77/22?

[ArmedinAZ]

I'd really like a 77/22 in a traditional configuration but the talk of "average" at best accuracy keeps me from buying. It seems like a pretty expensive rifle (well it is..) if the normal accuracy is really at 10/22 levels.

I recently bought a new CZ that with only a trigger spring change will shoot .3" 5 shot groups at 50 yards and would like to think that a more expensive Ruger should at least equal that but it doesn't appear to be the case. Seems like an expensive plinker..what am I missing? The CZ is nothing special but it shoots pretty well.

 

[Snake45]

I can tell you that my 77/22V doesn't shoot as well as my CZ 452, but others have had better luck with them.

Good aftermarket barrels are available as long as you don't mind 18-20" .920 bull barrels.

 

[mattsbox99]

My .22LR is a VBZ. I don't think its in the .3s but its plenty accurate for me.

The brand new ones have a screw in barrel vs. the clamp type like the 10/22s. I don't know where the SN starts for this change, but try to get one of those. I think they will be more accurate.

 

[JTGant]

I have the model 1262 target model 10/22......
Only mods I did were auto bolt release, and polished the trigger with my Dremel.....about 5 min of my time ......
It shoots <.5" at 50yds...
I'm not a target shooter, I hunt coyotes with it .... maybe someday (soon) get a liberal tag .....
(I'm using a Mueller 8.5-25x44mm scope on it)...the scope is fantastic, especially considering the price (<$160)....
Just how much tighter do you need......
Are we getting too freaky with this grouping thing......
What are you hunting .... flies....
Take Care ....
JT

 

[CraigC]

Good aftermarket barrels are available as long as you don't mind 18-20" .920 bull barrels.

Like I said in the other thread, both Clark and Shilen make ~.720" midweight barrels for the 77/22 up to 22" long. Shilen also offers factory contour barrels.

Like this 21.5" Clark on a 10/22:

 

[ArmedinAZ]

Thanks for the replies. I wasn't really looking for a another DIY project. Weren't 10/22s, SB Chevies, and 1911s invented for that? :wink:

JTGant, we're talking a bolt action rifle here...77/22, I have 10/22s. Wasn't aware there was such a thing as a rifle that was too accurate.

The original question could be better said that the accuracy generally reported for 77/22s doesn't seem to equal the quality of the rifle or the cost. MOA accuracy doesn't seem too hard to attain or too much to ask for a stock quality rifle. I'm a Ruger guy and it just seems odd that Ruger hasn't upped the game with the 77/22.

 

[JTGant]

This is where plain ole common sense should come into play.

Wasn't aware there was such a thing as a rifle that was too accurate.

 

[Snake45]

The original question could be better said that the accuracy generally reported for 77/22s doesn't seem to equal the quality of the rifle or the cost.

I can tell you that mine doesn't deliver the accuracy I thought I was paying for when I bought it. :evil:

 

[ArmedinAZ]

This is where plain ole common sense should come into play.

Wasn't aware there was such a thing as a rifle that was too accurate.

Could you explain JT? My common sense tells me that a rifle that has better fit & finish and is more expensive both new and used should deliver equal or better accuracy than rifles from other manufacturers. What does yours tell you? I think everyone agrees the 77/22 is a well built, good looking quality rifle. Is that reason enough to give it some slack in the accuracy department? Not looking to argue, just trying to understand.

As I said, I'm a Ruger guy, got 3 on my short list right now, but I'm not a Ruger fanboy. It makes me crazy that the plastic stocked standard barrel generic looking CZ I have will probably outshoot any 77/22 I buy unless I get lucky. Ain't right.

 

[mattsbox99]

I really think a lot of issues with accuracy have been resolved with the screw in barrel.

I'm about ready to just buy one and test it myself because I can't find any reports yet. My dealer does have one in stock.

 

[Snake45]

I really think a lot of issues with accuracy have been resolved with the screw in barrel.

I'm about ready to just buy one and test it myself because I can't find any reports yet. My dealer does have one in stock.

I think it's less a matter of the screw-in barrel than that Ruger seems to have tightened up the chambers in recent years.

For some reason I can't explain, .22LRs seem to be particularly dependent on tight chambers for accuracy. Have read this many times from others, and have experienced it myself in more than one gun. My most accurate .22 rifles have the tightest chambers, and the least accurate have the loosest. When I bought my 77/22V (1999), Ruger seems to have been using the same .22 chamber specs for all their rifles from Walmart 10/22s to the 77/22V, unfortunately. I think they're cutting them with tighter chambers in recent years.

It's well known that you can take a factory mill-run 10/22 barrel, set it back and recut the chamber with a match or Bentz reamer, and just about cut your groups in half, changing nothing else on the gun. I've read the postings of dozens of guys who have done this.

I once had a very, very nice .22 bolt action with a great barrel with a match crown at the muzzle, but the chamber was so loose that you could actually feel the chambered cartridge "wiggle" around just a hair with your finger. That stupid rifle never DID shoot worth a crap for me no matter what else I did to it, and I spent years and thousands of rounds chasing groups with it before I discovered the sloppy chamber. I replaced the "nice" barrel with a stone-stock factory one (not even recrowned) and wonder of wonders, groups magically shrank and that rifle will now shoot BETTER than my 77/22V.

 

[mattsbox99]

I have some serious .22LR target rifles; Rem 40x, 540X, 581, 547, 541S along with custom barrels in a Charger and 10/22s.

My 77/22 VBZ 1997 is under a half inch at 50 yards with Velocitor ammunition but I haven't tested a lot of ammo in it.

I don't have a way to check the tightness of the chamber. Ruger could very well be tightening up the chamber in the newer guns.

 

[RALPHL]

New change new 77/22 rifles no longer have removeable barrels the new barrels are pressfit, no more barrel retainer assemblys, no more aftermarket barrels, excetp gunsmith fitted. ralph

 

[CajunBass]

I'm quite happy with my 77/22. AFAIK, it's stock out of the box, except for a Simmons 2x7 scope, and a sling. I haven't shot it for groups in years, as a matter of fact I've only fired two rounds through it in the last couple of years.

I went out squirrel hunting one morning early in the season. I spotted two squirrels, about fifty yards away. I drew down on one of them, squeezed the trigger, and he fell, DRT. The second one stopped and stood still, so I swung on him, and dropped him with the second shot.

That's all I expect the rifle to do.

 

[gyrhed]

I owned a 77/22 ten years ago. The first time I took it out I was sick over the really poor accuracy, but I noticed something. It seems to shoot two seperate 1-1.5" groups at 50 yards. And that was with a good parralex free @50 yards 22 rifle scope. The groups were basically side by side and made the shape of a figure 8 on its side.

I took the rifle apart and two cuts had been made in the barrel chanell of the stock that left a high center peak right down the middle. It was like they didn't finish the cut. I cut it out and made sure the barrel was free floated and then I bedded the action in Arcaglass jell. I KNOW ITS NOT SUPPOSED TO MATTER THAT A 22 ACTION IS BEDDED AS LONG AS ITS TIGHT. But I did it anyway. I wish I had tried just the barrell channel fire it and then done the bedding.

The gun then had no trouble shooting 1/2" groups at 50 yards, but heck my 10/22 with a bull barrel did that, and worked over taurus 63 will do with some ammo. It groups velocitors at a hair over an inch at 100 Yards and thats all I shoot in my 22s unless I am plinking. So the slow bolt action lost out and was sold in preference to the semiautos.