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Thread: Ruger 77/357 cast issues

  1. #1
    Boolit Master wonderwolf's Avatar
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    Ruger 77/357 cast issues

    Anybody out there have a dead nuts accurate load at 100 that feeds from the magazine in their 77/357? I've darn near run out of options. I have a few more combinations to try tomorrow but I'm starting to grasp at straws.


    Looking for a good load in the 160gr+ realm.

    I have a lot of loads that are lights out at 50 but I think the penta hp causes issues at 100. I cast round HP's and solids to retest later but I've had awful luck with my loads at 100.

    Keith styles jam in my gun but I'm going to retest the miha mold I got awhile back. The miha 180 feeds ok but with the penta hp goes wild around 75 yards.

    Mostly working with 2400 , bullseye, unique for my 357 loads. My 38's are great. 5 shots touching no worries.....357 just is giving me fits.
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  2. #2
    Boolit Master


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    NOE 180 grain WFN, 12 grains of 2400, I'm around 2" or less at 100 yards. The MP mold your using is ostensibly the same as the NOE. Depends on how fast your pushing it, all of my .357 shot better when I back of full throttle loads.
    “Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.”
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  3. #3
    Boolit Master
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    I use the lee 158 rnfp powder coated and sized to 358. I load it with h110 or win 571(which is no longer available) and get very good accurate loads out to 150 yards. We were shooting 20 ounce soda bottles of water at 150 yards and I had no problem blowing them up. I hope this helps you as the 77/357 has been one of my favorite deer rifles here in PA.

  4. #4
    Boolit Master wonderwolf's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff Michel View Post
    NOE 180 grain WFN, 12 grains of 2400, I'm around 2" or less at 100 yards. The MP mold your using is ostensibly the same as the NOE. Depends on how fast your pushing it, all of my .357 shot better when I back of full throttle loads.
    I'm retesting with the solid and round hp versions today loaded with 12gr of 2400 so we'll see how those run.
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  5. #5
    Boolit Master wonderwolf's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by psweigle View Post
    I use the lee 158 rnfp powder coated and sized to 358. I load it with h110 or win 571(which is no longer available) and get very good accurate loads out to 150 yards. We were shooting 20 ounce soda bottles of water at 150 yards and I had no problem blowing them up. I hope this helps you as the 77/357 has been one of my favorite deer rifles here in PA.
    If I never figure out then357 cast load thing I'm still a happy camper with the rifle it has been super fun with 38 spl and is a hoot when supressed with 148gr wc and 2.7 of bullseye
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  6. #6
    Boolit Master

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    Have you checked stock pressure? Bolt play? How does it shoot with jacketed? Are you allowing the barrel to cool down between shots? Are your groups strung or are they circular?

    Mine wouldn't shoot anything until I free floated the barrel. Every group was a diagonal line. When I relieved the stock, the forend moved noticeably to one side. Not quite what you are looking for but I have good luck with the Lee 120 TC over a full charge of Promo, probably around 3", but nice round groups that hold up after dozens of fairly rapid shots.

  7. #7
    Boolit Bub white cloud's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by psweigle View Post
    I use the lee 158 rnfp powder coated and sized to 358. I load it with h110 or win 571(which is no longer available) and get very good accurate loads out to 150 yards. We were shooting 20 ounce soda bottles of water at 150 yards and I had no problem blowing them up. I hope this helps you as the 77/357 has been one of my favorite deer rifles here in PA.
    What is the maximum range you would feel confident about shooting a deer with your M77/357? Please assume the deer weighs in at 150 LBS or less.

  8. #8
    Boolit Master
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    rcbs 180gngc sil mold shoots best for me after 50yards out to 200yards.weighs 193gn with my lead.11.5gn 2400=1250fps,you might have to seat deeper in your ruger as my win is not fussy on OAL.

  9. #9
    Boolit Grand Master


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    You might check the twist of your 77/357? Not sure about the 357s but the older 44's had slower twists and most often would not shoot the heavier bullets well.

    Also, consider many magnum level revolver PB'd cast bullet loads that shoot great in the revolver do not shoot well in rifles. The magnum loads produce 150 - 200 + fps more velocity and many times that is just to much for the PB'd cast bullet used. I've consistently found, over the years, shooting numerous different magnum pistol cartridges in rifles that for any decent accuracy above 1400 fps +/- a GC'd bullet is needed.
    Larry Gibson

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  10. #10
    Boolit Grand Master tazman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Larry Gibson View Post
    You might check the twist of your 77/357? Not sure about the 357s but the older 44's had slower twists and most often would not shoot the heavier bullets well.
    According to the specs posted on the Ruger site, the 77/357 has a 1 in 16 twist.
    I have no way of knowing if this was changed at some point in the past.

  11. #11
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by white cloud View Post
    What is the maximum range you would feel confident about shooting a deer with your M77/357? Please assume the deer weighs in at 150 LBS or less.
    I haven't shot a deer past 100 yards with mine. The one I did shoot at that distance was a lung a d upper heart shot. It died on the spot. Hope this helps you.

  12. #12
    Boolit Master BABore's Avatar
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    When I first got mine I tried a full velocity GC bullet of around 160 grains. Alloy was 50/50 WD at 22 bhn. No joy. Tried 2400, 296, Lil Gun, and 300MP. I then seated a plain based bullet backwards to measure the throat. It had 0.25 inches of freebore. I went with a 180 GR RNFP GC bullet with a full diameter band above the crimp groove. Very similar to Glen Larson's. With 50/50 it did better with some of the void filled. Couldn't seat the bullet out to engage due to the mag restrictions. Suspecting it was skidding with the almost 0.125" run into the rifling, I went to WDWW's at 28 bhn. Better. Finally ended up using the 50/50 with some addition of nickel babbit. Water dropped it went 32 bhn. This survived the launch better. Using 300 MP and a CCI 500 primer, it will group 5 shots into 1.3" inches at 100 yards. Velocity is 1,725 fps.

    Couple years back I had the bbl cut to 16 1/4" and threaded for a suppressor. Not to be bothered by the mag length, I've been loading a 235 GR GC design sans gas check, cast from 40:1. I Hi-Tek coating the bullets and seat them long to engage the rifling. IIRC I'm using 5.0-5.5 grains of WW231 and a CCI 500 primer. This subsonic load groups sub inch at 100 yards for 5 shots. I have shot this load out to 350 yards and it's still very stable and accurate.

  13. #13
    Boolit Grand Master Tripplebeards's Avatar
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    I bought the Ruger 77/44 model a couple years back and have two different alloy and load combos that consistently shoot sub MOA at 100 yards using the Lyman devastator HP. The problem was the gun itself could not shoot sub MOA till I did some accuracy work on it. I bought a trigger kit so it now brakes nice and light, I free floated the barrel because it was rubbing on one side, and then I acraglass bedded the receiver. The other thing that shrunk my groups MAJORLY was switching over to lee collet factory crimp die. It really tightened up my velocity variances.

    Here’s some good reads for you...

    http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...my-ruger-77-44

    http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...man-devastator
    Last edited by Tripplebeards; 06-30-2020 at 12:15 AM.

  14. #14
    Boolit Master BABore's Avatar
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    Yeah, I forgot to mention that I did much of the same. New trigger, free float, and a couple thousandths of bolt shims.

  15. #15
    Boolit Grand Master Tripplebeards's Avatar
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    My bolt was tight enough that I didn’t need shims. I ordered a set and the thinnest one was so tight that it felt like I was forcing an I sized round onto the chamber when it was empty. My trigger is pretty light. I know it’s under 2 pounds. I installed a 14x scope to test as well. It has a 3x9 on it now. If you haven’t bedded it I would suggest to do so. Probably the answer imo. It doesn’t look pretty as I was low on glass and it was an old kit but it sure tightened my groups up. I did the same to my savage 220 slug gun. Best groups were 1.5 MOA till I needed it. They now go all on one big hole at 100 yards. From what I’ve read the 77/357 and 77/44 are not tac drivers (Averaging 1.5 to 2 MOA if not larger groups) but can be after accuracy mods are done. Glassing is pretty easy and I bet it will help you tighten your groups up.

    Are you using the lee collet factory crimp die? I believe it’s the answer in tight groups with cast boolits.

    I used it the other day on my 35 Rem loads. First time I loaded for a 35 Rem. I had one 100 yard group that measured .250” and another that was .7” With a different powder.

    My groups averaged about 4” at 100 yards till I bought a lee collet FCD. The same loads shrank down to 1.5” to 1.25” MOA. I then acraglass bedded my rifle and shot sub MOA with the two tightest shooting loads.
    Last edited by Tripplebeards; 06-30-2020 at 09:35 AM.

  16. #16
    Boolit Master
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    I recently acquired a 77/357 and it has liked both the CB's I have put through it so far and feed just fine. Both are RF style, the 125 gr. Lee (drops at 133 gr) and the NOE 184 gr. WFPB (drops at 189 gr). Both hammer the 6" gong at 100 yards consistently offhand and produce 1-1/2" groups at 50 yards also consistently from a poor rest. The powder I am using is AA-9 that I acquired years ago and until now never had a use. The MV is 1320 fps. The NOE mold is a plain base version of one of his gas check 182-3 gr. WF RN designs so it has a heavy duty drive band which is excellent and there isn't a hint of leading at that mv when sized to 358.
    Last edited by quilbilly; 07-02-2020 at 01:44 PM.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check