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I bought a new Ruger 77/17 in 17 hornet. It shot poorly, about 2” five shot 100 yard groups. I glass bedded it (including 1.5” of the barrel nearest the action), the rest of the barrel is floated. And I replaced the trigger sear and spring to get it to 2.75 pounds. And I bought a shim kit and shimmed the two piece bolt. Also, I tried three bullets, three powders, and multiple combinations of them. That never helped the 2” accuracy. So I had it rebarreled with a Shilen select match barrel. Now it’s at about 1.25” groups on average, with some at 1”. A friend has recommended remove the glass bedding that supports the barrel just forward the action. I have many rifles bedded with the first 1.5” of barrel supported and they are tack drivers.
And recommendations on how to improve accuracy on this rifle? Thanks
Last edited by dale06; 08/02/19.
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Went thru the same drill with a 77/22 Hornet, with the same results. You might not get it under an inch. Remove the bedding, and see what happens, you can always put it back. Have you tried upward pressure at the forend tip ? Easy to do.
If all else fails, sell it and buy a CZ.
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Thanks Craigster. How does one add forend tip pressure?
Last edited by dale06; 08/02/19.
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A few business cards will do the job.
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Here's an idea which may not work, but doesn't take a lot of effort - take both extractor claws off the bolt and try a few test groups. Obviously you'll need a small screwdriver to extract the fired cases when you do this. I don't have experience with the hornet version, but my rimfire 77/17 had springs of significantly different stiffness under each claw. The result is that when a round is chambered the bolt is biased to one side, rocking the locking lugs slightly off their seats. With a round chambered you could push sideways on the front portion of the bolt and see movement against the springs.
With the claws removed the bolt should stay inline during loading and firing provided there is minimal headspace. If it helps accuracy, you replace the springs with identical ones on each side- I used ones from cheap disposable flint lighters which were perfect for the job. Extraction and ejection remain 100%.
My rifle went from inaccurate to acceptably accurate, but because I made more than one change at the same time (not very scientific I know), I dont know how how much this contributed to the improvement, if any. I still believe it is worth a try.
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Well, I shot it with forend pressure, business cards. No improvement in accuracy. Actually a little worse, 1.5” or so five shoots at 100 yd. This with a high end shilen barrel, glass bedded, bolt shimmed, and trigger job. It’s a Ruger, I should have known better. Thanks for the recommendations, guys.
Last edited by dale06; 08/03/19.
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In one of my hornets seating depth gave a big improvement
What powders and bullets? IMR 4227 has worked well in both of mine. Also had good luck with Speer’s 45 soft point, the Sierra 40 gr Blitzking, and the Nosler 40 gr tipped Varmageddon
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It’s a 17 hornet Powders have tried AA2200, CFE-BLK, AA1680, Lilgun. AA2200 has worked the best
Bullets, I’ve tried Berger 20 and 25 grain, Hornady vmax 20, and Dogtown 20. The best performer has been the Berger 20 and Vmax 20.
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You might try H110, it's worked well for me. Maybe give Shilen a call, can't hurt
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Might try removing the 1.5" bedding in front of the lug.... my 77/22 has a free floating Shilen barrel and shoots fine. Also, not a Ruger but on one of my Win. I had to bed the barrel 1/2 way up the stock, about 6", on the factory sporter barrel. It shoots under moa.
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.17' is tough. Bedding with the tiny recoil means nothing at all. Barrel vibrations, get real it is like a pellet gun. Pellet guns prefer one over the other and the .17 needs the right bullets too.
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How does bedding mean nothing? To me bedding is more about no stress on the action and making the action stay in the same spot.
O.P. is the bedding stress free? If so I agree with taking the bedding out from under the barrel. You can also try shims under the action at the screws to lift the action and provide a full free float as a temp fix to see if it makes a difference. When you tried the shims did you try various thickness's? At different spots on the barrel? Have you played with torque on the action screws? I am assuming you have tried different seating depths. How is runout on your reloaded rounds?
Those who are always shooting off at the mouth usually aren't shooting straight. Build a man a fire and he’ll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he’ll be warm for the rest of his life. www.wvcdl.org
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Yes, I’ve varied seating depths. I only tried pressure near forend tip. Is the bedding stress free? How do I determine that. I have some antelope and elk hunting the next 30 days, and am totally frustrated with this gun. Likely won’t touch it for a month or so.
Last edited by dale06; 08/11/19.
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The tiny little caliber does not whip the barrel. Yes you can bed the action. Even a .22 can benefit. Then the Op states he is going antelope and elk hunting so is he using the .17? I don't think so and the .17 is a fun gun.
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I had exactly the same experience with that rifle in .22 Hornet, as did my friend, we both bought them when the rifle first came out. Total POS, both of them. We tried every trick known to the mind of man, bedding, screw torque, barrel shims, every powder and bullet combination ever devised for this cartridge, could not hit a hat at 100 yards with either of them, best we ever did was 3-4 inches. Took them down the road to the gun show and got rid of them at a considerable loss. Got CZ's and now are happy campers.
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Considering all the things you have tried so far, I would put a different scope on it. Preferably one with an Adjustable Objective so you can eliminate parallax. Get rid of those shims under the barrel too. You bedded it to remove stress, then have to crank the screws down to get it all seated again because there's pressure under the barrel. I have not once ever had a rifle that needed pressure at the forend to get it to shoot.
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....I would put a different scope on it.... Oops, I plumb overlooked that. Are the rings tight? .....I have not once ever had a rifle that needed pressure at the forend to get it to shoot. I believe you but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. I have two such rifles downstairs right now. One a Rem 502 .22 rimfire and the other a Douglas barreled Rem 700 30/06. To check if the bedding is stress free, hold the gun with the recoil pad firmly on the the floor and the action screws tight. Loosen/tighten one action screw and watch for movement of the barrel at the end of the forearm. Retighten that screw and loosen the other while watching for movement. If you have a dial indicator with a magnetic base you can also set it up to check for movement. Everything I have read says anymore than about .003 movement is going to cause accuracy problems. I can neither prove or disprove that statement. My .223 shows a bunch of movement. I rebedded it several times trying to eliminate it. Finally a man who used to post here on the fire said shoot it and see what happens, it is the most accurate rifle I own. Go figure.
Those who are always shooting off at the mouth usually aren't shooting straight. Build a man a fire and he’ll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he’ll be warm for the rest of his life. www.wvcdl.org
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Something else that nobody has asked yet that I would like to know is: How are you benching the gun when you shoot groups? I know you have the trigger worked, but is there any creep or overtravel? In most cases, when you get to the point you have with a gun, that last 0.25" that you are looking for is usually not the gun.
What are the conditions when you are shooting? A bit of funky cross-breeze can open up your groups a quarter inch with the light .17s and .22s.
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