Ruger 77/357 opinions

[sghart]

Hello neighbors,

I have the itch to try one of these rifles. Do any of you guys own one? Or owned one in the past?

What is your honest opinion? Are they accurate?

Thanks in advance for your time.

[200Apples]

My opinion of the Ruger 77/357 is: I would like to own one, but from where I set and shoot it'd be redundant, since I prefer .357 from lever actions.

The bolt action Ruger should be a little more accurate than a lever carbine, because the lever carbine or lever short rifle may be hamstrung by barrel dovetails in which hang the stocks' forend attachements. On a lever carbine the barrel band is the suspect. There are methods or procedures that have been prescribed by men like Paco Kelly and/or Chuck Hawks to reduce any binding of those components affecting the barrel's behavior or harmonics; whatever it is that may interfere with *accuracy*.

There are and have been plenty of lever action carbines used over the last century plus that have put plenty of meat on the family table, so, as the late, great Jeff Cooper once noted, "If that rifle were half as accurate as it is, it would still be twice as accurate as it need be" or words to that effect when the subject of supreme action/barrel precision vs. practical accuracy was being discussed...

So I suppose that what I'm saying is that yes, the bolt action .357 may well be more *accurate* but what is it you'd like use the rifle for? Again, I think it's a nifty piece but redundant to my small armory.

[sghart]

I agree on the redundancy. I own 357 lever actions from Marlin and Citadel(Rossi) and i just recently sold a Henry.

I have tried all of the lever action accuracy remedies from Paco including enlarging the rear barrel band, etc. They do work and my lever actions are accurate enough for what I want them to do.

I only sold the Henry because the geometry of the stock gave me a hard time getting a good cheek weld. And once I added a scope my head felt like it was almost vertical, similar to mt AR's.

Thanks for the input. I appreciate it very much.

[Imageview]

Have owned one, along with 6 or 7 other 357 rifles. At the time I let it go I did because of redundancy, but it's the rifle I probably most regret selling other than my first gun.

The triggers aren't good. The plastic stock is a little cheesy. It's not as fun as a lever action. The price for them now is a bit nuts. But it's still a rifle I consider buying again. It was the most accurate of any 357 rifles I've owned.

[splithoof]

I currently own the 77/44. I have compared and shot the 77/357 as well, and IME they both are decent small rifles. I chose the larger caliber because I see these rifles as short-range hunting tools, and would limit their use on deer or feral hogs to one hundred yards and under. With that in mind, it becomes obvious that the factory iron sights (if you wish to keep irons and not an optic) are inadequate. The factory irons look to be the same as used on their 10/22 series. I opted for the NEGC variety with a XS front blade. These are MUCH better, and help me to make fast hits from field positions quickly.

The other issue for me was the problem of making magazine changes efficiently while keeping the rifle shouldered and on target. Yes I practice these things. The factory magazine release is a flush-mounted button in front of the trigger guard that for me was not easily manipulated with the support hand for performing a tac-load. Also, the magazine release plunger was rough and required some polishing to make it smooth. The solution was to replace the factory release with a unit from I.Q. Munitions. That was very easy to install in a few minutes. Problem solved. Now mag changes are much easier.

For the discussion of ballistics, I am getting very good accuracy (bench rest) when using 23 grains of WW296 pushing Speer 240 JSPs. Velocity from my notes says 1,700 fps as measured using our Lab Radar unit. That should have enough punch for most chores. If forced to use it as a defensive tool, a good hit should do the trick. Nice thing about that load is that it gives good accuracy from a variety of our revolvers and lever rifle (B-92) as well.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I'd go with the 77/44 as well due to the more powerful round. setup pretty much like Splithoof's Rifle. I would also try to mount a Red Dot Optic on it for faster Target Acquisition.

The 23 gr of H110/W296 is a standard load for the .44 Magnum cartridge. And I have used that very same load with Keith and Thompson Style Boolits in my Marlin 1894 and Ruger SBH Bisley. I also got one of the "Lyman Devastator" Boolit Molds which will feed better in that gun. The only down side to these guns is they are limited in COAL by the magazines so really long cartridges have to be single fed.

One of these has been on my short list for a long time.

Randy