I bought this first year production Ruger 77/22 yesterday. The rifle had some work done. Bedded action, free floated barrel, trigger job, barrel chopped threaded to 16.50".

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I put a Redfield 2 X 7 X 32 of about the same vintage on it.

The thread protector was not long enough so I put a brake on it I had pulled from a 12" Ruger Charger barrel I had bought. It serves the purpose of both protecting the threads and gives the barrel a more aesthetically pleasing look at 20.50" installed.

LOL....It looked sorta weird with the shorter barrel till I screwed the brake or my can on it.

BTW....I used Millett 11mm angle lock .22 rings with the scope. They fit the Ruger proprietary ring slots perfectly and are very secure. I used them on a 77/22 .22 magnum I used to have and never had any issues. It's a good option to get away from the over-built and blocky looking Ruger rings and at about half the price.

I recently found one too, it was my grail-rimfire.  They shoot tight.  Mine came with Burris glass.  I installed a Timney sear, which takes a good bit of fitting, but vastly improved the trigger pull.

Man, I like it!!

Good job
Doc

I see 77/22s every now and again but they are usually the stainless ones with the "boat paddle" stock and not the early ones. Most are in .22 magnum.

The trigger on my example breaks cleanly at 1.75#....Pretty much perfect for a squirrel gun.

It was weird, the guy that owned my example traded it in and at the same time he traded in a Marlin early 39A "Mountie". I just bought one there the other day and it was the first one I'd seen out in the wild for years and I'll be darned if another did not show up at the same shop.

The only issues with that one was that the left of the barrel foreword of the receiver had been D&Ted for a Weaver side mount, I guess someone must have been using one of the long .50" Mossberg scopes on it. It was a early 39A before they D&Ted the top for a scope. I believe it had been re-blued too.

Not sure about the mountie but you could buy a 39a at sears that was drill and tapped on the barrel from the factory.  Four screws, either a 3/4” or 1” scope.   I got the weaver 3/4 scope and mount in my scrap parts box.  I picked up a 1951 “peanut” that was bubba d&t for the mount.  Only the bad misalingnment putting side pressure on the screws kept them in.  . I plugged the badly done screw holes, draw filed it, then worked it over with crocus cloth to match the barrel and hit it with Brownells Oxpho.  

You could also send your gun back to the factory to get the same d&t as sears ordered.

It was definably a Marlin 39A because I took the time to look at the roll mark but yeah, Sears had manufacturers D&T lever actions for side mounts that were not done with their standard brand name guns. Winchester made a '94 for Sears that had side mount holes D&Ted that their regular '94s did not have.

Nice rifle. Get some CCI quiet ammo. It's ridiculously quiet out of my 77/22 with the can.