I recently acquired a Model 77 Serial # 770-669XX. According to Ruger, 1986 vintage. It has the tang safety, blued with a green laminated stock. I didn't think laminated stocks started that early. Can someone tell me when Ruger started using laminated stocks? I suspect it isn't original.
For the green laminate, the earliest serial number I have noted is 770-68002, so do not doubt you have a factory green laminate. Just plug your serial number into Ruger's serial number lookup page and let us know what the model number is.
These did come out in 1986.
Next, the earliest guns have a grip cap and checkered stock... the RZ is pretty tough to come by anyway, but with grip cap and checkered stock is extremely rare!
The RZ in .270 is model number 7702, the 7mm is model number 7703 and the 30-06 is model 7704.
I also have some notes on the VZ that they made a very few of in .22-250 but I'm getting conflicting model numbers of 7711 and 7720.
Post some pics if you have a chance and let everybody see what a really rare laminate that is.
Chet15