Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger M77’s

G F Y =
Good For You !!! .. smirk


Jerry

OR

Glad For You.


Jerry

the 77 is my favorite bolt action platform. i have them in 77/22, both original and newer models, tang safety 358 carbine (favorite), RSI in 308 and 2 frontier rifles in 338 fed and 7/08. all had so/so triggers but were able to be fixed by my gunsmith. the tanger is especially nice. my 77/22 squirrel gun has a dayton traister trigger and a bushnell 4200. it is a tack driver with cci mini-mags. my sons both have 77/22's that are stock and shoot pretty good but could use some trigger work. i always recommend them to folks looking for a bolt gun.

I like the M77/Hawkeye, too. I only have two right now. A M77 MkII Express .270 and a Hawkeye African 6.5x55 Swedish. I've owned several in the past, most recently a Gunsite Scout in ,308, and a M77 MkII stainless .30-06 in a boat paddle stock. The only issue I ever had was that the trigger on the Gunsite was way too light. Under 2 lbs. It was virtually a hair trigger. Never felt comfortable with that, but never did anything about it. Ended up selling it. I gave the M77 MkII stainless to my son in California.

The only other issue (a non-issue really) is that none of the CRF features worked as well as they do on my M70s. On my M70s, once the cartridge clears the magazine, it literally pops up behind the extractor. Not so on any M77 I've ever had. Once the catridge on those clears the magazine, they get forced up behind the extractors as they get pushed into the chamber. Otherwise, they don't pop up behind the extractor.

I have three 77RLs, in 308 Win, 257 Rob and a 260 Rem, that was recently rebarreled by McGowen from 243 Win. Also have a 77RSI in 250 Sav and a 77V in 220 Swift. All are tangers, and all shoot 3 inside an inch, if I let them cool between shots. All, that is,except the 257, which goes just over an inch. I might see what a bedding and full float will do for that one.The 260 only has about 80 rounds through it and has already shot 3 groups under 1/2". Considering the barrel contour on them, I find that quite exceptional.

Those 77RLs are slender and light, and a joy to carry in the field. Almost as light and handy as my two Montanas, which have become the ones I grab first, now. Sorry, Roy!

A friend of mine knows I like the Ruger 77 and he gave me a 2003 Rifle Magazine article that John Barsness aka Mule Deer wrote about the 77.

After the threaded bolt knob loosened and fell off my CZ 550 Kevlar carbine in 9.3x62, I came to admire the one piece bolt of the Ruger even more. It ended up in a beaver pond.

Though a fine trigger on my hand full of 550's the trigger was a complicated cluster fk of unessasary stuff.

The Ruger mk ll and Hawkeye triggers are as simple as they come.

The pistol grip area of all my cz's were rediculously bulky and clubby

The Ruger Hawkeye stocks are sleek perfection, everywhere.

The 550 never came in a short action, which is odd considering they had the nice mini Mauser 527.

When CZ dropped the 550, the Ruger Hawkeyes were looking purdy good.

Under the recoil of my mighty 41 wildcat rifle, it sheared 4 scope base screws. The scope and base came back at my forehead at a high rate of speed. After bouncing off my thick skull, it continue rearward for another 15-20 ft.

Reading Jack O'Connor's book on rifles, I chuckled for five minutes straight at his comment: "dinky little 6-48 screws inherited from receiver sights"

Though 8-40 heated treated Brownells torx screws fixed the issue, I came to admire the intergral square bridge system with a RECOIL LUG, rather than recoil forces directly on the screws.

One overlooked improvement on the Hawkeye, is the reduced metal taken off the magazine followers on the Hawkeyes over the mk ll's. There are a couple other action-specific areas they reduced weight as well, if someone might take the time to notice.

Maybe one of the gun magazine parrots with the same old talking points will take notice, and spread the word:

What rings did you have on your CZ 550 with 6-48 screws?

Geow,
My apologies on the confusion, I was referring to a different rifle. I was using the supplied 6-48 screws that came with the scope rail I affixed:

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...233780/browning-1895-scout-rifle-project

I see. Thanks!

Tang safety Ruger rifles seem to have always been great shooters. Every single one I have owned shot well
The new version with 3 position I like it’s functions better in the action but they have Ben about 50/50 on accuracy
Matter of fact a 308 I had one time still ranks as the worst shooting rifle I have ever owned. Shot about a foot group new out of the box. It’s long gone. Currently one of my most accurate sporters is an identical one in 223. So there you go

Ur full o sht.

My Ruger Hawkeye controls the round earlier in the bolt stroke than an original Oberndorf sporting Mauser. The original, by which all others are judged. This 1922 rifle existed long before any Winchester model 70. How fkn " controlled round" do you need?

And 77's should be $500 max. Made of cheaply cast parts, rough actions, clunky and spotty accuracy IME.

LOL So compact laminates for $999 wouldn't float yours?

My Hawkeye Predator was hella accurate. Absurd how low I got it for, at a gunshow, back in the olden days of 2013 IIRC.

In today, an original 6.5 Creedmoor run, 77 Hawkeye, blue/walnut. I'm comfy having put over $500 towards it. LOL, There's ample boltway clearance that's for sure. 👍 However, I think Bill would still approve.

BTW off topic and all, saw a Howa Hunter finally, for under $600. Gotta think it's a hella bargain this day and age, for those wanting wood, adjustable trigger, threaded. Nothing special on the wood to metal fit, standard CNC hack.

Boomer, he shts on Ruger products any chance he gets.

Some folks get caught up on the investment casting, it has worked very well for Ruger for a very long time.

My first mk ll was $500 new, my second mk ll was $450 on sale.

Nowadays, my two used Hawkeyes were right at a grand a piece. I agree that prices for hunting rifles is a bit high.

Good for you and your Ruger that works better than the original Mauser. Mine don't, and none of mine ever have. Every CFR Ruger I've ever owned had a questionable CRF feature. Ruger's version of controlled round feed is inconsistent AT BEST. And I'm not the only person that's ever notice it. Here's my Hawkeye African:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/tEcSduq6cJvHSzeB9

https://photos.app.goo.gl/nmzFQxzWVT1uJgj16



Better than Ruger can provide. Maybe your fatter bullets help. I'd send it back to Ruger, but since every M77/Hawkeye I've ever had (.30-06, .308, .270 and 6.5X55) acted exactly the same way, I figure its just a feature.

Here's the way its supposed to work. I've got 4 M70s (.270, .308, .30-06 & .300 WM) and they all work exactly this way.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/cK1XRj6u7mFV3WPq8

I've owned a handful. Being a lefty shooting righty guns, I strongly prefer the tang safety for ergonomics, but I can still run the bolt safety on the Mk2 with my hand on the stock. I've never owned any of the newer Hawkeye era rifles. All of the old tangers shot very well except a little compact in 250 Savage, which was disappointing because it was the one I wanted to like most.

The Mk2s were hit and miss on accuracy for me. One in 243 was one of the better shooters I've owned, but another in 257 Roberts was just a hopeless bullet slinger.

As a whole, I'd really just call it personal preference between the designs, though.

That would be nice if they stayed no more than $500. Keep the inaccurate rumors going so they will. I haven't been around a lot of M77's, but the ones I have been were more than accurate enough. My wife's Mark ll in 6.5x55 will put 120g Speers and 140 NPT into the same hole at 100 yards with her shooting it. She did this more than once so most likely not a fluke.

My first bolt action rifle was a M77 7mm rem mag that I bought new in 1986 about a week after I turned 18. I loved that rifle but no matter what I did I couldn't make it shoot more than 4" groups at 100 yds. I was convinced it was the ammo which got me into handloading where I poured about $500 worth of components through it and still couldn't make it hit a barn from the inside. Despite this I killed a pile of deer with it, I loved the way it handled and to this day think the tang safety is where a safety should be on every gun, anything else is inferior.

It wasn't until I bought a savage 220 swift that I realized the 4" groups weren't me, the savage would routinely do 1/2" without effort. I had the ruger rebarreled and it was showing promise when my dad's house was broken into and it was stolen. By that time my tastes had turned to stainless M70's, but that Ruger was still the nicest handling bolt action I've had and I miss it. I didn't replace it with another M77 because I was burned with the horrid accuracy, and it was 30 years before I'd touch another Ruger because of the piss poor accuracy. When I finally decided to buy another Ruger it was an American rifle in .223 which shoots tiny groups without effort. If my M77 had shot half as well as that $300 American rifle I'd have a safe full of them right now. The dismal accuracy burned me so bad I wouldn't touch another Ruger for 30 years.

I have ss mk 2s in 7x57 and 9.3x62 and both feed just like the video.