I personally like the design of the M-77 MK II action, and think they make fine hunting rifles. To intelligently look at this issue, lets look at how the Rem M-700 action, and the Ruger M-77 designs came about.
The M-700 was designed first and foremost as an easily manufactured and machined action, ie cheap to make. It just so happens that some of the features that make it cheap to manufacturer, are also conductive to relatively simple re-machining and accurizing down the road. If the action is easy to chuck up in simple ficturing to manufacture, the same holds true when you're accuracy gunsmith re-cuts the threading in the action that is off access, and faces the action perpendicular to the bore.
The Ruger was also designed as an easily manufactured action, but with the major difference that the action starts as an investment casting, with the goal of the minimal amount of machining required to finish the final product.
All actions with integral recoil lugs are more difficult to mount in a lathe for truing opperations, same holds for Win M-70's, Mauser 98's and Ruger M-77's.
Let's also look at benchrest guns, most competetive BR shooters don't use M-700!'s They use Stolle's, Hart's, etc, why, because they are designed purposely for the task.
Those that don't use the purpose built actions do so for one reason, cost. If you're playing the cost game, you'll go Rem 700, it is cheapest action that can be cheaply built into an accurate gun. If a smith says it'll cost you an extra $100 to tune up a Ruger compared to a Rem, are you going to pay the extra $? No, and especially not so with an action that has been ignorantly maligned as inacurate.
I've seen way too many small groups fired by contender actions, that have much more going against them being consistantly accurate to buy this nonsense about flimsy actions not shooting.
I also have a milsurp mauser 98, with two stage trigger, a cheap A&B barrel, wood stock and a 2.5x scope chambered as a 350 Rigby that will consistantly send 250 gr bullets @ 2700 fps and group 3 shot under an inch day after day, rain or shine. I haven't been able to squeze three into a 1/2" group, but close, and if the inch aproaches an inch, it's my fault.
I'd be very suprised if an M77, properly trued, fit with a properly chambered 22 or 6 br, properly bedded, and with loaded with match grade bullets wouldn't shoot into the 2's. I've heard the factory 6PPC's would do so, no reason to think a good smith couldnt' match that.
