Guys,
Back in 1992 my wife and son gave me a Christmas gift of a M-77 MKII in .308 with a Leupold VX-2 2-7 scope. The rifle was my yearly go to Michigan deer camp rifle, which I left with my buddy up there, so I didn't have to fly with it.

I had 11 months to shoot it before going, which I did. I broke in the barrel and shot different ammo to see what it would shoot best, since I didn't reload rifle ammo. Best group I could get at 100 yards was in the area of 2.5 inches. That was with Federal Premium 168 BTSP. Yes, minute of Whitetail! The longest shot on a deer for its career was 93 yards. I shot a boat load of deer with it. So, since it was a gift and my son shot his first two deer with it, I will not sell it.

Since retiring to AZ a few years ago and now driving everywhere I decided to bring the rifle "home" and work on it, to see if I could get it to shoot better. Free floated then bedded the action. Had the muzzle re-crowned. No better. Also, replaced the trigger years a go with a Timney. No improvement.

I'm a good shot with my own 200 yard range on my property and I shoot several times a week, if not daily.

Any other experiences with the M-77?. I have a #1 in 7x57 that shoots cloverleaf groups all day, no matter what you feed it.

I like the rifle and was hoping to use it here in the west (If and when I can get drawn for an AZ deer tag!!) Yes, once again, it shoots minute of deer! But...."only accurate rifles are interesting"

I have lots of other rifles I can use but don't be afraid to chime in with your opinions.

If I re-barrel what would you suggest? 1:10? I would be shooting anything from 150-168 grain bullets.

Maybe re-barrel to 7mm-08?

Or simply retire it?

My current go to rifles are my #1 in 7x57 and a custom .280 built on a M700 action.

Let me know what you think.

Have a great weekend, folks.

Respectfully,
Dave

I'd have it re-barreled to a 7-08 with a 1-9" twist.





Travis

Actually, after re-reading what you already have, I'd make it a .243.



Travis

Pay attention to what he typed and get yer pants on.

+1 but AI.

If I ignored what you already have, I'd say make it interesting and rebarrel to .284 Win.

Split the difference and make it a 260 Rem

I have a 7x57 barrel from an M77 for sale $55 shipped if you're interested.

I would go with a fast twist .243 something or other. Light enough recoil to enjoy shooting it, and it would be a great platform to learn to shoot long distances in windy conditions.

Normally I would say a fast twist .264 something or other, but since you have .284 covered, I went for some more contrast.

Now that you are retired and need more hobbies... get it rebored to 358 Winchester for shooting cast boolits.

They changed over from the tang safety Ruger to the MKII in the early 90's I believe. Which version do you have? It has been reported that some of the tangs came with dogcrap barrels.

I would also suggest you float the mag box before you decide you need a new tube.

Well if you want a medium bore then JeffG's 7x57 barrel looks like a good low cost idea if it will work on your short action. I'd do that before a 7mm-08 since you already have the reloading setup. You could be up and running for not much more than a C note.

1. Get some different ammo.
2. Change the scope.
3. Bring a screwdriver that fits the guard screws to the range with a roll of black electrical tape.

Try it with the different ammo and scope first.

Then if that does not do the trick take it out of the stock and put a tape shim under the barrel near the forend and if that does not work then in other locations in the barrel channel.

Try shooting it from a rest but also hand held like you might when hunting.

Shut

ThEE

Fugg

Up.

Thanks,
Travis

Uh, his rifle is a .308 WCF -- a short action. A 7x57mm won't fit a short action Ruger.

Ruger rifles of that vintage were either really good or really bad..
I had one about the same vintage a ss alweather( boatpaddle) 308. I loved the look and feel of the rifle but was absoultly horrible from the bench.. Best hand loads would be in the 4 inch range. That rifle ranks as one of the worst shooting rifles I have ever owned. I could out shoot it with a 30 30 lever gun.
Since I liked the rifle I did a bedding/float job and laped the lugs.. Brought it down to about 2 inches. This was my first gunsmith project and ended up selling it because any further work was beyond my abilities at the time. The guy who bought it from me thinks it is deadly as he kills a deer with it every year.
Since then I have worked on several rugers of that vintage and found they are able to shoot with factory tube. Although those barrels are not the best. If all other variables are eliminated you might have a shooter. One thing I always find on rugers is poor ring alignment. Which binds the scope and stresses the action..
A new barrel won't fix that..
Either way you decide to go make sure you go through the action and scope first.

You could rebarrel with a Remington takeoff. The threads for the Ruger are a bit smaller so it can be machined to fit.

One favorite of mine I have done many times is to take a 7 Rem mag barrel set it back 1/2" or so and re-thread for Ruger then chamber to the fat 284 win cartridge which requires far less setback than narrower cartridges like the 7-08. 7 Rem mag takeoffs are very common.

Another favorite would be to use a 243 takeoff re-thread and re-chamber for 6mm/284. The larger diameter chamber dresses up the 243 chamber perfectly.

I used to pay around $125 to have a barrel installed. Now do it myself. Have no idea what the current rate might be. Rem takeoffs are generally cost $50-$80 .

To the OP:

First, congrats on your retirement ! I hope it is long and enjoyable for you. Regarding the rifle, If there is sentimental attachment to it, the sentimental option would be to go back to a .308. Given that you have the 7mm slot covered, if you do not choose .308, I would drop down to a .243. My family has killed a couple dozen KY White tails with 95gr Nosler Partitions over a medium load of Varget. To the best of my knowledge, all have been thru and thru shots.

Regardless of which option you pick, PICTURES !

Dave
Sorry you have soooo much time that you have to shoot daily.

I have several R77 tang safety Rugers.
As noted above, make sure the box mag is just loose with the 3 screws tightened.

I make a brass tube pillar for the center screw. When I snug up the middle screw the tension/bow on the action is then always the same.

I also make sure there is room in the bedding at the front of the action lug to allow a little forward movement.

I also run a finger of bedding up the channel in front of the lug for about 4 inches. If not happy with how gun shoots then, sometimes removing an inch off of the finger will improve groups.

The 243 Win is a good whitetail caliber if re-barrel, but the 260 always sounded cool to me also.

Hope we can rendezvous in W.C. this fall. My son will be coming to hunt again.
Tim

Also make sure that when the bolt is closed the handle is not touching the stock anywhere.

Since it's a family heirloom of sorts, you might want to try some of the suggestions here to bring it up to snuff, before you re-tube.

If you decide to re-barrel, I suggest you also consider a fast-twist .22/250.

Do you hunt in AZ?

That's some nice elk country, I would rebarrel to another 308. 10 twist would cover all your bases.

As mentioned here, check the magazine box fit and make sure the bolt handle is not touching wood. In addition, take a 1/4" rat-tail file and relieve the angled front guard screw hole in the stock.

I thought you wanted to rebarrel. If you would be happy just to get exising barrel to shoot here are a few ideas that were not mentioned.

Be certain the front action screw is not bottoming out in the receiver's blind hole. Sometimes it is epoxy other times the screw is too long.

Be certain the tiny claw on one side of the scope ring is grabbing the integral base correctly.

Enlarge the holes in the stock to ensure the action screws are not touching.

Also make sure the trigger so it isn't touching the stock.

Trigger shouldn't touch the trigger guard

Box magazine should be able to be wiggled around when action screws are tightened.

Be certain the recoil lug isn't making early contact in bottom of bedding (rocking action)

Barrel having adequate clearance if it is supposed to be floated

A bore scope inspection of barrel can be very helpful. Could be damaged or missing rifling or even if crown was redone it could still be bad.

I live in Tucson and would be willing to look at your barrel with my borescope if you don't have access to one. You didn't say where you live.

Since it has sentimental value, give it to your son for Christmas and be done with it.

It is what it is, a super deer rifle and served you well for 22 years. If it aint broke......Sounds like you have some target rifles.

I would send it back to Ruger and have them put a new .308 barrel on it. They won't rebarrel to a different chambering than the original .308, but right now Ruger makes some of the best factory barrels in America. I'm betting it would shoot really well.

Guys,

Thanks for all the input. To answer a few questions:

Live in Paulden. Yavapai County. Yes, good elk, deer, antelope, etc.

Safety is 3-position.

When it was bedded I had the smithy check all contact point etc.

Tim, I'll be driving again and hopefully we can get together this year for a few cold ones. Might need a new knife!!

My 3 year old Granddaughter, Audrey, made the decision for me. She and I were out for the day and she spotted a herd of antelope off of highway 89. She said, "PaPa, I want to shoot a antewope."

Decision has been made, thanks to her and you guys. Going to build her an "Antewope" rifle. Off to Classic Barrel and Gunworks this week. I'll fill Dan in on the issue with the rifle and let him work his magic.

Think I'll go with the...

I'll let you all know when it's done. Stay tuned.

"Antewope" Rifle, I wike it

Bet Dan will figure it out.

As for the previous gunsmith checking all contact points...my friend had a well known gunsmith bed his Ruger Mark II and it still shot poorly. The gunsmith then condemned the barrel without looking at it with a borescope. (many gunsmiths don't own a borescope which would make a great topic for another thread)

The rifle was rebarreled and still shot poorly. I was hunting in the area and my friend presented the rifle to me saying he was very frustrated with its performance. I checked the tension on the action screws and felt the front screw just stop and not get tighter. We ground the bolt shorter as it was bottoming out in the blind hole! After that the rifle shot nice tight groups.

Another friend bought a very expensive custom. He had fits trying to get it to shoot. In frustration one day he pulled it apart at the gun range and inspected it in bright sunlight. He found a piece of bedding material in a blind hole. He was getting a false tightness but in reality the action was shifting around. Boy was he pissed. We henceforth called it the dreaded booger. Always check for the booger was our mantra.

One would think that a gunsmith wouldn�t miss such obvious attention to detail but things like the booger do get by them.

I know of three gunsmiths that have done this to date. One was MY tang safety Ruger with bedding material in its front action screw blind hole.

Take the butt plate or recoil pad off and set aside. Then screw it on to a new Savage or Remington and be done with it.

I had an old Ruger 77 Round Top in .257 Roberts, the one that came with open sights. Had it glass bedded by the late Gene Imbert, then sent it over to Micro Sight Co. and the gunsmith reamed it to .257 Roberts Ackley. Damn thing shot .35" 10 shot groups with either the Hornady or Sierra 75 grain HP and a load of H-380. Killed so many ground squirrels with it the throat washed out. So had it rebarreled by Ruger in .30-06 and it never shot well again. Don't like Ruger 77's, because of that crappy angled front screw, so never bought another one.

An aftermarket barrel will cost $400-$600, my last Pac-Nor ran $601 in .308 Winchester, not including the muzzle brake, and took 7 months to receive. And that was a prefit I installed myself. If your rifle is still killing deer, I'd just clean the barrel extra well and keep using it.

Haven't read through all the replies, so I may be repeating.

I've had (have) several RU77s in tang, and have worked on a number of others, both styles.

Since you are retired, try neck-sized only handloads- even if you have to have them custom reloaded by someone else.

I had a factory standard 77V in .25-06 that shot 5" groups with factory. Once I went to neck-sized only, it was MOA or less.

I have found accuracy increases to a greater or lesser extent in all rifles with neck-sized only rounds that I have tried, and have never had a problem with chambering in the field, but then I run every cartridge thru the rifle before it goes into the field.

Just saw this thread.. Since it was a gift it probably has quite a value in itself..

I'd rebarrel it and go huntin'..

$300 rebarrel vs first trying a $30 Lee-Loader (plus Forester case trimmer)?

Whatever floats the owner's cork...

Tho there is something to be said for going hi-end first. I've spent a lot of money over the years going "cheap", then more expensive when that didn't work.

High-end works first time out of the box more often (tho not always) than less expensive routes.

Youse pays yur money and takes yur chances.

I'd still try the neck-size only route first. All chambers ain't equal, and fire-formed brass sometimes makes great gains for little epense, tho a tad more effort.

If one is NEVER going to reload, then rebarrel.

Sounds to me like you either got a bad .30-06 barrel or had other issues after the rebarrel. There wasn�t any issue when the rifle was shooting .35� 10-shot groups, was there?

I float my barrels and then tighten the action screws per recommendations. Doing that has resulted in every Ruger I own shooting very well. None have required bedding, a fact I credit to the �crappy angled front screw� that draws the action down tight to the stock and helps keep it from moving.

.243 or 7-08 antelope rifle for the young lady sounds awesome! And good for you for getting her into hunting! Love the old M77's, I've got a couple 1982 vintage tangers (.243 and .270) that are largely retried now and spend most of the time in the safe, waiting till I get me some grandkids myself� I cut my teeth on those two rifles in the 80's, as did my own son in the 00's. Waiting for the day I have an excuse to get 'em out again, dust 'em off and start the third generation "whack and stack" all over again! PS- both rifles have shot 1.5" or less at 100 yds since the day they were made, and with just about any ammo (even factory). Have ALOT of pills down both tubes over the last 30 years and they are both still accurate enough for minute of venison.

Foxx

Different strokes, etc.

I bed and free-float all my rifles especially the wood stocks. I don't believe in torque wrenches. With wood stocks this is likely to change with inclement weather, unbedded. I tighten the front screw down as tight as it will go, then the rear. If a middle one, then just snug.

If there is any more than a half turn on either front or rear from coming snug to tight, then something ain't flat- hence the bedding of both receiver and floor plate/trigger guard. A quarter turn is more better...

I use epoxy "column bedding" around the receiver screws and between top/bottom beds. Metal pillar bedding may be better- might have to try it some day..

Seems to work...