Ruger's Proven M77 Rifle Chambered in the Classic 357 Magnum

Ruger's 77/357 feeds .357 Magnum and .38 Special ammo as smoothly as grease on glass, is accurate, and makes for a handy little hunting carbine.

July 02, 2025 By Layne Simpson

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As the old saying goes, time sure flies when you are having fun. It seems like only yesterday that I introduced the Ruger Model 77/22 in .22 Hornet to the readers of Shooting Times, and yet it was way back in the September 1994 issue. The December issue during that same year featured my report on the little bolt-action rifle in .22 WMR. First of the 77 series appeared in 1983 in .22 Long Rifle (77/22), and as I described it back in the old days, with a scope mounting base integral to its slab-sided receiver and a classic-styled walnut stock, it appeared to be a scaled-down version of Ruger’s Model 77 centerfire rifle. Close examination revealed major differences that I will cover in this report.

According to Ruger’s website, the present 77 series of carbines begins with the 77/17 in .17 Hornet and .17 Winchester Super Magnum (WSM). Yes, I too am surprised to see the .17 WSM still listed. The 77/22 is offered only in .22 Hornet. Moving up in bore sizes, if you guessed that the 77/357 is in .357 Magnum and the 77/44 is in .44 Magnum, you are correct. The former also works nicely with .38 Special ammo, and the latter is equally fond of .44 Special. As the designation indicated, the 77/50 was a .50-caliber inline muzzleloader, and I am not sure when it went out of production.

The barrels of all models built today are threaded at the muzzle for suppressors or muzzle brake attachments. Thread sizes vary among the various calibers. Some models have open sights, while others do not. Stock options vary among them, and they include American walnut, Green Mountain laminated wood, and synthetic, the latter with several different finishes. Regardless of which 77 variation you choose, easily attached scope-mounting rings are included. This is a longtime tradition for various Ruger firearms, and down through the decades it has saved shooters around the world a lot of money.

The 77/357 Up Close

Ruger M77 357 Magnum rifle — Layne really likes the size and shape of the camo synthetic stock. Note that the top of the stainless-steel receiver is machined for Ruger scope-mounting rings, which come with the rifle. (Photo provided by author.)

The 77/357 featured in this report has a synthetic stock with a camo finish described by Ruger as Desolve Bare Reduced. Kryptek Obskura Nox is the other camo option, and you can save money by taking home plain old black. The first camo finish mentioned is $30 higher than the second camo option, which is $10 higher than the black finish. Trust me when I say that a feral hog will never notice the difference.

I really like the size and shape of the stock, and girder-style reinforcing makes it extremely rigid. The stock weighs 22 ounces. It has quick-detach sling-swivel posts up front and at the rear and a recoil pad with horizontal grooving that prevents slipping from the shoulder. The fit between the stock and the barreled action is as good as it could possibly be, and rather than the usual free-floating, the barrel is closely bedded in the fore-end. Molded-in checkering prevents the rifle from sliding around in the hands during a downpour, but I would like to see a bit more coverage on the fore-end. The stock’s length of pull is 13.5 inches.

As it should be on an all-weather firearm, all metal is stainless steel with a nicely executed brushed finish. The cold-hammer-forged barrel is 18.5 inches long with eight-groove rifling at a 1:16 right-hand twist. Open sights consist of a folding leaf dovetailed to the barrel at the rear and a blade with a gold-colored bead resting in a dovetail up front. The rear sight is windage and elevation adjustable. Muzzle threads of 1/2-28 presented no challenge for me because a longtime friend who owns a gunshop about 30 minutes from my home stocks several brands of suppressors, and he had an adapter for my SilencerCo Hybrid 46. At an overall length of 38.5 inches, the 77/357 would still be quite maneuverable in a ground blind or tree stand even with the addition of a suppressor.

Threaded muzzle for suppressor. — The muzzle has 1/2-28 threads for attachment of a suppressor or a muzzle brake, and a thread protector is included. Note that the gold-bead front sight is dovetailed to the barrel. (Photo provided by author.)

It is not unusual to spot a design feature of a Ruger firearm as being borrowed from the firearm of a competitor, and such is the case with the 77 bolt. Like the bolt of the Remington 40X target rifle in .22 Long Rifle introduced in 1955, the Ruger bolt is a two-piece design consisting of a nonrotating front section containing the extractor joined to a rotating rear section with very large dual-opposed locking lugs that engage recesses in the interior of the receiver. And while the action was initially introduced in .22 Long Rifle, its designers peered into the future and made certain it would be more than strong enough to handle the greater force of centerfire cartridges like the .357 Magnum and the .44 Magnum.

Excellence in design does not stop there. In the event of a blown primer or ruptured case, the bolt shroud deflects propellant gas and debris escaping back around the bolt away from the face of the shooter by blocking off the rear of the receiver. Pressing on the spring-loaded boltstop at the left-side rear of the receiver allows the bolt to be completely withdrawn. As explained in the included instruction manual, the bolt is easy to take apart for cleaning and, equally important, easy to put back together. Should the manual for the 77/357 or any firearm ever built by Ruger go astray, the company’s website has all of them for viewing.

The safety of the 77/357 has three positions, with all the way to the rear blocking both trigger movement and bolt rotation. Push the lever to its middle position and trigger movement is still blocked, but the bolt can be rotated for loading or unloading the chamber. All the way forward allows the rifle to fire when the trigger is squeezed. Should you suddenly awake from a doze and find that big buck you have been after for a very long time standing beneath your tree stand, the safety can be operated quietly.

Three-position safety on M77 — Located at the right side of the receiver, the three-position safety lever is easy to reach, and it can be operated quietly, which is important for a hunting rifle. (Photo provided by author.)

The rotary magazine holds five .357 Magnum (or .38 Special) cartridges, and during my sessions with it, both chamberings fed as smoothly as grease on glass. When inserted, the magazine fits flush with the stock, which is nice because that’s the balance point of the rifle. The entire magazine retention/release system is contained by the front of the bottom metal. Pushing upward on a spring-loaded plate at the bottom releases the magazine for removal.

When shooting the rifle from a benchrest, I noted that the trigger was smooth with no detectable creep or overtravel, but my Lyman digital scale indicated a pull weight ranging from 7.3 to 9.0 pounds (for an average of a bit more than 8 pounds). I grew up on military surplus rifles, so a heavy trigger does not bother me, but for those who insist on something lighter, Rifle Basix offers a replacement with an adjustment range of 14 to 37 ounces for $105. Years ago, Jim Clark Jr. of Clark Custom Guns built me a custom rifle around the Ruger 77/22 action. Among other nice features, it has a heavy Lilja barrel and a Rifle Basix trigger, and it has long been my favorite rifle in .22 Hornet.

Rotary mag and ammo — Layne fed the 77/357 .357 Magnum and .38 Special ammo, and the handy little carbine delivered its best accuracy with the latter. Accuracy with Black Hills Cowboy .357 Magnum ammo loaded with a 158-grain truncated-cone, flat-nose cast bullet was also quite good, and it should be quite effective on feral pigs. (Photo provided by author.)

The only other issue I experienced with the 77/357 was stubbornness in the magazine when being inserted and removed from the rifle. Removing it worked better when I pushed the release with my thumb, slightly lowered the rear end of the magazine, and then pulled it to the rear and downward. Inserting the magazine was a two-hand operation, one to depress the release, the other to insert the magazine. That might improve with use.

Back on the positive side, the 77/357 shot big holes in the old tale about the .38 Special delivering poor accuracy when fired in a .357 Magnum firearm. Equally interesting was the level of accuracy it delivered with Black Hills .357 Magnum cowboy ammo loaded with a 158-grain lead-alloy, truncated-cone, flat-nose bullet cast by Rim Rock. What a great easy-on-the budget pig load it would be!

I have long preferred to choose scope size and magnification appropriate for a particular rifle and the cartridge for which it is chambered, so when shooting the Ruger 77/357 I used a faithful old Weaver 1.5-3X variable scope with a one-inch tube and a spacious 45-foot field of view at 50 yards. Good light transmission early in the morning and late in the afternoon when deer movement is often at its best makes it one of my favorites for woods hunting. While that scope is no longer available, gun show and eBay prices are usually within easy reach of most hunters and shooters. Total weight of the 77/357 with that scope in Ruger rings and a magazine full of cartridges was 6 pounds, 13.5 ounces.

Ruger M77 Bolt — The bolt is a two-piece design with a nonrotating front section containing the extractor and a rear rotating section with two large dual-opposed locking lugs that engage recesses machined into the inner wall of the receiver. (Photo provided by author.)

One thing is certain—shooting the .357 Magnum in a rifle barrel gives it a decent energy boost. Muzzle energy of the Black Hills and Federal 158-grain loads is in the neighborhood of 1,100 ft-lbs, and Buffalo Bore ammo loaded with a 180-grain bullet is approaching 1,400 ft-lbs. Ruger should sell lots of 77/357s to woods hunters who live in states that allow only straight-wall cartridges to be used on deer. Among them is Delaware, where in certain areas, rifles can only be chambered for handgun cartridges of calibers ranging from .357 to .45, with a maximum case length of 1.82 inches. Did I already mention how much fun the 77/357 is to shoot?