Big Double Thumbs Up For The Ruger 77/17V! Now that I have both my second trip to the range and second Varmint Hunt under my belt with this nifty little Rifle - I am just as pleased as punch with it! And with the 17 HMR cartridge!
On May 2nd I bought the Rifle (sales tax free) in Missoula, Montana for $425.00. I did some begging and whining and went out the door of the store with not only a very atractive Rifle but one that shoots very well also! And the new 17 HMR cartridge is sure perfect medicine for the hordes of Ground Squirrels here in the Rocky Mountains! Both of my range sessions and both of my Ground Squirrel Hunts were conducted in windy conditions that I normally would not partake in! But the 17 HMR makes 150 yard shots in the wind almost easy! I finally shot the 17 HMR at the 100 yard range and with the Weaver 15X scope it gave 2 5 shot groups of .790" and .852". I was most happy with these groups and so distressed with the incessant wind here in Montana during the spring days I am again contemplating taking my lanterns and my ammo testing to the range during the hours of darkness (the wind often dies completely here after sundown!). Its May 18th and just after noon and its snowing with gusting winds to 20 MPH as I write this!
I am betting this Rifle on a calm day will shoot groups near .500"! I can't wait for a calm day. The wind was so aggravating yesterday that I only used 10 of the Hornady cartridges for my short range session. I still have not gotten into my only box of Remington ammo! My previous range session in even higher winds for intial sight in and ammo testing gave 5 shot groups at 50 yards of .43" for both the Hornady ammunition and the CCI. The trigger of the Ruger 77/17V is slightly heavy at 62 ounces (3.875 pounds) but is crisp and no creep. The heavy barrel is 24" long and the length of pull is 13 1/2".
In general the Rifle is very attractive and the heavy barrel appears to be bedded in the laminated stock the full length of the forearm! It shoots well though and I will be checking the Rifle for any point of impact movement often. This Rifle is one of the few I have seen with the real bright stainless finish as opposed to the dull gray finish on most Ruger 77/17V's. The stock is the gray/black laminate and fits my large frame to a "T"! I was a little miffed when I discovered (once at home!) that the included integral stainless rings which came with the Rifle were of the "high" type! I thought oh boy I will have my neck straining to obtain sight picture with these! Nope the high rings are not a problem from the bench or in the field! The Weaver 15X I mounted on the Rifle has a 40mm objective (as I recall) and has just 1/4" of space between the barrel and the bell of the scope. Perhaps one reason for including the high rings is the bolt just barely clears the scope during reloading! I am certain low rings would interfere with the bolt movement and maybe even medium rings. Oh well, small detail there. While on the subject of the rings I took great care in aligning them with my scope lapping bar and THEN tightening them down (with the bar held very firmly in place) during installation. Then, I began lapping them in. Well even with the aligning the rings as described it took me nearly an hour of steady lapping to obtain 80% coverage with the lapping tool! I noticed both rings at the bottom of the ring circle were deeper than the bar could lap into. I am sure the little Ruger won't "jar" loose my scope though! Recoil is absolutely non-existent! Spotting my own hits was easily done! On this latest Hunt I let my Varminting friend Don run a 9 round clip full of the 17 HMR Hornady ammo through it. And he was either 9 for 9 or 8 for 9 as the grass hid one Varmint from being verified as struck with the bullet by us. Don is another easy convert to the 17 HMR's performance! I used my Dog-Gone-Good Shooting bag from the VarmintMobiles hood to just erase another 35 or so Gophers at from 50 yards to 180! One Badger was spotted but we had packed up for the day and were travelleing through another ranch without Hunting permission there as yet. But I know where he lives! I will return for permission and the Badger this week if at all possible.
The Ruger cleans easily and I am making due with a 22 caliber bore guide for an Anshutz I owned once. Does anyone know of someone that makes a 17 caliber bore guide for the Ruger 77/17? Please post or E-mail me if you do have any ideas.
I bought another 9 round magazine ($13.00) for the Ruger and both magazines feed perfectly. No problems loading whatsoever.
The Ruger 77/17 sure feels nice to me. I like its weight (9 pounds 13 ounces total with scope rings and an empty clip) and its balance. The 3 position safety is handy, positive and one can visibly see its engagement!
I saved several spent cases to examine under a magnifying glass and the firing pin strikes appear to be uniform and deep. The fired cases now will still go into the plastic trays they are stored in from the factory but they go in somewhat "tightly" now! Case expansion of the rimfires is something I am not familiar with and I will try and measure this expansion for information only at this point! Ejection was positive both when the bolt was worked quickly and slowly!
So no complaints at all with the Ruger and the new cartridge. Several of my chronies have seen the Rifle and scope combo and have commented favorably on its loks and feel.
$425.00 is still a lot of money but once past that I am more than very happy with the Rifle.
More later
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Gee........all that , and it's not even a Remington.........hard to believe..........

Just a little more to this - also recently purchased a 77/17 but its the blued wood stocked sporter version = 22" tapered barrel. At the range last Saturday shot a five shot group with the Remington ammo that measured .675" and chrono'd out at an avg of 2606 fps. The rifle is nicely done - the blue receiver is matt finished on top and the trigger guard is steel - dual extractors. Paid $419 - one of the dealers here asking $569 but he is dreaming unless the competition runs out. I did add a Volquartsen target sear which dropped the trigger pull to 2 lbs - easy thing to do and well worth it. I was worried about the rings because I had read where the bolt handle was hitting the eye piece of some scopes - but the rings were medium height (use to be supplied with low height) and work fine - I was using a 3 X 9 Nikon Monarch but I just found a used mint 3 X 12 Weaver Classic II with AO - installed but not shot yet. Remington and Hornady ammo shoot exactly to same place and chrono the same. CCI is available here so I need to buy a box and give it a try. From what I have read CCI loads the Hornady rounds - Hornady just supplies the bullets - I suspect the same for the Remington round since it used the same V-Max bullet but different colored tip. For a rimfire that barrel can heat up suprisingly fast. This cartridge smokes.

I had the pleasure of shooting a 77/17's not long ago. A fantastic gun and very accurate. I've seen many rugers that were tack drivers, although I've owned 3 Ruger 77's and none of them grouped worth a hoot. I'm gonna get a 77/17 one day, I hope the 4th time is a charm. "nifty little Rifle" about sum's it up.

TC1: Good luck with the next Ruger! I have had pretty good luck with all the bolt action centerfires Rugers I have owned! I have had only so-so luck with the prior Ruger rimfires and Ruger #1's. I have several Ruger #1's now but had to cull a lot of #1's to find these "shooters"!

Rifleman1: Where did you get that Volquartsen part and what price range was it? My local guy doesn't have any of them.
By the way that is some great shooting! Good for you!

Hold into the wind
Varmintguy

VarmintGuy, check Cabelas, Midway, or Natchez for the replacement sear/spring kits. I bought the Timney version from Cabelas for my 77/17, and it worked great! It's about a 10 minute project, and cost about $26.00.

VarmintGuy,

Left you a PM.

Redial

VarmintGuy

I bought the target sear direct from Volquartsen -go to their web site - sometimes they have specials - I also bought a hammer for my 10/22 from them and same results with the trigger pull. Think I paid $26 - had it in three days - I'm from Montana and trying to find my way back - (its a paycheck thing)of all the things I miss there shooting gophers is near the top of the list, and fly fishing, and elk hunting and no tornadoes, and.......

Buster & Rifleman1 - Thanks guys for the tips on the upgrade parts for my Ruger 77/17! I will get on the trail for them today.
Rifleman1: I moved to Montana in 1997 but before that I made three trips here every year from 1969 on until I moved here. One trip was for Varmints and spring fishing then in October I would return for Antelope Hunting and more Varmint Hunting. Then for two glorious weeks each end of November I would return to chase the wiley Mule Deer in eastern Montana and often on the way back home (to the Seattle area) I would also Hunt Elk in SW Montana. It is dream like to wake up each day in Montana! What Varmints shall I pursue today is usually my first thought in the morning! Other tough decisions are should I go shed horn Hunting today or scouting for Big Game or fly fishing or take some pictures or Hunt Mulies or Hunt Whitetails or Hunt Elk? Should I go snowmobiling or skiing or hike to a new lake? Should I go spring Bear Hunting or spring Turkey Hunting - or both? Now that I am doing more Bird Hunting I also have to decide between Grouse, Turkey, Pheasant, Sharptail or should I partake of the excellent Waterfowl Hunting? Often at night it is a difficult choice for me to decide whether I should get out my astronomical telescope and view the crystal clear heavens or should I go Coyote calling? This week I had to decide if I wanted to go to an evening lecture by a Blackfoot Indian leader on the Indians perspective of the Lewis & Clark Expedition (ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING lecture by the way!) or should I have gone to the $10.00 a year dues Rifle range in the calm evening air that day? Should I go to one of the countless Gunshows this weekend somewhere in Montana or should I go rock hounding and fossil digging or concentrate on arrowheads? Gee what to do? In short life is "very stressful" here in Montana! He-he! I hope you can get back here soon and help me with these difficult decisions!
Thanks again for the directions on the part,
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I got on-line to Midway at their site and found the Volquartsen sear and spring for fitting to the 77/22 and 77/22 Mag. (and the 77/17 also) for $30.67 plus less than a dollar for shipping. Its on the way. By the way they only had 1 more left in stock now. The part was not in their paper catalog that I could find but was in their online catalog!
Thanks again.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy