Ruger m77 338 win mag

[raven1776]

I have started reloading hornady 225g SST bullets. I checked for overall case length, and the bullets fit the chamber and shoot great but, the bullets do not fit in the mag well. They are too long. Basically, if i choose to stick with these bullets, my rifle will be a single shot.
Has anybody seen this before? If so, is there a way to fix it? These are the first loads I have worked up and I am afraid that no matter which bullets I choose, they will be to long.
Thanks for the help.

 

[rscott5028]

I don't know about mag well conversions to inclrease COAL for your rifle. There are some conversions for Rem 700's and Win M70. e.g. Wyatt's Outdoor Custom Rifles - Magazine Boxes

I've seen where Jim See (Coyboy in these forums) at installs them.

As for seating depth, I have seen a few situations where a bullet may shoot well at different seating depths. I'm not familiar with your bullets. But, Berger published a paper relative to theirs and I've had similar discussions with Swift about Scirroccos. (The latter was of no help because my twist was too slow.)

If you don't want to change bullets, you may want to try shooting some groups at .040", .080" and .120" jump to see if you can find another accuracy node. Then, you could fine tune the seating depth and powder charge iteratively by changing only one thing at a time.

-- richard

 

[rscott5028]

This may or may not work for you...
Berger Tips for Loading VLD Bullets « Daily Bulletin

 

[benchracer]

Ruger 77 LA rifles tend to have fairly short magazines. They have just enough room to seat your bullets to about 3.340" which is the SAAMI spec for 30-06 length cartridges such as your .338WM. Your best bet would be to seat your SST's to this length and see how they shoot. If they don't meet your expectations, you can either experiment with seating them more deeply or try another bullet. Since the SST has a tangent ogive, it should not be as sensitive to seating depth.

There are also some pretty experienced LR shooters on this forum who advocate shooting hot loads with 185gr Barnes TTSX bullets in .338WM. Use of these bullets could be another avenue to explore by way of solving your COAL problem.

 

[FEENIX]

I too have a Ruger M77 MKII in .338WM.

Below is a factory Hornady .225gr SST.

Below is my hand load - .225gr NAB

I had the COAL longer but it intermittently hangs up, <3.40" seems to be the max without any problem. I stopped at 73.5gr H4831SC and CCI250 and it's grouping <1/2 MOA @ 100 yards.

Good luck!

Ed

 

[raven1776]

Thank you all! For my rifle, coal is at 3.487. I have set them back to 3.473 seating depth. It seems to me that if I set it back to 3.340 or shorter, that is a heck of a jump, isn't it?
Again thank you all For your help. I will do some testing when it warms up and let you know how it works out.

 

[FEENIX]

Thank you all! For my rifle, coal is at 3.487. I have set them back to 3.473 seating depth. It seems to me that if I set it back to 3.340 or shorter, that is a heck of a jump, isn't it?
Again thank you all For your help. I will do some testing when it warms up and let you know how it works out.

I started my COAL similar to yours but had to take down to 3.40" until it cycles/feed properly.

 

[Long Dog]

Does anyone know a way to open up the magazine length in the Ruger M77 MkII? Looking at it, seems you could gain a 1/10" by removing the metal box and grinding down the ramp to match the new magazine length. What do you all think?

 

[FEENIX]

Does anyone know a way to open up the magazine length in the Ruger M77 MkII? Looking at it, seems you could gain a 1/10" by removing the metal box and grinding down the ramp to match the new magazine length. What do you all think?

You might want to consider posting your question separately from the OP.lightbulb

 

[MTBULLET]

for what it's worth, I found the SST to be to fragile in the .338 for elk and large mulies at anything less than 45o yds. they leave an entrance wound you can drive a truck thru. sad, because they were VERY accurate in my .338's , and work fine at longer range. I returned to accubond in one rifle and the old tried and true spire (225's) in the other. The spire pt is allmost as accurate, and more dependable on elk at all ranges.

 

[MontanaRifleman]

The way I have gotten around COAL's that are longer than the mag box is to just put one round down. The top round in the well is above the mag box wall. Basically a two shot repeater. that being said, I have never benefited from a third or fourth shot on a big game animal and I have only benefitted once by a second shot. That was while antelope hunting and i got one with the first shot and dropped the second on the run with the second shot. All my kills have been one shot kills and all my misses have been complete misses and anytime I tried rapid follow up shots, they were misses also.

If your bullet shoots just as well with a COAL that fits the Mag, then use it. My priority is accuracy and I'll take the two shot solution if it means better accuracy.

-Mark

 

[Hired Gun]

Consider these facts.
My most accurate load from my 257Wby Accumark is a 75 grain V-Max going 3950 fps. It is jumping no less than .450" before it engages the rifling. This is with just 1/8" of the bullet in the brass. It shoots 1/4 MOA like no ones business.

My 7000+ round count 26 year old Ruger M77V in 22-250 hasn't been anywhere near the rifling in years. I seat them to feed from the mag. With 50 grain SPSX's clocking 3750fps it shoots 1/4 to 3/8 MOA 10 shot groups. A few yars ago the last time I measured, it is jumping about .150" I just scoped the throat on that barrel and besides being still really smooth it doesn't look like it's seen more than a few hundred rounds.

I scoped a 1200 round 300 Win Mag tactical rifle the other day and it had over an inch of dry lake bed for a throat. It has had a couple cops being mean to that one. The owner says it will still put 210 Berger match bullets into a 3/4" group at 300 yards.

I say seat them to feed and see what happens.