Old Ruger M 77 MK II

ash1055

Active Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2009
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44
Location
Oregon
Well I pulled out my 10 year old safe queen the other day. Has the old boat paddle stock and stainless barrel.
Cold bore shots had always been accurate MOA. However the second or 3rd shots would always pull way up to the left.
Then about a year ago I got on LRH and other firearm sites and read about floating the barrel. My shooting buddy John got his dremel out, chiseled away some of the foreend of the stock touching the barrel. Voila I have a floater (Not the brown kind either).
I took it out to national forest and thought for my first test I would crank 15 rounds through the tube to see if there were any big flyers. At 200 yards, not a great distance per LRH standards) All my shots Thanks for letting me vent my joy and exultation here. It really showed me personally what floating that barrel will do for even a stock Ruger barrel.

Rob

Sometimes poster,more frequent reader of LRH.:D
 
I 've also got an old Ruger 77 MkII it is/was a 220 Swift. I worked up some loads and the best I could get was 1" at 100 yds.........not good enough. I then had it Floated, and Glass Bedded the action too.

Those two things alone cut group size to 1/3 of what it was!! Suddenly, it was shooting 5 at 100 that were ALWAYS under 1/2" (some in the 2's and 3's) and 3 shot groups at 300 were often times around 1" center to center..............all because of bedding and floating!! I too was very very happy!

That was about 15 years ago, now, approx 5000 rounds later; it's got the barrel shot out of it and I am in the process of having it redone in 6 X 47 Lapua Improved. Hopefully it will show the same or better precision that it had in it's prime.
 
To tell the truth, I don't remember what brand of barrel the smith was going to use. Started with a "B" I hadn't heard of them before. He said that they are just as good as Hart/Lilja/Broughton/Lawton, and they could get one to him in way less time.?.? He said that if I am not happy with it, we can send it back for a replacement too.?

Hopefully it is as good or better than what I originally had. The original factory barrel lasted for a long long time, was very accurate, and shot just as good when it was dirty or hot as it did cool and clean!! In fact, the rifle was featured in a Precision Shooting magazine article in the mid 90's called the "Magnificent Swift". Most of the rounds had been fired through it by that time. Shortly after writing the article, I semi-retired her and started using some other rifles more often.

We looked through the BoreScope at it.........Rifling was totally gone for the first 1" to 1 1/2". Heat cracking extended approx 8" past there. The poor old girl was still shooting MOA to 1 1/2" on average, even with all that!
 
Mine and my wife's(m77 mk ii 7mm rem mag, and my wife's m77 243) shoot sub moa after floating the barrels. thinking on trigger work now. Ruger has a heavy pull. VERY dependable gunsgun)
 
I love mine too Dropped a bighorned shep @ 200 yards with it. It's a tough gun. I like the safety on it better than the rem 700. The two stage is nice.
It is a definite shooter.
I guess I will be floating my barrel as well.
Rob
 
Trigger Work definately helps with the accuracy!!

Forgot to mention that mine had trigger work done to it before I bought it 2nd hand. Don't know who did the work, but it breaks like glass at 16 oz...........After shooting so many rounds with such a light/crisp trigger, I'll never buy a bolt action rifle that can't be fitted with an exceptional trigger.
 
Ash1055

Sounds like your gun is a little newer than mine.?

Gunsmith said mine was made in 1973. Safety is on the Tang, directly behind and under the bolt. Trigger is single stage.

Does yours have the three position safety on the side of the bolt/action? Adjustable two stage trigger?
 
Mine I think is 1998-99. Single stage trigger. It does have the safety as you described. It's stainless with a synthetic stock.
Soon as I can get back up to the mountain I'll put in a 500 yd range report.
Rob
 
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