Ruger 77 Rebarrel Help

[Shane Lindsey]

A ruger LA has a useable mag box of about 3.400", so a 300 wm with any kind of heavy high bc projectile would not be good to go in a ruger without modification. A 215 seated appropriately in a 300 wm will be around 3.680" or close to that, if I recall correctly. To seat them to fit in a ruger mag, the bearing surface of the 215 is below the neck.

Mine loaded at 3.335 to feed from the factory box with the 215 and H1000 at 2686 fps start gets me to 800 yards with 1796 fps/1541 ft lbs/4.2 MOA drift in 10 mph wind. That is at sea level. Same rifle/ bullet loaded long at start is 2826 fps start at 900 yards is 1803 fps/1553 ft lbs/4.5 MOA drift. They don't look as sexy as when loaded long. This bullet is truly da bomb!!!

So it really isn't as limited as I thought and if I jump one in the woods I have them in the box for quickly cycling into the chamber.

My vote is 300 WinMag or go with your already chambered 7RM if you have the components, dies, etc.

I would have kept this one but... my 17 year old shoots it better than me and he really loves it. So I bought an ultra mag!!!

 

[Tiny Tim]

Ultimately it's the mag box issue. Like the sound of the 300 win mag more and more. Wasn't sure about accuracy with alot of jump to the lands. My 7mm RM shot extremely well even toward the end with over .130 jump with 160 AB. While the 215 may handle it, what about a vld for future use out west. 300 wm will also depend on whether I obtain one from a friend who doesn't like the recoil.

 

[Dean2]

Ultimately it's the mag box issue. Like the sound of the 300 win mag more and more. Wasn't sure about accuracy with alot of jump to the lands. My 7mm RM shot extremely well even toward the end with over .130 jump with 160 AB. While the 215 may handle it, what about a vld for future use out west. 300 wm will also depend on whether I obtain one from a friend who doesn't like the recoil.

Realistically, making the Ruger into a top LR performer is going to be a lot of work and require changes I didn't think you wanted to make to the gun. Re-barrel it with a short throat, make sure you mark that on the barrel, shoot 180 grain or shorter bullets and you are easily good to 500 yards. You don't need to be shooting 200 grain plus bullets to kill game with a 7 Rem or 300 WM. If you go 338 WM you can shoot 250 grain and still have lots of mag room if the barrel is throated right. Honestly, for a hunting round a little jump has never been a bad thing. For sure don't want to shoot jammed in the lands for hunting, too much risk of sticking a bullet if you unload one. I have never had much trouble getting 1/2 MOA out of custom barrels even with a fair amount of jump and if you use Barnes TTSX they actually like at least .050 or more jump.

With all the options being suggested I think you are starting to talk yourself into a more difficult fix. If it were me, I would just re-barrel the Ruger as a mid-range hunting gun and buy a separate LR rig if that is what I was interested in playing with. All the best.

 

[Overkill338]

Personally I would redo it in 7 Rem Mag and sell off the newer one or do it up as a 338 Win or 375 Ruger if I wanted some variety. I am a little sentimental about the guns I have done a lot of hunting with so I rarely change the original layout much.

I don't like the short mags to start with because even with a lot of work I don't like the way they feed. Even factory guns originally designed for the SM cartridges don't feed near as good as the longer, straighter cartridges. There is a real good reason the 375 H&H, 7x57 and the like are built the way they are.

If I rebarreled one of my Rugers, I would change it into a 300 PRC. Since I was building the 30-375 Ruger wildcat years back, it would be cool to basically have it. A .338 campfire was a 33-375 Ruger, that would be a great option. It would be all over a 340 Roy.

 

[Alibiiv]

I think you really need to determine how much you want/willing to change. I kept this one simple and classy in the same chambering. New barrel/stock. It's not a "long range rifle", but at nine lbs, it will get it done.

View attachment 140666[/QUOTE

Don't want to hijack the thread, but............what is that stock on the pictured rifle, and....where did you pick it up??? It looks really nice, you wrote in your reply that the build was "new barrel/stock"

 

[Overkill338]

I think you really need to determine how much you want/willing to change. I kept this one simple and classy in the same chambering. New barrel/stock. It's not a "long range rifle", but at nine lbs, it will get it done.

View attachment 140666

GA Precision sells a LR Hunting rig that has a sporter barrel. I've learned they don't always need a bull barrel to shoot accurately. Just the bigger barrel will shoot accurately longer, through repeated firing.

By the way, that stock is gorgeous!

 

[Shane Lindsey]

Thanks.

GA Precision sells a LR Hunting rig that has a sporter barrel. I've learned they don't always need a bull barrel to shoot accurately. Just the bigger barrel will shoot accurately longer, through repeated firing.

By the way, that stock is gorgeous!

I have gotten rid of all the heavy ones. I'm liking the CF barrels now. Shoot like they are big, but carry like their small.

I'm DONE carrying heavy rifles!!!

 

[Overkill338]

Thanks.



I have gotten rid of all the heavy ones. I'm liking the CF barrels now. Shoot like they are big, but carry like their small.

I'm DONE carrying heavy rifles!!!

I wouldn't mind a Sendero profile barrel.