Ruger M77/44 Review

[pressonregardless]

I've been thinking about getting one these for a while now and found this review over on the RugerForum.com site.

Details here:
http://www.gunblast.com/Ruger-77-44.htm
_______________

I know that Ruger's first production seems to have been luck of the draw regarding accuracy.

Anyone had a chance to play with one yet?

What do you think about it?

[felix]

I like the guns, but keep in mind they are good for 2 consistent inches at a hunnert making them good for beer can targets. I think their lever cycling is the best in the business, and can be done with the little finger. The barrels are quite hard and will likely take some shooting until uniform. Don't know about the bolt version, but if one came along at a feel good price, I would take it. ... felix

[dubber123]

I found a nice used earlier one, (blue/walnut), for my nephew a few years ago for $250. After fixing a minor problem with the mag relaease, it's a good little gun. His shoots around 1" at 50 yds., and I've never shot it farther. He has taken 2 deer with it so far, and is well pleased. The all weather version you show is pretty interesting.

[pressonregardless]

I appreciate your comments fellows, I'm kinda sittin' on the fence on this one. I haven't shot one yet but I have a feeling I'd love it. Perfect for the kinda hunting we do around here where 100 yd shot is a long one.

[9.3X62AL]

I've adopted the (perhaps) foolish notion that the 44 Magnum makes a better rifle chambering than it does a handgun caliber. My total experience with 44 Mag rifles has been with 2 Marlin 94 carbines, both Micro-Grooved and both prior to getting the picture about boolit diameter vis-a-vis groove and throat dimensions. Jacketed bullets @ .429" and castings at .429" and .431" weren't impressive accuracy-wise........at 50 yards, the rifles and my Redhawk shot about the same groups. Hindsight being the hard science that it is, I suspect the rifles would have done better work with boolits tailored more closely to their dimensions. So, if a 44 Magnum rifle of some kind comes along at the right price, I might give the concept a second try.

[AJMD429]

I just got one. Factory Win 240 SP's seem to do 2 MOA with a 36x Scope when I tested off a weighted benchrest. We'll see if I can duplicate that using more practical hunting sights. Since it will be my 'rain gun' alternative to the Marlin 1894, it will wear a Williams FP most likely, or a Marbles 'Bullseye' sight, unless I can get my NECG 'mounts in the Ruger Ring cut' sight regulated without raising my front sight.

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa132/AJMD429/Leverguns%20etc/MarblesSight3.jpg http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa132/AJMD429/Leverguns%20etc/MarblesSight1.jpg

[pietro]

[unless I can get my NECG 'mounts in the Ruger Ring cut' sight regulated without raising my front sight.]


Please believe me, when I tell you: It's not going to happen.

The issue height front sight is too low, when the line-of-sight is raised - especially raised as high as when a top-mounted , clip-on peep like the NECG or XS is used.

The good news is that NECG also sells higher Ruger-only front blades, and IIRC the 77/44 has a common dovetail front that any higher replacement will slide into.

.

[pressonregardless]

[The good news is that NECG also sells higher Ruger-only front blades, and IIRC the 77/44 has a common dovetail front that any higher replacement will slide into.

.

Pietro, thanks that's good information.

[SP101GUY]

I am currently saving my cash to add this to my safe full of toys. Looks like a great little gun. AND, I can cast and load for it. Bonus. Coyotes better hide.

AJ

[BarryinIN]

I bought a used one last winter. I shoot a suppressed 77-22 quite a bit and always thought a bigger version would be nice.

While waiting on the rifle to arrive, I read reports of astounding accuracy from the 77-44 online (not here) and got my hopes up.

I have not found mine to be that great of a shooter. At least not overall.
I wouldn't call it bad, but I don't think it's that great either. It likes what it likes. I will get mediocre results with several loads, then suddenly hit on a load that shoots pretty well. Then it goes on a stretch of mediocrity again until it finds another load it likes. But sprinkled in along the way is an equally bad shooting load.

I need to say that I struggled with the heavy trigger early on, and that skewed the results and my attitude at the time. I thought I'd never find a good load because I couldn't get five good shots off in a row while wrestling with that trigger. I had some groups with four good shots and one flyer, and I think I called almost every one due to the trigger. I should go back and re-test some of my early loads from before the trigger job.

So far, it seems to like the Ranch Dog 432-265RF. I've found good loads at different points of the velocity scale with that bullet.

Mine slugged at .430, and likes most bullets at .431. I hear that's about the norm with these.

FWIW, I got an oddball Lyman 429105 mould this summer (looks about like a round ball with a belt and casts at about 145 grains with WW for me). What little info I found on that mould in a search here didn't sound promising. Yet, even though I've only tried three loads with it, two shot good groups at 50 yards (right around one inch, which I consider pretty good for such an oddball bullet).

The magazine isn't any too generous in length. I haven't found anything that it won't accept, but I don't have any of the big heavy .44 bullets or moulds either. What I have loaded doesn't leave a whole lot of space in the mag. If you have some of the long heavy .44s, you may find they won't load...but I don't know that they would shoot well in it either.
It does seem to feed anything that goes in there. Those 429105s are rather stumpy, yet feed fine. I just got a Lee 429-209-WC wadcutter mould, and while I haven't shot any yet, they fed when I ran some through it.

I keep working with this rifle since I like it's handiness. I don't know how it compares on the scales, but it sure feels lighter and handier than anything else of reasonable power including my Marlin 1894 or Winchester 92. I want to chuckle every time I pick it up. It's like carrying a .22- a small .22- that shoots a chunk of lead six or seven times heavier.
I think it gives me an OK group every now and then just to keep me going.

[docone31]

You might try, just for hars, putting a rubber washer under the front reciever screw.
I cut mine from an inner tube.
It was not on a Ruger, but on a Savage 110. The group did tighten up and it was less picky on ammo.
Simple fix, doesn't cost much, and it worked for me.
The washer makes a quick bedding trick.

[felix]

If you get better than 2 inches at 100, you are a good shot. Even with the target scope. Recoil control is the real challenge with this thing after getting the real load. ... felix

[BarryinIN]

You might try, just for hars, putting a rubber washer under the front reciever screw.
I cut mine from an inner tube.
It was not on a Ruger, but on a Savage 110. The group did tighten up and it was less picky on ammo.
Simple fix, doesn't cost much, and it worked for me.
The washer makes a quick bedding trick.

I should start messing with bedding. I have done nothing there, but I'm sure it could use it.

I'm at that point where I feel like should just go on and finish testing what I have loaded before changing anything since I'm almost through. Then I can decide if I want to start over trying everything again, or just pick out the better loads and fiddle from there. The problem is- every time I start thinking I'm about done trying everything, I add another mould or two. I keep moving the finish line farther away.

[MaxJon]

I really am considering trading my .22lr rifles in for one of these, just because i can cast and reload for it! There is a lot of nice moulds for the .44 too, one being a Lyman 250gn Devistator. Its really just an obese .22! ha ha! I want one!!
BB7.62

[JeffinNZ]

It's important not to lose perspective when talking accuracy. Given the range the rig is going to be used at and the size of the vital area of the game, 2-4 MOA is heaps of accuracy. It's not a bench rest rifle.

[MaxJon]

It's important not to lose perspective when talking accuracy. Given the range the rig is going to be used at and the size of the vital area of the game, 2-4 MOA is heaps of accuracy. It's not a bench rest rifle.

We all know the 44 mag rifle will never be a bench shooter, but it sure puts up a challenge to see just how close one can get it to a bench shooter! I would be confident of 2moa at 100yds, once a GOOD load is developed, and a few bedding tricks are applied. I dont really like the synthetic stock much, wonder if they come with the laminated stock the .22mag etc.. come in?
BB03

[altheating]

I just picked one up a few weeks ago. No accuracy at first. Great at 50 yds but at 100 it really sucked. I lapped it with 50-60 rounds. Better! Loaded it with a Lyman 429244 and was getting about 2" groups at 100yds. Ordered a 280 WFP mold from LBT. I think the accuracy will be even better with that bullet. Like JeffinNZ said, 2" is good for what it will be used for, but I know it will do better. I probably have 400 plus rounds through it now and it seems to have settled down now.

[8mm]

I have a blue/walnut 77-44 with an old weaver K2.5x scope. I haven't shot cast with it yet but with 270 gr. Speer "Gold Dot" bullets over 21.0 gr. of H-110 it groups about moa at 100 yds. This load produces the same accuracy in my Marlin 1894.

I bought about 400 rnds. of these J-bullets cheap at a closeout sale. With accuracy like that what's to improve? I have a Remington 788 and a Ruger #3 in 44 Mag. with which I will soon be experimenting with cast bullet loads.

[Blammer]

Here are some targets from my ruger 77/44 with a few cast boolits. :)

This was the only load development I did, and it was just before hunting season. I'll work on it more before next season.

Most are at 50 yds. The really heavy boolits I was trying did not fly well AT ALL at 100yds.

I suspect the 250gr wt range will work better for at distance.

The 280gr LBT I had with a really big meplat was horrible.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g81/blammer8mm/Targets/No_8.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g81/blammer8mm/Targets/No_4.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g81/blammer8mm/Targets/No_1.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g81/blammer8mm/Targets/scan0002.jpg

[EOD3]

I bought one of these when they first came out. It's proven to be a good little rifle with minute-of-deer accuracy or better.

I did have to send it back to Ruger for a "fix". When I fire an iron-sight rifle, I immediately bolt the rifle (very quickly). The recoil from heavier loads caused the bolt release mechanism to temporarily fail. Imagine my surprise when the bolt came all the way out of the rifle...

I never got a straight answer about what the problem was but it's never happened again. You might want to check it out before you take it hunting for anything that might bite.

[softpoint]

I bought a new one about 8 months ago. I've tried quite a few loads in mine. Shoots about an even one inch at 50 yards with 17 grains of 2400 and the 280 Ranch dog boolit, and also does it with the 300 grain Nosler hp. with a max charge of 296. Some of the lighter slugs didn't do as well in mine. I had to free float the barrel as it was touching the synthetic stock on one side .

[dbldblu]

You guys using the heavier boolits are on the right track. I have an early 77/44 and the chamber is sloppy and it will only shoot well with 300 grain; have not tried heavier. If you do a chamber cast you may be surprised at what you find.

[altheating]

Now I want one in 357 mag!

[rollmyown]

Any clue as to how well the mihec 432640 solid will shoot in one?

What diameter mould will work best (it's available as a .432 and a .434)?

Can't slug it because it hasn't been bought yet.

[Alan in GA]

Would like to 'refresh' this conversation on the stubby little Ruger 77/44: I've acquired a 'second year' blue/walnut with blued bolt....only thing that looks stainless is the trigger. Shot it with only a 4X fixed Leupold but got 5 shot groups @ 100 yards of about 3"...probably about what my visibility was capable with using the 4x scope.
I'll put a 2.5-8X Leupold on for the next range session.

Now I've got a bit of an itch: rebarreling to either 44 mag with a QUALITY barrel and probably heavy contour [might not have open sights but prefer scopes for everything anyway], AND,,,if I could find a take off 77/357 barrel I would build a .357 Bain & Davis. I've read of at least ONE conversion and he said his feeds fine with the necked down case.
I have a Contender carbine with an MGM barrel in .357 Maximum, and it shoots VERY well. However.....the thrill is gone, and I like to tinker. I can do more with a bolt rifle and threaded barrels with my lathe, and well, there is just the itch. I know the .357 B&D won't do anything the 357 Max will, and less expensively, but the itch is not getting scratched : )

I WOULD like to know what this otherwise NEAT LITTLE RIFLE could do with a HIGH QUALITY aftermarket barrel....say a Pac Nor maybe [in .44 magnum].
Anyone done it? I wished I had grabbed a pawn shop blue/walnut 77/44 a couple years ago. $325 on the sticker and it had rust inside the muzzle for a couple inches---PERFECT CANDIDATE for this project and I didn't grab it : (

Ok, who's done 'anything' with this rifle???

[Artful]

I have not myself - I have a friend who has had one rebarreled with a fast twist barrel and Integrally suppressed by Doug Melton at SRT - http://www.srtarms.com/7744.htm .
It's a fun gun to take out and shoot - here's a you tube of some else's integrally suppressed 44

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI6aCnh-99o

Dave's biggest complaint with his was the magazine - 1) limited length of cartridges 2) only factory mags - no higher capacity available.

[W.R.Buchanan]

OK Art, that was cool. The suppressed version sounds like someone spitting out sunflower seeds. Bet it hurts more.

I have been looking at one of these guns for some time. They have three things that I really like about them. They are in .44 mag which is one of my favorites, and they are nice and compact and won't rust.

I could see myself shooting Short Range Silhouette with one easily.

I think a small red dot sight on one would be the hot tip for close range shooting of pigs and deer. I also think one would be more effective on just about anything than a .44 revolver. And since .44 revolvers have killed everything on earth, well you get the idea.

This gun would end up being my Jeep gun fo sho.

I have a Marlin 1894 CB Rifle in .44 however the 1:38 twist barrel limits the accuracy to bullets in the under 280 gr range, and you have to drive them hard to get any accuracy at all. The .431 groove dia. doesn't help. With boolits in the 250-260 range it is in it's sweet spot.

These little bolt guns have 1:20 twist barrels at .430 and as long as you don't go over the OAL that the mags will swallow, they will shoot 300 gr boolits with acceptable accuracy. A 300 gr boolit at 1500-1600 fps is into .45-70 territory. I am also sure it would let you know you pulled the trigger, but if you needed to use such a load to pop something that bites I doubt you would notice.

Brian Pearce did and article in Rifle Magazine a few months back on both the .44 and .357 versions of this gun. His conclusions were very positive. It is the epitome of the truck gun.

I am a big fan of Ruger Firearms and what I really like is they are all guns you wouldn't be afraid to take out and use. My Scout Rifle has been one of the best, if not the best firearm purchase I have ever made.

One of these 77/44's with a green laminate stock would sell me in about one second! I might just call and see if someone like Lipsey's isn't having them made right now.

Randy

[GaryN]

Wow Art, Cool video. I would love one of those with a suppressor. The best thing is you can shoot and not worry about disturbing anyone.

[Ramjet-SS]

Use H110 or WW296 the accuracy will improve as will the velocity.

[Dthunter]

I sold mine after trying every combo you can imagine!
The rifle fed flawlessly! But it would ONLY shoot 210 grain bullets and "lighter" into 3" at 100 yards. Not acceptable accuracy at all!
240 grain and up usually grouped into 4"+. Ugly!

If this rifle gad shot inside 2" at 100 with any bullet weight of 240+, I would have kept it.
It was very dissappointing!

I like EVERY aspect of the rifle "except" its accuracy performance.

Just to make it clear, I shoot many different rifles at MOA or better out to 1000 yards + in good conditions. So its not my ability thats the issue.

Damn! I wish it had shot better!

[Dthunter]

Oops! Double post! Sorry!

[Artful]

Did you try and diagnose why it didn't group well except with 210 grain bullets?

[Dthunter]

Artful:

The rifle would group well with 180,200XTP, 210 gr winchester bullets only.

Chances are, that If a range of lighter bullets shoot and stabilise well, but heavier ones dont, the twist rate "could" be an issue. But unlikely.
The barrel crown was very clean and square.

I glass bedded the rifle as well. The bore looked prestine with a bore scope. The throat was a little long for my tastes, but fuctional.

They sure are nice looking little carbines!

If I could guarantee that another one of these rifle would shoot the 240-300 grain bullets inside 2" at 100 consistantly, I would buy another. But I seriously doubt it.

Maybe I should have rebarreled it with a heavier 16" match barrel. HMMMMMM!

[W.R.Buchanan]

I seriously doubt you are going to get virtually any .44 to shoot inside 2" at 100 yards consistently with a variety of ammo. If you do it will be because of a carefully worked up load that just "works" in that gun. IE: perfect boolit/charge combo. Not likely there will be several perfect combos.

These guns have 1;20" twist barrels and should nicely stabilize boolits up to 300 gr just fine. However the boolits themselves will probably be the problem with the groups, not the gun. So many variables that come into play with Cast Boolits (that's why we play with them).

I would think that Lyman 429244 with a Gas check should work well as long as you can get it in the magazine. The Lyman 429640? Rnfp mould would probably work well. I don't see any PB boolit delivering any kind of accuracy above about 1400fps, and the whole point of a rifle is to get up into the 1600-1800 fps range so you can do some real damage. You might sacrifice some accuracy at those speeds, but accuracy is a relative thing, and as long as it is adequate for the intended purpose, why sweat it?

I would be very happy with a 4" group at 100 yds from a gun like that. You figure the gun is a 150 yd gun at best so that would be more than adequate. I doubt many could hold iron sights any closer than that consistently any way.

Considering that I am lucky to get 3" at 50 yds out of my Marlin 1894CB I think 4" at 100 would be doing pretty good for a .44. Especially when you consider what the gun would be used for. IE: Hunting at ranges less than 100yards or shooting Close Range Silhouettes.

I know many will take exception to my assertions in this thread and I'm sure others have gotten exemplary accuracy from other .44's but I personally don't see the point in a .44 caliber tack driver. It is a 100 yard hole punch! And in that context it is pretty efficient.

I know Brian Pearce got sub 1" groups at 75 yds from the one they tested, however they shoot hundreds of rounds daily and also load hundreds of rounds daily so they are a little better than most of us who only get to shoot on the weekends. They also shot many different loads and boolits in the gun, so maybe they just found the right combo.

Not trying to be an ***** here, but I bet the gun could shoot better than most of us could shoot it.

Just sayin',,, something to consider.

Randy

[Artful]

Well, I know I've seen a lot of T/C Contenders shooting 44mag in groups the size of a turkey head at 150 yards with repeatability - I don't see why you couldn't get a bolt gun to do as good - but I also know that each gun will like somethings better than others - so if you want it to shoot heavies you will have to make sure all components of the rifle are geared that way.

[Alan in GA]

Guys I love Ruger bolt actions, specifically the 77 Mark II and probably the 77 Hawkeye as I have only owned and own 77Rs and 77 Mark IIs. I don't care for the older push feed [only] 77R models very much but I sure am not going to toss the two 77R rifles in .250 Savage out of the safe! If another 77R in .358 Win popped up somewhere at a 'regular price' I think I could handle buying it, too.
The two 77Rs were purchased for my sons.
My main Ruger is a 77 Mark II that I rebarrelled to .250 Savage Ackley Improved using a Shilen chrome moly blank. Now IT IS ACCURATE! I have owned a dozen or more Ruger 77R, 77UL, and 77 Mark II's in various calibers. Only one was a 'half inch' gun in factory form and that was a mid 1970's [about 1977] 77R in .270 Winchester. All the others gave an occasional 3/4" group at 100 yards but I sure couldn't muster up many groups at or under an inch. Even at THAT, I LIKE the rugged action and will put up with the so so accuracy for hunting, knowing a really NICE Ruger 77 is often going to need a 'real barrel' in place of the factory barrel. The Shilen barreled .250 SAI prints groups as small as I can occasionally hold, 3/8" @ 100 yards! THAT proved to me the factory Ruger barrels are what keep the guns from being capable of really bragging size mini groups. Now, I know some of the recent hammer forged barrels Ruger is making will print itty bitty groups but it's rare, and at that I don't expect it.
I had a 77/22 Hornet that wanted to shoot but after shooting a CZ 527 in 22 Hornet I sold the Ruger 77/22. Mine was a blued/walnut, and a good friend's 77/22 Hornet was a laminated stock stainless 'varmint' version. HIS shot much better than mine so I guess it's a toss up.
All this to say I REALLY WISH I had purchased the $325 'rusted end of bore' 77/44 I found a couple years ago at a friend's pawn shop. THAT would have been the gun to REBARREL! I like the iron sights on my newish 77/44 but though about a new barrel with an almost varmint taper and not messing with trying to properly fit a set of open sights.
Like the above poster mentioned, Contenders in 44 Rem Mag seem to be able to put those fat bullet holes very close together if not in the same ragged hole.
OH, and then there was the Remington 788 in 44 Rem Mag that a shooter next to me at a club gun range had...THAT rifle made small groups of the kind the Ruger has trouble making!
So yeah, find a low priced 77/44 and put a REAL barrel on it and lets' see what IT can DO!

[W.R.Buchanan]

OK here's some info that might be useful to those of you that have a 77/44 or 77/357 that doesn't perform like you had hoped.

While taking my morning constitutional today I found the magazine with the article by Brian Pearce on these guns.

He stated that initially the gun was shooting 3-6" at 75yds with factory loads. They went thru an extensive bore break process which consisted of using Montana X Bore Conditioner and firing the gun cleaning the bore, and repeating the process 10 times, then 3 shot strings with the same procedure, for some 2 1/2 hours. The results improved dramatically

This gun had NEGC Peep sight installed, so 75 yds. was the standard range used.

After doing this the first group (240gr Hornaday XTP's ,21.0 gr of Accurate#9 CCI300 primer) yielded a 4 shot group under 1" at 75 yds.

He also stated that this problem with loose groups is not isolated citing a local gunsmith that had one that shot 8" groups at 75 yds! He lapped the barrel and the rifle settled in Sub MOA.

Other groups mentioned were the same Hornaday bullet with 24.5 gr of H110 with CCI 350 primers for 1800 fps and a 4 shot group with 3 touching and one flyer for .90" total. Similar performance from Nosler bullets, and a real **** kicker, 300gr Cast Performance boolit at 1600 fps with 21.0 gr of H110. The last was a 240 RNFP boolit over 5.5 gr of Titegroup for 1015 fps for a subsonic plinking load.

The one thing that turned these guns around was the barrel break in, and as I said Brian and his sons fired literally hundreds of rounds thru the 77/44 and 77357 to gather data for this article.

It should also be noted that these guys shoot lots of guns almost daily gathering data for articles, and probably can hold a lot better than most, if not all of us here can. This would account for sub MOA groups with Iron sights which they shoot nearly as well as scoped guns.

Constant practice trumps good intentions everytime.

I am seeing considerable improvements in my own shooting from just shooting my Air Gun nightly at Silhouette paper targets at 10 yds with iron sights. My target last night was 4/10 at 10 yds with peep sites,,, the chicken target is roughly 1/2" in size and I can barely see it. A week ago I was lucky to hit one out of 40!

At any rate if anyone is actually interested in reading the whole article it is in the July 2012 Issue of Rifle Magazine.

It made the point clearly that with a little work these guns can be made to shoot very well indeed, completely blowing my earlier assertions that you shouldn't expect tack driver accuracy from a .44 cal. carbine.

I stand corrected.

Randy

[rollmyown]

Am I safe with a .432 mould, or do I need a .434? What diameter do these rifles run at?

[ballistim]

I'd recommend slugging your barrel, that model has had a variation of bore size, mine was fine with a .432 mold & then sized to .431.

[rollmyown]

I don't have the rifle yet.

[ballistim]

I'd wait to get the gun to check bore first, other option would be to buy .434 and size down, it could be done.