Ruger 77/357 – Me Want!

Ruger announced their newest rifle yesterday – a Model 77 in .357 Magnum. I have been interested in a .357 Magnum rifle for some time and had thought about one of the lever-actions by either Marlin or Rossi. I thought it would be good to be able to have a rifle and pistol in the same caliber. The only problem for me is that I’m just not up to speed on lever-actions and can’t remember ever having shot one. Now thanks to Ruger I won’t have to be. From their release:

June 22, 2011
Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE: RGR) is proud to announce the Ruger® 77/357™, a lightweight, bolt-action rifle chambered in the venerable .357 Magnum and fed via a rotary magazine.

The bolt-action 77/357 features a five-round rotary magazine and is offered in the Ruger All-Weather® configuration, which includes a durable, weather-resistant stainless steel barrel and receiver and a rugged, black composite stock. Although it is fitted with fully adjustable iron sights, the 77/357 also ships with patented Ruger scope rings, allowing a variety of sighting options for this lightweight (5-1/2 pounds), quick-handling rifle.

“The 77/357 is an effective tool for hunting medium-sized game – especially in heavy cover,” said Bruce Rozum, Chief Rifle Engineer at Ruger. “Bullet velocities of .357 Magnum ammunition increase significantly when fired out of the 77/357’s 18 1/2″ cold hammer-forged barrel. In testing, Hornady® 140 grain FTX® loads were clocked at over 1820 feet per second. Furthermore, the flush-fit, five-shot rotary magazine does not protrude at the rifle’s balance point and, unlike tube-fed rifles, the Ruger 77/357 can be readily loaded and unloaded,” he concluded.

From the spec sheet:

I’m guessing that with a suggested retail of $793, the street price will be closer to the $600 range. That makes it competitive with the Marline 1894C and a bit more than the Rossi M92 carbine. The one advantage the lever-actions have is cartridge capacity.