Ruger M77 Tang

[bomberodevil]

I've got a mid 70's Ruger M77 tang safety in 30.06, and with handloads, it shoots sub .400 moa. I've done work over the years, glass-bedded McMillan stock, Timney trigger, load development. It's one of my favorite hunting rifles, and the M77s are definitely capable of tight groups. Don't give up on it yet.

 

[MagnumManiac]

My one piece of advice with Rugers is to ALWAYS use pillars that match the 60° angle of the front screw/recoil lug and bed it tight, no wiggle room is required.
I do all Ruger M77's this way, tang and MKII's in wood stocks.
Most rifles I work on, unknown to the owner until shown, are split between the mag well cutout and trigger cutout, it is very common on Ruger stocks. This is repaired first before pillars or action bedding is performed.

Bedding this way with the barrel free floating, or the Knox form bedded as well, has always IMPROVED accuracy in the rifles I have done. I have done a few dozen over the years, and behind the tang needs to be free of ANY bedding, there must be a gap, or it will act like a wedge upon firing and will crack the stock eventually.

Cheers.

 

[nksmfamjp]

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.

"Aluminum block" strikes me that he doesn't know Ruger's. Rugers can be pillar bedded. The pillars are under $15 and made for the gun specifically.

I would be anxious about putting $150 in a tang safety Ruger. Good rifles, but I think I would have to take a more wholistic approach to be sure it shoots. Pillar bedding is never a bad thing, but a Ruger factory barrels are famous for needing a pressure point in the forearm and I'm not hearing that mentioned.

So, then you are looking at $500 for a new barrel....plus $150-$250, if it needs trued. As you can see that is starting to add up.

In the end, that would be a great rifle, but $900 into a new Winchester 70, Ruger Hawkeye, Bergara, Savage 110 laminate, etc would be a pretty good rifle.

I would call Dennis Olson 406-826-3790 for a second opinion....He is said to know Rugers.

Though the smith that floated the barrel said he would only pillar bed the action. I'm thinking if im going to have it done I'd be best to have someone glass bed and pillar bed it at the same time?

Typically the phrase means add pillars and epoxy bedding. The only question I would have is does this guy do the lug only or a full bedding at the front, rear, lug and I even like to see the full shank bedded.

The trigger is at 3.5 lbs. I think that's decent for a hunting rifle.

i agree. A crisp 3.5lb trigger feels pretty good.

 

[L.Sherm]

"Aluminum block" strikes me that he doesn't know Ruger's. Rugers can be pillar bedded. The pillars are under $15 and made for the gun specifically.

I would be anxious about putting $150 in a tang safety Ruger. Good rifles, but I think I would have to take a more wholistic approach to be sure it shoots. Pillar bedding is never a bad thing, but a Ruger factory barrels are famous for needing a pressure point in the forearm and I'm not hearing that mentioned.

So, then you are looking at $500 for a new barrel....plus $150-$250, if it needs trued. As you can see that is starting to add up.

In the end, that would be a great rifle, but $900 into a new Winchester 70, Ruger Hawkeye, Bergara, Savage 110 laminate, etc would be a pretty good rifle.

I would call Dennis Olson 406-826-3790 for a second opinion....He is said to know Rugers.



Typically the phrase means add pillars and epoxy bedding. The only question I would have is does this guy do the lug only or a full bedding at the front, rear, lug and I even like to see the full shank bedded.



i agree. A crisp 3.5lb trigger feels pretty good.

I was hoping he meant pillars, when he said Aluminum block.

 

[hugetacticles]

I was hoping he meant pillars, when he said Aluminum block.

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

 

[AZShooter]

I have three tang safety Rugers.

Something that has not been mentioned is that the front action screw goes into a blind hole. It is possible that the action screw will bottom out before the action is tight in the stock. This is especially prevalent with rifles that have been bedded. Some bedding material can end up in the blind hole. Inspect and remove material or if necessary shorten action screw to prevent this problem.

You didn't mention it but you probably are using Ruger rings. It is possible that rings can be installed improperly. Careful inspection of the way the scope ring fits with the integral base cutouts is critical. I know it sounds crazy but it is possible to misalign them.

Not a bad idea to lap the rings



I copied and pasted some other things worth mentioning from my documents files:


Poor crown, optimal way is to check with bore scope

Action screw holes in stock too small, drill larger so sides of action screws won't touch stock

Bolt handle touching stock

Mag box must not bind

Trigger group must not touch stock

Trigger guard must not touch trigger

Action screws properly torqued

Barrel having adequate clearance where it is supposed to be floated. Some stock flex especially when using a bi-pod can have barrel touching when fired.

Clean bore

Hope you get it shooting.

 

[hugetacticles]

"Aluminum block" strikes me that he doesn't know Ruger's. Rugers can be pillar bedded. The pillars are under $15 and made for the gun specifically.

I would be anxious about putting $150 in a tang safety Ruger. Good rifles, but I think I would have to take a more wholistic approach to be sure it shoots. Pillar bedding is never a bad thing, but a Ruger factory barrels are famous for needing a pressure point in the forearm and I'm not hearing that mentioned.

So, then you are looking at $500 for a new barrel....plus $150-$250, if it needs trued. As you can see that is starting to add up.

In the end, that would be a great rifle, but $900 into a new Winchester 70, Ruger Hawkeye, Bergara, Savage 110 laminate, etc would be a pretty good rifle.

I would call Dennis Olson 406-826-3790 for a second opinion....He is said to know Rugers.



Typically the phrase means add pillars and epoxy bedding. The only question I would have is does this guy do the lug only or a full bedding at the front, rear, lug and I even like to see the full shank bedded.



i agree. A crisp 3.5lb trigger feels pretty good.

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.

 

[Backcountry sports]

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 changed the stock to a hs precision got it down to 1 inch then I sold it

 

[KCramer]

My Ruger 77 in 35 Whelen and 220 swift are both sub moa with handloads. Maybe I got lucky

 

[seattleman1969]

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 had one of the same in .270 Win back in the early 90's. I tried everything I could, short of rebarrelling, to get it to shoot and it just refused. I finally got it to shoot by reloading and finding the correct seating depth, after which it would shoot 130Gr Nosler BTs under 3/4 inch. Just my experience, they are good rifles but take some work.

 

[Gibbshooter43]

Not necessarily just luck KCramer. I have 5 77's that all shoot 1 or under. Just picked up another in 257 Roberts that does cloverleafs at 100 when I do my part. And although used, i doubt that it's had 100 rounds thru the tube. Nice!

 

[amadjuster]

If it's old enough to be a flat bolt, they were known for having bad barrels.

 

[Stan Malinky]

I had the same problem. Do not waste any more money on trying fix it until you Inspect the barrel or have it inspected. I gave mine away.

Any body here know if it is worth re-barreling?

 

[wkdwdg66]

Once it is free-floated, torque the front screw to 40 in/lbs, rear screw to 25 in/lbs and middle screw to 5in/lbs (just enough resistance it doesn't fall out...virtually no torque.) Go shoot. If 1" or better, call it good. If accuracy poor, increase front screw torque to 45 in/lb. Try again. Still no good? Go 50 in/lbs on front. Stop at 60 in/lbs (it won't get better beyond that.) Go to rear screw and increase to 30 in/lbs. Then 35. Then 40. Don't go beyond 40. At some point you should find the sweet spot. Write those numbers down and save it for future reference.

If still not getting results, recut crown.

Still no good? Try Tubbs FinalFinish ammo

Save glass bedding for last. It is a tricky pain in the heinie on the Ruger 77s, but do-able. Just not an ideal 'first gun, practice bedding' project.

I love the tang safety Rugers. It should shoot 1moa or better. Usually just a matter of getting action screw torque right. But on any USED gun that won't shoot, you have to suspect the crown has been dinged up at some point.

Boring as it is, some accuracy issues are as simple to fix as a very good cleaning to get all the old copper out of the barrel. Sweets 7.62 cleaner can help solve that. Good luck!

Also.....that middle screw needs to stay at minimum torque..... like you mentioned, just enough so it won't fall out. Over tighten the middle screw.....you get to buy a new trigger guard. Very brittle casting from Ruger. If you can find a steel one for cheap, get it.