I put mine together 20 years ago or so using a factory M77 RS which came with a very slender barrel (.560" at the muzzle). I bedded it in a rough Bansner stock that I chopped the forend on to work with the barrel band sling attachment I added. Leupold 2-7X in their rings, filed in rear sight for the NECG sourdough front, matte blued. Pretty handy piece that has taken two black bear when I lived in Alberta, a northern BC moose and elk during the same period and a nilgai in south Texas.