first rifle
 

Everyone -

I want to say thanks again for everyone' s responses to my original post asking for opinions on a first rifle. After much debate and thinking, I ended up choosing a Ruger M77 7mm Rem Mag in composite/stainless, with a Nikon Pro Staff 3-9x scope. The decision on this was driven a lot by price (I actually found this cheaper than some savages that I looked at). To all the savage fans - don' t think I ignored ya - it was a tough call.

Thanks again for your help.

RE: first rifle
 

Sounds like a nice rifle, congrats on the purchase. Be sure to update us on what kind of poison it is for the deer. :)

RE: first rifle
 

Congrats on the new shooting iron. I like Savage but I' m not at all down on Ruger. Just most of them take a little work to get to shoot well. Have you taken it to the range yet? Let us know how it does. If you have trouble holding good gruops think about a trigger job. My Ruger did much better after I slicked up the trigger and got it down to 3 lbs. Shot even better after I floated the barrel and bedded the action. Oh, something else to think about. A good recoil pad will help out at the range. The pad that Ruger puts on their stocks is pretty much solid rubber and doesn' t do a very good job of recoil taming.

RE: first rifle
 

GB Only difference between yours and mine is a Zeiss Conquest...get the trigger done and you' ll have a great shooting rifle on your hands.

RE: first rifle
 

I have one of those M-77" All Weather in 7mm Rem Mag but with a Leupold Vari X II. Mine didn' t like the Federal Ballistic Tips.I think you' ll be more then satisfied with your Ruger.The triggers do need to be lightened on them.You made good choice in your rifle and the caliber.
Ruger Redhawk

RE: first rifle
 

Sounds like a few of us have similar taste........:)



Griz the only difference between yours and mine is that I topped mine with a different Nikon, I put a Monarch on it.....that and mine is a .30-06.

I took the time to clean,polish and break in the barrel very carefully (I followed the instructions from this link http://www.centerfirecentral.com/fixit.html under " barrel break in" ).....You wouldn' t believe the crap that came out of that bore.
After all the work, it seems like I' m gonna have a heck of a good shooting gun on my hands. The last 4 break in shots printed one ragged hole about .5" at 50yds with " Plain Jane" Federal Power Points. Not too bad considering the 100yd range was taken up by trap shooters and I wasn' t actually sighting it in but rather just " Shooting" off the bench with a only a simple front sandbag.........as for my trigger? Mine is surprisingly good?![8D] I was worried about all the trigger stories I' ve heard regarding Rugers but mine is fairly light with almost no creep. A friend had his Ruger77' s trigger done and down to right about 3.75lbs. We both agreed that we couldn' t feel a difference between his and mine right out of the box from the factory. Looks like I got lucky and got a good one?
I plan to do some experimenting to see what it really likes in a few weeks.

RE: first rifle
 

congratulations on your purchase buddy , take good care of her and remember , " shoot straight " :D:D:D

also let us know how she shoots once you get a chance to get her to the range :D:D

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Congrats on the new toy Aaron;). Ruger is a great make!

RE: first rifle
 

Thanks!!

Unfortunately, I' m having my first headache with it already, and it' s barely out of the box!!!

I got it home, played with it a little, and decided to run some rounds through the action. My buddy has an M77 7 mag as well. Loaded the magazine, and ran the bolt forward. But it only went halfway. Hmm. Back it off... do it again. Same thing. Third try' s the charm. I jack it out and the case is scratched all to hell. Tried it with some spent casings, because the prospect of jamming the bolt closed on a live round doesn' t exactly do it for me. Same thing. Nothing seemed smooth, and almost every case or cartridge jammed. Took it back to bass pro over lunch, where the guy told me to try factory ammunition (my buddy uses handloads), so I bought a box (along with some snap caps). Got home that night, tried it again. Same prob with the cartridge and snap cap, both were mangled when I took them out (case was deeply scratched) Called the gun counter there again and told them the problem. A second trip to the store in the evening ensued, and I talked to another guy. He looked at it and couldn' t believe the scratched up cases. Looked some more and we saw that it wasn' t seating properly in the bolt. Manufacturing defect, he pronounced. Unfortunately, their FFL does not allow them to swap firearms. I dunno why. A Maryland thing??? I dunno. He started telling me I would have to ship it back to Ruger and get it fixed via warranty. Then he stopped himself, went into the back, and came out saying that he would ship it back and do all that for me. So, I' m without gun for at least a week to 10 days. This is sukk! But, at least we' ll get it taken care of. I" m just glad I caught this before heading out for an afternoon at the range!

RE: first rifle
 

AHHH! I just called Ruger and they are on a two-week shutdown until Aug 11th, so it will be at least that long for somebody to even look at it!!!!

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RE: first rifle
 

DG - That is, in essence, what the " store policy" is. " All Firearms Sales are Final" is on a big sign behind the counter. To the individual' s credit who I' m working with, he told me that in this case he just couldn' t let it go at that, and is going to handle coordinating the repair/replacement with Ruger.

You' re right, though - I should know better than to go to a " superstore" like that (Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World) and buy a gun. I probably would have been better served by going to a small shop.

RE: first rifle
 

Oh my Gosh has Rugers Quality Controll gone down the tubes!!!!!;):D Funny how nobody has jumped all over this one yet, oh wait a minute mom is the word unless it is " Remington" ![8D]

Sorry to hear about the problems Griz with the new gun, hope they get her ironed out quickly for ya. I can' t understand why a rifle never fired or just purchased can not be exchanged, it would seem to me anybody who had a similar experience or even someone buying a gift for a family member, etc would not want to be dealing at this store. I have always said I will gladly pay more to get better service, the same has happened here we have a superstore with super losers working it, they take more of my time with screw ups, not knowing what they are doing, etc it just ain' t worth it anymore. I now buy as much as I can at the smaller stores and have been orderly a lot of stuff via mail as selection is limited in the smaller places, never had a problem with returns, etc. (of course it is advisable to find out what their return policy is before placing an order) You something else I like about the small shops, they will order you in something if you ask for it...the superstore won' t because they have their inventory or prices set up based on their big bulk purchase deals..what you see is what you get and don' t ask me for anything else.[X(][:@][:@][&:]

Anyhew, good luck with your new Ruger and have fun!

RE: first rifle
 

Aw come on now Skeeter, you know that we are all " equal opportunity" gun bashers here! Theres just nothing that comes to mind as being as bad as a Remington 710 or 597 these days!
One bad Ruger doesn' t spoil the whole barrel though!
Remember, all guns and optics are made by humans! You can get a bad Ruger, Savage, even a bad Leupold or Zeiss! You are just not nearly as likely to get a bad one because of better materials, workmanship and quality control!
As far as the Remingtons I mentioned, to make something as consistantly that BAD, takes a concious effort to cheapen your product to make more $$$$$!
Which sadly, too many businesses have decided to do in recent times!
Hang in there Grizzly, Ruger is still a good company, I' m sure you will get your gun repaired or replaced soon. I know its just aggravating to have to wait!

RE: first rifle
 

I wish you better luck with your new gun.

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GB that is a rarity and have nothing but good luck with Rugers...now if they get it they will turn it around fast, I sent a used number 1 in for service last year this time and it was back in 2 weeks...for the Remington lovers that revel in this...my last custom KS would not even extract a shell after being fired once and was shipped like that from the so-called " CUSTOM SHOP" i got it back 3 months later...hows that for service. I am going on a 30% failure rate on Remingtons with all kinds of problems with them...maybe I' m just lucky.

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That matches my experience with Ruger.....BS...that happened to me three times in a row!!!!!...there' s not a single Ruger in my house anymore

RE: first rifle
 

Ruger will correct the problem, It' s a shame the way products slip through Quality Control.You figure the Millions of guns produced yearly it' s such a small percentage with problems. I hope you get it back soon.I' ve waited two months to get a Ruger Back before the same with Browning.
Vapodog you have had your share of problems haven' t you?All makes and models will have a bad one slip through on occasions.Maybe Ruger had your name on thise guns LOL.Until the customers come first these problems will continue to happen. Most stores selling firearms have a sign saying all firearms sales are final.It' s not just BassPro' s policy.
Ruger Redhawk

RE: first rifle
 

I am begining to wonder if Ruger is headed down the same path as Remington with certain models of their firearms.[:' (]

RE: first rifle
 

Grizz,

I said I' d NEVER do it, but Walmart had a Remington 700 ADL Synthetic in .243 reduced for $293. With the regular price being $380, I HAD to buy it. I scoped it with a Simmons 4.5 X 14 X40.

I had a similar experience. I got to the range, cycled the first round and it was very tight. Without shooting, I ejected the cartriage and it was deeply scratched in two spots. I reloaded and fired. I sighted it in and it shoots better than my two other big game rifles (.75 inches at 100 yards). I never had it serviced. I' ve shot about 100 rounds out of it and the scratching had faded to the point where I don' t even notice it. I use it for varmits at ranges of 250+ and am thinking about using it on deer in NC.

Hopefully when you get it back it' ll be problem free.

RE: first rifle
 

BigEd Bite your tongue,LOL. I don' t think Ruger would ever let itself go down as much as Remington has.Now that Bill Sr is gone Ruger might see some changes. Hopefully nothing like Remington has over the last several years.
Ruger Redhawk

RE: first rifle
 

Thanks for the encouraging words, guys - I just had to vent. I hope that it is a quick and trouble free fix.

It just frosts me that an out of the box defect wasn' t taken care of by BPS (I could understand if I had it for a week or two and discovered something after shooting it for a while). I didn' t pay for a refurbished or repaired rifle - if I wanted that I would have looked around for a used gun dealer.

I' ll keep ya posted on how it works out!!

RE: first rifle
 

Grizzlybear, You know you have nothing to loose. Go back to Bass Pro and talk to the store manager.Be polite but tell him the problems you' ve encountered. That you don' t have time to wait for Ruger to repair it. You bought a new rifle and expected to get a new rifle without defects. If that doesn' t help call the main office in Springfield MO.Get the store managers name and his store number so when you call Springfield you have the inf they' ll probably ask.I was in a Bass Pro over the 4th of July in Ft.Lauderdale FL.I saw some used guns there.I don' t know if they sell them or somehow were trade ins. I was surprised to see them there.They weren' t on the racks but I saw them by the door going into the stock room. If that' s the case there is no reason why they can' t exchange your Ruger.Store Policy or not. The manager can bend the policy if necessary.All you have to loose is a little of your time and probably have allot to gain.That' s just a suggestion.
Ruger Redhawk

RE: first rifle
 

All,

Well, I spent some more time on the phone this morning, and am happy to report that I was able to make the switch. The new one is in the truck now. I just had to wait until I spoke with a manager who would patiently listen and understand the situation. I kept my cool, decided it would be better to try to argue rationally rather than just be a difficult customer, and it worked out. :)

Thanks, y' all!

RE: first rifle
 

Hey that' s great news. Glad to hear it. Let us know how it shoots.

RE: first rifle
 

Grizz, I bought the same gun a few years ago, price being the main reason. Out of the box, I shot 5 inch groups at a hundred yards and that was the best I could do. I started reloading my own shells and after alot of experimentation, I was still shooting the same crappy groups. I was really ill, cause I had owned a ruger 243 that was a nail driver. Well, I put out a $100 and bought a hogue pillar bedded stock and then put out another $80 and put a timney trigger on it. Guess what, I still shoot 5 inch groups but now I shoot 5 inch groups at 400 yards. At 100 yards, I shoot under an inch. I think the gun will do better but with my old tired eyes, that' s the best I can do.
If your trigger is as stiff as mine was, get it fixed, maybe they have improved that. Then, if you can' t get good groups, try changing the stock.
Good luck to you.

RE: first rifle
 

Good for you Grizzly,I hope your new rifle is defect free.I' ve dealt with BassPro many times and never had any problems.I' m glad the manager saw it your way.Keep us posted how it shoots.
Ruger Redhawk