Ruger 77/17 bolt cycle height

[Ngdonut]

I have a ruger 77/17 bolt action rifle. The problem I am having is that the bolt handle, when cycled hits my scope. The scope is already on medium height 1" ruger rings. The scope is only a 32mm objective lens (not a big scope by any means). I have other bolt action rifles (remington and savage) and their bolts do not come up nearly as high as this ruger.

I will probably get high scope rings for it, but will not like how high the scope will sit, as my cheek weld will be turning into a chin weld. Has anyone else noticed this problem with Ruger bolt action rifles?

 

[DogBurton]

..funny about the chin weld. I agree, I like the Ruger's but get frustrated with some of their engineering choices for the bolt actions. There was a reason they made the degree of bolt unlock travel. I just can't imagine they thought this out long term.

 

[Hookeye]

Is your scope a Bushnell Banner?

They have big eye pieces that make for bonks (or close to it) on some Ruger bolt rigs.
My buddy had a Banner 1.5-5X on his 77/44 and it clunked.

He put a Leupold on it and it cleared, but not by much.

Proly need to get something comparable in eye piece size to the Leupold (Nikon, Redfield Revolution etc).

BTW, the Savage Axis rifles have a similar problem due to crappy stock design.

 

[Ngdonut]

No, the scope that is on it has a fairly small eye piece. Its a cheap scope: Centerpoint Rimfire 3-9X32 scope.

I have actually been doing some research on other forums and have found that others are having the same problem with Ruger 77/17's and 77/22's. It's strange because I'm not finding the same problem with the Ruger 77 in bigger calibers.

It's as if Ruger made the bolt come up higher on the rimfires than the centerfires, which really limits the scope options for the rimfires and forces the ring height to be abnormally high.

 

[Hookeye]

FWIW a 2-7X Leupold eyepiece is 1.60" in diameter.

That scope clears a 77/44 but not by much.

There's a 77/22 at my LGS with a 4x Leupold on it, might have medium rings, clears.
I'll measure ring height tomorrow.

 

[Ngdonut]

The eyepiece diameter is 1.81" (1" and 13/16") where as the leupold you said was 1.6" (1" and 10/16"). Who would have thought 3/16" would cause so much trouble.

Is 1.81" really that big for an eyepiece on a rifle scope?

 

[Hookeye]

Dunno man, I wonder about stock designers.

I had to add a cheekpiece to my Savage Axis, after I scalloped the bolt handle to clear my Redfield 4-12X.

Hell, I see rigs at gunshops/gunshows with freakin a half inch (or more) under the objective, a decent cheekweld usually has the scope aimed at the middle of my forehead. Ridiculous. Yeah I know some folks ditch rigs that they just slap together, but these usually are hunting rigs folks are or were using.

 

[Ngdonut]

What I really want to put on this rifle is a fixed SWFA SS scope, but I believe I will have the same problem. The SS has a 1.81" eye piece diameter, same as what is currently on the ruger now. The only difference in size would be the objective lense at 42mm and the tube at 30mm.

With a larger objective lense and tube, I guess High scope rings wouldn't look too high off the receiver and barrel. I may just have to do what you suggested and get a cheekpiece.

The glass and durability on those SWFA SS's I have heard are incredible for the price.