M77 Mfg Date vs Date Shipped

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OldRugerMan

Blackhawk
Joined
May 26, 2003
Messages
758
Location
Idaho USA
I think the standard practice is to use the ship date as this is the date the gun left the factory. The date stamp in the barrel channel I believe is the date the last coat of finish was applied. I disagree that a late shipped gun is any less valuable. I think it indicates that if it languished in the factory inventory it was a slow seller. Take this example of two Flat Bolts:

M77R 243 sn 70-31326 shipped June 1971 A very popular caliber
M77RS 284 sn 70-31350 shipped February 1974 Not a popular caliber

Here is a doozie!
M77RS 358 sn 73-48592 shipped May 1978. Letter states that it shipped as an M77R in 358 Winchester Magnum. The gun appeared to be factory with the high polish blue and was a round bolt, of course. Having never heard of 358 Win. Mag I requested another record search with the same results. The fact that the letter states a different configuration in a non existant caliber just shows that the letter is mainly to establish a ship date and that records keepers make mistakes. Of course it could have been sent back for installation of sights, but unless you were the one to send it in the factory will not release that information.

It is well known that some early numbers were not assembled until much later. M77RS 308 sn 70 is an example. It should have had a Mershon butt pad and straight wood eject port stock. Instead it has a square butt pad and a cut down eject port stock features of much later rifles. I'll have to dig to find the ship date but it wasn't shipped in November 1968 like two M77 R 308's sn 195 and 561, which I still have or M77R 308 sn 577 and M77R 243 sn 175 both shipped October 1968. These four rifles all had straight wood and Mershon pads as they should have.

For myself, I'm going by the ship date the factory gives me. :D
 
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