Hi fellas,
Can anyone tell me if Ruger makes their own barrels for the #1's and the M77's. If they don't I'd like to know who does, and how they stack up.
Thank you very much, Steve

I "have heard" that Ruger is currently making their own barrels, but that this is a recent change. It has been said that a lot of Ruger barrels made by "someone else" were bad, but I have owned 8 Ruger rifles (an M77, five No. 1's, a No.3, and a Mini 30). All were exceptionally accurate, with the sole exception of the Mini-30, which was terrible!! But I don't know if the Mini-30 was bad because of the barrel, or it is just an unfortunate design!! Others have reported bad experiences with the Mini-30 (and the Mini-14) also.

I always thought that Ruger got their barrels from Wilson. Since I have an early #1 that had a sloppy chamber (7 mm Rem Mag and the wrong twist I figure that I got one of the bad ones.

I shot that rifle enough over 25 years to wear the rifling enough so it would not stabilize 160 gr boattails and I was sick of the headspace anyway so I sent the rifle to Ruger for rebarreling. I went with them because of the price and that a factory barrel would make the rifle worth a lot more should I ever sell it.

It ended up a 30/06 because they don't chamber the 7mm Mag in the 22" bbl anymore and I wanted a 30/06 anyway. The new barrel is far better than the old one. It's chamber is perfect and it groups better. The total cost was $135. As far as I can tell they reblued the entire rifle also.

So I think the new barrels are better but who knows what will happen when you buy something.

the only way i would be able to hit any thing with my mini14 is by throwing the damn thing. i shoot hand sized patterns off a bench at 50 yards. thats after i put an AO ghost ring set on it. before that i was lucky to hit the back stop. the factory sights suck, specially since mine is stainless, and so was the front sight.

i still attached it tho. i keep thinking i should sell it to get some thing more practical. but have yet been able to get my self to part with it. AR180B keep my thinking, but i have not seen any yet.

[ 08-31-2002, 10:36: Message edited by: KBGuns ]