What made you a Ruger rifle fan?

[south_ridge]

So here's a general question - What made you a fan of Ruger rifles?

For me it is pretty simple. I am 35 years old, and about 20 years ago my dad handed me a Ruger rifle to deer hunt with. He and I have both killed a lot of game with tang safety M77s.

5-10 years ago I started building my own rifle collection. I added a few more Rugers - in general because of the specific capabilities of a given rifle or platform (10/22 Takedown, mini-14). And I love my lone No. 1, just because.

Over time I gained a further appreciation for some of the M77s features, not the least of which is the integral scope mounts. That's one of those things that never seemed like a big deal until the first time I had a mount break on a rifle of another brand.

We have our fair share of Browning and Winchester rifles. But if I was restricted to just one brand, it would probably be Ruger.

So how about you?

SR

 

[Beruisis]

I started out with Ruger rifles during college due to their lower cost. I eventually got so used to them & that tang safety so that I measured everything else by them. I now have all makes of rifles but the Rugers hold a special place for me. They've always performed for me & have been dead on.
Beruisis

 

[collectormzornes]

My start out with them was because of cost also. I started off hunting with a cheap Savage 110 and found out for not a lot more I could have a wood stocked gun or a synthetic that was cooler than the Savage plain jane style. Know they are still cheaper than most but they still have that great feel and I mostly by used ones. I started with the 3 position safeties and I am used to them even though the tang safety is more natural, but I shoot left handed and most of my rifles are right handed so it is still just a flick of the thumb somewhat.

 

[METLHED57]

Used to road hunt woodchucks, crows, and such with my father. Had an M77 in a 22-250 with the light barrel. Thing was a laser. I remember one time there was a crow at about 200yds sitting on the top of a leafless winter tree. I held on his neck expecting an inch or so drop. When I touched it off his head went about 3 feet in the air and followed his lifeless body to the ground. That sold me on it's abilities. Then a few years later my uncle brought his just purchased #1 to the shop before work one morning. First one I had ever seen. Game over. I've loved the #1 ever since. My Winchesters sit in the gun cabinet and safe having to be oiled ever now and then. The Rugers get played with. Just got back from the range a couple hrs ago. Gonna have to clean my M77 Mark II Target in 6.5 Creedmoor and my .220 Swift in #1V. My 17 Hornet is scheduled to be at the FFL tomorrow. Gotta love them Rugers.

 

[Backlighting]

If Ruger were to make the Gunsite Scout in a takedown version, I would be out the door in a heartbeat.

 

[wwb]

As a kid running a trapline in northern Minnesota in the early sixties, I needed a .22 handgun.... the Ruger Standard 4" was the ideal solution. It was way cheaper than anything else, the only options at the time being the High Standard or the Colt Woodsman. I was so impressed by it's simplicity and reliability that I bought a .44 Carbine for deer hunting.... I already had a Marlin 336 in .30-30, but the Ruger was shorter and lighter than the Marlin; the ideal "brush gun". Later,when I needed something that could reach out there, a tang-safety M77 in .30-06 was the natureal choice.

After that came the Super Single Six, the Blackhawk, the Super Blackhawk, the SP-101, the Super Redhawk, the Redhawk.....

 

[eveled]

Probably the A-team.

 

[RJ556]

3 things.

1) The classic looks of the No.1 and M77

2) Robust construction

3) Being able to fully disassemble the rifles using only a screw driver and paper clip.

 

[south_ridge]

Good answers so far. I'm glad I posed the question.

METLHED57 - I love the crow story. My dad also has a tang safety M77 in .22-250 that we have used to shoot many crows. When they vaporize 'just right' , we call that "puffing a crow". I'm not sure if anybody else uses that term or not, but it's commonplace around our farm. Many a discussion has started with the phrase "I puffed a crow today...".

That particular gun is one that has given me a lot of faith in the M77 rifles. My dad carries that gun in his truck almost year-round. He hardly ever cleans it and he works in a dusty environment. There are times when that gun looks like it really needs a bath, but it always shoots well and always, always functions. There's something to be said for that action design.

SR

 

[Jimbo357mag]

My first gun was a 96/44 rifle and after that I wanted a revolver and then another one and then, ...well you get the idea.

 

[gunners]

Priced good, look good, shoot good

 

[Black Fly]

In 1943, The Outdoor Life Cylopedia was printed. In 1955, my Uncle Walt gave me his copy. I wrote my name in it in orange crayon, just after I learned to write cursive. There is an article in that book that extols the virtues of the 257 Roberts, with a picture of big mule deer and some rock slides. It made a big impression on a 7 year old. Move up to 1972. My wife was very pregnant. She was very concerned that our new baby to be would get his pudgy little fingers on my 357 Hawes Western Marshal. I was walking by Gale Diehls Sporting Goods in Chambersburg. In the window sat a Ruger 77 in 257 Roberts with sights. It was a round top. What a lovely gun. No stamped checkering, no pressed metal, real walnut, nice bluing. At that time Winchester, Remington and Savage stamped and value engineered their guns into pretty common products. I went to the car, got the 357 off the front seat and walked in. I walked out with my first Ruger 77 and two boxes of Winchester yellow box ammo. A year later, I added a Bushnell scope. That rifle was my only deer rifle, groundhog gun and target gun for many, many years. Those two boxes of ammo were the only 257R that I saw for sale for about fifteen years. They were reloaded a lot, probably more than twenty times. I still have six of those cases that I'm reloading. She's been rode hard and put up wet. Scatched, dented, rust spots, but still lovely. She's killed a lot of deer and groundhogs and punched a lot of paper. There are now nine RS's in the safe, but the old 257 is the queen.
So began my affair with Rugers.
Bfly

 

[wunbe]

The first Ruger 1B I ever picked up in my hands fit me like no other rifle and the aesthetics speak for themselves. Little did I know I was launching decades of serious collection and a sometimes maddening amount of tinkering to make them shoot reliably.

wunbe

 

[Sugar River]

On my tenth birthday the old man said he was taking away the JC Higgins single shot .22 I'd had since turning six.
I was wondering what I'd done wrong 'til he said it's time to move up to this, and handed me a brand new 10-22 International.

That was well over 40 years ago and I've been fond of Rugers ever since.

Pete

 

[chefrob1]

for me not being a hunter, it started as a kid who just loved to shoot. my first was a 10/22 that i had lots of cheap fun with, then a mini-30 that was just as much fun, now i load for my 96/44 and i'm still having as much fun if not more than when i was a kid.

 

[METLHED57]

Good answers so far. I'm glad I posed the question.

METLHED57 - I love the crow story. My dad also has a tang safety M77 in .22-250 that we have used to shoot many crows. When they vaporize 'just right' , we call that "puffing a crow". I'm not sure if anybody else uses that term or not, but it's commonplace around our farm. Many a discussion has started with the phrase "I puffed a crow today...".

That particular gun is one that has given me a lot of faith in the M77 rifles. My dad carries that gun in his truck almost year-round. He hardly ever cleans it and he works in a dusty environment. There are times when that gun looks like it really needs a bath, but it always shoots well and always, always functions. There's something to be said for that action design.

SR

Thanks, I'd forgotten about those "puffs" as you call them. One high speed drill, center of mass.

 

[dakota1911]

The 10/22 was an influence. It was the first rifle I bought when I was old enough for $49 I think. The last one was the takdown I bought last October for about $290.

What really did it were the Ruger No. 1 rifles. My Dad had a couple and I now have more than a couple. they are lovely, plus with practice you can feed them faster than a bolt action. Below is a No. 1 International in 30-06 flanked by a couple 10/22 Internationals in SS.

 

[egl52]

This is a great topic. I purchased my first Ruger rifle, a wood stocked and blued 10/22, with my grandfather when I was only about 13 years old. I paid $105 with tax I remember. Then I bought my first deer rifle, a skeleton-stocked all-weather .270, when I was 14. That one cost me $420 with tax; lots of papers delivered to earn that cash! I put on it what I considered at the time to be a "high-quality" scope - a Bushnell Trophy 3-9x40 - in stainless finish to match the rifle. I took my first buck with that rifle only 4 or 5 days after buying it. Last fall, 20 hunting seasons later, I took another two does with that same rifle (new scope though). I've killed the majority of my 30+ deer with that rifle.

Since then I've owned several other brands of firearms, but I currently own 3 times as many Rugers as non-Rugers. The more I got into guns the more I realized what fantastic choices I had made for my first few purchases. Ruger firearms just work and work well. Bill Ruger was an incredible designer. I love how he made guns that he liked, not just guns that he thought would sell well (i.e. the #1, the Express rifles, the Woodside, mannlicher-stocked rifles, single-action revolvers, etc.). For a reasonably priced hunting rifle, in my opinion you cannot beat the M77 MKII's. I'd have a bunch more if I could afford to.

 

[Corbi]

The #1.....been in love for over 30 years.

I have 5.

Corbi

 

[AJGUNNER]

It all started with a Stainless Single six at age 15. In the fall of my 17th year one of my brothers had taken the M-77 in 243, off to school out of the area. Dad was not going to give up his model 70, so I needed to buy myself a rifle. My choice was either a 243 or 7mm. I figured I might as well go big and have one that would cover me for elk as well as deer. I paid the $199 sale price and never looked back. The flock now includes a pair in 7mm and a pair in 243. The pairs started out as just wanting to have a backup hunting rifle, but have now evolved into keeping my son covered for hunting rifle needs. Others have come and gone 22-250, 25-06, 270, 30-06, 300, but somehow it always comes back to the the originals that have a permanet spot in the safe. Lots of game has fallen to the original 7mm. It just feels right at home in my hands while in the field.