Of the two, I much prefer the Frontier setup, because of its additional sighting options. With the Weaver-type base adapter attached to the barrel rib, you can use quick-detach rings to instantly switch between, say, a fast both-eyes-open electronic dot sight or long-eye-relief scope depending on your hunting/shooting situation and personal preferences. Or you can mount a conventional eye-relief riflescope on the receiver with the Ruger dovetail rings. Since the primary benefit of a short "scout-rifle" design is handling speed, I'm a strong advocate of the forward-mounted sight and both-eyes-open aiming with the Frontier. Most shooters squint or close their nonaiming eye when looking through a riflescope; both eyes open is much more effective. It only takes a very short amount of time to get the knack for it--a half-hour's practice snapping quick-acquisition dry fires at a practice target. And once you do you immediately notice that you've become aware of all sorts of things through your other eye that you'd otherwise miss.

When hunting, this is a great advantage, particularly with a forward-mount scope. Out on the barrel, the scope does not block as much of your vision with the nonaiming eye and is very fast to get on target. Just fix on the target with both eyes open and bring the rifle up to the shoulder. Don't move your eye to the scope lens to try to find the target, keep your gaze steady on your quarry, and let its image just "appear" in front of your eye through the sight as you raise it into your line of sight.

In just a few tries you will naturally align the sight, and you'll be far more aware of your surroundings and what your quarry is doing than when your vision was restricted to the scope's field of view with just one eye. Play with it a little bit. You'll see what I mean. Once you get used to a forward-mounted scope you'll be hard put to go back to any other setup for close-in, fast-shot hunting, and you'll find yourself keeping both eyes open even when using conventional receiver-mount riflescopes for long-range high-magnification shots.

Plus, with the Model 77 Frontier's scope on the barrel, it's completely clear of the rifle's ejection port, so you have zero problems with the sight interfering with case ejection. Also, you have instant total access to the port for loading. You don't have to fumble under the scope with gloved fingers to insert cartridges into the magazine, and you can see openly down into the magazine. Add these features to the shorter buttstock of the Frontier and Compact versions, and you have an overall package that won't snag, drag, or get tangled up with your packstrap or a bulky hunting coat when you need to shoulder it in a hurry.

SHOOTING RUGER's 7mm-08 MODEL 77 MARK II COMPACT
FACTORY LOAD	VELOCITY (fps)	STANDARD DEVIATION (fps)	100-METER ACCURACY(inches)	200-METER ACCURACY (inches)
Remington 120-gr. HP	2850	26	1.25	2.50
Federal Hornady 139-gr. SST	2698	14	0.50	1.13
Hornady 139-gr. SP Light Mag.	2850	19	0.75	1.63
Federal 140-gr. Nosler AccuBond	2660	11	0.38	0.88
Remington 140-gr. AccuTip	2717	20	0.88	1.50
Winchester 140-gr. Ballistic Silvertip	2647	10	0.63	1.25
Winchester 140-gr. Power-Point	2660	22	1.25	2.63
Speer 150-gr. Hot-Cor SP	2763	17	1.13	2.50
Accuracy is the average of five three-shot groups fired from a sandbag benchrest at the range specified. Velocity is the average of five rounds measured 10 feet from the gun's muzzle

I've never handled faster pointing rifles than these short new Rugers.

Short Barrel, Long Reach
Now, how about ballistic performance? The "standard" barrel length for most bolt-action hunting rifles is 24 inches, which is the most common barrel length ammunition manufacturers employ to establish the nominal ballistics for centerfire rifle ballistics. The 16.5-inch Compact and Frontier rifles are 31 percent shorter. How much does that reduce their ballistic performance? Another short answer: not enough to even consider.