77PL Hollow Bolt

All,

I have what I believe is a 77PL Hollow Bolt in .30-06. But the serial number is 70-98xxx, which I thought was outside of the hollow bolt range. Can you guys offer any insight or advice?

The gun clearly has a round top receiver and no iron sights.

I thought I had seen somewhere that a hollow bolt PL would be pretty rare. The gun has been used a lot and is clearly not a collector piece. I'm just a bit curious.

Thanks,

SR

The PL was a distributor exclusive - when they bought a certain number of guns they could buy a PL at a reduced cost. Not many PL's around and you are right that the serial number is way out of the usual Hollow Bolt serial range. With this in mind it should be noted that the gun was made in 1974 when they were still making Flat Bolt Short Actions and Flat Bolt Long Action as high as 70-89xxx, so its not out of the realm of possibilties that a Hollow Bolt would show up. Below is a photo of a Hollow Bolt - this one an RS 7 Mag. number 70-380xx.

Thanks for the information, OldRugerMan.

My dad got this gun in a trade about 20 years ago from a hunting buddy - they traded quite a bit. By the time my dad got it his friend had installed an aftermarket, lightweight fiberglass stock. He had also painted the barrel. So like I say...it is far from a collector's piece.

I deer hunted with the rifle for 12-15 years and killed a lot of nice bucks with it. I always knew it had the hollow bolt handle. It was not until I was doing some reading recently that I realized the potential uniqueness of the bolt / PL combination.

SR

south_ridge: I would be curious to know if the scratched serial number or portion of the serial number on the bolt matches the serial number on the receiver. Sounds like it is probably the original bolt, but just curious. In my "Reference of Ruger Firearms" I note that a 77ST in .30-06 (round top receiver with sights) would be a rarity as I don't have any serial numbers reported for that one. So never even dreamed of the existence of a 77PL (no sights) in .30-06 with a hollow bolt.
Please send me a PM of the full serial number so I can add your info the Reference (minus any contact info of course!!).
Chet15

Chet,

This gun resides at my dad's place, about 10 miles from my house. The next time I am there I will double-check everything and shoot you a PM. I checked all of the bolts at one time and I'm 99% sure they're original, but now that this seems to be somewhat unique I feel the need to check again.

I will let you know what I come up with.

SR

Guys,

After conferring with Chet15 and verifying serial numbers and such, we're pretty sure that this is in fact a PL hollow bolt.

Since it is somewhat unique I'm going to clean it up a bit and put it back in a proper red pad stock.

Thanks to all for your help and feedback concerning this gun.

SR