SmallCaliberCentral

With our friend Ray P showing his beautiful, recently finished Ruger 77/22 on the Rimfire Forum, I thought it would be fun and interesting to see other forum members 77/22's also, as I know this is very popular rimfire rifle, and I'm sure many of you guys have them in your gun collections.

Here's my original 77/22 in 22LR I purchased right after they first came out with the plain barrel (no sights). I hand picked the wood from the back of the store from about 12 of them. The photos don't really show the true grain, but in the sunlight, she's a beauty. She wears my first Leupold scope, purchased in 1969, that has been parallax corrected at the factory for rimfire use. (Old Leupold M8 2-7X w/CPC Crosshair reticle)



Decent wood for a factory rimfire rifle:



I had my buddies at the factory add a custom touch for a nice little Ruger:



This is my Ruger 77/22 in 22 WMR with a fat Oregon rock chuck. Scope is a Lupy 3-9X Compact with AO:



This 77/22 gets alot of use on our ground squirrels here. It started out as the Laminated, Stainless in 22 WMR, now a switch-barrel rig, as I added a Lilja 17 HMR barrel. All three rifles are bedded, this one wears a Moyers trigger w/Ace trigger shoe that breaks like a Jewell. Longest confirmed rat kill, witnessed, was 326 yards using a 17gr V-Max Varmint Express load. Scope is a Lupy 4-12X w/AO and target elevation turret. A real tackdriver with the Lilja barrel (cost as much as the rifle!)



One thing for sure; Ruger's 77/22's are versitile and fun rifles that will be with us for a long time to come.

Rick way to go! Nice pics and nice rifles, thanks for sharing. Yep when ruger came out with "All weather" 77/22 I said I had to have one and the rest is history.
When I get my 77/22mag back from a friend. I'll share pics of that rifle. It is a switch barrel...........it has a Green Mtn .920 s/s fluted bull barrel in 17HMR that came in a set from green mtn with a 22 mag barrel.
Thanks again
later
Ray P

Rick, does a pic of a 77/17 count?.......... or 2......

huntsman: You bet it does! Nice foxes there too! Great pics of them on the snow background with the rifle; that appears to be wall-hangin' material to me.....

Here's mine. It started out as a 17HM2. Bought a Clark stainless midweight .22LR barrel. Even though I liked the stainless, I quickly decided the stainless was spooking the squirrels so I sent it off to have a matte finish applied.



here it is with the stainless



at 50 yards



on squirrels

Red Thanks for sharing your pics. Did you re-finish your stock or is that the factory finish? Either way with the s/s finish barrel or the matte finished barrel she look great! Ruger's wood is always nice to look at.
Thanks again
Later
Ray P

Red: Very nice. Looks to be yet another nice piece of Ruger wood too. It also appears to work quite well on both the eating-type squirrels as well as the varmint variety.

Our varmint squirrels must be dumber than a bag of hair, as it matters not if we show up in the rat patch with shiny stainless or blue/black barrels...they still learn to fly either way.

Thanks for sharing.

Yeah it's a decent piece of wood for a Ruger, that's how it came out of the box. I did a bedding job and floated the barrel, and of course some trigger work was needed. The tree squirrels around these parts can be very wary depending upon where they are being hunted. I generally go in full camo including gloves and a face mask. They can and will spot you.

We have a bunch of .22's here including a new Anschutz, but that Ruger is still my go-to 22LR gun.

Red: When I lived in BC, I hunted grey squirrels, and like yours, they'll spot you every time, especially movement. I suppose we're lucky here to have an abundance of Belding ground squirrels (the varmint variety) for 204 long range fun, but I do miss stalking the woods with an accurate 22LR to gather up BBQ material. I have fond memories of those hunts and the great meals they provided.

Anyway, nice hardware and photos. Don't let that Anschutz steal the show and make that nice little 77/22 into a safe queen.

Latest pic of my 77/17. Took her out on a moonlite calling stand.....

Nice dog Don! Details, details.....tell us the whole story! Inquiring minds want to know!

Rick, not much of a story... Conditions were perfect. Clear sky, full moon and snow cover. Went out behind the subdivision with the quieter choice of critter rifles. The 204 noise might have bothered the neigbors..... Called her in, stopped her at 50 yds, and centerpunched her with a 20 gr xtp.
Thee End. Don

Don: Good short story to be sure, and nice dog too. This should also settle the 17HMR coyote debate too. What bullet did you use?

By the way, even here in Central Oregon on the high desert, if I were to go walking distance from the subdivision to pop a coyote, it's likely I'd have the local SWAT boys looking for me, but they're out there in good numbers. You're very fortunate to be able to hunt that close to the house, Don. I've got to drive at least five miles.....waahhh.

Thanks for sharing your smile.

Here's a fall pic from the deck. It's about 200 yds to my back fence/power pole. Just across into the hayfield, is where I went. I am the only neighbor that he lets hunt it. Don't trust anyone else........ I call them out into the open from the crick bottom. Should also say, there are better choices in calling calibers. I won't use the hummer unless it's right. If I don't feel that he'll be DRT, the trigger's never touched. Most aren't as disciplined.....I know I can always get another crack at them later if I don't feel good about it.

Don........Way to go.........congrads! Nice shot and nicer yote. Yep I like the 20 xtp's in my 17 hmr. I like that little bullet it performs real well.
Thanks for sharing and Merry Christmas.
Later
Ray P