Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger M77 Tang Safety

In a nice little gun shop by my office they have a couple Ruger M77's in nice shape. How are these rifles? Accurate? well built? The only one I've owned had ER Shaw .358 Win barrel on it.

These two are nothing special as far as collectors go. One is a 7mag the other is an 06. Neither appear to be shot a bunch.

I have had pretty good luck finding loads with the 257 AI I've got on hand. The rifle handles real well and just feels good in the hand. I have had no issues so far related to the rifle (just the chamber)

As most of us here know, you have to be aware of the inferior barrels Ruger used on some of their Tang safety models. With that being said, I have never ran into a Tang safety Ruger I couldn't make shoot extremely well. However, one in particular was a 300WM that I stole for $200.00 at a LGS. it was previously owned by an Indian fisherman, here on the Columbia, and it was slightly pitted from rust and the stock was in need of a good refinishing. The inside of the bore was terrible and there was even about a 1" portion of the bore that was missing part of the rifling. I decided I'd shoot it and see if I could get a good load worked up in the rifle. I glass bedded the rifle, as that is the first thing I do to a Ruger, without any hesitation. It's easy to do and always helps with accuracy. After working up a good load, I fired off 5 shots that were damn near all touching, so then I made the decision to have my local cerakote guy have some fun with it. He cerakoted it and jeweled the bolt. I refinished the stock and it was an excellent performing and looking rifle. The flaw in the bore always bugged me though. It may have even came that way from the factory. Who knows??

I thought the same thing. They both fit and felt good in the hand.

Correct. I am aware of the issues. But like you haven't met anyone that had one. The previous one I had may have had one, hence the new barrel. I guess they could always be re barreled if they don't shoot. Agree on the bedding. It would something I would try to tackle this winter while its still shiity.

The best advice is, if it is a great deal and you don't mind tinkering, buy it. If it shoots poorly, have it re-barreled. The tangers have a following of sorts, so you should be able to sell it easily, if you decide you don't like it. I actually really like them as well, but ended up selling the ones I had because they were just too heavy. I had featherweights chambered in the same cartridges, and found that packing around the Rugers were more exhausting than the featherweights. I do prefer the tang safety over the wing safety though. Shooting left handed, it feels more natural and easier to manipulate.

Killed my first deer with a tang 77 in 30/06, it has since been rebarreled but it was a shooting SOB.

Killed my last deer with a Ruger 77 too, albeit a Mark II. Pretty damn near bomb proof

Zoner, I have a M77R in 7 x 57 from the original run in 1972 and it shoots fine, so does 77V in 220 Swift. Some of them had bad barrels but not all of them . Magnum bob

My buddy has a 1971 77 Tang Safety in 7mm mag. It is one of the rifles that had a Douglas barrel, and is an amazing shooter. With factory Barnes 140TTSX loads, it averages .6 to .75moa, even after years of being hunted. No bedding, no tweaks, just a good solid old hunter!

I had a 22-250 and a 270 that were very accurate. Got rid of both.

My brother has a 250 Savage (Liberty model) that is very accurate. I also have a 250 Savage that is OK at best. I like them.

tzone -

My Ruger M77's include a 7mm RM, .30-06 and.257 Roberts with manufacture dates of 1982, 1984 and 1989 respectively, If the ones at the local gun shop have manufacture dates of 1982 or later, I would not have any concern about original barrel quality.

The 7mm RM has shot a .262" group, the .257 Roberts a .232" group and last time I scope checked the .30-06 it was two holes touching.

They are worth the gamble if you like how they feel in your hands. I've had a recent .338WM "Tanger" that had one of those sorry barrels. Sold it. I also had a brand new Hawkeye in .257 Roberts that just would not shoot under 2.5"! I had a nice 77 African 9.3x62 that had headspace issues. OTOH, I've had a .280 "Tanger" that was perfect, and several MKII and Hawkeye All Weathers in wood & synthetic that shot terrific. That's what I meant by "gamble".

I had a Ruger 77 tang safety in 7x57 that just never felt right. I worked just fine, I just didn't like it. After I bought a CZ550 in 7x57 and confirmed that it shot well I dumped the Ruger.

My 1975 Tanger 250 is the only one I've had my hands on. It is a little bulky, and heavy, but as long as it shoots like it does, I'll never change it. It's always done real well with varmint weight bullets, but just average with 100s. This fall I found that it really likes more jump with the 100s. Now it shoots them about as well as the varmint weights. The deer haven't been too happy about that.

My tang safety 220 Swift shoots fantastic!

Thank you. What numbers am I looking for to know if they’re made after 82?

I have two tang safety Rugers. The first is an Ultralight in .250 Savage that put three 100gn Hornady or Ballistic Tips into less than an inch at 100m. It is bedded and floated. The second was a standard .257 Roberts that put just about any bullet into two inches on a good day. The best was 115gn Ballistic Tips/H4831sc that would go an inch and a half. It was floated and bedded too. I could possibly have lived with the Roberts but I have two of the newer Hawkeyes in .257 Roberts that both go under an inch so what to do with the tang one. I ended up rebarreling it to 7x64. Now it puts five into less than an inch.

I'd definitely buy one, or both maybe, and give them a try. If they don't shoot I daresay you could move them on for about what you paid for them so no harm done.

tzone,

https://ruger.com/service/productHistory/RI-M77.html

serial number/date lookup

I have two tang safety M77's. I bought them 18 years apart but they both turned out to be made in 75. One is a 7 mag and one is a 7X57. I haven't spent any time with the 7 mag to know if it's any good but have shot the 7X57 quite a bit and killed a few deer with it. It will shoot to close to an inch but no better than that. What little I have shot the 7 mag tells me it needs bedding work and serious load work up. With Federal and Barnes ammo it hasn't shot better than 2 inches. I have no idea if it has one of the "bad barrels" or not. When i can get around to working up a load for it we will see...

This page will give you the year of production:

https://ruger.com/service/productHistory.html

Basically anything starting with 75- or 3 digits and a - is 1981 or later.