Dad's Ruger Ultralight - not gonna rebarrel

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On a post a week or two ago I mentioned that I was considering rebarreling my Dad's old 270 Ruger Ultralight, but planned to clean it and shooting it to see what it would do in its original caliber of 270. Man, that thing was nasty. I could've colored a swimming pool with the blue that came out of the bore, but it didn't feel rough at all. That was a welcome surprise. And the bolt and action was about as grimy as any rifle I ever saw. And it's got a 25 or 30 year old Bushnell Banner 3x9x30something on it. Well, I was low on 4831sc and the barrel is only 20 inches, so I reached for IMR 4064, which I have plenty of and which has always been a good powder in anything I shot. And I grabbed some of the old CCI-200 primers that I've had forever. And in the bullet storage box I found some 140 gr Sierra HPBT that I bought probably 20 years ago, or longer. Remington cases, new (not used yet) and prepped but decades old, were sitting there, so why not. Anyway, I started at 44 gr of 4064 and without even shooting a fouling round, that old gun put 3 rounds into a 3/4 inch cloverleaf. I adjusted the scope and put 3 more into about the same sized group that's one inch high at 100. Ok, so I'm good at 44 grains of 4064 with an old gun, old brass, old bullets (seated 0.03 off the lands), old primers, and new powder. Forget rebarreling. Just thought ya'll might like to hear the outcome.

And that old bolt is so SMOOOOOTH, after decades of being cycled. And an aftermarket trigger, and a good one, and I wonder who put that on there. I didn't and I know for sure that Dad didn't. I'll take it to the woods today.
 
Take care of that shooter, nice to keep things in the family. I have a springfield 1903 passed down from my Uncle, also a shooter.
 
R U sure the trigger's aftermarket ?

The tang safety M77's triggers are adjustable, and your Dad, or a gunsmith might well have adjusted it.


.
 
I bought the same gun in 30-06 years ago for my dad to use. He is 89 and no longer hunts so my brother is currently using it. They are good dependable and usually accurate rifles. And I'll bet it is the factory trigger.

Don't worry too much about the shorter barrel and when you get a chance to experiment give some 4831 or 4350 a chance. Slower powders still give the best speeds from short barrels. I use 4350 in my 30-06 rifles and the 20" barrels are a lot closer with this powder than most people think. I lose a little speed, but the 20" barrels are still faster with my handloads than factory loads are from a 24" barrel. The 270 will do the same.
 
I assumed that the trigger was aftermarket. Some years ago I was checking the sights for him and the trigger had a gritty pull of maybe 8 pounds. Worst trigger pull I had ever run into. I mentioned it to him and the next time I went home the trigger was great. I didn't take the action out of the stock this week to check out the trigger, but I did notice that there's a small allen screw on the trigger. Looked like the allen screw on my Timney. I've got another tang safety Ruger, but I haven't looked to see if there's an allen screw on that trigger.

I can't wait to put a better scope on it, but that old Bushnell Banner 3x9 is pretty clear and held up pretty well in dim light last evening. I have no idea how old that scope is, but it has to be more than 25 years old.

As for powder, one that I don't have and don't use is 4350. I use 4064 and R17 for several rifles and H4831sc for the Sako 270. I probably ought to have some 4350, but just haven't gotten any.
 
As for powder, one that I don't have and don't use is 4350. I use 4064 and R17 for several rifles and H4831sc for the Sako 270. I probably ought to have some 4350, but just haven't gotten any.
Click to expand...

What is the barrel length on that Ultralight?

Slower powders may just be wasted blast and noise, with little increase in velocity with a 20-22" barrel..... JME.
 
Yes, the Ultralight has a 20 inch barrel. I use 4831sc in my other 270, but I thought it might be good to use a quicker powder in the 20 inch barrel. Same logic I used on the 16.5 inch barrel on my Ruger Compact in 260. I use R17 for the 120 grain Nosler and IMR4064 for the 100 gr Nosler.

Anyway, the Ultralight shot so well with the very first load that I tried, as I mentioned above, I did absolutely no further load development. It's only a moderate load (44 gr of 4064) behind that 140 gr bullet, but that's fine. I won't take any shots out past about 250, so a real hot load with a flat trajectory isn't required.
 
That's most excellent news. :cool: I read your original thread on that rifle and was interested in what you would find out.

I gave up reloading a while back but when I did reload, the very best performance from my M77 RL .270 was with 54.9 grains of IMR 4350, WLR primers and Winchester brass throwing 130 Sierra BTSP Gamekings. I cleaned primer pockets and trimmed cases to length after every firing and weighed every powder throw. I can't for the life of me remember how far they were seated off the lands. But they worked exceptionally well for me.

Good luck with a very nice rifle. I'm also betting the trigger is factory, there is an allen screw in them. And about the bolt throw - those old 77's started smooth and only get smoother.
 
Glad the rifle worked out for you. The old banner 3-9 is probably 36. The old banners were a decent scope. If you upgrade, hang on to the old scope. My old banner started on a M77R 300WM. It was what I could afford at the time. Since then it has been on a number of other rifles. Whenever I would finish a new rifle, it was put on there and used until I could afford an upgrade. It now rests on my youngest daughters savage 64. Still clear and holding zero after 40+ years.
 
That old Bushnell Banner showed its weak spot this evening. I was looking into the fading sunset trying to spot 7 or 8 deer that I had been observing with my binocs. That old scope wouldn't let me see anything. I'd have been fine with Burris or Leupolds, because I've been in those same situations in past days while hunting from the same spot with different rifles. Today was the first time that I've found fault with the old Bushnell. I suppose it's mainly a daylight scope. I've got some dividend money coming to me in the 1st Qtr, so I'll be scope shopping after the season. I won't be selling the old scope. It was Dad's.
 
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