has anyone tried the ruger in the 375. are they quality made and smooth. or just nice wood..how about the bussiness end. are they
shooters.

Hi gfg,

I have a Ruger M77 in .416 Rigby, but since the rifles are very similar I think I can help you. I think it's a very well made great gun. I got my rifle second-hand, so the first owner told me that he fine-tuned the trigger.
What I didn't like to much in the beginning was that the gun was not well balanced (too heavy in the front), so when having the stock fitted to me I also let my gunsmith add a kick-stop (a wolfram granule cylinder which absorbs some recoil). Now the gun is slightly heavier (but you are still able to carry it around in Africa all day), but perfectly balanced and really pleasent to shot. I also added detachable slings and the gun is ready to go!

Cheers

Erik

gfg----- I just purchased a new Ruger 77 in 375 H&H. It has 4 1/2 # trigger--Perfect wood-- action very smooth--out of the box!! With 300 gr. Hornadys, it will print 1 1/2" at 200 yds. off of bags. I haven't been this much in love with something since prom night 1968!!------DD

To all of you Ruger Magnum owners.
The last issue of African Hunter critiqued rifles at the PH school and didn't really have anything positive to say about any of them. They stated that the Ruger magnum extractor was spring operated and would not pop up quick enough if the action was cycled very quickly. It needed to be polished out and it still wasn't totally reliable in this situation. Any observations on this?

The Ruger is a fine factory gun with features that are bloody expensive in custom rifles..an intregal 1/4 rib barrel alone in the rough costs $2000. give or take a hundred doller bill....

Spring loaded extractor? Not the control fed version, it is merely a variation of the Mauser. thats the old Rugers I believe, if I understand what your saying.

My choice of the newbies is the Ruger Safari models, but I would re-do the recoil lug to a Mauser, M-70 type recoil lug., just my choice of change, and a simple modification....Probably not necessary but I would prefer it.

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

Ray,
The article is by Don Heath in the last issue of AH(Leopard on cover). He is referring to the new Mark II Ruger with controlled round feed. "All but one out of seven I've seen or handled would not eject if the bolt was opened vigorously"..."The fault lies with the spring loaded ejector that springs into place as the bolt is withdrawn. Work the bolt at moderate speed and the ejector is in place to cleanly throw the case clear."

Read the article after picking up back issues at the Vegas SCI. Interesting. I have two of these, one in 375H&H, the other in 416Rigby. Took one apart and had a look. The extractor is spring acutated. The extractor pivots on a pin. The rear of the extractor is forced downward by a coil spring. This makes the extractor pivot on the pin and the leading edge of the extractor moves through a slot in the action where it is in position to eject the spent cartridge. When the bolt is withdrawn the extractor is forced downward until it contacts a slot in the bolt allowing it to move upward into position to eject the case.

Just for grins I looked at the extractors on other rifles in the safe including Dakots and a CZ. All of them employ a spring actuated extractor.

I can not force either of the Rugers to fail. The answer may be that 1) the extractor slot in the action is clean and/or 2) the extractor slot in the bolt is somewhat longer than the rifles revied in A.H.

I would comment that they were reviewing the rifles from the point of view of the PH. He makes the point that a rifle will ride in the truck or be carried EVERY DAY in very dusty conditions and may not be rotuinely cleaned. This certainly might lead to a problem.

It might be a good idea to add a stiffer coil spring, just in case and to pollish the extractor slot in the action and bolt (if necessary). Testing things before a trip to Africa is always a good idea as well.

In the same article he says that the M70 safty is really not good because it is on the wrong side of the rifle for a right handed shooter. He likes the tang safety as it was on the older M77 Rugers (or double shotguns). Interesting. What do you think??

Brett

Oh Geez!
The bedding system of the 375 H&H Ruger is fine as is, you really don't need two recoil lugs on a 375 H&H, especially one as heavy as the Ruger. My 416 Ruger is the old heavy barrel model. I will not fix it 'til it's broke. Mine always ejected flawlessly, fast or slow, and it will put 3 of Gerard's FN bullets into 0.147" center-to-center at 100 yards.

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RAB

Hi,

I've also never had any extraction problems and a friend of mine with the Ruger in 375 H&H also never any!
He thinks that the Ruger action is much better than his Sauer 90 or Steyr actions.

By the way, the accuracy of my Ruger is also fantastic!

Cheers

Erik

I have a new Ruger Magnum in .416 Rigby and have run several different loads thru it fast, slow, upside down, etc. with no problems. It feeds and ejects fine. I have 7 or 8 other Ruger bolt action rifles and have long been a Ruger fan. One reason being that my Rugers are the most dependable feeding/ejecting rifles in the cabinet. Can't say the same for several of my Model 70's and I'm a Winchester fan! Maybe I'm lucky, but the Rugers work all the time...nothing ever breaks or malfunctions.

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Phil- Life Member NRA & SCI

The Ruger Magnum is certainly in the "best buy" catagory, but don't expect any production rifle to be the ideal out-of-the-box perfect, miracle, dream gun. Rifles seldom work out that way, especially dangerous game rifles.

Don't be afraid to buy one, shoot it for a while, test it thoroughly, then take it to a good riflesmith for some tuning and adjustment. When your hunting money and your butt is on the line, what's another couple of hundred bucks for a little smoothing, adjustment, & tuning? It's STILL cheaper than having a top custom bolt action built from the ground up.

I really like the basic Ruger M-77 Mark II Magnum, and I'd love to own one in .416 Rigby.

AD

I have a lot of admiration for Don Heath, but I believe he made a real mistake in that artical when he made mention of the safty on the Mod. 70....Did anyone notice that he was using a "pre war" Mod. 70 with the backwards safty. That safty was changed a century ago and the present right side wing safty is the finest safty devised by man and thats pretty well excepted my most riflemen...

I believe all rifles should work perfectly regardless of the treatment they get, or the dirt they collect, thats why the original battle rifle, the 98 Mauser
is still my choice, followed by the Win. M-70 pre 64, its kissing cousin.

The Ruger took most of the Mausers design so I cannot see why it shouldn't work fine...My very old, old Ruger 30-06 push feed that I installed a Mauser extractor, ejector and Mod 70 Safty is a converted true control feed rifle and it works 100% of the time at least it has for the last 30 or so years.

I suspect it like Alan stated. All mass production rifles lack quality control since the damn bean counters (the deciples of satan) have brought their computers and modern thinking into our gun industry and the only and I mean only criteria they use is the bucks comming IN....

Any new rifle today needs testing and final fit and finish..

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com