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I bought this rifle a few years ago from a close friend of mine that just happened to run across it at our LGS in January 2012. It is a 77/22 .22lr all-weather paddlestock that is factory threaded 1/2x20. It was new old stock and has never been fired. I called Ruger when I first bought it and they couldn't tell me much about it but gave me a number for a Jay Hanson. They told me he was in charge of the Ruger collectors club. I called him but he never returned my call. So it has just been in the safe for the last three years. I pulled it out the other day and it sparked my interest again so I started digging. I can not find ANYTHING online matching this model number or catalog number. I decided Friday to give Ruger another shot to dig up some info on it. I called and talked to a super nice lady in customer service named Chris. She took it as her personal mission to find something about this rifle for me. After a couple hours, she called me back with some interesting info. These rifles were manufactured for EXPORT ONLY from 1995 til 2009. That was right thru our Assault weapons ban and at a time that I did not believe Bill Ruger would be threading anything. I was wrong. This particular rifle was manufactured in 2005 and sat on a shelf at the Ruger factory until it was sold off as new old stock to a distributor called Acusport. What she could not tell me was how many of them were sold off at that time. I dont believe there are very many of these things in the US. And I can't find anyone who knows anything about these rifles. The model is 07022. The catalog number is K77/22RP-SPL. I was told the SPL at the end of the catalog number designated it as a "special run". If anyone knows anything about these factory threaded export rifles please help me shed some light on what I have here. I found a Silencerco stainless adapter that adapts the threads from 1/2x20 to 1/2x28 and matches the rifle finish perfectly. I collect these paddlestocks and have several but this is a rare and different animal. Any insight on this would be much appreciated.

Man, that is an interesting rifle and a great find for a collector. I do not have any additional information for you but I too would bet there are not many of them here in the USA. I would bet that you have a very scarce to rare 77/22.

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FT44

Thanks Flattop. I believe you sent me a message a while back on another site about this rifle. I just saw it this weekend when I pulled it out of the safe and started digging into it again. I'll email the guy you mentioned and see if he has any info. The nice lady at Ruger told me they could give me a letter of authenticity for $10 to prove that it was factory threaded. I packed it around a local gun show today and it got a lot of attention. Yet no one knew anything about them. After telling them what I know about the rifle they either looked at me like I was crazy or they started digging in their phones to see if they could find anything about it. All they could find was where I've posted online looking for info. I agree, I think it's a rare bird. I very cool rare bird.

Also, I forgot to mention it in the original post but it was sold to a distributor called Acusport in 2011. So it sat on a shelf at the Ruger factory for 6 years before being sold as new old stock. I looked up that distributor and it looks like they are still around. I wonder if they could tell me anything about numbers of this model that went thru them. That should be all there are in the US. Rare bird indeed..........

Sure would not hurt to try and contact them, might be able to help you out.
FT44

Very interesting find for a 77/22 now that there will be no more made. Is the stock the plain one or did it have RUGER molded into the stock. Can you post any pictures? How does it shoot?

Might make an interesting display for the next show. The more we make people aware of these rare models the more interest we can generate in collecting these rare models!
Charlie1022

It is unfired. It has RUGER in the skelotonized recess of the stock. I'm having trouble uploading pics. It's saying the pixel count is too large and I'm not savvy enough to figure out why. Ha!! I'll try again once I get home this evening. Thinking about calling Acusport but they have 6 different locations across the US. Anyone have any inside knowledge about this distributor?

Hi Hillbilly, Sounds like you have the makings of a very nice 1 gun show display. Showing your factory confirmation paperwork along with the rifle would only add to the display.

Hillbilly686 wrote: I'm having trouble uploading pics. It's saying the pixel count is too large and I'm not savvy enough to figure out why.

Open you picture with Microsoft office by right clicking on the file and choose it or other similar software. once opened click on edit picture then click on resize. choose smaller pixel and save. you should then be able to upload it.