77R Tang Safety rifle question

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Question for a friend of mine.  He has the chance to buy a Md. 77 tang safety rifle in 35 Whelen.  His questions is whether or not this gun is "control round" fed.  Were the earlier tang safety rifles push feed or did they have mauser extractor?  He's looking to hunt moose in Alaska.  Thanks, T.

[deltecs]

The answer to your question is both yes and no.  The tang safety Rugers were push feed actions with a Mauser type claw extractor.  Most of them had excellent accuracy and very reliable.  I own over 8 different calibers in the tang safety Rugers and have intentionally tried to dump a loaded round from the magazine.  If one cycles the action from full closed to full open, I haven't been able to do this regardless of speed of throw.  The magazine controls the loaded round entirely from the time it contacts the bolt face until it jumps loosely into the chamber.  The bolt has to be more than half closed before the round is detached from the magazine control, so the bolt face prevents the round from falling from the chamber, even upside down.  So in this model Ruger, there really is no honest need to have controlled feed for reliability.  As to short throws, a controlled round feed can be jammed just as easily in the later models.

[Luckyducker]

I've never had this done to any of my Rugers, but the bolt face can be cut so that it is a controlled feed action but unless this modification has been done the rifle is push feed.  I have tried to make a misfeed with different brands of push feed actions while holding the rifle upside down and have never been able to accomplish this.  I don't worship at the alter of contol round feed rifles and only own one, which is a custom 264 Win. magnum built on a commercial FN Mauser action.  BTW, tell your friend that the 35 Whelen would make an excellent moose rifle.

[deltecs]

I've never had this done to any of my Rugers, but the bolt face can be cut so that it is a controlled feed action but unless this modification has been done the rifle is push feed.  I have tried to make a misfeed with different brands of push feed actions while holding the rifle upside down and have never been able to accomplish this.  I don't worship at the alter of contol round feed rifles and only own one, which is a custom 264 Win. magnum built on a commercial FN Mauser action.  BTW, tell your friend that the 35 Whelen would make an excellent moose rifle.

LD, I think you better look at the bolt face of the tang safety Rugers.  You will see a plunger type ejector in the bolt itself.  That would interfere with any round that was controlled fed through the action.  It would bind on the cartridge rim as the round was being chambered and pinch the case against the chamber wall.  This would ensure a jam.  The talk about undercuts on the bolt face to make Rugers controlled feed, were done on early model Mark II's, which were push feed also.  Only the relatively later Mark II's without the funny plastic stock, were manufactured controlled feed.  All the Mark II's did have the Mauser type claw extractor AND the Mauser type push, fixed ejector that worked only when the bolt was drawn to the rearmost position.

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Reliability is the key word here and having to face down a grizzly might be a real possibility.  Would loading the Whelen with a bullet in the 225-250 grain range be adequate for that kind of situation?  T

[deltecs]

Reliability is the key word here and having to face down a grizzly might be a real possibility.  Would loading the Whelen with a bullet in the 225-250 grain range be adequate for that kind of situation?  T

Either would be adequate placed in the correct place.  Also, a good bullet is needed.  X bullets in either weight, good heavy built round nose in 250 gr, or a good partition would be fine.  As to reliability, I've got extreme confidence in either Ruger action, whether push feed or controlled feed.  A short bolt throw from either in the excitement may jam either rifle, but I've never had it happen.  I've never been able to jam a Ruger under any condition, even intentionally.

[Tracer]

Thanks for information, I got to see the rifle and its a good 90-95%.  Its an 77RS (I think) since it has sights which would be a good back up to some low power optics.  T

[deltecs]

I think you will be completely satisfied with the choice. 

[Sourdough]

I've carried a Tang Safety Ruger M-77 in .338 Win Mag for 23 years.  Have never had a problem, it works reliably every time.  I trust it, my life can easily depend on it, and has.