Nice. Good to hear about so many experiences with the old M_77.
I've personally only owned one I bought it way back in 1982 it was my first high-powered rifle. With me being a fan of Jack O'Connor writings I went with the 270 Winchester, remember my Dad was disappointed in me that I didn't get a 30-06....lol
Still have it & still use it, put thousands of rounds down the Ruger 22" tube so I'm on barrel #2 now.
Mine is I guess a "round top"? Has the integrated Ruger rings & no open sights. It came with a slender 22" barrel and the forearm is quite petite. I've seen others of the same era where the stocks were quite different and a acquaintance of mine had a .280 Remington M_77 that had quite a blocky walnut stock with much more wood around the barrel than mine. My example always seemed to have a bit of an ultralight look to me in its original configuration.
