7x57 again. Uh - Oh Auction Fever

[alfsauve]

I just can't stay away from the auctions and am intrigued by the 7x57.

Yesterday Little John's was having day 2 of their auction and I pre-bid on a Ruger M77 tang safety.  $450.

Well the final bid was $450.   I could be in trouble (wife-wise), but I can't find out whether that was my $450 or somebody else's.  I'll be checking emails every few minutes today to see if I get a notice.  Not sure I really wanted to win it, but still with fees and mailing this isn't a bad price for this gun.

[billt]

Nice rifle in a great caliber! Any idea what make of scope and mounts?

[Jrlobo]

Damn, alf, that rifle looks purty enough for your wife to shoot. Hope for your sake she is left handed!

[alfsauve]

No but  2 of my sons are.

[alfsauve]

I got an email from Little Johns today.   Looks like I really did win.   Now to break it to SWMBO.

On the balance, though, now I'll sell the 1895 Mauser.   If you're interested PM me.   It's in another thread where I refinished the stock.

[Sponsor]

[alfsauve]

Just finished paying for this one when another one crops up.   Help Help.  "Hi, I'm Alfred and I have an auction addict."

These are 1970-ish Rugers.  They use the Mauser extractor but have a much more practical tang safety.  Early models without all the warning stuff stamped on the barrel. 

FEEL FREE TO BID ON THIS ONE.  SAVE ME FROM MY ADDITION.  I mean how many 7x57s does one person need?

https://www.proxibid.com/asp/Catalog.asp?aid=63380#337

[alfsauve]

The Ruger M77 showed up a week ago.  YEAH-h-h-h-h-h.

The scope was trash and the rings buggered, but the gun was in great shape.   Minor nit is that the owner tried to epoxy bed the chamber area of the barrel and did a sloppy job.  Some slow removal work is in progress.  I don't think his bedding job hurt anything, or helped anything.

Thought I'd share the difference I found between the Ruger and a real Mauser.  This is a 1st generation M77.  They have changed some things to be more Mauser like.  If you thinking about getting a Hawkeye then you might want to consider which version you'd like.   

First of course is the tang safety, which I prefer.  It is only a 2 position safety (on/off) unlike a Mauser with a larger bolt mounted 3 position safety.  Current M77s have a 3 position side safety.  But what I found most interesting is the bolt and extractor.



RUGER on LEFT  --   MAUSER on RIGHT

Notice first the Ejector.  On the Mauser (and new model M77s) it is a blade located in the rear part of the receiver.  When you slam the bolt backwards it sticks through the slot and pushes the left side of the cartridge and flips it out of the rifle.   On the original Ruger it is a spring loaded button, which flips the case out as soon as the neck clears the receiver opening.   The blade is probably more reliable, but the button doesn't require you actually bring the bolt all the way back.

Next notice the bottom of the bolts.   The Ruger bolt has a rim.  This means "controlled feed" is not possible because the cartridge cannot slip up under the extractor.  It also means the, that unlike a true Mauser, the extractor claw is spring loaded and will give.   In a true Mauser you can not manually slide a round in the chamber then close the bolt.  The extractor is rigid.  But in the early model Rugers you can have 5 in the blind magazine and manually chamber a round, closing the bolt on top of it.   So the early Rugers were NOT "control feed".  Which of course is a big selling point of Mausers.    I don't think "control feed" is all it's hyped to be, primarily because it isn't under full "control" until the round is almost in battery.

All in all I like the variance Ruger took with this version.    I like the simpler 2 position safety on the tang and the spring loaded extractor.   I'm having fun learning the nuances of these bolt actions.

When I get the bedding removed and a new scope it'll be RANGE TIME