I know the older Ruger 77/22 Hornets had a bad reputation for poor quality control and loose bolts.

Do current rifles suffer the same bad accuracy, loose bolts, etc? Is the current generation K77/22-VHZ a good rifle? I'm looking for more then a 22LR/Magnum and less then a .222/5.56/etc.

Thanks!
Sid

I've got one of the newer 77/Hornets, and accuracy is excellent.
The last 3 shot group I shot at 50 yards measured 1/4". Snow was too deep to trudge to the 100 yard targets.

I warned a friend about the spotty reputation of the 77/22H before he bought one recently. Fortunately, his turned out to be quite accurate. It is the HB model.

Like I said earlier, if someone has an Old Ruger, most all he would need to do is K the chamber, and it should shoot well. The action can be tuned, as long as the barrel did not have a tool chattering down the bore, as it was rifled. Funny thing about older Ruber's in Hornet, the ones I was around shot factory ammo pretty well, but wouldn't shoot hand loads worth a hoot. A caveot to this is, Ruger has greatly improved the quality of barrels they now offer. In the old days, the "farmed" out some barrel making work, and I think it bit um on the butt. A case in point, I bought a 77 220 Swift in 1974, had Ruger rebarrel it in 1995, and the new barrel shoots "lots" better than the old one.

Jerry

quote:

Originally posted by Jerry Eden:
Like I said earlier, if someone has an Old Ruger, most all he would need to do is K the chamber, and it should shoot well. The action can be tuned, as long as the barrel did not have a tool chattering down the bore, as it was rifled. Funny thing about older Ruber's in Hornet, the ones I was around shot factory ammo pretty well, but wouldn't shoot hand loads worth a hoot. A caveot to this is, Ruger has greatly improved the quality of barrels they now offer. In the old days, the "farmed" out some barrel making work, and I think it bit um on the butt. A case in point, I bought a 77 220 Swift in 1974, had Ruger rebarrel it in 1995, and the new barrel shoots "lots" better than the old one.

Jerry

Do you know who made the barrels for Ruger in 1974, and who made the one you have on the rifle now?

quote:

Like I said earlier, if someone has an Old Ruger, most all he would need to do is K the chamber, and it should shoot well. The action can be tuned, as long as the barrel did not have a tool chattering down the bore, as it was rifled. Funny thing about older Ruber's in Hornet, the ones I was around shot factory ammo pretty well, but wouldn't shoot hand loads worth a hoot. A caveot to this is, Ruger has greatly improved the quality of barrels they now offer. In the old days, the "farmed" out some barrel making work, and I think it bit um on the butt. A case in point, I bought a 77 220 Swift in 1974, had Ruger rebarrel it in 1995, and the new barrel shoots "lots" better than the old one.

exactly - got so i just ran a k reamer in and never even shot the hornets.

DMB:

I don't know who made either barrel, but I have a guess, the 1995 one was made by Ruger, and not ER Shaw as was rumored some time ago.

Not much help I know, but that's all I have.

Jerry

I have a new Ruger K77/22-VHZ 22 Hornet.

The rifle looks good and functions perfectly.

Accuracy with Winchester Super X factory 45 gr soft points was just ok, most shots inside a 3 inch square at 150 meters plus a few flyers out side the target square (it was a little windy).

These factory ammo shots chronographed an average 2628 fps 12 feet from the muzzle.

The first batch of hand loads I fired were made up with new Winchester cases and CCI 500 small pistol primers, Hodgdon H110 powder (various charge weights) and Hornady 35 gr V-Max bullets.
Groups were about 3" at 150 Meters an velocity average was 3099 fps with 11.8 grs of powder and went up to 3260 fps with 12.4 grs of powder.

My second batch of hand loads with 13.1 gr of Lil'Gun and Sierra 45 gr Hornet bullet #1210, New Winchester cases and CCI 500 primers.
I put 20 shots in a 2 inch square during the same shooting session. With an average velocity of 2828 fps.

With both powders I observed the groups got tighter as the powder charge was increased.

The fired cartridge cases all expanded in diameter I only neck sized these cases when I reloaded them with the 45 gr Sierra's as they were now a few thou shorter than the trim to length they started out as.

I have high hopes for improved grouping with these now fire formed cases.
The high shot to shot velocity variations I recorded with both types of powder may be slightly improved using fire formed cases (I hope).

So far I am pleased with the rifle, I think it can shoot better than I can hold it. I blame my self for the group sizes, next time I'll pay more attention to my hold on the target than the chrono.

During this first shooting session with this new rifle I fired 137 Hornet cartridges through it with out a cleaning, I did not let the barrel get hot just a little warm. The last 20 shots were the tightest grouping (the 45 gr sierra's).

My only complaint with this rifle is the bolt handle, it is a little short.
The side of the ball on the end of the bolt handle is within a millimeter of the eye piece housing of the Bushnell Elite 3200 3-10x40mm scope.
This scope power selector ring has a hump on it with a screw in the middle of this hump.
When the power is set to 10x this hump in in the way of the bolts path and will get hit by the ball on the end of the bolt handle.

quote:

The high shot to shot velocity variations I recorded with both types of powder may be slightly improved using fire formed cases (I hope).

Wide velocity variation has been my problem with Lil Gun powder. I have settled on AA 1680 as the best in both my Hornets and K-Hornet. It is difficult, if not impossible, to get too much AA 1680 into a standard Hornet case. Other powders may generate more velocity, but they also generate more pressure.

Of course, as they say, "Your mileage may vary".

I have the m77 with the 20" barrel. Great little rifle. Very accurate.

I also have seen very wide velocity swings with Lilgun, but the accuracy is stellar, the velocities high, and, according to Hodgdon, the pressures about 10k lower than other powders. The SD's settle down with heavier bullet weights.