257

[brotherbear67]

I've got an older M77 257 Roberts that shot horribly. Figured out it was a long throated sumbuck and started seating bullets out. Way out. 3.06 oal with Sierra 110 TGK and 43gr of H4350 and voila! Under an inch at 100. My gun also hates the 100gr Partitions, hope to try the 120s when they become available again.

 

[Flintlock]

I had a .257 Roberts for years. It had a 1-10 twist and shot fantastic groups with 100 and 120 grain bullets. My best load with 120 grain was using the Nosler partition, 120 grain, IMR4831 powder with 40 grains. For some reason I had to mess with the OAL a little and it was partial to less jump on the bullets to the riflings. My barrel was 24" and grain right around 2750 fps. It was not a speed demon and I could use up to 42 grn. but didn't seem to gain much for a little more powder. Killed whitetail and antelope very well. It was hard on coyotes, mainly the pelts.
It was a Remington with Douglas light weight barrel. The barrel was floated from the lug to the end of the forend. No bedding. Trigger as a cleaned up factory.
Good luck with your rifle.
Mike

 

[Gibbshooter43]

AZShooter had a great list to review. I would add one more that grew out of my experience with a custom 220 Swift that I bought which I could not get to shoot a group. After trying many "fixes", I discovered that one of the scope base screws was just a touch too long and was touching the bolt. A brief contact with some abrasive element on the end of the screw and reassembly and MOA was the result.

 

[nealm66]

Will be interesting to find out the final cure. I found the hammer hunter bullet was a quick fix for my brothers tikka ultra light whatever the hell it's called 300wsm that I thought was just being hard to control the recoil and a less than desirable trigger. Nope. Just harmonics.

 

[Siggy32]

Cheap easy try or fix maybe. Take a silicone bracelet, those rubber WWJD type & put it between stock & barrel about 2-3 inch back from end of the stock, Tighten action back in & shoot it. IT gives you upward pressure & dampens harmonics of thin barrel. If it works to calm it down can move the piece forward or back to tune. Once your happy cut the sides at level of stock with exacto knife your good to go.

 

[rob257]

Great idea. I was going to use paper. I will check everything and reclean barrel. I will use the bracelet and try the hammer bullet

 

[emp1953]

Just my two cents here. I have a Rem Model Seven in .243win that I could not get to shoot a group with any bullet I had. Put my problems on this forum and someone said to take any of my bullets, load with 35gr of IMR4350 and I would see a dramatic improvement. I did see a dramatic difference. That same load with 5 different mfg 100gr bullets gave me half dollar to dime sized groups consistently at 100 yds. The powder made all the difference. Tweeking the powder and seating depth improved groups even more. Thanks to the advice of a group member here I didn't get rid of a perfectly good rifle.

 

[Zen Archery]

I've got Absolute Hammer 90gr zipping 2975 out of a custom AR platform. You should easily get that bad boy in the 3K's.
Break rifle down and see what's going on with it. 2021 ain't a year to be wasting shooting components!

 

[rob257]

Agreed. Custom cartridge reloading is loading it to 3375 in a plus v load. Hope I can get close to 3250.

This site is awesome. So much knowledge!!!!! I will try all tips and then try some loading

 

[rob257]

You guys are the best

 

[freddiej]

I am not a ruger fan but I know the Ruger 77 well enough to say that they can shoot once they are diagnosed correctly.
the first thing is to remove the wood, look for black marks of rubbing. If found sand away the black and put the wood back on. tighten the wood down and run a 3X5 card between the barrel and the stock. if you find tight places then it's time to sand those areas. if youw ant to go as far as to bed the stock to the action then start sanding the whole barrel area and some of the side areas of the receiver. tape the places on the stock and the reciever you do not want to touch, and leave the places you want to touch without tape (0.010" pipe insulating tape works best for me). Tape up your stock so your finish does not get all messed up. put down a box under the action so it catches the dripping bedding compound. then mix up your bedding compound, spray down your screws, pour the bedding compound where you want it, and press the barreled action into the stock and insert all your screws as guides, then use surgical tubing hosed down with release agent and wrap that bad boy up. wait 36 to 72 hours and then take everything apart and you will either have had success or it will be better than it used to be.
I have yet to have more than one or two successes on bedding ruger 77's per year.
most of the rugers I bed come out acceptable, 0.003" to 0.002" from being perfect.
The ruger is the hardest to bed action I know.

 

[RAGGED EDGE]

I hope your gun is not one of the early red pad UL's. A hunting buddy of mine had one like yours, and we tried about everything we could think of to try and make it shoot. Never got what we considered an acceptable group (5 shots @ 100). Best we ever got was right at 2". That was with a 75-grain bullet he wouldn't hunt deer with anyway. Good luck.

 

[Siggy32]

The only other thing I can add is my .257 Weatherby Mag doesn't like boat tail bullets. She was a finicky b**ch to get to shoot a tight group with. She only likes flat base bullets. IF everything you have tried are boat tails try a flat base & see if it makes a difference. Mine likes the Barnes TSX 115 gr. flat base (they make boats also) Best of luck to you.

 

[rob257]

Yep. Early 80s and think it was a red pad