I'm in the market for a .223 bolt action rifle. I had a Rem 700 VS that was a great shooter, but a little heavy and long for me. I'm thinking about something with a 22 inch barrel. I'm really interested in the Ruger M77 Stainless Laminate offerings. I kind of like the compact model too. Anybody have one? How's it compare to Remington and Savage offerings? Thanks in advance.

Remingtons and Savages are reliably accurate. Rugers seem a bit hit or miss. Some good, some okay, some bad. Safe bet is to gow ith one of the other two instead of Ruger.

I bought a 700 ADL about a year ago. It has a 24" barrel, but the hollow tuperware stock helps with the weight issue. I've had lot's of trouble with the ejector, seems to be too long and won't slip over the case rim without breaking part of the rim off. I've taken it out of the bolt to check for debris under it, but it didn't help. Finally stoned it down, but apparently not enough yet. The barrel is a slow one. The same loads are 170 fps slower than my Savage heavy barrel with a 24" barrel, consistently. After all that, it's one of my favorites because it is very accurate with a lot of different loads.
I've got Rugers, Win. M70 Featherweight, Savage, and Rem. The Rugers have been on average, easier to get to shoot well. Might be just the luck of the draw!

I guess I am the exception to the rule in regards to Ruger M77's. I have had several over the years (in .223) and can not seem to hang on to them. I have found that a Ruger needs a couple things done to them right out of the box to make them shoot, Polish the Bore and break the Barrel in properly, Tune the Trigger and Free Float the Barrel.

This plus a little load developement and I have never had a bad one. In fact usually when one of my buddies shoots one of my Rugers I end up starting over as they seem to have a way of talking me out of them.

In fact I am currently without a Ruger M77 in .223, but hope to change that real soon.

Larry

Well I have ALL of the Above.. and none of them are a disappointment in target or field performance...

Owning all three types.. and several each of the above, in Rem and Ruger... I'd have to say that I wouldn't be without any of them... Each has a feature or two the other two don't have and they just all feel good and perform good....

Guess that is like asking a man with 3 gorgeous beautiful dedicated wives, to give up one or two of them....."Not on my Watch!"

check out CZ, their little actions can't be beat

THanks for the replies. I hadn't seen an ADL in a while a looked at a friends .243 synthetic. The stock was really light and flexible. I don't think that the ADL can be bought new anymore. I can't readily discern the how the new model designations compare to the old - new three letter names for everything except the model seven, which I'm also interested in.

I've never had a .223 in any mfr that didn't shoot real fine.