Ruger All-Weather Mark II Model 77 .243

During the 4 days off around Thanksgiving of 2003, the wife and I stopped by my local gun shop just to say Hi and wish them Happy Holidays.

I was doing fine until I spotted a Ruger Compact in the rack that happened to have a .243 tag on it. I had to handle it and of course it was awesome. When I handed it back and watched him put it back in the rack, I spotted a stainless Ruger 2 spots over and made the mistake of asking about it. It was the older Zytel synthetic stock, the one I never got around to buying before they quit producing it in all black. The guy is just cruel ! This one was also in .243.

Caliber didn't matter back years ago when I drooled over these guns. I couldn't afford one but man I wanted one of them. I always thought the stock was really neat and thought the stainless would be great. Seemed like every gun show I cruised through had them sitting out on display just to torture me. Out of sight out of mind, I figured I would run across an article about them again some day and say "I should have bought one".

So here I am in a shop mauling one over again. I didn't walk out with it though. Christmas was just under 4 weeks away and we had tons of shopping to do. Too much money to jump in and spend right now. Once we were back home though, I just kept thinking about it and talking about it. I told my wife, "you know, you could scratch everything else off my list and just go get that for me."

Then it was the justification process in my mind that I was struggling with. I had just got the new .308 "deer rifle" last year and I already have a .243 that I love. I really don't need another .243. Yea, but, is "need" the critical term here?

Anyway, the sweetheart that she is, the wife pooled her resources with her parents and it was waiting for me at their house Christmas day. I had not gone back to the gun shop because if it had been gone, I would not have known if she bought it or some other lucky buyer. I didn't want to know.

I really was surprised Christmas day. Her parents had wrapped a small box with a note that said "ask for it". My heart raced but I still wasn't sure if it would be the gun. Her parents have bought me several big items over the years too big to wrap. So they wrap a small box with a note. When her Dad came into the room carrying a long slender box, I was like "no way". They have bought me scopes and knives and such before but never a gun.

Anyway, it was really great of them and my wife to humor my whims and pick up this awesome rifle for me.

December 28th, I spent over 3 hours prepping it for the first trip to the range. I followed "the break-in procedure", lapped the bolt, lapped the scope rings, floated the barrel and spit shined it for the first trip.

All I had handy to throw on it for a scope was a 3x9x32 Bushnell I had borrowed from my rimfire back in November. So I slapped that puppy on it and headed for the range. I had a mix of different boxes of .243 stuff, some 70 grainer's and some 100 grainer's and just wanted to get the 20 rounds through it for break-in. It handled great and I went ahead and walked the scope in to the general proximity of zero but didn't shoot any spectacular groups with the mix of shells.

It is a really nice rifle and I am looking forward to many years of enjoyment from it. I will get a review out here with some pictures as soon as possible.

Update:

I installed a new Simmons Aetec on this gun. Used it opening day of 2004 deer season to take 2 does. Think it's going to work out fine.

Some Specs on the gun:

• Stainless/Synthetic
• No Sights
• Ruger Rings Included
• Barrel Length 22 inches
• Overall Length 42 inches
• Weight 7 lbs
• Caliber: .243 Win
  
  

Zytel Stocks (centerfire) Based on Ruger Consumer Catalogs that I was able to lay my hands on.

As for the performance of the gun, it is great. This is my 3rd Model 77 and I have no complaints about any of them. I know that a lot of folks do not like the triggers on the 77. I have not actually sat down at the range and worked at shooting 1 ragged hole. I do know that I can shoot groups under 1 inch with it on any given day.

My daughter shot it for the first time in October of 2005 and put 3 or 4 shots in a nice little group with a couple of the shots touching. Then she proceeded to take her first deer with it in November of 2005.

I would buy it again and will no doubt own more Model 77's in the future.

Bill

Last Modified: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 6:48 AM