Ruger 77/17 .17 WSM initial impressions

P

PGW Steve

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
46   0   0
Location
Winnipeg, Manitoba
I received this rifle one week ago, and until today I hadn't fired it.

The fit and finish of the rifle is nice, it has a walnut stock with a 'bit' of figure, the stainless is a very matte blasted finish. The barrel channel fit is fantastic down the length, but there is pressure at the tip on what is supposed to be a floated barrel.

The magazine is a 10/22 mag on steroids, a great big 6 round rotary. It loads nice, in typical Ruger fashion, the feeding is very smooth.

The trigger. I don't think that is the right term for it. How about gate latch, or flush handle on a toilet. All three take about the same amount of force to do the job. Seriously Ruger. The weight is off my 5 pound scale, I'd put it around 7-8. It breaks clean, but at this pull weight, who cares. I ordered a Jard 1 pound trigger and a 2 pound spring so I have options.

The rifle came with rings, they are quite high, not sure if Ruger's high or medium. I have a Meuller 8.5-25x50 Eraticator that came on another EE purchase. I hate this scope, but that is another story. The scope cleared the barrel by .000000002", or so it seems. I see light, so good enough, just don't rotate the AO past 100.....

I did a few shots to get it close at 25 or so, it was looking promising with doubles being fairly close with a bipod and no rear bag. I moved back to 50 and shot off a bipod and a bench with a rest and rear bag. I was getting a good cardio workout with the trigger, sometimes it would take a couple breaths to get enough pressure on it to get it to break.

This thing shot horrible. I thought all of the stories about the B mag were bad. This thing is an expensive turd. I shot the Winchester 20 and 25 grain loads. Tried different bench techniques. Hot barrel, cold barrel, this thing is minute of house cat at 50. The 20 grain groups were 2" or so, some a bit smaller, some a bit bigger. The 25 grain showed a 'bit' of promise, I think the best group was 3/4" but most were 1-1.5". The POI changed. I was getting stringing horizontal and vertical, depending on barrel temp. I would only fire 10 shots then I'd hammer away with one of my Anschutz for a while. Itty bitty bugholes with the 64 MPR, conditions and rest, and me were capable of better than 1/2moa during these tests. The Ruger wasn't.

I fired 70 shots, about an even split between both weights. The crown is visibly horrible. It's a recessed style crown with a 45 degree chamfer. The chamfer varies from next to nothing, to about .02" wide, so the bore wasn't true when it was cut. The carbon blast pattern wasn't the nice star burst with well defined rays I see on my 1517 MPR. It looked like a bad hair day. The crown is fitting of a king that makes burgers, not Rugers.

This thing will need a crown job, the trigger is coming, and the barrel needs to be floated. I'm not a fan of sporter stocks, and this one bugs me right around the trigger finger, there is a bit of a squared off projections, and I find the wrist too small. I've got some sweet Boyds stocks here for some other projects, so I'm going to order one for this thing, and bed it all in one shot.

So If you've been unhappy with your B mag, about having to change out the crappy stock, and work on the trigger, turn that frown upside down! The Ruger costs a LOT more and it seems like it is worse, and needs all of the same mods as the B mag.

I'm not disappointed as I had very low expectations from the get go. No buyers remorse, zero effs are given. I'll deal with it and make it what I want, even if I have to throw a Lilja barrel on it. I just love the WSM ballistics, so I basically bought this thing for an action and magazine.....I was already preparing to convert a Remington 591 5MM to a single shot WSM, so no love lost.
 
Bummer to hear, in comparison I'm not unhappy with my B mag by any stretch but I've had lots of fun modifying it from it's sad factory stock and it does't look anything like from the factory..
 
I sanded the barrel channel and relieved the forend tip pressure, there was quite a bit. As the barrel started to lay down at the front, it was contacting for a couple inches in front of the receiver. I sanded back there and got it to a point of no contact front to back.

I then checked to see if there was any torque in the bedding. This is done with the barrel clamped in soft jaws of a vise, and loosening the front guard screw and watching for movement at the forend tip. Then repeat by loosening the rear screw after tightening the front screw. There was about 1-2mm of movement when the front screw was loosened, so this thing does have torque in it. Some pillar bedding is in order, and is not to difficult based on the design of the receiver.

I can't fit the barreled action into my lathe, so I'll have to pull the barrel to re-crown....Now I'm going to have to whip up a spiffy action wrench for this thing LOL

Perhaps after these few mods it will shoot better, I won't be super excited, but I'd be happy with 1moa given the limited ammo selection to test. I think a Lilja barrel is inevitable.

I can't say that I'm a fan of having the trigger guard and mag latch assembly pivot and pull on the action like it does, just another thing to induce stress into things. It doesn't take a lot of pressure to push down on it, but pressure is pressure and it doesn't belong in an action/stock interface.
 
PGW Steve said:
I sanded the barrel channel and relieved the forend tip pressure, there was quite a bit. As the barrel started to lay down at the front, it was contacting for a couple inches in front of the receiver. I sanded back there and got it to a point of no contact front to back.

I then checked to see if there was any torque in the bedding. This is done with the barrel clamped in soft jaws of a vise, and loosening the front guard screw and watching for movement at the forend tip. Then repeat by loosening the rear screw after tightening the front screw. There was about 1-2mm of movement when the front screw was loosened, so this thing does have torque in it. Some pillar bedding is in order, and is not to difficult based on the design of the receiver.

I can't fit the barreled action into my lathe, so I'll have to pull the barrel to re-crown....Now I'm going to have to whip up a spiffy action wrench for this thing LOL

Perhaps after these few mods it will shoot better, I won't be super excited, but I'd be happy with 1moa given the limited ammo selection to test. I think a Lilja barrel is inevitable.

I can't say that I'm a fan of having the trigger guard and mag latch assembly pivot and pull on the action like it does, just another thing to induce stress into things. It doesn't take a lot of pressure to push down on it, but pressure is pressure and it doesn't belong in an action/stock interface.
Click to expand...

Definitely do all those things and post up on here about it, it may change people's willingness to get into one if it can be tuned with a little bit of work, it seems like small work such as bedding a rifle is less of a daunting task for most folks these days and many folks seem to like to add their own touch or get their hands dirty a pinch with a rifle, would be good to see some pictures of your work posted or see if you can work a little magic into what sounds like a lack-lustre trigger.
 
Thanks Cody.

The Jard trigger arrived today and I installed and adjusted it. WOW!!!!!! What an amazing trigger! I can't wait to shoot this thing now. The Jard trigger was ordered direct from Jard, and arrived in a week. The trigger is amazing, install is a breeze, if you have a Ruger I highly recommend the Jard for ease of getting and promptness of service.

Based on the time I have available, I'll be shooting it with the only changes from stock being the floated barrel and a 1.75 pound trigger.

I'm tempted to do the bedding and shoot it next week, and then do the crown. That way I can really narrow down what made what change in performance.
 
Yeah, it would be great if you have time to check the groups between each upgrade to see what makes it such a stinker.
 
Very interesting thread...though it would be nice to see photos of the rifle, and the process of upgrading. Regardless, I'm curious to hear how the improvements impact the performance.

As a guy who relies on his factory guns to behave as they should...it doesn't make me want to get a Ruger 77!
 
Wow that sounds like you got a stinker. I have had luck with the new manufacture 77/XX family of rifles. I still remember my first 77/22 (Hornet) it was so bad that I refused to buy Ruger for over a decade. It printed like a shotgun. My current 22 Hornet is a great little hunting rifle. It is not a benchrest grade piece but it sure groups better than your 17 WSM! The 77/17 I had previous was also a good shooter. Well if anybody can get a ruger to shoot properly I am sure it will be you...
 
Every 77 I have had has been an excellent piece, for both fit & finish and accuracy... I have had a couple dozen in .22 LR, .22 WMR, .17 HM2, .17 HMR and .22 Hornet.... none were the WSM though.
 
I shot the rifle again on the weekend with the floated barrel and the Jard trigger. The rifle is still woefully inaccurate, and cold bore shots are about 4moa low. I'd say it is down to 2-3moa with both the 20 and 25 grain.

I don't think I'm going to waste anymore ammo until I bed it and do the crown, the rifle feels like it wants to shoot, I just need to fix the obvious issues.

On the day I was testing the WSM I was shooting these as controls.....Anschutz 64 MPR/6.5-20EFR, CIL 180 with peeps and 10x Bushnell, CZ452LH/4-16 Elite, 10/22 Sporter Stainless/2-7 Leupold, Savage BVSS .17/5-15 Elite Tactical. All of these rifles outshot the Ruger hands down. I even lucked into a sub .5", 5 shot group with irons at 50 yards.
 
That's great Steve, I'm glad you shot it without the whole rifle been worked over, process of elimination for everyone else thinking about what they might need to do on the Ruger, we'll be looking forward to some updates on it when you get the other work done, and maybe some pictures of it on the range!
 
I wonder when someone is going to come out with a non-turd 17 WSM. The cartridge needs an accurate (1 MOA) bolt action in the $300-$600 range.
 
We`ve listened to enough people whine about the B mag already and it`s never got anybody anywhere, why not start a separate thread about that. It`s the same old story, wanting 1MOA for $300, some of the B mag`s do that, the new heavy or fluted barrel may do that better, then they whine about the stock sucking, then they get told to upgrade to a boyds, then there`s more whining that the B mag should come with a better stock in the first place or that the bolt sucks or some other drivel.

There`s is times when folks are looking for a rifle that fits their needs, then their is times when I think folks just like to complain with nothing to offer the community...

Back to the Ruger please.
 
I was ready to start rebarreling a 591M, but that would have ended up being a single shot. When the Ruger was announced, I had high hopes, but in the end it is just a more polished platform to mod than the Bmag. The Ruger rotary mags are fantastic, the action feels solid. Now I have the trigger sorted out with the amazing Jard unit, I'll tweak the remaining items and hopefully end up with something decent.

One other variable in the Ruger is the break in time. I am seeing some improvements after the barrel floating and trigger, but I'm also getting more rounds down the pipe, it could be a piggy backed gain. If I can close up the groups a little, and get rid of the cold bore flier, I might keep it LOL

Anschutz has already flat out said no WSM's. Nothing from the CZ side of things. I've got 4 CZ rimfires and 5 Anschutz, the Anschutz all shoot incredible, and a couple of my CZ get close. I do have a 452 Varmint in .22 WMR that stinks too, not as bad as the WSM. I've tried 6 or so different rounds and it hates all but one. Perhaps once it breaks in a bit it will smarten up. I do have a Savage BVSS in .17 and it shoots incredible. If Savage had come out with the Bmag in a laminate stock and the rifles were grouping in the class of the HMR's, I'd own one in a heartbeat. Savage really dropped the ball with the launch, but again, we'll keep this on my Ruger's progression into hopefully something sweet.
 
It looks like for some reason the manufacturers just dropped the ball with the engineering or materials/labour to keep it within expected manufacturing budgets, it kinda sounds like the round might be a bit picky, but I think it is mostly less then adequate design/build quality invested in creating a new action for a specific round, that goes for savage and Ruger.

I have that B mag that I've been toying with, put it in the AICS airsoft stock, barrel sleeve, Millet LRS scope and just made a bolt handle for it but now I'm trying to find a single feed magazine for .17 WSM, there is almost nothing available (next to the franklin armoury AR that can't be found in canada yet) so I've been looking for something else compatible, not to sidetrack the thread too much but if any of you know where I can find a 10 round .17 hornet or single stack .17 WSM magazine somewhere that would help complete my build.
 
I've pulled the barrel off and will be re-crowning it in the next couple days. I also plan on pillar bedding it once the barrel is back on. I have faith in the crown and bedding making this a straight shooter, I ordered a Boyd's pepper laminate Pro Varmint with adjustable comb and stippling today. Worst case if this thing doesn't shoot, I'll spin a new barrel on it. As I've said before, I really like the ballistics, I will get all the accuracy I can out of the factory ammo.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom