Ruger 77/357

Sleeper

Sleeper

CGN Regular
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Location
Camrose , Alberta
I have owned this Ruger 77/357 for a couple years now. I have not been getting the accuracy I had hoped for out of it but I thought that this was due to my aging eyes and an imperfect rear sight system.

I threw on a Vari X III I had kicking around from some long gone rifle and made a trip out to a friends pasture for a few hours of plinking.



I had ordered some bolt shims from down in the states to see if they would improve this rifles accuracy.



now I didn't need no stinkin instructions as I like to find out the hard way. For those who are like minded ...SPOILER ALERT!!

First off I thought that I was shimming the gap that was in the bolt with the bolt removed. This is not the case however. if you try to do that the bolt will not close. Some of that gap is taken up and I ended up only being able to put one .002 shim in the bolt for it to still close properly. It is still a little stiff opening after firing a round off but maybe it will work itself in over time.

So I proceeded to shoot five different groups before installing the shim.



Then I shot the same loads at the same spot on a second target after shimming the bolt



I didn't feel like I pulled a shot on the bottom left but I will give two measurements to give the benefit of the doubt.



The loads from left to right:
Cam-Pro 158 grain FP 13.5 grains 2400 - NOE 187 grain WFN 12.5 grains 2400 - NOE 170 grain HP 13.5 grains 2400 - Winchester 158 grain JHP 12.9 grains 2400 - Remington 158 Grain JHP 12.9 grains 2400

These loads were all developed for my revolvers and they shot well in them. I have not developed any loads specifically for the .357 rifles.

BULLET -

Cam-Pro - BEFORE SHIM - 1.643 - AFTER SHIM - 2.956 - GROUP WITHOUT FLYER - 1.456

NOE WFN - BEFORE SHIM - 5.268 - AFTER SHIM - 4.456

NOE HP - BEFORE SHIM - 3.893 - AFTER SHIM - 4.893

WIN HP - BEFORE SHIM - 2.331 - AFTER SHIM - 3.831

REM HP - BEFORE SHIM - 2.518 - AFTER SHIM - 2.643

All groups shot at 100 YRDS
 
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I had one that I just sold due to shoulder issues and only being able to shoot rip fire for the next few years. I found slugging the barrel and running loads slightly hotter than you worked really well. My pet load for hunting was 15.2gn of 2400 with 158gn xtp's in federal cases with Winchester sp primers. 1-1.5" consistently at 100yards.

They are great rifles and I'll miss shooting my old one.
 
I think the rifle should be capable of 1.5 inches. The Cam-Pro loads and both the JHP loads suggest that the rifle wants to do better.

I shot what I had on hand and the main point of the test was to see if the shimming of these rifles was worth while.

For my rifle I am going to say no. The bolt is too sticky after a round has been fired and I saw no improvement in accuracy

If I was to take the test to the next step, I think I would fire 5 groups with the Cam-Pro without the shim and 5 groups with it to confirm my findings.

It was a nice day and I had a good rest with a decent scope. I know my shooting is up to the task so I don't know what the point of going further would be.

The rifle didn't like the heavy bullets, or at least that loading of them.
It looked like if I tweaked some 158 grain loads it may do well.

At the end of the day however, I'm not feeling too happy with the rifle overall.
It has a decent trigger on it but I really do not care for the magazine. It is just a tad fiddly to load and it is pretty fiddly to remove from the rifle.
I had hoped that the shimming would pull out enough accuracy to keep me interested but at the moment I am thinking of picking up a VZ-58
And playing with it for a bit.
I'm not sure what I am looking for in a gun but I'm sure I don't have it yet.
 
I picked up the rifle mentioned above ^^^ by Neal.

Took a quick trip to the range on Friday and was pleasantly surprised. I've read that the 77/357 & 77/44 can be finicky, the 77/44 I had previously was a good shooter as well.

100y, with a low power scope, Factory Hornady 125gr XTP (top 5 group) 158gr XTP (bottom 5 group)



50y, open sights, Top group American Eagle 158gr, Bottom Blazer 158gr.

 
Those are pretty respectable groups GMC503
I should take Neals advice and run some hotter 158 grain loads
Looks like your top 100 yrd group is about 1.5 inches and the bottom one is 1.25 inches. I could live with that
 
The groups that GMC403 is getting are on par with what I am getting with my reloads----usually one hole groups at 50 yards. I am loading a 158 grain XTP on top of 16 grains of Win 296 and a magnum primer.
 
islandhunter said:
I'm not expecting great accuracy with it, just something to mess around with and maybe plug the odd coyote with around here. I might need the .44 mag too.........
Click to expand...

Mine was impressively accurate with most ammo, and worked excellent on a Blacktail back in November.
 
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