Ruger M77 Rebarrel/Rechamber Question

[MontanaRifleman]

I have an old M77 with tang safety in 7mm Rem Mag and the barrel is shot. I want to rebarrel and rechamber because I want to get away from the belted mag cases.

I would like to rechamber to something that requires minimal work and reconfiguration.

Any recommendations?

[JustC]

you have a magnum boltface, so the .473" caseheads won't work. This means anything from the 06' family on down is out. You can do a WSM, SAUM, RUM, etc since they don't have belts. or you could find someone to trade bolts who wants a magnum bolt,...but I wouldn't think that would be easy to find. A WSM or SAUM would allow all kinds of room to feed from the box, and still have long seated bullets.

[MontanaRifleman]

What would it take to convert to a 300 or 338 RUM? Would it be possible in stall a new mag box? It looks like the COAL is .36 difference between the 300 RUM and the 7mm, and doesn't look like much room to stretch the magazine area???

Then the next question is how well would the Ruger rings stand up to the RUM, I would be mounting an NSX on it.

[Derek M.]

I think you may run into problems if you try to change out the bottom metal/follower. The front receiver action screw is at an angle in the Rugers.

Why are you trying to get away from the 7mag? I have one and wouldn't trade it for another rifle. It is an excellent caliber.

[MontanaRifleman]

[quote]

Originally Posted by Derek M.

I think you may run into problems if you try to change out the bottom metal/follower. The front receiver action screw is at an angle in the Rugers.

That's true, but the biggest issue is that the feeding ramp to the chamber would have to be gound back. There is plenty of room behind the front screw.

Why are you trying to get away from the 7mag? I have one and wouldn't trade it for another rifle. It is an excellent caliber.

It is a great cartridge, but I dont like the belted cases and wouldn't mind something new.

[Fiftydriver]

7mm Dakota would be your best bet but you may run into some feeding issues with the old Ruger. In most cases I have seen the Ruger bolt face was large enough for the Dakota case. I have a personal Ruger M77 MkII that I rebarreled to my 6.5mm Allen Xpress. The conversion worked very well and feeds pretty darn good but at times that is not the case.

That rifle by the way was a 7mm Rem Mag as well and the 6.5mm AX is based on the 300 Dakota case so it would be similiar to the conversion in your situation.

I would stay away from the WSM or SAUMs simply because they generally will give you feeding problems and you would actually be taking a step down in performance to your 7mm Rem Mag.

Just my opinion. For my money it would be the 7mm Dakota or any other chambering on that case length. Dakota is not having their larger brass made by Hornady and its much better then the older brass.

[MontanaRifleman]

Thanks for the input Kirby. The Dakota has some good looking ballistics with velocities 200 fps plus better than the Rem Mag and the case length appears to be the same. I think it looks like a great solution.