Stuborn Ruger M77

[diderr]

I got a new m77 300 win mag a couple of months ago, and am having a hell of a time getting it to shoot consistently accurate. Some days its hot some-days its not. I was thinking of glass bedding and freefloating it, but have heard Rugers sometimes don't respond well to either. Is this generally true or a "myth"? Or should I just work on my load more?

Thanks.

 

[J E Custom]

I got a new m77 300 win mag a couple of months ago, and am having a hell of a time getting it to shoot consistently accurate. Some days its hot some-days its not. I was thinking of glass bedding and freefloating it, but have heard Rugers sometimes don't respond well to either. Is this generally true or a "myth"? Or should I just work on my load more?

Thanks.

It is generally the norm for them to eather shoot or not.

There are a couple of gunsmith's on this site that seem to have the M77 figured out. Maybe
they will chime in and make suggestions.

If they dont want to give there secrets away maybe they will PM you.

I have mixed results with the angled recoil lug and action screw, so I would not be much help.

But, Any bedding should help and if you get lucky It may shoot very well.

J E CUSTOM

 

[chucknbach]

I had the pleasure of trying to get one to shoot last year. My daughters .243 in a compact.
It was shooting 3" to 4" with factory ammo and not much better loading for it.
I finally got fed up with it. Glass/pillar bedded, free floated with a Timney trigger. I also went a complete opposite direction with the load development so I can't say for sure what did it but it shoots tiny little groups now.

I've swore off Rugers as that was my second Ruger that wouldn't shoot. Good luck with it!

 

[Gunpoor]

I have had a few M77 rifles and have always free-floated the barrel with good improvement, but I always free-float every turn bolt rifle. I have read and heard of the stock pressure point being necessary for accurizing a rifle but I have never found it to work in any of my rifles. YMMV

 

[Hired Gun]

We recently accurized a 2 MOA Ruger all weather in 7 Mag and the gun is now an honest 1/2 MOA shooter. We took him varmint hunting and he was near 100% on digger sqirrels to 350 yards with 140 grain Ballistic Tips.

If it's a wood stock, free float the barrel and bed the lug. Nothing under the barrel anywhere. Plastic stock, leave it alone. Just be sure to tighten the front screw first to about 60 inch pounds. Rear screw about 40 inch pounds and the center screw no more than 1/4 turn down from first contact. A fresh 11 degree target crown, crisp 2 pound trigger and a muzzle brake sure didn't hurt anything. Lap the lower rings to 90% or better contact and use a good quality scope. He is one happy camper. Several people have fired this rifle and 1/2 MOA or better is now the norm.

 

[DDT]

I have a 20 year old M77 MARK II and 17 years ago I had a good friend bed and float it in the factory wood and with factory or reloads it shoots sub moa and have shoot 1/2 moa on good days{that loose NUT behind the trigger}. I would sure give it a try. Good luck and let us Know how it goes.

 

[diderr]

I have a 20 year old M77 MARK II and 17 years ago I had a good friend bed and float it in the factory wood and with factory or reloads it shoots sub moa and have shoot 1/2 moa on good days{that loose NUT behind the trigger}. I would sure give it a try. Good luck and let us Know how it goes.

I shimmed my barrel with wax paper. I'm going to try that before I free float and bed. The inletting job on this ruger is terrible. It looks like it was done with a dremel. I've bedded my 700, but this looks a little more tricky to do with that angled screw.

 

[benchracer]

You can order a Ruger specific pillar and the piloted cutter to install the pillar from Brownell's. I did that and used them to perform a bedding job on my Ruger build in 6.5-284.

The bedding job itself is not that difficult. The trick to the entire operation is properly drilling the stock for the pillar, which is best accomplished using a drill press and the piloted cutter that I mentioned.

I have had excellent results with my rifle. The bedding has proven to be very stable. I have gotten nice round groups with the majority of my test loads during load development.

If you properly pillar bed the action, free float the barrel, and pay attention to the action screw torque as previously mentioned I would expect you to see improvement.

The next step is the trigger. If all of that doesn't help, I would think you need to get rid of the factory barrel.

 

[diderr]

You can order a Ruger specific pillar and the piloted cutter to install the pillar from Brownell's. I did that and used them to perform a bedding job on my Ruger build in 6.5-284.

The bedding job itself is not that difficult. The trick to the entire operation is properly drilling the stock for the pillar, which is best accomplished using a drill press and the piloted cutter that I mentioned.

I have had excellent results with my rifle. The bedding has proven to be very stable. I have gotten nice round groups with the majority of my test loads during load development.

If you properly pillar bed the action, free float the barrel, and pay attention to the action screw torque as previously mentioned I would expect you to see improvement.

The next step is the trigger. If all of that doesn't help, I would think you need to get rid of the factory barrel.

I gave rebarreling a though. I would like a little heavier contour anyway. The trigger in this isn't bad at all. Probably the best trigger in any Ruger gun I own. It sits at about 3 pounds with no creep and minimal over travel.