Reading through this thread is crazy. I hunted in Alaska for over 15 years with a paddle stocked M77 Mk II 338. I put an uncountable amount of rounds through it since it was my only rifle for a LONG time and I was reloading for it. Sheep, goats, moose, black bears, caribou and backup on a brown bear all fell to it. I bought it at Long's Drugs during one of their sales for something like $375. Not sure of the price but if memory serves correctly it was close to that. Time passed and eventually I sold it and immediately regretted it. That thing had a ton of miles on it. I just happened to find another one 3 years ago and bought it. All is right with the world again! They put a Hogue rubber coated stock on it but it also came with the paddle. Paid $600 for it. If you shoot it enough, the horrible trigger and recoil seem to disappear. I say keep it, don't brake it and put the warhorse to work. It'll serve you well. Pro-tip here: do NOT shoot anything with lightweight cup and core or ballistic tip bullets. Stick to 210 Nosler, Barnes or 225-250 Hornady's. If you're lucky enough to find 275 grain Speer semi-spitzer's and need to shoot through a brown, end to end, you won't regret it.
1994 Ruger M77 Mark II 338 Win Mag w/boat paddle stock value
- Thread starter IAshooter
- Start date
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dgr416
Well-Known Member
Try a 338 win mag without a recoil pad and 250 grain bullets it's like getting hit in the jaw by Mike Tyson .
Overkill338
Well-Known Member
I have. You must be in the wrong weight class lol I shot my .338 twelve times from the bench and my shoulder looked like a steak fresh off the grill with the lines of that concrete recoil pad lol
The trick to shooting heavy recoiling rifles from a bench is to sit high or even shoot from a standing bench. That way, your entire upper body can move with the recoil rather than the rifle slamming into your shoulder. If you're hunched over on a normal bench, your body can't move with the recoil so your shoulder take the entire hit.
MagnumManiac
Well-Known Member
Me too, and the colours my arm went were a peculiar yellow/purple/red/black with the grilled stripes as well.
That was 40 rounds in a Deer Hunter Association Comp here in Australia, off the bench, followed by a 20 round running game shoot with the same rifle, but in 300WM offhand. The following day, I could not lift my arm very far at all.
I have/had much larger cals, 375 Weatherby, 338 Edge, 338-416 Rigby Improved, 458 Lott, 416 Rigby, 500 Nitro 3 1/4" and 505 Gibbs. None of them have bruised me like those Ruger boat paddle stocks. The 505 is brutal and hurts, but it didn't bruise me.
Cheers.
Overkill338
Well-Known Member
The one I shot years back was my cousins . At the time we were 20 years old and he had it in 300 win . I shot it a few times and that was all I wanted of it . Him being mr tough guy shot about a box and a half down the tube . Both of us had discolored shoulders but his was definitely worse . About a week later he started complaining about his eye bothering him and went to the eye doctor. Here he had a torn retina. Now was it from that hard kicking ruger ?? He wasn't sure and neither was the eye doc who was an avid shooter . The eye doc seemed to think maybe it was already tore and that 300 paddle stock just made it worse but who truly knows . But I will say at that time I thought that thing was the coolest looking gun I'd ever seen. Lol
MagnumManiac
Well-Known Member
Oh, I just remembered another thing I hated about those Rugers was those rattly sling swivel attachments...I cut mine off with a grinder and then screwed in Uncle Mike's sling swivel studs. Looked awful, but didn't rattle anymore. Hahaha.
Cheers.
Cheers.
MagnumManiac
Well-Known Member
Yep, I've seen your collection before over on Shootersforum.com
I bet you remember the dozen or so pages of a certain member arguing that twist rate of 10" in a 25-06 wasn't adequate for 120gr bullets cuz it stripped the rifling on such long bullets. SMH.
Cheers.
dgr416
Well-Known Member
I went with my cousin one day to the range .I used the double magnum past pad and shot my old wood stocked ruger 77 tang safety 338 125 times from a standing bench off of a milk crate with a 60 pound bean bag .I then shot my 416 rem mag 75 times no problem .I couldn't shoot that paddle stock 10 times without getting a jaw ache and head ache .I sold the stock and got a laminated stock and I can shoot it with no problems .The plastic stocked Winchester model 70 that weighed 6.5 pounds was just as bad as the paddle stock to shoot .If a gun has a bad stock it will rattle your teeth out .My 264 was a paddle stock too it was as bad as the 338 paddle stock to shoot .It cracks me up what people are paying for these $12 plastic stocks .
Overkill338
Well-Known Member
Absolutely lol
I sure miss my mentor, Bob Faucett though.
