Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Tell me about the Ruger M77 MKII varmint rifle

Hey guys, I ran across a Ruger M77 MKII varmint model in .223 a while ago and ended up buying it since so many of you said it was too good of a deal to pass up. Do you know if these rifles have the 1 in 9" twist? The rifle is in excellent shape and is sitting in bedding compound right now as we speak. I've adjusted the trigger but it still isn't as light as I like. I've always heard these things are super accurate but the only experience I've had with them is a fellow at a local shooting match murmering something like "I'll cut the X-ring out of the target" with this thing (Needless to say, it didn't happen that way). His was the 308 varmint model and it's funny, my sporter weight Hawkeye 308 is much more accurate than what that rifle was......I really like this rifle and I've been eyeballing them for a while now and finally took the plunge. Let me know what your experience is with this particular rifle, thanks.......

You can ship it to me, I will run some rounds through, then tell you my experience with one.

Funny, isn't it past your bedtime....Oh I forgot, you don't have school tomorow...

if it is like the older ones, its got a one in 12 twist...

they are good rifles.. I ran one 15,000 rounds, and only let it go since I got such a good trade in price for it..

ran into the guy that had bought it at the range a year later, and he had put another 2,000 rounds thru it and it still turned in a group that you could cover with a quarter at 100yds, using H 335 and shooting 55 grain Ballistic tips..

the other one I have, has only about 4,000 rounds down its barrel, but it is very accurate and unfinicky to load for..

I had one in .25-06 that is high on my list of "Rifles I sure wish I had never let go."

I have 4 of them 220 swift, 243, 2506, 308 all are very accurat.
my 308 put 10 shots 168 btips in 1/2 group

I don't like the plywood beavertail stocks. popped mine into a walnut sporter......they be shooters.

I have one of the transition models, with the blued action and SS barrel, .220 Swift. I just (finally!) bought a scope for it, but still haven't shot it yet (damn this out of town work!). I have high hopes for it!



Heck, I should send it out East and let you get it figured out!

KDK, I've never seen a transition model like that. Nice rifle though...Does it have the factory adjustable trigger?

I just bought one in 25.06 used. They didn't call it a Varmit, but a MKII target rifle. My plan being to rebarrel to 6.5-284/284 or 6.5-06 and use it to play at some longer ranges.

I think it had a worked trigger as my guage says 9-10oz. I have never seen so much copper in a bore, but its clean now and as I have dies I will go and see how it shoots before rebarreling. (always a smart move to shoot the donor:)

I find it odd that I have seen a couple on used racks and they have never been bedded,although they are factory floated. I was planning on floating after the rebarrel.

The assumption the factory has is "they don't need to be bedded because of the unique angled recoil lug". I've always seen a noticable improvement in accuracy with these ruger m77 mkII's and Hawkeyes being bedded. I bed all of mine now before I even shoot them, just part of getting them ready for field work.

the 223 I spoke of in my earlier post was one like that.. first year 'test the waters' version..

Cool guys. Just took it out and did a little shooting with it. I don't like the trigger!!!!! I've always honed and polished the regular MKII triggers and replaced the springs with lighter ones. What's the trick to these adjustable ones? I understand they are 2 stage but I'm not liking it.....I've adjusted it as per instructions and it still seems a bit heavy. Is this normal. Thanks again guys....

the Ruger site list the .223 as a 1:9 twist.
but you could aways run a tight fitting patch down the bore and check it for yourself.

That is one fine looking rifle. Years ago I ran across one just like it on consignment at the local gun store. I wanted it so bad but had some heavy bills at the time and just couldn't swing it. I liked everything about it.

Terry

I think it was just a one year run. I desperately wanted a .22-250, but couldn't find one, so I grabbed this at my buddy's uncle's gun shop in Verboort, OR.

I've been to that shop. I was at a trap shooting comp there and checked that little shop out

Thanks, I think you are right. I was shooting some 64 grainers in it yesterday and they were pretty damn accurate.....They were my worked up load for my 1 in 9" twist Hawkeye so once I start working up loads for this one it should do much better....

Yep, it used to be a pretty cool shop, but like a lot of places, the economy has hit it hard. About half the selection of guns they used to have. They had a used Montana .270 WSM for a ridiculous price that I hesitated on... Oops, gone when I went back.

Ok, a little update. I re-adjusted the trigger, really paying attention to the first stage of adjustment of the 2 stage trigger. Now were cooking, it feels much better once it is adjusted properly . I bedded the rifle last weekend right after I got it (I'll show a pic of the bedding job). Sealed the barrel channel with a light coat of tru-oil and threw my Bushnell elite 3200 5-15x40 scope on it until something better comes along. Anyway here's the rifle (I know it looks just like any other target/varmint Ruger m77 mkII rifle out there). I shot it last sunday and I put my other rifles (my friends now) pet load in it to see how it would do and shot 10 into an inch at 100 yards. These loads arn't tailored to this rifle so accuracy will improve immensely when the bullet doesn't have to jump .080" to the lands :




Sorry, no pics of targets yet. Need to develop it's own load and see how accurate she is, but now after adjusting the trigger I think we are good to go