I have a Ruger M77 MKII in 270 win and am thinking about turning it into a custom gun. I want it to be light enough to carry yet heavy enough to be accurate out to 700-800 yards. I'm thinking of turning it into a 7mm rem mag and keeping it about 9 pounds without a scope. A 24" barrel with a muzzle break and 1:9 twist. I am also a fairly poor college kid that doesn't want to spend a ton of money on this build. I realize that I'll be putting in at least $700 with the barrel, stock and trigger an then another $700-1000 on the scope to get close to the accuracy I'm looking for. I am wondering if it is worth the time and money to rebuild a Ruger or if I should just get rid of it and try to pick up something new like a Savage Long Range Hunter. I have a couple other Savages I really like with the accu-trigger and everything but if I'm going to do something custom it wouldn't bother me to stick with Ruger if it will be just as accurate.
Ruget M77 build vs Savage LRH
- Thread starter Savagekid
- Start date
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Joe King
Well-Known Member
One option you can do is 280 ackley (, I built one for a good friend of mine while he was in Iraq. Very surprising caliber, it really doesn't give up much to the 7mag which is what I shoot. Plus it'll save you the extra cost of going to a bigger bolt face.
Savagekid,
Welcome to LRH and enjoy! Lots of good folks here that are always willing and able to lend a hand.
Excellent advise from Joe King (hi there neighbor). A friend had his Ruger M77 MKII in .280 accurized and AI'd by WPA in UT. I developed a load for him and was shooting well within 1 MOA at 300 yards ... didn't get a chance to stretch it further because he went overseas. He was very pleased with it though.
If I were you, since you're going to re-barrel it and seems like this is not going to be your last project, you can stay with the .270 Win or go AI. Get the right barrel twist and take advantage of the 165gr (1:9) and 175 gr (1:8) Matrix VLDs and soon to be available Berger VLD (IIRC, it's going to be 170gr ??? but I'm not sure). You might also want to consider to true/blueprint the action since you're going to re-barrel it. Not many gunsmith work on Ruger actions (IIRC, it has something to do with the truing tooling requirements). If you can find a gunsmith that is set for it, I think it is worth it, otherwise, one of those Savage actions will better serve you.
My gunsmith is putting together a .270 AI for me and will be sporting a 30'' Lilja barrel, 1:8 twist, 3-grove, and #6 contour (.750" at the muzzle) to take advantage primarily of the 175gr Matrix VLD bullets.
Check out this awesome article ... 270 Win For Long Range Shooting
Good luck in your project and studies!
Ed
Welcome to LRH and enjoy! Lots of good folks here that are always willing and able to lend a hand.
Excellent advise from Joe King (hi there neighbor
). A friend had his Ruger M77 MKII in .280 accurized and AI'd by WPA in UT. I developed a load for him and was shooting well within 1 MOA at 300 yards ... didn't get a chance to stretch it further because he went overseas. He was very pleased with it though.If I were you, since you're going to re-barrel it and seems like this is not going to be your last project, you can stay with the .270 Win or go AI. Get the right barrel twist and take advantage of the 165gr (1:9) and 175 gr (1:8) Matrix VLDs and soon to be available Berger VLD (IIRC, it's going to be 170gr ??? but I'm not sure). You might also want to consider to true/blueprint the action since you're going to re-barrel it. Not many gunsmith work on Ruger actions (IIRC, it has something to do with the truing tooling requirements). If you can find a gunsmith that is set for it, I think it is worth it, otherwise, one of those Savage actions will better serve you.
My gunsmith is putting together a .270 AI for me and will be sporting a 30'' Lilja barrel, 1:8 twist, 3-grove, and #6 contour (.750" at the muzzle) to take advantage primarily of the 175gr Matrix VLD bullets.
Check out this awesome article ... 270 Win For Long Range Shooting
Good luck in your project and studies!
Ed
