Perusing a local pawn shop, and wasn’t really looking for anything in particular when I spied a camo stocked M77 on the rack. .223 in overall good shape, a little dirty, but bore is good and sporting a sound Nikon Prostaff 3X9X40 BDC scope.

The guy behind the counter tells me they are having a Labor Day weekend sale, and with the discount, would be $350. Wasn’t a very difficult choice

I’ve been on the fence on picking up a .223 bolt gun, and it seemed like a good opportunity. This one was made in 2006, by the serial number. I will post a few pics once I get it cleaned up.

ETA- pics and light cleaning done- not perfect, but should be functional.




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This message has been edited. Last edited by: gearhounds,

Nice score! Looking forward to pics.

That would be a fantastic coyote killer.

I have always liked the Nikons for a less expensive scope. Nice pickup.

Go peruse the Ruger boards. You stole it. If there's any problem, Ruger will get it sorted.

Great price. My shooting buddy has the stainless version of that. It likes 69 grain bullets and will put three of them into a quarter at 100.

His has a 1/9 twist barrel so it will handle the heavier loads.

Really nice gun, congratulations.

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:
Great price. My shooting buddy has the stainless version of that. It likes 69 grain bullets and will put three of them into a quarter at 100.

His has a 1/9 twist barrel so it will handle the heavier loads.

Really nice gun, congratulations.

From what I’ve been able to find, this one has the older 1/12 twist; it is supposed to shoot up to 55 grain boolits accurately. I’ll find out soon enough

quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:
From what I’ve been able to find, this one has the older 1/12 twist; it is supposed to shoot up to 55 grain boolits accurately.

The barrel's twist rate is fast enough to stabilize 55 grainers, and maybe those up to 62 grains.

Accuracy depends a lot on the bullet itself. The vast majority of FMJ bullets are not accurate, therefore the best barrel in the world won't do much to produce tight groups.

If you buy commercial ammo, accurate options include:
- Hornady 55 Vmax -- also 40 and 60 grain Vmax
- Black Hills loads with Vmax bullets
- HSM loads with Vmax bullets
- HSM loads with lighter Berger bullets
- Black Hills 52 HP match
- ADI / Aussie Outback 55 Sierra Blitzking
Some barrels like Hornady's Superformance 53 grain Vmax ammo. Mine don't.

Handloading opens up more options. There are very few hollow point match bullets at this weight class, however there are more plastic/ballistic tip bullets available.

^^^^
Thanks, I may invest in a set of .223/5.56 dies to keep the cost of shooting down. I like Black Hills ammo too.