| Manufacturer: |
Ruger |
| Product Type: |
Rifle |
| Model Name: |
M77 |
| Retail Price: |
$650 |
| Number of hours (or days, please indicate which) spent testing: |
several seasons |
| Atmospheric conditions encountered during testing (i.e. rain, snow, etc.): |
rain, heat, cold |
| Temperature range during testing: |
20-100 |
| State in which tested: |
TX, MS, GA, |
| Terrain (i.e. rolling hills, flat, mountains, etc.): |
Woods, hills, flat, swamp |
| Would you recommend this product: |
Yes |
| Comments: |
Within the family, there are three Ruger M77 rifles, in different calibers: .22-250, .25-06, and .243. My .243 has more blood on it than the others, mostly whitetails and a few coyotes. With an 87gr. Sierra BTHP with 43.7g of IMR 4350, it will drop whitetails in their tracks. That's right - no tracking them down. Most of the time the bullet comes to rest in the hide on the opposite side with quarter shots. For heart-lung shots without tearing up a lot of meat, I can't imagine better performance on whitetail deer. The rifle itself was purchased used, and has a near perfect blue finish. I can't see spending the extra money or sacrificing the natural cover of a blue gun for stainless with ugly synthetic when this one has been rained on so many times. The minor dings and scratches in the wood tell their own stories. Cleaning is a breeze and it's never failed to feed. Another advantage is that the 7mm Mag Browning BAR MkII Safari I have for bigger and meaner critters shoots with a nearly identical trajectory. For lugging in the field, though, the M77 .243 is shorter and lighter than the .25-06 and the bull-barrelled .22-250. An uncle in the USAF stationed in Arizona shoots a lefty in .243, and I saw him take a doe at 300 yards that was running away. That's when I found out that the rifle (and he) shoots better than I do...
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| How to Contact You: |
Don Davis, lingothree@outgun.com
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