Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger woes

Well, I managed to sneak away for a little range time this morning.

3 shot groups went from, .652" to .676" to .787" a final 5 shot went .992". Obviously spreading with the heat.

The interesting thing, the first 2 shots of each group either touched or didn't exceed .248".

After the tweaking, the first shot was 5.5" low.

The ammo was Federal 140 gr sp.

I'm already a Cz rimfire convert, I gave all my other .22 rifles to grandsons and friends after the 1st one.

This was with the Ruger, I assume? If so, you want to get rid of it?

I just read all of the replies to the original question. I am currently trying to get a Ruger compact in .223 to shoot better than 3" groups. My action screws were terrible tight too. I floated the barrel, fixed the trigger, and ran many patches of JB down the tube to no avail.
I started going through many different boxes of ammo I have and found a true 1" with Winchester 50 gr. ballistic tips. Now will try reloading with Nosler 50 BTs. I agree,
one shouldn't have to do all of this to get MOA results.
I like Ruger, they have been good to me for decades, I just wish they were more consistant. For now I will stick to American made.

The Ruger, yes.

I will get my reloading equipment out of storage after the holidays and try a few loads. This one is throated so deep that every 140gr, or less is going to be .056" or more off the lands. I ordered a box of Hornaday 160gr rn. to try also. Those puppies are long!

I'll get it to shoot, without a barrel change, one way or the other. I had one in '06 that drove me nuts. I finally started cutting a 1/2" at a time from the barrel, it shot good at 19".

Took about 3 weeks, 10 hours in the machine shop and $100's in load components, to get .850" avg. rifle.

Westerner, try an adjustable barrel pressure point.
I did that on a 7mag.
Drill and install a nut in the forearm, use a long hex set screw and start putting pressure on the barrel.

It is more precise than playing with pressure pads.

I've had three or four Rugers and have yet to see one shoot a MOA out of the box.

I will qualify that by saying I've never bought one "in the box," but bougtht them all used. Maybe they shot better new, but I doubt it.

I agree with whoever said, the forend screw tension has been the key. The last one I had was shooting about 1.5" and I loosened the forarm screw 1/4 turn and it started shooting less than an inch. It was amazing.

Rugers are perfectly fine rifles but they're not target grade. At least that's been my experience, but like I said, I've only owned three M 77s....a 22-250, a 30-06, and a 7 x 57.

Make that four. I also own a 77T in PPC, and it's a bughole shooter. But I put another stock on it, which doiesn't have that foreend screw and is aluminum bedded and the barrel is floated all the way back. The stock that was on it was laminated. I can't say it shoots much better than with the laminated stock, because I didn't shoot many rounds with the laminated stock. I like to think it does, though, to justify spending the money on the replacement.

Overall,

I've had very many and all shot very nicely.

Bed,tweak trigger,load and rock on...................

Too many years ago to think about I made a true believer of the local range's emergency gun repair/range master when I watched him struggle to get a NIB 77 to group under 3"s ...and showed him that trick with the front screw. And just prove the point I re tightened it back to where it had been and once again it shot like poop on a stick. Some guns need a totally loose ie "no tension" setting and some need it pretty tight, but there has always for me anyway been a sweet spot on the front angled screw I could generally find in quarter turn increments....then you do all the rest of it with the bedding and trigger.
Interesting idea to pillar bed one though, I believe sumbody said that Brownells now sold pillars for 77's...dunno, ain't got one I need to fool with.
Ron

Amen to that! That is exactly why I have switched to Tikkas and hopefully Sako in the near future. Rather than do all this work on a Remsucks or Ruger why not get a Tikka and go shoot? Great triggers, the barrel is already floated, etc.
When will American manufacturers wake up? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif" alt="" />

Will happily put my Ti against any of the lot.

Prepare to come in a distant second..............

Every so often I weaken and think about buying a Ruger UL in .257. Then I come across a thread like this and am jerked back to reality. Thanks,guys. You've saved me half a grand. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Picked up a .257 UL MKII and a .260 tang with a Krieger barrel about six months ago. Paid $325 for the pair... both included rings, brass, dies, etc, and both to come in 3/4 MOA or less...

Maybe I got seriously [bleep], have no idea how badly, and should get my money back or sell them off to put a payment down on a Barfetta, uuhhh, I mean Tikka?

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

Full length neutral on the 257 UL and full float on the 260 seemed to work just fine... neither treatment cost me jackschitt.

Mat..,

Back in the days of the original chat room - me and the boys setting around a pot bellied stove - Ruger rifle accuracy was a hot topic of debate. The chat room has changed, but the same debate rages on.

I'm not aware of any other gun maker who has been the topic of so much controversy. It's this controversy that makes me leary
of buying a M77. You got a great deal, would'a done the same thing myself. Even at that, I notice one of your rifles has a custom barrel and it seems it took some playing with the bedding to get them to shoot.
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

The most accurate out of the box rifle I ever owned was a Ruger m77 mkII 25-06 would shoot sub 1/2 MOA all day long. I guess some people just like pipes over good square conrolled round feed actions.????

I hear ya, brother. I've owned 6 Ford trucks, and every one of them has been a worthless POS. I'm sure the next 3 or 4 I buy will be no better.

Seriously, if you don't like Rugers -- or Remingtons or Winchesters or Savages or whatever -- don't buy them. That will leave a few more available for those of us who find them to be quite satisfactory. Moreover, once we get it in our head that we don't like a particular brand, I'm not sure we don't go looking for ways to find fault with that brand. It becomes quite easy to let prejudice cloud our judgment.

As for Rugers, I've owned several and have generally found them to be just as reliable and just as accurate as any of the competiton in the "popular" price range. Some have needed a little more "tweaking" than others, but the same can be said about the Remingtons and Winchesters I've owned. I've never owned a Ruger, a Remington, or a Winchester that I considered to be the perfect rifle, but neither have I owned any of the three that I did not consider to be a good value for what I paid.

Is it that the screws are that tight, or is it the screw locking goo they're putting on them now? The last M77MKII I bought, I had to use a crescent wrench on the shank flats of the screwdriver to get the front screw out. A few weeks later, I had go the same route when I wanted to take the screw out again. That time I knew the screw hadn't been overtightened. After cleaning the stuff off the screws, I don't seem to have nearly the trouble.

Is it that the screws are that tight, or is it the screw locking goo they're putting on them now? The last M77MKII I bought, I had to use a crescent wrench on the shank flats of the screwdriver to get the front screw out. A few weeks later, I had go the same route when I wanted to take the screw out again. That time I knew the screw hadn't been overtightened. After cleaning the stuff off the screws, I don't seem to have nearly the trouble. [/quote]

Hmmm? Could be the goo. I haven't retried these screws since I loosened them the first time. Somebody did say that Ruger torques that front screw to 90 in.#'s. As I recall, the owner's manual says either snug or firm.

The only comments I hold for Ruger follow.

The old man and company are backstabbing SOBs when it came to gun control issues. Whatever it took to keep their mini 14 afloat, the hell with the rest of em. And they'll gladly bow to the 10 round mags voluntarily. Yellow bellied sobs.....

I do a bit of work on rifles here and there. Its the downside to being a top well known national competitor in a small town. They think you can fix everything.

By far the most rifles brought to me for issues are Ruger 77s. Accuracy, broken parts of the trigger guard,bad trigger pulls, bad accuracy. Right now I have an ejector so stuck I've been after it with Kroil for a week and still no dice on driving the retaining pin out....

As for accurate. Yep and nope. Seen some real shooters. Usually right after they crap out and need a bedding job and then you deal with the goofy 45 lug and getting all the pot metal parts to line up right again....

To be fair just had an issue today with a Rem 700 SPS. But the issue was with factory tube it won't shoot better than .75 moa as is with a certain bullet. Of course bedding will solve that I'm sure. And much easier to bed than a 77 IMHO.

Wish the Ruger issues were so easy and less often.... everytime I see a Ruger I get a headache.

To be fair I had one that had a rusted out spot mid barrel in a 7 mag. Sent it in by owners request and think the bill for a new tube was like 15 bucks. Rifle shot very well again after that, even taking a bull elk at over 500yards. They stand behind their product.

Still want at least a #1 in my life though, love those guns, just have not been able to talk myself into dropping money into their coffers...

Jeff

Must not be a S&W fan either?

As opposed to the pot metal or plastic on a Sucks?

The hinge assembly the floorplate attaches to has always been steel. Floorplates are steel or aluminum on any I've seen.

BTW, Ruger hasn't used those "potmetal" trigger guards since about 1989. Welcome to the 21st century.

That front screw also wouldn't be nearly so goofy if you'd bed it for 60 degrees instead of 45. Maybe the pieces would line up better upon reassembly, too??