Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Best way to shave weight off a Ruger 77mkII

I guess I am going to put the light weight rifle on hold till the new 84L comes out. I would like to take a look at one in .25-06.

I bought a Montana from Bigwhoop last year. It was one of the .257 Roberts. The magbox was a little snug for me, but I admit that I never shot it before I sold it.

Probably should have kept it, and maybe I'll look at getting another one.

Till then, I will likely hunt with another one of the rifles in the safe.

I knew it was gonna be funny,though I certainly had no idea it was gonna entail a chart,in regards to a rifle that no longer exists.

That's pretty good stuff!................

I've never cussed a Ruger and have had rather a passle,thinking very highly of them in general. They don't do light.

Over the counter,the 1st Gen s/a .473" Ti's were/are wonderous. Faux specimens fall in a similar slot.

The Montucky 223 and 243 are spot on,though the 7-08 and 308 are throated too long. Their 7Whizzum is as good as it gets.

Your ruger would make a rather dandy midweight or even heavyish weight Play Toy,but light ain't gonna happen...............

I did know where a 1st Generation Ti was on a dealer's shelf, but it was a .270. I have tried a couple of times to fall in love with that cartridge, but no luck.

Mrs. Tide hunts with a .243, and I guess it would make a lot of sense to have another one to load for. If for no other reason than Lapua brass.

The Rugers have always been good to me. They are tougher than a Coal Miner's boot, and the company stands behind them. The weight issue is there, and as far as I can tell, (and with the help of the campfire)there is nothing that can be done about it, a solid benchpress notwithstanding.

They are what they are and in their realm,they's Big Medicine..................

The OP didn't ask "whats the lightest production rifle around" he asked a question on how to lighten up a specific rifle that he just bought. Pretty straight forward question...

i have a Remington M700 CDL in 280 remington that weighs a tad over 8lb with a Conquest 3-9x40. For grins I also weighed my 300RSAUM Ruger M77 Mark II topped with a Vortex 3-9x40 and the Ruger weighed 8.75 lb.; and of course the remington is 24 inch barrel vice 22 on the Ruger. Rugers are definitely porky.

I hear you KC. Nobody really came out and said it at first, but I guess the problem is this: Many have tried to effectively lighten Rugers, and it just isn't easily or cost effectively done. If you want to send one to a 'smith to skeletonize everything that can shed steel and screw on a new barrel and have a custom stock made, I suppose you'd get there. But, why spend all that coin to get something that exists elsewhere for less? Sell the Ruger for $425, and combine that with another $400 to get a used Kimber and you're there.

I don't know the first thing about rifles generally, but I've been around the block once trying to lighten my own Ruger, and there just isn't a sensible way to do it. Joel can do what he wants but I like him too much to suggest anything besides sell it if he wants a light rifle. I am keeping my Ruger simply because it shoots well, looks nice, and functions well. It feels about as sturdy as any rifle I've ever handled. But if I needed it to be light, it would have to go.

Anyway, I don't think anyone was trying to purposely dodge the original question or give Crimson Tide a hard time. It was just cutting to bottom line real fast. Have a good one!

I have a .25-06 Rem 700 SS SPS I could part with. It ain't light and it won't be cheap, but when it's shooting critters, it's a thing of beauty! LOL!

I hear ya Waders. You have some very good points. BUT what if a guy really likes his Ruger, but wants to know if theres anything to do to lighten it up a bit?
No doubt that theres lighter rifles out there, with more aftermarket choices = Remington's.

I really like Rugers, but yeah, I wish they were a bit lighter sometimes.

I see the OP traded the rifle...
Probably best, never was much of a Ruger man myself. I did go through a #1 phase... glad thats over!

I own a Ruger All Weather in 280 Remington. It weighs 8.5 lbs all up. Light, no. I have carried that gun on 45 registered kills with 47 shots. Not once did I ever think I needed more cartridge or a lighter gun. Even with its 11# jerk-trigger it will stack 150 CoreLokts into a 1/2" every trip to the range. I originally bought it as a repeater when the fancy would strike me for hogs. I still prefer my single shots but I have zero reservations to carrying the Ruger when I want. It is like an old faithful .22, it hits what it is aimed at. It works in the cold, sleet, ice, snow, dirt & grime.

8.5 lbs is not considered light but my lightest shooter is 7.5 lbs so the extra pound is of no significance to me. I had it in a McMillan at one point but I subsequently decided to go with the original synthetic stock.

I'd love to find a boat paddle stock for it.

It is, is it not?

KC And The Dumbshine Band says: "The OP didn't ask "whats the lightest production rifle around" he asked a question on how to lighten up a specific rifle that he just bought. Pretty straight forward question..."

Rather humorous that it was so straight forward,that the answer stumped her(again).

Par................

Years ago I had a M700ADL walnut and a tang safety M77, both in 25-06. The Ruger weighed nearly a pound more than that old ADL walnut, having a much stouter barrel, for starters. Got rid of both, eventually wound up with the Ruger again.

For whatever reason, it's extry heft no longer bothers me?

Know someone that had a M70 in 6.5 Swede they wanted shed of, fairly sure it was a featherweight? Can check to see if he still has it, how much the "freight" is?

Guessing he's had it for at least 20-25 years from new, know it's not been used too hard. Doubt he's hunted it much since he killed a red-headed blackie in Canada with it, 'bout 18 years ago.

Larry you might want to get another phonebook or two to put on your booster seat. It will allow you to see the screen better, leading to improved reading comprehension.

He seems to thrive on "short jokes", but I've always resisted the temptation, even if it's a pretty long poke from up there, to PA.

He could likely make it down to OR in a day's drive? Seems he ain't too busy at the moment, or he wouldn't be in here all day pokin' people. ;O)



1akhunter

Charm School mighta worked better? They could've taught him to walk correctly with a saw balanced on his head. All while reciting ballistic tables with perfect enunciation and poise.

Smart man.

Just checked back on this thread this morning. It reminds me that we all get a tad hateful and testy just before the deer season kicks off, for some reason.

I had this rifle in the safe for a couple of months, trying to decide whether to keep it or not. Finally decided that the weight issue was what was keeping me from buying into it completely.

I think about options alot while I am driving or mowing, that type of thing. I couldn't come up with any real way to shave off enoughh weight to justify keeping it. Had it been a Tikka, it would still be out there.

After I had come up empty handed for ideas, I just opened a thread on the campfire and trusted that I would hear the truth, good or bad, about the options that I had.

That is exactly what I got. I was relieved to hear that I had sufficiently thought it through before posting, and that those with more experience than me had already been down that road and come up with the same answer. There is no cost effective way to take a MarkII Ruger and make it lose a significant amount of weight.

The advice, or opinions of posters who said an 8.5 pound rifle wasn't really heavy is also true. I already have a couple of those, however, and they usually stay in the safe. They are necessary, but not for the whitetail hunting I do.

I will say this, as I get close enough to scare 40 to death, I have begun to adhere to the motto: Work SMARTER not HARDER. I can hump a 12 pound rifle if I have to, but I am smart enough to know I don't need to for the animals I hunt and the area I hunt them in.