How are the Ruger 77/357's shooting?

[altheating]

Well Its been almost two months since I got my Ruger 77/357 and the groups still are getting tighter. 100 yard groups with the 360180 boolit and 10B101 powder are giving me consistent 1"-1.25" groups. I have lapped it with LBT's lapping kit and now have almost 1500 rounds through it. How are the rest of them shooting?

[Love Life]

Mine is now shooting very well. I took your advice (and finally slugged my barrel) and started sizing my boolits at .358. Huge difference. I still can't get the 358477 to shoot worth a ****.

[Bodydoc447]

Mine is still on the experimental side. I haven't found the "load" yet for magnums. I tried 12.8 gr. of 2400 and the 358429 and got 2 to 2.5" groups. I am going to try the GC 180s with a dose of Lil Gun next or maybe crank up the 2400 a grain. The darned thing sure does like .38s, though.

Doc

[Love Life]

Mine is still on the experimental side. I haven't found the "load" yet for magnums. I tried 12.8 gr. of 2400 and the 358429 and got 2 to 2.5" groups. I am going to try the GC 180s with a dose of Lil Gun next or maybe crank up the 2400 a grain. The darned thing sure does like .38s, though.

Doc

I had the same problem. The best I have gotten so far is right at an inch at 100 yards with .357 magnum. I was using the NOE 360-95-SP over a healthy dose of W231. Now My rifle will put lee 358-125-RF over 5.0 grains of unique in mixed HS 38 special brass into 1 inch and under all day long at 100 yards. I need to get back out and do some more experimenting.

[lbaize3]

I managed to get my Ruger Scout rifle and EAA MP221 double 45-70 rifles rather quickly. But I have not been able to get the Ruger 77/357 at a local dealer yet. I have about 3 local dealers that sell to me for a very small percentage over cost.... that keeps me from buying online. Hopefully, one will come in shortly. I am looking forward to working up the right loads for this fun gun.

[Bodydoc447]

I am still working on the accuracy part, but I have to say I am enjoying the heck out of this little rifle. It is fun to plink with using .38s. I hope to get a load worked up with satisfactory accuracy that I can try it out on a hog or a whitetail this Fall. I hope you get yours soon and enjoy it as much as I am mine.

Doc
(Just finished loading a box of 180 WFNGC, sized .358 over 14.8 gr of Lil Gun with Wolf Mag primers in Starline brass. I'll try them this weekend and report any success.)

[rockrat]

Only shot mine at the range once, using 158gr Black Hills SWC's. shot about a foot low@100yds. Rear sight was also cocked over to the left. Not impressed yet, but haven't loaded anything for it yet.

I think it will do better with my boolits.

[Four Fingers of Death]

I haven't seen these in Australia yet.

[Love Life]

This rifle is an awesome rabbit slayer. Lee 358-125-rf loaded over 5 gr of unique in mixed HS brass will kill rabbits all day at 100 yards and under. I only use the iron sights as this is my dedicated truck gun. I used a scope for load developement, but after that it was back to the irons. I had to raise the rear sight, but now it is dead on.

I am still working with the 357 and will post more infor once I get the load dialed in. Also my barrel slugged at .357

[Bodydoc447]

I shot a few groups today. Mine really liked the 180 gr WFNGC over 14.8 gr of Lil Gun and a SP magnum primer. Of course, I had to shoot a few .38s, too. My cowboy load of 125 gr RF and 3.2 gr of Promo shot low with a little vertical stringing but was otherwise a tidy little group at 50 yards.

Doc

[Wheeler]

I'm thinking about getting one of these for my son. Can I get an update form the owners out there?

[Bodydoc447]

I really am becoming very fond of this rifle. I am still tinkering with the accuracy load. I am having pretty good luck with 180 WFN GC bullets over a stiff load of Lil Gun and magnum SP primers. So far I have had no trouble with OAL issues with any of the limited number of bullets I have tried. The funny thing is that my plinking load for .38s just cuts cloverleafs at 50 yards. This is a fun rifle for kids because you can load it with those .38s and they can shoot all day long without being worn out by muzzle blast (which I think is worse on the kids than any recoil for most centerfire rifles). If your son is a hunter then this rifle is certainly in the .30-30 class and I will be taking mine after deer and hogs.

HTH,

Doc

[Love Life]

It is a very fun rifle. Mine dotes on the lee 358-125-rf in both 38 special and 357 loadings. 358477 is a certified bust for me. Does very well with the NOE 360-95-SP in 357 loadings. I am just now starting to work up with heavier boolits.

[Bodydoc447]

That is interesting. My rifle didn't like the 358429 SWCs. It loves my cowboy loads (125 gr RFN and 3.2 promo) and my plinking loads (358311 and 3.4 Titegroup). Maybe they just do not like SWCs because the WFN is showing some real promise.

Doc

[redhead]

Hello everyone, my 77/357 has three different boolits that I am shooting through it. The best is the 358091 two hole mold. I love this mold and have cast somewhere in the 5000 or better count of ww lead. Mixed brass, win, rem, and cci primers do not matter. Sized to .358 and lubed with Javalina alox. 3.5 grs of Bullseye. One hole groups at 25 yards. 1.5 inch groups at 100. This boolit shoots well in both my gp100 and my 77/357. Now I bought a 358156 lyman and set it back, 20 foot groups at 100. Now the new mold is not much better. Bullets are still under sized. I will be beagleing this mold. For the last boolit that I shoot is a 125 hornady and I just use it to clean out the lead that may be in the gun and have not grouped but I still have the ablity to plink at 100 the same way I do with the 358091. I love this rifle. I have a super six in .22/.22mag and I have well over 10,000 rounds through it and my gp100 has close to 12,000. I have had no problems with eather and that was a factor in geting the 77/357. I am looking forward to spending more quality time with my new rifle.

[Love Life]

Enjoy it. I couldn't get SWC to shoot worth a darn. It showed preference to WFN, RN, and SP boolits. Weight didn't seem to be the issue, just nose profile.

[redhead]

When i measure my front driving band on my 358156 I see that it is way too small,
352-.354. I was thinking that I could beagle the mold and see if I could change the down range accuracy of this swc. I was also thinking that a close to the top powder charge of h-110 maybe would stablize the bullet better. I am heart broken because I purchased the 358156 solely for the 77/357 and cannot get it to shoot. The boolit that shoots best for me is being sized down to .358 and when I size the 358156 it just touches the bands a little at two points. That is where the beagleing is comming to thought. No hijack intended, but I think that I am through with Lyman!!! This was going to be my deer hunting round.

[Love Life]

I don't know if what I am going to tell you next will make you feel any better. I pushed the Lyman 358477 (which isn't that far off from the 358156) about as hard as you could using 35 caliber PB gas checks. No matter how soft or how fast I pushed any semi wad cutter they just did not shoot. Different nose profile boolits tended to shoot very well in both 357 and 38 special loadings.

[Ole]

Dear Ruger:

Please make this rifle in .357 MAXIMUM and I'll probably buy one. :mrgreen:

[Lucky Joe]

Dear Ruger:

Please make this rifle in .357 MAXIMUM and I'll probably buy one. :mrgreen:

Yup, versatility is the spice of life. I'll probably get one anyway but would prefer it to be a Max.. Or get it reamed.

[lbaize3]

Well, I finally got my 77/357 last Tuesday. I have mounted a Bushnell LER 3X9 and bore sighted it. I also put a 6 to 9 inch bipod and a sling on it. However, I have not been able to get to the range to try it out, yet. Plan on going Friday, (tomorrow).

As I tend to batch load my ammo, I have a generous supply of various and sundry 357 and 38 loads to try. I hope to be able to let you know how the rifle shoots by late Friday evening. I really do like just about everything about this rifle. The trigger is going to require some smoothing, but that will have to wait until at least Saturday.

[Artful]

Yup, versatility is the spice of life. I'll probably get one anyway but would prefer it to be a Max.. Or get it reamed.

What are you going to do with the magazine - tough to stretch it - so it'll be a single shot in 357 Max. ;-)

[Four Fingers of Death]

What are you going to do with the magazine - tough to stretch it - so it'll be a single shot in 357 Max. ;-)

Why not try that Dan Wesson slightly stretched 357? That might fit, but I think properly loaded in a bolt rifle, you could get some serious perfrormance, recoil and noise out of a 357 Mag!

[MtJerry]

Dear Ruger:

Please make this rifle in .357 MAXIMUM and I'll probably buy one. :mrgreen:

Ditto!!

[tcrocker]

I was thinking of getting one for hunting and shtf gun. So what is the going price for one of these?

[lbaize3]

I meant to get back with a report on my new 77/357 last Friday evening, but my internet router was down. Just replaced the router and got everything set back up.

I got to shoot my new rifle with a selection of factory and reloads in both 38 and 357. Initial results were promising, however, the only range open was 50 yards. So I shot about 400 rounds just to break in the rifle and get the scope dialed in.

The 38 specials shot very well with 158 grain factory jhp ammo, tending to clover leaf all five rounds. Even the old 158 grain factory lead round nose ammo shot well. My 158 grain lead SWC ammo (several loads with Unique and 231) also showed promise but did not shoot as well as the JHP. The 148 grain WC did not feed from the magazine, but did display some very good accuracy.

The 357 ammo did well. The best load was a Speer 160 grain soft point pushed by 16.5 grains of H110. These grouped one on top of the other.
The 158 grain LSWC with 14.5 grains of H110 did not group near as well. The various and sundry factory 357 I took to the range also seemed to group very well.

My overall impressions were that the gun was excellent in quality and accuracy. I did a trigger job on Saturday, replacing the trigger return spring with a much lighter one and stoning the trigger, sear and bolt. I now have an excellent trigger that is a very crisp 3 pounds (estimated). The magazine was jamming so I broke it down and polished some burrs and rewound the spring to give it a bit more tension. Hopefully it will cease with the jams. I also used JB Bore Paste to smooth the barrel to see if that would aid the lead bullet accuracy some. I also exchanged the 3X9 Bushnell for a 1.5 X 4 Bushnell. (the difference being the parallax setting). Can't wait to get back to the range to try out some different 357 loads.

[Dthunter]

Hi guys, what is the length (internal) of the magazine?
It will be a while before we can get these rifles up here in Canada.

[Spaceball]

Hi All

How are these 77/357 rifles going?

Has anyone tried one of the MiHec hollow point boolits in these?

I am very keen on getting one but they do get mixed reviews.
They are both expensive and rare in Australia.

Thanks

Spaceball

[Four Fingers of Death]

Hi All

How are these 77/357 rifles going?

Has anyone tried one of the MiHec hollow point boolits in these?

I am very keen on getting one but they do get mixed reviews.
They are both expensive and rare in Australia.

Thanks

Spaceball

I have only seen one 44Mag version,my mate bought it and it almost cost as much as two Ruger Americans or about $100 less than a Hawkeye. He reckons it shot all right, but hit me up for some 44Special brass. I reckoned he should have waited for a 357, but the money was burning a hole in his pocket and there were no 357s about, lol.

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

Any more range reports on these? Just curious because I have one coming in.Thanks!

[Four Fingers of Death]

I saw an ad from Noia, the importer for Australia in a gun mag. They state that they are now available in Australia. About time, lol. The picture showed a SS version with camo stock.

[altheating]

It seems the more I shoot mine the better it shoots. 1/2" marbles at 50 yards and golf balls at 100 yards is no problem with the NOE 360-180 Boolit and 10B101 powder and homemade checks. You will really like it,

[Mica_Hiebert]

bringing this back from the dead I have a NOE 360-180 GC on the way itching to get a good 77/357 load worked up would be nice if I can use the same load in my gp100

[Mica_Hiebert]

I still haven't gotten a load worked up for mine yet but do have the mould and have some boolits cast up.

[Travelor]

Mica, I have a gun on the way and have been casting the NOE 360-180 bullet. Will try the bullet sized to .358" in my Martini in the mean tome. Read an interesting article that recommends 4.3 grains of Bullseye with this bullet.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I have only seen one 44Mag version,my mate bought it and it almost cost as much as two Ruger Americans or about $100 less than a Hawkeye. He reckons it shot all right, but hit me up for some 44Special brass. I reckoned he should have waited for a 357, but the money was burning a hole in his pocket and there were no 357s about, lol.

FFOD/Mick: I personally would be inclined to do a .44 version simply because I have .44 everything and .357 nothing. Also since I have a .44 Marlin and have a pretty good idea of what that cartridge will do in a rifle, the R77/44 seems like it would be a more useful gun for me and an excellent candidate for a Red Dot sight installation which would make the gun a real fast brush gun.

I know my 260 gr SWC's knock down a 55 lb Steel Ram at 200 meters with "authority!" When I can connect. 50 meter Chickens go flying.

I see these guns as being ideal Heavy Forrest Guns where rain is a factor and shots are under 100 yards.

If you had .357 everything already then obviously that could be the way to go.

I was told by Brian Pearce that the more you shoot these guns the better they get, and breaking the barrel in properly is the key to great accuracy. But a steady diet of Cast Boolits would also eventually break the barrel in as well, and would be a lot more fun.

Randy

[Mica_Hiebert]

Mica, I have a gun on the way and have been casting the NOE 360-180 bullet. Will try the bullet sized to .358" in my Martini in the mean tome. Read an interesting article that recommends 4.3 grains of Bullseye with this bullet.

I have a handful of NOE 360-180 powder coated and sized .358 as that is all the fatter my cylinder will take in the gp100 and my sp101, they are sitting on top of 13.5 grains of h110
Won't get to shoot it for a while, I've been told I can go up to 15 grains but might be kinda stout in the hand guns also may try to load up some with Lil gun.

[Leadforbrains]

I love Mine. It is now one of my favorites. It shoots cast boolits great and kills deer just fine.164166164167164168164165

[Four Fingers of Death]

FFOD/Mick: I personally would be inclined to do a .44 version simply because I have .44 everything and .357 nothing. Also since I have a .44 Marlin and have a pretty good idea of what that cartridge will do in a rifle, the R77/44 seems like it would be a more useful gun for me and an excellent candidate for a Red Dot sight installation which would make the gun a real fast brush gun.

I know my 260 gr SWC's knock down a 55 lb Steel Ram at 200 meters with "authority!" When I can connect. 50 meter Chickens go flying.

I see these guns as being ideal Heavy Forrest Guns where rain is a factor and shots are under 100 yards.

If you had .357 everything already then obviously that could be the way to go.

I was told by Brian Pearce that the more you shoot these guns the better they get, and breaking the barrel in properly is the key to great accuracy. But a steady diet of Cast Boolits would also eventually break the barrel in as well, and would be a lot more fun.

Randy

I am well set up for both, but would tend to agree, both useful up to 150yards or thereabouts (which sums up most scrub / bush / forest / going out for dinner hunting), but the 44Mag would have an extra margin of performance (and safety if there are any bitey / scratchy things about).

Going on past performance, my mate will probably try and sell it to me along the way a bit, I have ended up with ten or so of his rifles over the years. I'm a patient man, hahaha!

[Mike in Reedley]

I was happily ignorant of this rifles existence until someone revived this four year old thread, now I have one on the way to my LGS. I recently bought an older Marlin Cowboy in .45-70, that came with a like new Bushnell Elite 3x9 scope on it. First thing I did was pull the scope off the lever and wonder what I might put it on. Well now I know.

[ironhead7544]

If you want 357 Max power, you can get the rifle converted to the 357/44 Bain&Davis.

I once built an M1 carbine in 357 Auto Mag. You could probably modify the M1 carbine magazine to fit the magwell on the 77/357. 7 357 Auto Mag rounds will fit in the 15 round magazine and 14 in the 30 round M1 carbine mag. My M1 functioned perfectly but I had to drop the 357 Auto Mag loads by 10%. Still managed 2000 fps with a 158 gr JSP.

[W.R.Buchanan]

The problem with trying to put different cartridges in these guns is the magazine will only allow 1.600 OAL. You can single load longer cartridges like .44 mags with SWC's that are too long for the mag but still will chamber just fine.

Trying to modify the gun to use other magazines could be problematic.

Randy

[rollmyown]

If you want 357 Max power, you can get the rifle converted to the 357/44 Bain&Davis.

I once built an M1 carbine in 357 Auto Mag. You could probably modify the M1 carbine magazine to fit the magwell on the 77/357. 7 357 Auto Mag rounds will fit in the 15 round magazine and 14 in the 30 round M1 carbine mag. My M1 functioned perfectly but I had to drop the 357 Auto Mag loads by 10%. Still managed 2000 fps with a 158 gr JSP.

An interesting idea. It got me thinking, how about rebarreling a 77/44 to 357/44 Bain & Davis? Alot more money but you keep the factory Mag and efectively get similar 357 max peformance.

[Travelor]

Need some help guys and gals.

I have a relatively new Ruger 77/357 that is shooting about 3+inches at 100 yards. Load I am using is the NOE 360-180-FN GC sized .358", seated to the crimp groove, cast with 3:1 lead to linotype, and using 14.5 grains of Lil' Gun. Bullets are weighed and culled unless +/- .5 grains.

I have put the gun in a Boyd's stock and am using a Weaver T-36 scope with a VERY solid cast Iron Sinclair rest with a form fitting sand bag and also a form fitting rear leather bag. Just ordered a Volquartsen trigger "kit" for it.

What can I do differently to shoot better?

An interesting observation is that the same load shoots just as poorly or worse in my Martini Cadet with a Douglas Air Gauged barrel with a 1:16 twist 24" long and a Lyman SuperSpot 25 power scope. I have loaded for many years and have never had a problem with my reloads until now......................

[Mica_Hiebert]

Need some help guys and gals.

I have a relatively new Ruger 77/357 that is shooting about 3+inches at 100 yards. Load I am using is the NOE 360-180-FN GC sized .358", seated to the crimp groove, cast with 3:1 lead to linotype, and using 14.5 grains of Lil' Gun. Bullets are weighed and culled unless +/- .5 grains.

I have put the gun in a Boyd's stock and am using a Weaver T-36 scope with a VERY solid cast Iron Sinclair rest with a form fitting sand bag and also a form fitting rear leather bag. Just ordered a Volquartsen trigger "kit" for it.

What can I do differently to shoot better?

An interesting observation is that the same load shoots just as poorly or worse in my Martini Cadet with a Douglas Air Gauged barrel with a 1:16 twist 24" long and a Lyman SuperSpot 25 power scope. I have loaded for many years and have never had a problem with my reloads until now......................

Mine shoots 2 inches with factory 140 grain Hornady leverevolutions. And the plastic stock. Haven't gotten my load worked up for the 360-180 yet

[Jeff Michel]

[QUOTE=Travelor;3606865]Need some help guys and gals.

I have a relatively new Ruger 77/357 that is shooting about 3+inches at 100 yards. Load I am using is the NOE 360-180-FN GC sized .358", seated to the crimp groove, cast with 3:1 lead to linotype, and using 14.5 grains of Lil' Gun. Bullets are weighed and culled unless +/- .5 grains.

I have put the gun in a Boyd's stock and am using a Weaver T-36 scope with a VERY solid cast Iron Sinclair rest with a form fitting sand bag and also a form fitting rear leather bag. Just ordered a Volquartsen trigger "kit" for it.

What can I do differently to shoot better?

An interesting observation is that the same load shoots just as poorly or worse in my Martini Cadet with a Douglas Air Gauged barrel with a 1:16 twist 24" long and a Lyman SuperSpot 25 power scope. I have loaded for many years and have never had a problem with my reloads until now.....................

Did you slug your bore? Sounds like your bullet maybe a tad small at .358. I shoot the same bullet, sized .360 50/50 ww/pb. keep it around 1500 fps. I had pretty poor performance above that.

[Travelor]

I have not slugged the bore yet.

Also have not fire lapped or used a bore paste.

[Four Fingers of Death]

Lapping a hammer forged barrel is a bit unnecessary isn't it? They are pretty smooth as a rule. Works wonders with cut rifling, but the're rarer than sensible politicans nowadays.

[akula682]

this is a very old thread but i need to ask, how have all of you fixed your mag problems? (everyone ive talked to has seen the same problem) I have 6 mags and everyone will fail to push up the 3rd 4th or 5th round, i have to poke it down with my finger a little bit then it will spring back up. I dont want to open the mag up because that is a PITA (i did that on my 10/22 and that mag never worked right again).

also, what style bullet works best for loading? i get fail to feed problems pushing a round into the chamber

other than these somewhat minor problems i love my 77/357.

[Whit Spurzon]

My 77/357 seems to feed the LEE 125, 158, and 200 grain 38 and 357 varieties without an issue. Factory HP and JSP ammo does fine too.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LmXKI6CMZ4

[9.3X62AL]

That one seems to feed OK.

[Mica_Hiebert]

My 77/357 feeds fine. My 10/22 mags would jam and would take a good cleaning and graphite treatment to make them work good again.

[postban]

65yds
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f49/postban/Rifles/Centerfire/Ruger%2077-357/IMG_20151117_140201_zpsqxgu8aok.jpg


65 yards. Actually recovered one of the slugs. It was just sitting on top of the log I mounted the target tohttp://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f49/postban/Rifles/Centerfire/Ruger%2077-357/IMG_20151117_140234_zpsps6uhq37.jpghttp://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f49/postban/Rifles/Centerfire/Ruger%2077-357/IMG_20151117_140311_zps7vlxx2qr.jpg
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f49/postban/Rifles/Centerfire/Ruger%2077-357/1428449641_zpsae1b5527.jpg

245gr pccb SAECO 352
38spl brass (because it fits better than 357 brass, flush to the top band)
WSP primer
OAL to fit mag

Took a lot of backing down to get this subsonic, started at 9.7gr which gave 1230fps avg. No pressure signs btw.

7.7gr Lil'gun 1042fps 590fpe
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f49/postban/Rifles/Centerfire/Ruger%2077-357/IMG_20150401_165115_zps4k5kvt2g.jpg

[Artful]

Nice postban (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/member.php?27112-postban), how you liking the silencer?

[W.R.Buchanan]

That looks cool! Randy

[Drm50]

I have not owned a 77/357, but last fall sighted in 2, 77/44s @ a 77/357. All three were scoped
and shooting factory JSPs. All three at 75yds, 5 shot groups were in 11/2". They impressed me.
I did a couple new 94 Marlins 44s, and they didn't do that well, they were more in 3" class, also
factory ammo. There is run on these type guns here in Ohio, for new deer season. Most of these
guys are not loaders, I fact for a lot of them it is their 1st HP rifle.

[postban]

Nice postban (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/member.php?27112-postban), how you liking the silencer?

Really love them, makes shooting more enjoyable. I have five now and two more coming.
https://youtu.be/MplejsRoAWc
https://youtu.be/h42XNnNBxDY

[akula682]

postban (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/member.php?27112-postban), you could reload that projectile and shoot it again, without melting it down again. (sweet looking setup too).

Whit Spurzon (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/member.php?1685-Whit-Spurzon)- how long did it take to get yours running that smoothly? mine is brand new (sadly i am in the middle east and cant shoot it and get it worked in) and if i try and run it like you are in your video it will jam every time.