REVIEWS
Ruger K77/17 Varmint
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| Action: | Turnbolt repeater |
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| Caliber: | .17 HMR |
| Capacity: | 9 |
| Barrel length: | 24 inches (heavy) |
| Weight: | Approx. 67⁄8 pounds |
| Stock: | Black laminate |
| Price: | $645 |
Ruger's K77 Specifications
The .17 Hornady Rimfire Magnum has taken the shooting world by storm. In the past year, there's been a flood of rifles--and revolvers--chambered for it.
But hands down, the handsomest platform for the little cartridge I've seen is Ruger's K77/17VMBBZ, otherwise known as the Varmint Model .17 HMR.
I've been a sucker for the company's Target Grey stainless steel since I first saw it on a Super Redhawk. Aesthetically, it works very well for me in conjunction with Ruger's black laminate stock, which I very much prefer to the company's synthetic offerings.
The Varmint sports a 24-inch heavy barrel, which—although probably more tube than necessary to extract top ballistics from the .17 HMR—looks proper, like a serious varmint rifle, albeit one best suited to be an "under 200" ground squirrel gun.
I scoped the rifle with Weaver's excellent 4.5-14X Grand Slam variable, which has admittedly more power on the top end than you really need on a short- to medium-range subcaliber varmint load like the .17 HMR. (Ruger's integral scope-ring system is still about the most bombproof and simplest mounting option available.) Ammo selection for a range trip was made very easy by the fact that I had only one load on hand—Hornady's original red-polymer-tipped 17-grain number at 2,550 fps.
With a shooting buddy of mine in tow, I went to the range. There we fired a series of five-shot groups from a sandbagged rest at 100 yards to see what the little "varmint contoured" Ruger was capable of.
What we got was slightly better than I've gotten with other .17 HMR rifles. Groups ran slightly over one inch, with each one invariably featuring individual three-shot clusters that ran between one-half and three-quarters of an inch. Perhaps a slightly better trigger would have helped some. The one on the rifle we were using broke at a slightly mushy five pounds. Still, what we got was definitely an "in-spec" performance for what the rifle was intended for—the explosive, low-noise elimination of small-bodied pests well out past .22 Long Rifle range.
During our session, the rifle functioned flawlessly. That nine-shot detachable Ruger rotary magazine works; it's pretty much an unsurpassed rimfire feeding system that is well worth the extra girth it gives a rimfire rifle in the middle.
The Varmint Model .17 HMR appears to be an optimum launching pad for this cartridge. The heavy barrel heats up slowly. High-volume shooting in a ground-squirrel-infested area is what this setup is ideal for.
As different companies start rolling the .17 HMR with different bullet styles and weights, it should be possible to find a factory load to deliver consistent sub-MOA accuracy in most any given rifle.
