Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ever have a Ruger M77 fail on you on a hunt?

It didn't cause a problem on a hunt, but a brand new Hawkeye had extraction problems. It took two trips to Ruger to get it straightened out.

Bought my first one, a tang safety model in 7mm Remington Magnum, in 1983. Carried it on many elk hunts and it never hiccuped. Gave it to a son-in-law (now ex-SIL) about ten years ago. He guides for elk, mule deer and ibex. He says that it has dropped many animals when his dudes' fancy rifles misfire, jam or cannot seem to hit the target. I think that he gets around to cleaning it at least once every year or two...

last one I had wouldn't feed shells from the left hand side of the magazine, so I didn't give it a chance to screw up a hunt...

oh yeah it also shot 5" groups.

On an elk hunt with a m77 mII I had a problem with getting the safety off when it was all the way back in the bolt locked position. Operator/excitement error there. But one time it missed a deer, and it had to have been the rifles fault!

The only failure I know of was caused by not removing the factory oil from the firing pin assembly and the rifle failed to fire on a cold morning. I took the firing pin assembly out and cleaned it off with lantern fuel and all was well.

I have never had a rifle fail me in the field. Remington's, Ruger's, Winchester's, old Mauser's, Marlin's, BRNO's...

No, cause I’ve never owned one

First new rifle I ever owned was a Ruger M77MKII in 30-06. I mounted a Nikon 3-9 on it and had a smith give it a good trigger job and later on added remington steel iron sights. It wasnt a particularly accurate rifle, 2-3" groups usually, but it killed everything I ever gave it an opportunity to lauch bullets at. Mostly whitetails up close out to 125 yds. After owning it exclusively for about 5 years, I began to acquire other rifles in the latest/greatest for the period and sold it off for something "better". Always had a softspot for M77's, never had a failure with any of them. Some were definitely more or less accurate than others. The recent production ones seem to as good as ever for consistent accuracy.

No, and nowhere else either. So far.

Yes because I screwed up and made a handful of "short case" reloads that resulted in a light primer strike and the spike elk that got away. So, no.

That's what I would do.

I swear I read your subject line several times and all I saw was “FALL” on you.

Opened it just to satiate my curiosity!

I’d rather have a Kimber 84 Montana fall on me, personally, tho the height (being hypothetical at this point) could render the weight difference moot.

That reminds me that my hunting buddy's M77 failed 2-3 years in a row in the field. It worked fine at the range but when we got in the field it would go 'click'. After each experience I suggested he replace the firing pin spring. When he finally did the old spring was a couple inches shorter than the replacement. Turns out he had been storing the rifle with the spring compressed, even though I had shown him more than once how to release the spring by holding the trigger back while closing the bolt.

I don't blame the rifle as much as the storage method.

Have one I bought around 1983 and hunted with for 25 plus years , never failed in any way.

I almost failed my Ruger. I had sho at a smaall buck and when I went to start tracking, I couldn’t find a blood trail. After about 20!minutesI concluded that I missed and went back to my stand. After sitting and thinking about it, I realized that my aim was good and the rifle was nuts on, so I went back, found the deers trail in the snow, and started following it. Sure enough, about 20 yards past ky last circle point nt... 1 drop. A bit further.. a couple drops. Found the buck after anothy40?yards or so. Shoulda trusted it from the beginning..

AKA, Operator Error


Jerry

Nope, never a failure while hunting. I've had them fail right out of the box, but that was a factory issue and those rifles were sent back for repair. If a rifle is going to fail, it will be at the range where I run them through their paces. As of this date, I've had most newer rifles fail at the range. This would include many rem 700's, 722's, weatherby vanguards, Remington 788 and Winchester 100 and a newer BACO model 70. My best advice is take your rifles to the range at least once a week and make sure they aren't going to fail you in the woods, where you will need and depend on it the most. I'd trust my life on a good ol Ruger m77, as long as it's proven itself at the range.



Nothing wrong with hunting a good ol blued wood stocked m77. This was my elk hunting buddy for years...

I did have a rifle fail on me while hunting (not a Ruger), had used it for almost four years operating flawlessly. On a pronghorn hunt I hit a buck about 300 yards not the best shot placement, went to put another round in him and the trigger had failed to reset. Worked another round and the same issue, the aftermarket trigger I had been running those four years had started hanging up on the factory trigger guard. I had to push it forward to reset the trigger, luckily my buck laid down within about 500 yards and I was able to finish him off.

Anyway I bedded and did some file work on the stock and trigger guard and haven't had an issue again. Though it does sit uneasily in the back of my mind when I use that rifle, probably always will. I think you'll find the most rifle failures while hunting will be centered around the trigger.

I don't like Ruger rifles much, they just never felt right in my hands. However, they have a reputation for being rugged hunting rifles. So if you want a Ruger .30-06 go for it.

I have had a tanger fail to chamber. The issue was a frozen-in-place plunger. (The design was push feed) Caught it when I went to sight in, rather than when in the field.

No, but I've only killed dinks with mine and have never hunted the harsh conditions of Texas with one.