Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Ruger M_77 Tanger

7mm Rem Mag Bicentennial Liberty I bought new in 1976 for $175. Took at least 20 elk with it, maybe 40 or 50 deer, and a mountain goat. It's been on dozens of horseback pack trips. The rifle will be the last I ever get rid of.

.243 Win. Good shooter, lots of good kills with it, including my best mule deer buck.

Have had a bunch. I regret parting with a Bicentennial Liberty 7x57, also a 280 and a 35 Whelen.

I have two.
A M77V from the mid ‘70’s in .220 swift. It has a Canjar single set trigger and is very accurate with 50 to 55 gr bullets. Likes 52 gr Sierra bullets the best. It is a heavy bugger and is not a walk around rifle. Like JB said it would be better with a faster twist barrel.
Also a M77 round top in .30-06 that I bought just for the wood. A very nice rife that is very accurate with 180 gr Nosler BT bullets like most 06 rifles. It has taken several deer and I enjoy just shooting it.
Here is a couple of pictures, the .30-06 has shot bigger deer but this shows the the wood off the best. It’s quite nice in person.

Just one, a plain jain old 25-06. It was the first factory built sporting rifle I bought after getting a decent full time job. I still have that rifle and job. The former will be going away in a bit less than 3 years.

Probably a dozen or so over the past 45yrs. Down to just 3 now - all round tops with sights - 7x57, 30-06 and 358 Win.

Still have one in the safe needs rings and stock shortened. Will be rebored to 358 Winchester. Be Well, RZ.

Just 2 and I still have them but they don't get hunted anymore. 30-06 and a 338 Win .
I've taken elk with both of them.

I did not keep track of the number of M77s I have owned, there have been a lot. When all the trash talk about the 77s started and continued they came up for sale frequently and I took advantage of it. My buddies called my buy and selling 77s a "cottage industry". Of all the so called maladies I dealt with, I only sent two rifles into Ruger. .358 Winchester and .243 Winchester.

A lot of the rifles I bought from people I knew, such as friends, relatives, deer camp and gun club members. I would rank the problems:

1) Improper bench procedures

2) Not satisfied with groups, take the rifle apart, put back together without knowing how to torque screws

3) Take out of the box shoot a few good groups and accuracy goes to heck. What happens on occasion is the angle screw begins to touch the hole in the stock.

4) Lousy scope mounting

5) Did not shoot enough ammo to see if groups improve.

I own 5 77s that I won't be selling, all R's. (2) .257 Roberts, one red pad the other black pad, 7x57mm, 35 Whelen. One 77V 22-250.

I've had 10 tangers.
2) 22-250's
220 Swift
2) 257 Roberts
25-06
270
2) 7mm RM
35 Whelen

The 270, a bicentennial, was the most accurate of the 10.

1. My first bolt action. A .30-06.

Kept it around forever, even as I acquired other .30-06's. Finally became the donor action for my .257 Roberts. A real sweet heart of a rifle. Consequently got nicknamed "Sweet Thang".

I own or have owned in the past the following.

M77V .220 Swift Flatbolt
M77V .243 Win. Flatbolt
M77R .243 Win
M77RL .257 Roberts
M77RSI .270 Win
M77RS 7x57 Mauser Hollowbolt
M77R 7mm RM. Hollowbolt
M77RS .338WM

Nice. Good to hear about so many experiences with the old M_77.

I've personally only owned one I bought it way back in 1982 it was my first high-powered rifle. With me being a fan of Jack O'Connor writings I went with the 270 Winchester, remember my Dad was disappointed in me that I didn't get a 30-06....lol

Still have it & still use it, put thousands of rounds down the Ruger 22" tube so I'm on barrel #2 now.

Mine is I guess a "round top"? Has the integrated Ruger rings & no open sights. It came with a slender 22" barrel and the forearm is quite petite. I've seen others of the same era where the stocks were quite different and a acquaintance of mine had a .280 Remington M_77 that had quite a blocky walnut stock with much more wood around the barrel than mine. My example always seemed to have a bit of an ultralight look to me in its original configuration.

I've had a 338 Win, 3006, 7x57, 270 (3) 2506, 257 Roberts and 6mm
one 270 is all that's left....wished I still had the 6mm

Depends. If you count the individual rifles I have owned twice, or that passed through briefly, about 9 or 10.

Aside from a Brazilian Mauser, a memento of an old friend, all my rifles are old tang safety M77s from 70s-early 80s. Each has the identical stock profile from before they changed it. I cut them all down to my smaller size and replaced each pencil eraser butt pad with a grindable Limbsaver (much nicer on the magnums). For me, these just fit right. None of them are pristine collectors’ items, far from it.

Only 1 Tanger here. A "79 7x57 new in box. I just put the scope on and have some loads ready to go. Need some warmer weather for this old man. I'm very anxious to see how it will shoot. Where I will hunt with it anything 1 1/2 " or better will work fine.
Have a great day.
Jim

I have two. Both manufactured around 1980/1981 if I recall)

The first is a .250 Savage Ultralight that groups three 100gn bullets (Hornady and Ballistic Tips) under an inch at 100m. It has been bedded and had the trigger worked by a gunsmith. It wears the same 2-7x33 Luepold for the past 20 years.

The second is a .257 Roberts standard rifle in very good condition for it's age (probably 95% like new). However, it wouldn't group better than 1 3/4 inches at 100m. 115gn Ballistics Tips might of squeezed into 1 1/2 inch. I tried five or six different 100gn and the same number of 115 - 120gn bullets but it must of been one of those Wilson barrels that we all know about. However, it was too nice a rifle to sell, and as I have two other Bobs that both group under an inch, I rebarreled it to 7x64. Now it is a tack driver. It wears a Luepold 6x36.

Strange how two rifles from the same era with the same barrels shoot so differently.

Two 6mm flatbolts… very accurate
One 338
One 270 UL which I am trying to buy back

I bought a NIB 77RS in 358 WIN when I was in FT Hood, TX in 1991 for $450, kept a couple of years and sold it. Now they are on GB for 2K plus......

Ive owned somewhere north of 36. Calibers ranged from 22 250's and Swifts to 416 Taylor, with times where I had several in the same caliber. Never had one in 458, yet. Most were RS models, a number of RLS's and RL's, a few R's, and ST's but never any RSI's. At one point I had a safe full of about 14 all at the same time, as I recall. There is a hazard to working the gun counter and being a gun accumulater.
My favorites are my 30/06 RS that I switched the stock to an RL stock, my old 'rode hard and put up wet 257Roberts ST, and my long gone 416T. The 06 has taken more game than the rest. The 257 more groundhogs and a pickup load of venison. My 7750 muzzleloader, not a Tanger, is probably 3rd on the list of gamegetters.
Surprisingly, contrary to what I read on this and other sites, i had no difficulties finding an accurate factory load or reload for any of them.
Bfly

Tangers are held in high regard. I wonder if anybody will ever feel that strongly about Mark II's?