Ruger M77 Tang

[freddiej]

hugetacticles
I can not speak for anyone else but I have found that Rugers of all vintages need to be rebarreled. I have given up on Ruggers all together these days. I have seen them blow up, blow the barrels off, kill the nut behind the trigger, I have lost a few good hunting partners because of Rugger M-77's. as a general rule the Rugger barrels are crappy. you are better off rebarreling the rifle, then lightly bedding the rifle in the stock, then it should shoot sub 1". If you have a good Receiver then you have a good rifle, you just have one of the 94 out of 100 with a crappy barrel.
you can try recrowing the barrel, J&B Bore Paste to get the carbon out or the copper out, scrub the barrel to bare metal and then bore scope it, if it is rough then hand lapping will help if you are willing to spend the time. if it does not have big pits in the bore then shoot three rounds if they do not group then rebarrel it with something that will shoot well for you. or you can dump the Rugger and get something worth the investment.

 

[Coldfinger]

I've got an elk hunt coming up in October, if covid doesn't get in the way. I've got a 1970's model Ruger M77 7mm rem mag tang safety that was passed down to me. I've shot 5 different boxes of ammo through from Barnes to Nosler, to Hornady. The best group I got was from the Barnes TSX 160 grain. It was a little under 2 inch group and it wasn't consistent. I'm having a smith float the barrel but he said he really only uses aluminum blocks for bedding and it would cost me $150 to do it. My question is this, if get the rifle back from the smith after floating and it's not shooting any better am I better off cutting my losses and putting the $150 into a different rifle? I've never bedded a rifle and I was thinking about attempting to glass bed it myself before going a different direction, but with no experience I'm wondering if I'll do more harm than good. I've been reading that tightening the lug and action in the correct sequence can do wonders for accuracy as well. I'll make sure and check it out once I get it back. I don't really need it to shoot 1/4 inch groups but getting down to a consistent 1-1.5 inch rifle would be nice. Anyone with experience with the Ruger M77 tangs have any words of wisdom they might impart on me?

I've got a 77 tang 257Roberts. Shot lights out with barrel floated, front lug and chamber bedded and trigger job. With handloads that is , never tried factory loads.

 

[tooth doc]

I've got an elk hunt coming up in October, if covid doesn't get in the way. I've got a 1970's model Ruger M77 7mm rem mag tang safety that was passed down to me. I've shot 5 different boxes of ammo through from Barnes to Nosler, to Hornady. The best group I got was from the Barnes TSX 160 grain. It was a little under 2 inch group and it wasn't consistent. I'm having a smith float the barrel but he said he really only uses aluminum blocks for bedding and it would cost me $150 to do it. My question is this, if get the rifle back from the smith after floating and it's not shooting any better am I better off cutting my losses and putting the $150 into a different rifle? I've never bedded a rifle and I was thinking about attempting to glass bed it myself before going a different direction, but with no experience I'm wondering if I'll do more harm than good. I've been reading that tightening the lug and action in the correct sequence can do wonders for accuracy as well. I'll make sure and check it out once I get it back. I don't really need it to shoot 1/4 inch groups but getting down to a consistent 1-1.5 inch rifle would be nice. Anyone with experience with the Ruger M77 tangs have any words of wisdom they might impart on me?

Do all that u have mentioned and if not happy the rebarrel with a really good barrel. I believe tje bar none the best out there are benchmark. There they give in handlapping and consisent quality contro measures are paying huge dividends in terms of accuracy and ease of cleaning! I personally love the tang safety rugers, if u give up i would love to own your rifel. Give me a chance if that is the case. Good luck!

 

[jdyoung]

He probably did. I'm pretty uneducated when it comes to this. I'm guessing I misunderstood him.

Is there some reason why you can't ask him what he meant by aluminum block ?

So your smith floated the barrel , you shot it, find no group difference, and then you find the action screws are loose. Were the screws tightened properly after the barrel was floated ?

 

[Shane Lindsey]

By bolt appears to be good, not touching the wood stock. My mag box may be an issue, how does one know if it's binding? Also, how do you fix it if it is binding?

-When you put the action back into the stock.
-Insert the middle/front trigger guard screw into until it just gets snug.

Mine seems like it is just snug enough to stay in, but still makes me a little nervous. My mag box does not "float" like a Remington does.

Completely disagree with the statement that a Ruger cannot be made to shoot like a Remington. Mine has been one of the least finicky rifles I have ever owned. It has been re-barreled, re-stocked, sear in the trigger. If you truly love the rifle, it can be made to shoot. With mine, due to factory mag box length, I have found that the monos like to shoot best as they seem to like the jump in my experience. TTSX, LRX, Hammers, they all have shot really well. Even shoots the 215 Bergers well if I single load. In fact it shoots so well that it is no longer "mine" as my son has claimed it...

 

[Alibiiv]

I've got an elk hunt coming up in October, if covid doesn't get in the way. I've got a 1970's model Ruger M77 7mm rem mag tang safety that was passed down to me. I've shot 5 different boxes of ammo through from Barnes to Nosler, to Hornady. The best group I got was from the Barnes TSX 160 grain. It was a little under 2 inch group and it wasn't consistent. I'm having a smith float the barrel but he said he really only uses aluminum blocks for bedding and it would cost me $150 to do it. My question is this, if get the rifle back from the smith after floating and it's not shooting any better am I better off cutting my losses and putting the $150 into a different rifle? I've never bedded a rifle and I was thinking about attempting to glass bed it myself before going a different direction, but with no experience I'm wondering if I'll do more harm than good. I've been reading that tightening the lug and action in the correct sequence can do wonders for accuracy as well. I'll make sure and check it out once I get it back. I don't really need it to shoot 1/4 inch groups but getting down to a consistent 1-1.5 inch rifle would be nice. Anyone with experience with the Ruger M77 tangs have any words of wisdom they might impart on me?

I have a safe full of tang safety Ruger 77s. Unless your Ruger 77 has been shot to death, it, "WILL shoot". The last Ruger77 that I bought off of GunBroker looked like it had been dragged behind a truck! The first thing that I would do it to glass bed and float the barrel; float the barrel from 4 inches in front of the recoil lug. I use two layers of Brownells .010 thousandths pipe tape. Pillar bed the rear screw, don't really bother with the front lug because the pillar really isn't that long and almost not worth doing. The front receiver screw gets torqued between 60-65 inch pounds, the rear receiver screw gets 25 inch pounds and the center screw (just behind the magazine box) gets tightened finger-tight, just enough pressure to prevent the screw from turning back out. Also I would be checking your scope out as well as make sure that your scope rings are torqued properly; 30 inch pounds on the base and 25 inch pounds on the rings. I have a 35 Whelen, when the groups open up, usually it is because the scope rings have loosened up. Do you have a round top or do you have the integral scope base? There's a really good gunsmith in Montana who likes working on Ruger 77s, have used him to build a couple of rifles for me, and do some bluing and gunsmith work. His work is impeccable and meticulous, prices are reasonable and turn around is two to three months because that is how long it takes to get a barrel from Lilja. I strongly suggest that you don't give up on this rifle right away. If you can get the work done on your rifle that I have suggested, it will shoot sub-MOA.

 

[hugetacticles]

Upon further inspection it appears as though some of the acriglass that was used to seal things back up while floating the barrel dripped into the part in the stock that the action sits on. Also, I can get a dollar bill under the barrel but just barely in the front. As it gets closer to the action it frees up quite a bit, may have to refloat the barrel. I'm thinking I'm going to have to have it bedded. Is it fruitless to glass bed it without pillar bedding? I wish this wasn't my first try at this, id love to be able to do this myself.

 

[jdyoung]

Upon further inspection it appears as though some of the acriglass that was used in floating the barrel dripped into the part in the stock that the action sits on. Also, I can get a dollar bill under the barrel but just barely in the front. As it gets closer to the action it frees up quite a bit. I'm thinking I'm going to have to have it bedded. Is it fruitless to glass bed it without pillar bedding? I wish this wasn't my first try at this, id love to be able to do this myself.

WHO did the glass work ?

 

[Jack C Patterson]

Clean the crap out of the barrel and have your Smith borescope the barrel to see the condition of it may not be worth it. I love the old tang safty Rugers. My 6.5x300wsm is built off of one its pillar bedded and shoots awesome dont know what he means by aluminum block. If you like the rifle and the barrels in bad shape I wouldnt hesitate to rebarrel then bed.

Yup clean the crap out of it, then take to the range and try it before you sink any money in it. Nice rifle by the way.

 

[DSheetz]

It isn't fruitless to bed it with out pillars . The pillars just help you make the action solid with the stock and not compress the stock so that you can keep the action screws torqued to the same torque .

 

[hugetacticles]

Is there some reason why you can't ask him what he meant by aluminum block ?

So your smith floated the barrel , you shot it, find no group difference, and then you find the action screws are loose. Were the screws tightened properly after the barrel was floated ?

Smith floated it, I shot it and it actually got much worse. I just checked the screws this morning and they were not tight at all. Here is a pic of the acriglass that dropped. Will this be something that affects how the action is seated?

 

[nksmfamjp]

I'll probably give Dennis a call. Is he a working man? I don't want to bother him during the day if he's a busy guy.

Works on guns exclusively, I believe.

 

[amadjuster]

Forgive my ignorance but how do I know if it's a flat bolt?

This is what the flat bolt looks like.

 

[DSheetz]

That amount of acriglass shouldn't interfere with it . But it wouldn't take much to clean it off if you have a small wood chisel or such .