchester. Looks to be a really nicely made firearm:lovebooli


LMO,

I think you have made a wise decision. Not because of any gun quality issues, just simply that there isn't enough difference between what you already own and the 350 for cast use. I would tell you the same if you owned a 358.

I love my 35 for hunting, but if you want to stay with a bolt, you can't beat a slow twist 30 for easy, economical, year round, multiple mold, paper punching options.

[bobthenailer]

i have a 350 mag custom built on a 1976 ruger action with a shilen match 18 1/2 inch barrel , canjar trigger and a fajen 3 x fancy american walnut mannlicher stock in 1976, still looks and shoots good after 30 years of hunting . it knocks em in the dirt for sure!

[fatnhappy]

it knocks em in the dirt for sure!


Oh yeah, I forgot to add what he said. My cousin has one of the original 600s. It definately lets the cold air in and the blood out. I've seen him literally roll a bear over with 4 feet in the air. That's why I put together a whelen.

[Bass Ackward]

Oh yeah, I forgot to add what he said. My cousin has one of the original 600s. It definately lets the cold air in and the blood out. I've seen him literally roll a bear over with 4 feet in the air. That's why I put together a whelen.


Yep! When the boom is over, the game has reacted, and you open the bolt to extract the case, you sort of expect to extract a necked down, pop bottle with a belt on it.

And when you look at that smallish case, it makes you stop and think, why, why, why did it take so long to catch on to this?

[rvpilot76]

if its one of those new frontier scouts in 350 i want one too!
Ruger is coming out with a 358 WIN in their Frontier rifle in 2007. I WILL have one in my collection as soon as they are available. Has anyone shot the 357 mag bullets in their Whelen/WIN to the 3000fps range? Will they hold up to make it to the target? I'd like to nail a few varmints with one of these loads. Bet the results would be spectacular!

Kevin

[cabezaverde]

I kinda have this rifle.

Mine was a tang safety 350 Magnum, but was rechambered to 358 Norma Magnum before I got it. I have often thought about trying to find a take off barrel and returning it to original.

[Mar354]

I am a newcomer to this forum, but I had to comment on all this .35 caliber talk. I also have a .350 Remington that I came by almost by default. A local shooting buddy started a discussion about how he would like to own a .35 Whelen and of course I agreed. After a few hours of brainstorming, I realized that the cost of this would be more than I had to spend at the time for another rifle. I then remembered that I already had a chamber reamer for the .350 as I had cut one chamber with it for a customer about 20 years ago and had no further demand for its use since that time. I also had an unused -"old stock" Santa Barbara magnum Mauser action laying around (I am not a big magnum fan) and that led me to realize that I could have my .35 for just the cost of a barrel blank and the piece of wood to stock it. I figured if I didn't like it, I could always sell it and then use some of the proceeds to by the .35 Whelen reamer and go that way. After completing the rifle and buying the dies ( which were a few dollars more than the common types) I started to shoot it and soon decided that it was a keeper and forgot about the Whelen, as they are so close ballistically that it would not make sense to go to all the trouble to change over to it. I used a Douglas premium grade barrel blank with a 1-14" twist. I notice that most of the .35's had a 1-16", but I used the 14 just because that is what they had in stock. When I started to get to know the weapon, I was surprised to learn that it grouped tighter with the round nose 200 grain bullets that were intended for the .35 Remington that with the pointed 200 grainers normally used in the .350. This is not real important to me as I understand that this is a hunting rifle and any of them would be good enough to take game, but I never expected this to be the case. I also figured that the 200 round nose being propelled at .350 velocities would be quite destructive on deer. To date, I have taken two deer with it using the round nose bullets and like Bass said there is no doubt about the outcome if you make a hit. A bit on the destructive side, but the lights go out right now. I have also been shooting some cast loads using my old Lyman #358318 250 gr. bullet. It does a fair job for the target range and I am still experimenting when I find the time, but I haven't had as good of luck when you get the velocity near the full throttle range. Of couse this is to be expected with lead, but I had visions of using lead instead of jacketed in the big boomer. Those jacketed bullets are getting very pricey lately.

[Bass Ackward]

I have also been shooting some cast loads using my old Lyman #358318 250 gr. bullet. It does a fair job for the target range and I am still experimenting when I find the time, but I haven't had as good of luck when you get the velocity near the full throttle range.


Welcome Mr. Mar354,

For your mothers sake, I sure hope that you are the baby in your family. :grin:

Twist rates are funny things. The original Whelens were 14 twist. 350 Mags were generally 12 twist. I believe that Remington brought out a 16 twist because 250s were pretty much the heaviest weight commercial bullets readily available.

I can make a ton of comments, but if you want to go off line and use a PM, then we can talk. Basically, you are going to find 1900-2200 as an accurate velocity ceiling for a 250 grain bullet if you are using ACWW. The range depends on the powder speed you choose. The slower the powder, the potentially higher the accuracy point if you have enough barrel length to play that game.

Now if you want to drop down to a 200 grain RCBS and it fits your gun well enough to shoot accurately, then you can expect 2300 - 2400 fps with that beast.

Of course you can harden things as well and maybe raise the levels marginally, but "I believe" it works against you after so much velocity is lost. I prefer to stay soft.

[Marlin Junky]

Maybe someone has had a chance to buy a M77 MKII in .350 Mag by now so I'll resurrect this old thread...

Does anyone know what the rate of twist is for the .350? Ruger's website has a 12" twist listed for the stainless version and a 14" twist for the blued version!

MJ

[txpete]

I know this is old but I picked one of these ruger MK II in 350 mag last month . anyone shooting cast with the 1-12 twist.I had some friends donate some RD 190 and rcbs 200 gr bullets to try out.
thanks
pete

[NHlever]

Pete, you might want to start a new thread since many folks will get tired of wading through things that have nothing to do with your question.

[daddywpb]

I have three Ruger M77's, Blued / walnut in .30/06, stainless / synthetic in .350 Rem Mag, and a new Hawkeye in .22-250. All have Nikon Buckmaster scopes, and the accuracy of all of them is excellent. All I did was replace the triggers with adjustable Rifle Basix models. Factory triggers suck! The .350 Rem Mag is one of my favorite cartridges - it'll smack 'em hard. Snag that rifle up! You'll be glad you did.

Wow. I just realized how old this thread is - never mind.

[txpete]

I did snag it up :bigsmyl2:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/txpete/350remmag002.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/txpete/350remmag004.jpg

and I have a mold/gas checks coming in next week.

pete

[Ole]

Ruger is coming out with a 358 WIN in their Frontier rifle in 2007. I WILL have one in my collection as soon as they are available. Has anyone shot the 357 mag bullets in their Whelen/WIN to the 3000fps range? Will they hold up to make it to the target? I'd like to nail a few varmints with one of these loads. Bet the results would be spectacular!

Kevin

I have loaded 158 pistol bullets in my 358 Winchester. My powder charge was 40.0 grains of IMR4198 and they averaged 2744fps out of my 22" Ruger Hawkeye barrel. Accuracy (1.7") was not as good as my best rifle rounds, but you should be fine out to 150-200 yards or so if you do your part.

[daddywpb]

I did snag it up :bigsmyl2:

EXCELLENT! Love the .350!

[canuck4570]

Thanks for all the input guys. I really like the 35 caliber for lead hunting bullets. The Ruger mark 2 looks to be improved over the older mk 1. But the killer for me was the higher price of the 350 mag dies . They are not exactly big sellers and a low production item. I will stick with my Whelen for now. I am leaning towards a Tikka rifle in 308 winchester. Looks to be a really nicely made firearm:lovebooli
I have a tikka in 30-06 and beleive me
cloverleaf at 100 yards and 3/4 at 200
wiht berger hunting bullets

[Frank46]

Remington made some laminate stocked 700's in 350 mag. Always wondered if you took off the 350 bbl and put on a 375 bbl and use the 350 case necked up to 375 caliber. Frank