Winchester Model 77

[roysha]

I have been looking at one of these, the box magazine fed version, and was curious what experiences you folks have had with either version. The reviews seem to be all over the place with just a slight edge to the positive side.

Your personal experience or first hand observations would be greatly appreciated. The last time I shot one was the summer of 1960 on my Uncles farm at pds. I liked the gun quite a bit but have never owned one nor shot another one since then.

[buckwheatpaul]

I had one that I gave to my brother. It shoots well with iron sights....the down side was I could never get a scope to work on it. It was light and easy to carry and was extremely dependable.

[dannyd]

Great rifle I learned to shoot with it

[GONRA]

GONRA got one as you describe about 1956 or so at a Appleton WI hardware store.
Kids and I shot zillions of rds. thru it.
Never had any "scope problems".
Then needed disconnector filled back to spec and its spring stretched a bit.
If you get one, have several 50 rd. ammo boxes of High Speed ammo on hand to see which functions best.

[Shepherd2]

The 1st rifle I ever purchased was a Winchester model 77 back in the late 50s. I had it out plinking one day and I pulled the trigger and it fired, I released the trigger and it fired again. It did this time after time, every time. I tore it down and found one of the shoulders on the firing pin was worn down. I ordered a new firing pin from Winchester and that solved my problem.

I liked the rifle but the firing pin wearing after moderate used always bugged me.

[Drm50]

I never had a brand new one, but have owned several over the years. Had tube and clip models
as well as the 55, the single shot. They were dependable quality rifles. I had scopes on most of
them and had no problems. This is the last good semi that Win. made before selling out. You can
still pick one up reasonably because they never reached the classic status, as the 74 before it. It
is a far superior rifle that is made today at a reasonable price. The 63 Win was their top of the line, the 77 was made to compete in the economy line. It did utilize some stamped parts.

[jimlj]

I've had one for over 30 years. My dad gave it to me and he bought it new about 30 years before I got it. It is the tube fed model that has had thousands and thousands of rounds through it. It finally got to where it wouldn't shoot without jamming. I didn't know how to disassemble it to clean it properly till I got Utube net savvy. After a proper cleaning it is back to it's old hungry self and will digest what ever I throw at it. It has had an old Weaver 4X scope on it all of the 50 plus years I have been around it and will shoot flys off the fence from across the corral.

[Juan Jose]

I had one---my first .22 rifle. It was very accurate as I recall. One day it went full auto on me, so I sold it.

[Bigslug]

First hand experience with the 77 proper - nil.

Gun shop employment experience encountering .22's from every conceivable price point, origin, and vintage - considerable.

Being a complete sucker for .22's, I would encourage you to scratch any "nostalgia itches" for the guns you learned on or had other positive, formative experiences with, whatever type of gun it might have been. . .at least if you're somewhat mechanically inclined. If you are capable of the necessary fixes, even if the gun is a bit junky, it becomes one of those rewarding labors of love that transcends conventional market value.

That said, if the nostalgia pull isn't huge, I might be inclined to avoid the smaller run models - especially those smaller runs made by the big names but were re-designated for Sears, Montgomery Wards, etc. . . A lot of these were the cheaper options, specifically designed and made by request to be the cheaper option, and they often weren't on the market long enough for a real quantity of spare parts and magazines to be generated. The Internet is a miracle tool for finding those parts that I didn't have back in my sales drone days, but unavailable is unavailable, no matter how good your "phone book" is. Eight posts on this thread before me and three of them discuss reliability issues - one related to firing pins, which Numrich is presently sold out of. That might be a clue.

Unfortunately, a lot of these mid-20th Century .22's are bringing nostalgia prices, over and above their functionality as rifles, so again, if the nostalgia pull isn't strong, the ubiquitous 10/22 might be a better bet.