Ruger 338win barrel shortening and adding sights?

HeadDamage

HeadDamage

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I really like the Ruger M77 MkII rifles and 338win but some times I want a shorter carry rifle in this cal. A Ruger Alaskan in 338win would be nice but they don't make that.

Anyway I have two Ruger M77 MkII stainless 338win's in canoe paddle stocks. I want to keep one stock but I want to to shorten the barrel on the other and have iron sights installed. Questions are:

- How long to have the barrel cut to (18.5", 19", 20", etc...)(intending to shoot 250gr bullets)?

- Which iron sights to have installed and where to get them?

Any thoughts on this?
 
20" would be the ideal length IMO. Any shorter and you are looking at some pretty nasty muzzle blast, any longer and you are getting a little long for your intended purpose.

I have an Alaskan in 375 Ruger, as well as a 20" 458 Win mag, and find that barrel length to be just right for a quick handling magnum rifle.
 
Figure out some barrel diameters of the other various stainless rugers m77s, and #1's order the factory front sight thats closest, and cut the barrel to suit.
 
"...wouldn't go shorter than 22"..." Any shorter and you might as well have a .308. Velocity loss would defeat the idea of any magnum.
 
Shorter barrels

I would not go less than 20 inches, but would probably cut it to 22 inches. The two extra inches will not make much difference in handling, If you are hunting the black timber, where shots tend to be less than 100 yards, a shorter barrel is the way to go.

When Remington first came out with the 700 in 1962, all their barrels were 20 inch barrels. The quickly changed in 1963, because the standard was 22 or 24 inches, and from then on, sales picked up quickly.

I still have an original 1963 Remington 700 in .308 Winchester calibre, and a low four digit serial number. To me, it is almost the perfect rifle for my style of hunting big game animals under 300 yards. If you have hunted a lot, you will have to admit that 85% of your Big Game was shot under 200 yards and most of these under 100. And that is over 50 years of experience, most of it in the mountains of B.C.

I am glad to see that you want to keep the open sights. A lot of people remove them when they get a rifle, but the smarter hunters fire some rounds to zero the open sights, then they can mount a scope on the rifle. Sooner or later, there will be a scope problem, and Murphy's Law states that it will be in the middle of your hunt. With open sights, you can still carry on.

In one of the most amusing TV hunting shows I watched, the Hunter came to northern Manitoba for Moose, and his scope got banged up and was useless. No open sights on the rifle! No spare scope! He then had to resort to a bow and arrow, and lost his moose because it was about 60 yards away, and not really in Bowhunting range.

Your front sight should not be too much of a problem. If it is the band type, a steel mandrel that is the size of your new barrel diameter can be turned on the lathe. You can heat the band, and drive the sight onto the mandrel, (or the mandrel onto the sight,) to increase the inside diameter of the band. You will have to re-blue or refinish your front sight band, but that should be no problem. If that is not feasible, then get some tubing that will fit over the cut barrel snugly, and cut the band, stretch it a bit, and silver solder it onto the tubing while silver soldering the front sight on. File to smoothness, and blue it.
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The Ruger does not have iron sights, I want to install some. I'll likely go for 20". I have two of these rifles, one will stay at 24" and the other will be shorter. Last year I was using the 24" 338win and all four deer shot where under 100m. I have taken longer shots in the past but last year was sort of funny that way ;)
 
sunray said:
"...wouldn't go shorter than 22"..." Any shorter and you might as well have a .308. Velocity loss would defeat the idea of any magnum.
Click to expand...
Sometimes handling supersedes velocity as a priority and the loss isn't that much anyways.

Ever cut down a 338 or 375?

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For magnums, my preference is 20" and I have them in 300, 338, 375, 416 ruger, etc... Short action like the 308 I prefer 18.5 or even 16 in the Ruger Compacts (have them in 300 wsm, 358, 308, and 708). My big-bores, incl 450 Marlin 45/70 444 and 458 wm are all 18.5" to 20". The bigger the bore, the less the velocity loss per inch. It can also be compensated by using a slightly faster burning powder.

Do what you find most comfortable for your purposes. You definately won't be unhappy with a 20".
 
Another vote for NECG. I got mine from Brownells. They also make a trick little peep that attaches to the rear scope dovetail.

21" would be my vote. The Old Man had a 700 Classic shortened to 21" and 1.5" trimmed from the forend. It looked like a model 7 on 'roids!
 
buffdog said:
In one of the most amusing TV hunting shows I watched, the Hunter came to northern Manitoba for Moose, and his scope got banged up and was useless. No open sights on the rifle! No spare scope! He then had to resort to a bow and arrow, and lost his moose because it was about 60 yards away, and not really in Bowhunting range.
.
Click to expand...

I remember that episode, and I remember thinking the same thing.
That was a really nice moose too!
 
I carried a 20 inch barrelled 338 win for a lot of years, shot a lot of bears and a bunch of moose worked just fine. I like factory Remington sights, they're not fancy but they're tough. Cheap and easy to find.
 
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