why no rugers?

F

fat but funky

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Hi Folks,

new to this part of CGN, so take it easy on me.

Have been considering the purchase of a centerfire varmint rifle.

I think chamberings in order of preference are .204 - .223 - 22-250

Would be used primarily for long range gophers and the odd bit of target work

Looking at rifle price around $1k - less if possible

Anyway, I see alot of talk about Savage and Remington

Why nothing about ruger bolt actions? Are the substandard? I had heard once that ruger actions were very nice, but the barrels leave something to be desired. Is this true, or just the ramblings of an aging gun-troll?

Thanks

Fat
 
I heard the same thing, even on the Ruger board, that you should only expect minute of deer accuracy from a Ruger. That just didn't seem right to me. Its based on a mauser action. I've also read that Ruger now makes all their own barrels, so quality control is much more consistent than out sourcing. Anyhow, I was at SIR, and they had one last stainless Ruger 223 left on the shelf. One of the salesmen said his buddy had bought one of the same model, and was shooting 3/8" groups at 100 yards. I liked the look of the rifle, and the built in scope ring bases, so I bought it. I am extremely pleased with the accuracy. At 200 yards, in strong winds, I was getting 1.5" groups, shooting off the hood of my jeep. Now that I've tuned up the trigger, I know I can shoot even better than that, especially off a better base than the hood of my jeep. So, at least in my experience, the Ruger Mark II Model 77 rifle in 223 is a very good shooter.
 
I have 2 model 77's. One is a basic Mark II in .300WSM that puts groups of 3 cheap factory or handloads into an inch at 100m whenever I do my job. The trigger is awful (heavy pull) but I'm in the process of putting a Timney in to rectify that and I'm hoping will help me tightened up the groups.

I also have the heavy barrelled Target/Varmit model in .223 that consistently puts 50gr Ballistic Tips powered by 25.5 gr. of Benchmark into 10 shot groups of 5/8th's to 7/8th's of an inch at 100. The pull on this gun is also heavy but so is the gun and it doesn't seem to affect my shooting as much.

IMHO Rugers are a solid product (no bits of plastic), look great and perform accurately for a modest price.
 
dan belisle said:
I'm a fan, but the reason you don't see a lot of Rugers being used for LR etc, is that they are a pain in the ass to rebarrel and bed, and thier triggers suck. It's just way easier to build on a 700 or; now days, a Savage action. FWIW - dan
Click to expand...


What makes them so hard to rebarrel? I thought they were the same as 700's and 70's. Just screw it and true it.
 
I have a 77 MKII in 30-06 that puts 3 shots to 1/3" c/c. I wanted to get it bedded, but the local gunsmith (very knowledgable) siad he had apprehensions about doing it. Since the action has vertical sides, the action can stick in the stock if the action bells out on the bottom. He told me he had to replace 1 or 2 stocks for customers in the past since he could not get the action out and had to break the stock apart.
 
I have a 77 MkII "Target" model in .204
Heavy barrel, solid feeling bolt, fantastic trigger. Even with my (near 50 yr) old eyes, and the slight wobblies I pulled a 1" group with 3 shots at 200 yrds after getting it sighted in.
I`m very pleased with it. :D:D:D Its the first quality new rifle I ever bought. Everything else was always cheap milsurp bolts that nailed deer at 100 yrds.
This thing absolutely turns gophers inside out. My longest gopher kill was about 180 to 200 yrds and it simply blew up!! :evil:
Using the Hornady 32 grain VMax bullets really work for me. I`ve yet to try the 40 grain ones though.

http://s162.photobucket.com/albums/t269/Rick65Cat/Gun Stuff/?action=view&current=204Blowup.jpg
 
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The old Tang safety Rugers were hot or cold for the outsourced barrels mentioned in a previous post. That being said, I have owned 4 old tang safety 77V's in 220 Swift. Two were about 1"-1¼" rifles, nothing to get excited about in a Varminter. The other two were true zingers. One I wore the barrel out from shooting (took a lot more rounds than many say) the other one I still have. Bought it unfired from an Estate sale, and it now has 300 rounds or so through it. With proper handloads, it will shoot 3/8" for 5 if I do my part. I also have a 77 Mk II blued, wood in 6.5x55 that shoots like it is a laser. But I have fiddled with several older ones that would not shoot better than 1½", no matter what. Buddy of mine had an old #1 in 7mm Rem Mag that never shot a group under 2½" in it's life until he rebarrelled it. That solved the problem. I would not hesitate to buy a Mk II, but would like to shoot a tang safety model before I bought it. Regards, Eagleye
 
I have a friend who has a KM77VT MKII in 22-250 with a Leupold Mark4 8-25X50 tactical scope, It is a super accurate rifle. I am seriously considering one. No need to rebarrel this model, it already has a heavy cold hammer forged barrel. Nice guns!
 
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I had an all weather M77 in 7mm-08, I shot 17 rounds out of it and was not impressed. 2-3" at 100. I knew I could mess around with it and get it to shoot well but I said "#### it" and sold it to buy a Tikka T3 light. Took it out and shot 1.5" at 300 yards after sighting it in.
 
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