Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Ruger M77 barrel shot out?

I was given my neighbors ranger Ruger M77 to tinker with because he was getting 12” groups with it. Multiple brands of factory ammo. Gunsmith said his rifling was fouled or the barrel was shot out. We cleaned the barrel and I shot half a box of shells and I could get 2 shots to group and the next 2 would be 6-12 inches away in random directions. I loaded up hand loads of 117gr hornady interlocks and IMR4831 and same results. 2 shots within 1.5inches and the next would be a flyer.

At this point I am think the scope is the culprit so I swapped it and got the same results with factory and hand loads.

Do you think the barrel is shot out? He doesn’t know the History of the rifle but he has had it for years and has only deer hunted with it so maybe a box of shells a year.

Thoughts?

Could be barrel fouling or bedding. Use jb bore paste in tbe bore, check your bedding, barrel free floating? Good luck with it. Mel

Copper fouling is my guess

Usual culprits would be copper fouling, loose stock screws and bad bedding. If it were mine, I’d hit it with several applications of a foaming bore cleaner, and once the blue stops and the carbon is gone, get a good look at the throat and crown. If they look OK, I’d pull the action, look at the bedding, checking for cracks or obvious problems, then retorque the action screws, and see if the barrel is rubbing the stock anywhere. Once all that is good, take it out and shoot it to see if you still have that problem. I’ve made several guns shoot acceptably that way.
What vintage is the gun? I had a tang safety Ruger in 257 that alternated between that and five inch groups, so I figured the barrel was trashed.


Old70

Is it a 257 Roberts or a 25-06?

The M77 front action screw hole is a blind hole. If rifle was bedded height can be changed or some bedding material got lodged in bottom of hole. I have seen this enough to inspect every M77 and ascertain that the screw is not bottoming out.

A careful inspection of the how the rings fit into the integral bases is warranted too. It is easy to get them misaligned.

As to the barrel being worn out, a bore scope will help figure it out. Could be severe fouling. I have encountered rifles with owner only using Hoppes which leaves copper fouling so severe that there were speed bumps of copper in the bore. It took a long time with a good copper solvent to get it clean.

Does the crown look okay?

Is this a tang safety model or a MkII? What chambering?

Tang Safety
25-06

I talked to my neighbor and he was using Hoppes No 9 to clean the bore, which I read isn't the best for getting out copper fouling so I used my Remington Bore Bright.

Crown and throat look good, scope rings and mounting are secure as well.


I am going to check over the action screws and bedding a little later today.

Somebody sent me a tang-safety 77 years ago, saying he could not get it to shoot. I couldn't either, and went through the entire rifle, never finding anything wrong--until I slugged the bore. The TIGHT spots were .279 in diameter, and there were several much looser spots.

Many of the barrels on the tanger 77s were very good--but a few sucked.

I used some 600grit compound on one that was copper fouled really bad the other day and followed that up with bore bright paste. I dry patched and then used foam cleaner get all that out. The rifle shot much better after all that.


Or as Mule Deer said, it could be a dog.

MD is dead on correct.

To fix that you have to lap out the tight spots so that the slug slides nicely and gets a tad bit tighter as it heads to the muzzle end.
If it loosens up as it’s heading out = you are screwed and it won’t shoot...

Tight spots are easier to deal with than a single loose spot, much because of how you pour the lead slug
**. - BUT before you touch it lapping (and you can ruin a barrel by doing it wrong), make sure you have all the fouling out of it so you aren’t getting a false read.

Most people don’t have the right equipment to slug a bore so becareful not to damage the bore trying to slug it.

I have seen the action screw issue on a Ruger before. The barrel I would clean and fire the series of the Tubbs Final finish bullets down the bore. I would do this as a time saver as it will address: fouling, throat wear, and tight spots in the bore. If it doesn't start shooting and it is not a screw or bedding issue then time for a new barrel.

Before you suspected it is the barrel, did you do a check list for culprits.

1) Make sure front action screw is not touching stock. Take a rat tail file and lightly ream.



2) Make sure magazine box is not binding. Should be able to jiggle it a little.

3) Torque action screws. Torque sequence - Front screw "Farmer" tight, rear screw tight and middle screw snug so it does not fall out.

Cleaning a Barrel to Bare Steel

(Safety glasses and disposable gloves recommended)

The proper installation of DYNA-TEK Bore Coat involves first cleaning the bore down to bare, dry steel. Otherwise the coating won’t be sticking to the steel, but to the powder, lead or copper fouling.

1. Ensure firearm is unloaded and free of any ammunition

2. Clean out all loose powder fouling using a cleaning solvent and clean patch. Soak patch with solvent and push through bore and pull back 6 to 8 times. Change patch and repeat this 6 to 8 times or until patch comes out clear of any powder fouling.

3. Using a clean or new (this is critical) correctly sized brass bore brush, wrap it with a clean, thick cotton patch and liberally soak with JB Bore Cleaner. This has a fine abrasive that will remove fouling but not affect the base metal.

4. Run this brush/patch combination back and forth inside the barrel 30 times reapplying fresh JB to the patch every 10 strokes. The brush/patch must fit the barrel tight and should take considerable force to move it and to insure the cleaning compound is working. If it is at all loose, wrap another patch around the brush and reload it with fresh JB and continue.

5. Clean the bore again with a cleaning solvent and several patches to remove the abrasive bore cleaner.

6. Use a chemical copper solvent to remove any remaining trace amounts of copper fouling, following the manufacturer’s instructions. Normally this requires 3 cycles to complete.

7. Degrease the bore with 3-6 patches and either denatured alcohol or acetone and allow to dry.

8. The bore is now completely clean to bare metal and ready for the application of DYNA-TEK Bore Coat.

We would like to thank John Barsness for the excellent bore cleaning instructions detailed above.

I have a tang safety Ruger in 270 that I bought in 1977. Accuracy dropped off about 10 years ago, checked the usual culprits. Eventually the scope went to Leupold for a rebuild and the rifle to Ruger. I forget the exact terms they used but the original barrel didn't meet standards or quality or something. Anyhow, i got a new barrel out of the deal.

All that to say the round count on mine was around 4000 when it went from 1 inch groups to 2 or 2.5 inches for 3100yds.

Dale

I don’t know but I’m guessing aids!!! After all it’s a 270.

Back when I was stationed in MT, a now good friend of mine that I was stationed with, had a Ruger 77 MKII 7mm Rem Mag, that shot similar to what you described. He gave it to me to fix for him, and while I don’t think he had ever cleaned the rifle, but the main issue was the torquing of the action screws. Once I got it all figured out, it shot a respectable 3 shot group.

I had a tang safety M77 7mm rem mag. Nothing I could do would make that thing shoot less than 4" groups. It took rebarreling it to finally get it to shoot.

Ruger outsourced their barrels to the cheapest bidder in those days and while not all of them are bad, there are an inordinate number of them that won't shoot worth a darn.

I had a call from a fishing buddy who moved out of state. His very accurate 270 stopped shooting accurately. I mailed him some JB bore paste, an undersize brush, and some shotgun patches, plus instructions.

He got the fouling out, and now the rifle shoots as well as it always did. Clean all the fouling from the bore - especially the throat.