need help with my 77/22

[bakeman]

I am having some problems with my All Weather 77/22. It is a nice rifle that i purchased used about about a year ago. You can tell it hasnt been shot much. It looks as if it is completely original. I bought it with the factory rings mounted on it (no scope). I finally bought a descent scope for it (Burris timberline 4.5-14 x 33). However, it shoots WAY low. like I crank the elevation adjustment as low as it will go and it still shoots 6 inches low at 25 yards. When i first put the scope on the rifle out of the box, it was about 2 feet low. couldnt even hit paper. The rings that I am using are factory ruger 3/4 inch tall rings. I have also had this problem with a previous cheapo center point scope I had on it before I bought this one. Has anyone else experienced this before?

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[lucky4034]

You could always buy new rings?


Not sure... but maybe the rings are reversed? Can you switch the back for the front? (just trying to think outside of the box here)

 

[Hookeye]

One some Ruger guns the rings are not interchangeable for position (they are of differing heights, a front is a front, a rear is a rear).
The rings, if of proper type and in correct position, could be mis-machined. I have seen a bad set of rings before (Ruger and other brand).

ALWAYS use a 1" (or 30mm) rod to check for ring/base alignment before putting in a scope.

I do. And it showed me a problem with a set of Weaver bases.............only ones I ever had bad, but they were screwed up (one of the pair).

Saw a guy put a 6.5-20X Leupold on a Ruger years ago at a shop. He just cranked it down while talking to his coworker and it wasn't until it crunched did he register his mistake.....rings in wrong position. Nice guy, but an expensive mistake. Luckily ? I don't let anybody mount my scopes but me.

 

[ruger7722]

put front ring on back,back on front,and have fun shooting

 

[BGDave]

77/22 use rings that are the same height. The centerfire 77s use two different height rings. If you remove the rings from the rifle and lay them on top of each other they should be identical height. Other than that, you may want to check stock bedding and action screw tightness or lack thereof.

 

[bakeman]

Yeah i have pretty much got to the point where i will be checking for stock bedding issues, or even barrell droop. I am also to the point now that once i find out what the problem is, i will probably sell the thing and buy a kimber model 82, a CZ 452, or i may even go crazy and find myself a remington 541 or 547 or a 40x. I just dont really care for anything Ruger at this point. I have been reading alot about the Barrel Droop issue with the 77/22's. I am sorry, but that is a very poor design. If you are going to list a guns msrp at give or take $900 bucks, then it shoud last forever with regular cleaning. not have serious mechanical issues.

 

[x10]

barrel Droop???????????, Wow, the internet has some crazy stuff, The 77/22 is a fine rifle and you have an issue that can be fixed with rings, if not the ruger factory, Burris Posi-align (http://www.burrisoptics.com/pdf/sigrings.pdf), Also I've been guilty of this, We get tunnel vision and need to break out of it, Pull the thing apart and give it to a Friend with experience and let him/her reassemble it and sight it in for you.

There's a chance that there is some machining problems with the barrel to receiver fit or rings but just step back from the problem, If there is really a problem with it contact Ruger,

But First, Relax and walk away from it, Take it all apart, Take some calipers to the rings and try to work through whats happening, At the range with a loaded magazine is not the best place to troubleshoot, it is an important part of the process but at the range you can't really do much in the way of fixing a gun that's giving you fits

 

[bakeman]

barrel Droop???????????, Wow, the internet has some crazy stuff, The 77/22 is a fine rifle and you have an issue that can be fixed with rings, if not the ruger factory, Burris Posi-align (http://www.burrisoptics.com/pdf/sigrings.pdf), Also I've been guilty of this, We get tunnel vision and need to break out of it, Pull the thing apart and give it to a Friend with experience and let him/her reassemble it and sight it in for you.

There's a chance that there is some machining problems with the barrel to receiver fit or rings but just step back from the problem, If there is really a problem with it contact Ruger,

But First, Relax and walk away from it, Take it all apart, Take some calipers to the rings and try to work through whats happening, At the range with a loaded magazine is not the best place to troubleshoot, it is an important part of the process but at the range you can't really do much in the way of fixing a gun that's giving you fits

If i have to purchase offset insert rings to make my completely factory original 77/22 with the factory provided scope rings work properly, then it IS NOT a quality rifle. I am perfectly capable of disassembling the rifle myself, i just havent got to it yet. I have had people tell me to look into the v-block setup that is used for the mounting of the barrel to the reciever. I guess there are several places that make a v-block that corrects the barrel droop issue. Found that info on rimfire central. From the research i have done so far, it seems like most of the 77's are fine rifles and people have no problems with them. A friend of mine has one that shoots awesome. But i have heard of a few people that have had similar problems with them. That is where i got the information i just provided. I am going to look into it further and then try to contact ruger if i cannot solve the issue on my own. I was just having a hard time believing the things that i was told about barrel droop and v-block replacement, and even offset rings. I always just assumed that offset rings were made for setting up your rifle to shoot long range.

 

[Miles42]

My 77/22 all weather was and is a quality gun. Never had an issue with point of aim with or without the scope. The Scope is a Leupold 3X9 EFR. Excellent combo.

 

[Hookeye]

You blame the rifle quality if the rings are mismachined?

I'd check the rings, then the V block and bedding.
Then I'd ask your buddy to try his barrel on your receiver

Step away like another suggested, apply proper problem solving techniques and go about finding the problem and or fix.

 

[bwframe]

I cannot believe no one has mentioned this ;

[video=youtube_share;DF07A7HaR38]http://youtu.be/DF07A7HaR38[/video]

 

[BGDave]

A really quick way to check your rings would be to switch them front to back. If your rifle now shoots high, you're on the right track. You may also want to invest in a laser bore sighter.
With the rifle on a rest loosen then re-tighten the action screws. Movement of the dot would mean bedding problems.

 

[Hookeye]

Bore sighting won't show a bad crown.

Have seen prismatic and other boresighters out of alignment/damaged, giving false readings.

Some muzzles aren't square enough to use the magnetic type, seen some MZ and slug guns that were pretty sloppy from the factory.

Eyeballs have yet to do a bad job.

 

[bwframe]

Bore sighting won't show a bad crown.

Have seen prismatic and other boresighters out of alignment/damaged, giving false readings.

Some muzzles aren't square enough to use the magnetic type, seen some MZ and slug guns that were pretty sloppy from the factory.

Eyeballs have yet to do a bad job.

The video was about eyeball bore sighting. There was no reference to the gadgets sold as "boresighters"

Eyeball bore sighting won't solve all problems, but it will assure your crosshairs are pointing in the vicinity of your bore. It will certainly answer the initial scope mounting questions.

 

[Hookeye]

I saw the video. But a LOT of people think mechanical devices are more "sure".
Have on quite a few occasions, put the customers rifle in the cradle, bolt out..........looked through and lined it up.

Kinda funny, when a "long time" rifleman, of many bolt rifles.............has never bore sighted one of his rigs and thinks a shop has to do it because they have some special gizmo. Some after eyeball method still don't believe you can do it that simple.

Of course now and then some come back, all frustrated.....because they decide to do their own and turn the turret adjustments according to the arrows, not looking through the scope while they do it (reversed).

And even a few others have their scopes turned to where V & H are switched.

Fun stuff.

Yeah, they get behind the wheels of much more complicated machinery and hurtle down the road, that colored paint keeping us safe from them.

 

[bakeman]

Just wanted to let everyone know that i believe i have found the problem.

I disassembled my rifle last night. When i removed the v-block, the receiver and barrel pretty much just fell apart from eachother. The surfaces of the inside of the reciever and the part of the barrel that fit inside the reciever look to be in good shape without blemish or scratch. They just dont fit together well. i can actually stick the barrel into the reciever and stil wiggle it up and down. So obviously "barrel droop" is a real thing.

A buddy of mine has a factory barrel from his 77/22 that i am going to slide in there and see if it feels any different. He said that when he removed his barrel(he took his off because he bought a threaded bull barrel) he had to work to get them separated. I expected the same thing.

Regardless of what i find, i will be contacting ruger to take care of the issue soon.

 

[BGDave]

Anything new to report? Got my interest up.

 

[FERLACH]

I have a Ruger 77/22 but my factory ruger rings ( came with gun ) are about 3/8" tall, not 3/4".