Looking for ideas (bullet & powder) for my ruger ML. I'll probably mess with the combo anyway. Just thought I would see what other combos worked well.
I also have a CVA Elkhornthat shoots T/C XTP sabot with 100gr. of triple 7. Groups about 4-5 inches at 100 yards.
I would almost bet you, the Ruger will get tighter than that...
Bullets... You will see that I am not much one pointy bullets shot at ML speeds, I believe that a ML bullet should have a larger meplat to insure greater terminal performance in the animal. If I were to suggest a bullet(s) I would suggest a couple.
If you want a regular priced effective bullet for whitetail or Elk - i would suggest the Speer Deep Curl .452-300 hp. The copper is bonded to the lead and there is an internal dot in the bullet that controls expansion, makes it work somewhat like a Nosler... The 300 grain also offers a very high BC for a HP .233. The other regular priced bullet that works great on whitetail is the .452-250 grain Deep Curl.
Here is a picture of some that I torture tested in a water bar…
If you want to shoot a premium bullet that offers you a margin of error at the target then I would suggest the ne brass bullet that Knight is offering – the ‘bloodline’ – these are made by Lehigh Defense and have been extensively tested. I have been using them for the last three years – awesome bullets.
This is the new .458-300 grain bullet… Deadly on Elk.
Another offering is the .458-275 grain DOA – probably the best all-around hunting bullet out there. The .452-250 gr. DOA is available and makes a great whitetail bullet.
Here is the family, without the 300 grain bullet which is new to the family.
For a load from you Ruger, I would suggest 100-110 grains of T7-3f. This works very well for me from my Remington 700ml which is the same generation as your Ruger 77.
This was shot ages ago with my Remington and 100 grains of T7.
