17HMR Ruger ...

[AlbertaAl]

This 17HMR interests me becuase of the rotary magazine...and good looks!
I just dont like the price...anyone have one of these...or any opinions?

Ruger Target Grey 77/ 17 Varmint Bolt Action Rifle - .17HMR

Features low glare stainless steel components and a black laminate stock for great looks. This rifle offers a 24” precision hammer forged heavy contour barrel with no sights and the legendary Ruger 9 shot rotary magazine. Includes integral Ruger scope bases and rings. Weight: 7 ½ lbs. 17 HMR caliber.

Price: $ 739.99 CDN



Quantity:

[montdoug]

Total hearsay and vicious rumor but I haven't heard the best on the out of the box accuracy of the Rugers. I've heard it attributed to the two piece bolt but as I said that's rumor and hearsay on my part.
I'm a CZ guy, what can I say?

[foxhunter]

the rifle shot ok out of the box but with a lil glass bedding it now shines shoots in the .4-.5's and you are right about the magazine and looks, a very classy rig indeed.
the only time the 2 piece bolt is a problem is when there is excessive headspace of the two surfaces are nit milled parallel to each other. this allows the front to rock and give inconsistent chambering of the round, the bolt has to seat the same way every time to be consistent.

if you have excessive headspace it is simple to shim the bolt to remove it.


happy with mine now.

bob

[AlbertaAl]

The RUGER appeals to me mostly due to the rotary the clip and if it shoots .5moa out of the box then its very acceptable.
I've considered the CZ and Savage models but those stack clips on a rimfire make me cringe. The RUGER looks more sleek and has better finish ...I guesss thats why they're $200. more then the others.
Thanks guys

[Daryl]

You're right, Al. The Ruger is Cat's A$$, however an out of the box Marlin with Steel barrel will outshoot it just about evey time.
: With stainless and plastic or stainless and laminated, they look OK too. Accuracy wise, you'd think they were custom rifles.
: Buddies HMR holds under 1/2" at 100 meters and we haven't changed his trigger spring yet. I expect when we do, it will then push my Martini to beat it. The only 'stuff' we did to the barrel is make sure it was floating, and run a JB's patch through the barrel 20 strokes to smooth it up a bit. It doens't seem to foul much, nor lose accuracy for at least 200 rounds. Ther is never any copper fouling.

[GLWenzl]

Not sure on the out of the box accuracy however I sure like this HMR I made from a 77/22 mag http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f388/glwenzl/17hmr2.jpg
and my converted 77/22lr to 17 HM2 has to be the sweetest lil thing I own!!

[dondford]

AlbertaAl:
Check out this site http://www.ct-precision.com/ruger77.html
They did a full job on a 77/22 Hornet with ver good results.

GaryW:
Where did you get the stock on your 77?

D

[fat cat]

I don't know who that guy is that says the out of the box Marlin HMR will out shoot the Ruger VMBZ 17HMR every time? Hes wrong!:rolleyes:

[ab_bentley]

Wow, you went way back to dig this guy up. :) Adam 2006

[GLWenzl]

AlbertaAl:
Check out this site http://www.ct-precision.com/ruger77.html
They did a full job on a 77/22 Hornet with ver good results.

GaryW:
Where did you get the stock on your 77?

D

http://www.richardsmicrofitstocks.com/

I think it was 80 some odd $s at the time and the barrel is a GM reject in the 80 some odd $ price range too. I miss all these bargains now-a-days

Sorry for not seeing your question sooner Donford

I have CZs in HMR & HM2 and other makes as well but the Rugers been a great lil set-up for me....

[RebelSquirrel]

I've had 12 of the Ruger 77/xx actions. I had CPC build my first several. I'm a machinist so I eventually discovered how to do the head spacing on my own, no need to even shim the bolts now. I presently have two 77/17 HMR's that shoot as good or better than my Cooper M57 Custom Classic 17HMR. I milled and squared the bolt faces on the past 8 actions to a .048" head space and they are now consistant bug hole shooters with aftermarket barrels (GM, Clark, Lilja, VQ).... accuracy is limited only to the lot of ammo you get. My favorite one has a 21" Lilja varmint barrel on it and is set up for the 20gr XP's. The Lilja HMR barrels have such a tight bore they even give another 75-100fps over published ammo velocity on my chrony. Dan Lilja confirms numerous HMR barrel owners all conclude the same. :)

Of all the magnum 77/xx actions I've owned NONE of the 17HMR or 22mag would group better than 3/4" - 1" at 50yds out of the box bone stock!! Early on I had the stock 24" barrels set back, rechambered and recrowned by CPC which shrunk groups to 1 1/2" at 100yds. I personally think the stock Ruger barrels are worthless and to be used only for door props and tent stakes. :o Next to being a Cooper/Kimber snob I'm a Ruger lover at heart. For only a couple hundred bucks you can turn a rimfire actioned Ruger 77 into a tack driver. Best place to buy one is used off gunbroker.com, I've picked up the last 4 used for $400 - $450. There is an action alone for sale inside RFC forum right now for $300 in the classifieds.

[fat cat]

I own 5 -77/22s.:D 3 are 22 magnum 1 is HMR 1 is 22Hornet did trigger jobs on 1, 22 mag and on my Hornet, other than that never touched the rifles, all shoot great my stock VMBZ 22 mag will shoot in the low 4s at 50yds. and just under 1" at 100yds. Like I say all my Rugers are shooters! And Im a Machinist also.:)

[ZKW465]

Rebel how did you mill and square your actions?Just curious.I used to have a stock ruger 17 HMR.The only thing I did to it was glass bed it, and it shot awsome.It was killer on birds and squirrels.Wish I had never got rid of that one. Jeremy

[fat cat]

My Ruger stock 20" barreled 22 magnum timmney spring/sear only mod. shot a group .308 for 5 shots with the old RWS 40gr.HP at 2,100fps. at 50yds.

[RebelSquirrel]

Rebel how did you mill and square your actions?Just curious.I used to have a stock ruger 17 HMR.The only thing I did to it was glass bed it, and it shot awsome.It was killer on birds and squirrels.Wish I had never got rid of that one. Jeremy

You can put a caliper inside the rim area and check your depth. SAIMI (sp?) is .055" I recall. You can chuck the bolt face into a KURT vice, square it to the vice. Then face off the rim area in the bolt. Then you can square up the top face of the bolt... remove enough material off the face until you have .048" - .045" of rim depth in the seat. Doing these two things will give you an absolute square action face along with proper tight headspace. Most of the rims on HMR ammo are .045" - .048". If you step down to .045" the bolt will close tight on .048" rimmed ammo, but the slack in the two piece bolt allows the bolt to close... if you shim it with a .002" oversize pin then you'll have to rim sort all your ammo if you go with a .045" seat. Doing this alone will tighten groups up on any rimfire Ruger action.... a good barrel makes it all the more accurate.

Of the 12 Ruger 77/xx actions I had, 3x's out of ten I could shoot decent half inch groups at 50yds but they won't do it consistantly box stock. Every action I worked on had excessive head space and none were squaring to the barrel face.... off up to .010" on one side depending upon how slow or fast you closed the bolt on one. All of mine will now shoot 1/4" groups consistantly at 50 yds and as mentioned, accuracy is limited only to getting either a good brick or bad brick of HMR or 22mag ammo. I also pillar bed my actions, glass bed the lug area and first 1" of the barrel past the receiver, 1lb trigger jobs on them.

[fat cat]

All that work sounds like sillyness to me! You still have no controll of the ammo.:rolleyes:

[Daryl]

I don't know who that guy is that says the out of the box Marlin HMR will out shoot the Ruger VMBZ 17HMR every time? Hes wrong!:rolleyes:

What part of 'Just about every time" didn't you understand?

I've never heard of a Marlin that when shot by someone who could shoot, not make less than 1/2" at 100 yards with the 17gr. Vmax- Hornady, Remionton, WW or Fed ammo (all identical except for colour as far as I can see). Now, I've only seen 4 Marlins and 3 Ruger shoot- and the marlins out-shot the Rugers EVERY time - hense my wording "just about every time". There may be a Ruger than does less than 1/2" at 100 meters - I've never seen one nor heard of one. Have you? Hense "Just ABOUT every time" :rolleyes:
BTW- my cheap $300.00 Marlin just put down a 1", 5 shot group at 200 yards last trip out gopher shooting. That's 1/2 MOA - not bad, I'd say.

Yes - the Rugers look nice, have nice actions and I do like the rotary magazine - but- I've yet to se one in HMR or Hornet that shoots as well as my Marlin - or CZ's.

I see groups noted for 50 yards. Years ago, I made up a Martini in HMR with a reject GM barrel. I cut it off and re-chambered it - then entrered a 50 ayrd BR rimfire contest. My agg. for 5, 5 shot groups was .175" - best group as .057". That one still shoots fairly consistantly 3/8" at 100 meters in good conditions or when I read the flags correctly - I'd say the ammo was pretty good & consistant.

[ZKW465]

Thanks for the info Rebel.Really appreciate it.I'm also a machinist, so I like to hear how other people do things.Helps me think outside the box. Jeremy

[RebelSquirrel]

Thanks for the info Rebel.Really appreciate it.I'm also a machinist, so I like to hear how other people do things.Helps me think outside the box. Jeremy

Hey, my pleasure.

[RebelSquirrel]

All that work sounds like sillyness to me! You still have no controll of the ammo.:rolleyes:



Sounds like sillyness to square up an action and get proper head space? Your a machinist? really? :eek:

[johno]

Gary

I to liked the stock on your rifle, I have tried the link but with dial up I am having some problems. Could you give me a model # or manufactures description please. I guess they come semi finished, I like the forend profile and was thinking it would be nice with a thumbhole stock. Are they a better stock than Boyd's?

I know of a very good condition ruger in 22 mag, now you've got me thinking to try a similar project as you've done. Is there any price friendly way of getting a 17 HMR barrel for the ruger?

This is a bad, bad place. I only looked at this thread out of curriosity, now i'm in trouble again :D

Johno

[fat cat]

Daryl, OK you got 4 Marlins that will out shoot a Ruger so what? Do you know everyone that owns a Marlin 17HMR in the whole wide world!!! Do you? If not what the hell you telling me? And 1/2ers at 100yds. and what at 200yds. I say you are full of poop!!!:D

[ab_bentley]

Ok their Mr. Fat, enough. This isn't the baord to starting this crap on. If you can't paly nice then stay the hell out. This is a civil dicussion board and that crap isn't welcome. Adam

[johno]

Ditto

Johno

[GLWenzl]

Gary

I to liked the stock on your rifle, I have tried the link but with dial up I am having some problems. Could you give me a model # or manufactures description please. I guess they come semi finished, I like the forend profile and was thinking it would be nice with a thumbhole stock. Are they a better stock than Boyd's?

I know of a very good condition ruger in 22 mag, now you've got me thinking to try a similar project as you've done. Is there any price friendly way of getting a 17 HMR barrel for the ruger?

This is a bad, bad place. I only looked at this thread out of curriosity, now i'm in trouble again :D

Johno

I am really sorry but I have no ideal on which one it was. All I remember is that it was on a inv reduction sale or something like that and it was in my price range. It needed quite a bit of work as it was pretty much a rough cut and is what made me buy a dermal tool. it had a lil bit of a cooper look to it so I sanded it to make it look like that and cut the forend with a hacksaw.

The stock sets real nice in the bags and it is a joy to shoot but has been neglected the last few years… maybe it will get to go along the next time???? I still have the original barrel and stock but last year when I decided that I really needed a 22 mag (so I could compare it to the 5mm mag) I decided to just get a Savage with the accutrigger, they are cheap but pretty nice….

You are right, it was a very fun project… actually my first ever!

[johno]

Thanks Gary

My mate has just bought a savage 17 HMR with the thumbhole stock and is very impressed.

Johno