Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles I found a very interesting rifle today

I didn't buy it, but am researching it to see what it is worth. Wondering if anyone here has or have seen a Ruger m77 mk2 stainless laminate short action chambered in 300 SAUM. From what I hear, they were only made in 2004 in the Ruger m77 mk2. That could increase value due to its rarity. Rifle is in very good condition with a great bore. I realize the SAUM cartridges are about dead or dying these days. Anyone have any input as to what they are worth? I saw one sell on gunbroker for $1,195.00 and that was a blued walnut model. The one I'm looking at is less than that and also has a Zeiss Conquest 3-9x40 on top. What say you guys? Thanks.

Just me, but if you can get a good deal on it, I’d say buy it BSA. JMan has a 7 SAUM in the same rifle and said it’s excellent.

I know they aren’t super popular but I’d bet it’s a right handy rifle. And somewhat rare. Not some peoples bottle of beer but to me that’s rare enough to be neat to have. Other than a set of dies and some cases I don’t think you’d be into all that much to make it run. Pretty much a 30-06 Improved.

Ask Dave7mm about the 300 SAUM. It’s his cartridge of choice for 1000 yard silhouette and from what he’s shown me, I’d not be a bit scared to try one out.

And those SS/Laminates are freaking cool!

In a NY second.

Great cartridge for one who reloads. Not so much for the man who doesn’t.

Thanks guys. I was checking out the ballistics of that little cartridge and it is pretty impressive. I'll have to think it over, but the way I figured it out it's like this:

Zeiss Conquest 3-9x40 in excellent condition: $400.00

Rifle $700.00.

Shop owner said he'd sell it to me for $1,100.00 "out the door" total price. That would also include taxes and background check... I realized the rifle is worth more than that, but when I look at a rifle I have to break down the essentials before I buy. Knowing the older Conquests are demanding good money right now I start with the value of the scope first. Then the remainder is what I'm basically paying for the rifle.. One thing I have to add about the scope is that warranty is pretty slick. If anything does happen to the old Conquest, they will most times replace it with a V4. Having experienced that last week with a 4.5-14x44 I sent in. Kudos to Zeiss by the way!!!!

I hope you grab it. It’s like a 30/06 Improved. Same same as the 280 Ackley and 7 SAUM. Case capacity is generally the same or close enough to not matter.

Scotty, it looks like it has the same ballistics as the wizzum. Yes, basically an improved 30-06, but on a short action. Cool little rifle. It does have a 22" barrel, but I'm assuming that cartridge does well with that length? Does anyone know where to get brass for one of these bad boys?

Yeah, I’d be A-Ok with the 22” barrel myself on that cartridge.

I’d assume it would be a quite handy rifle as well. I’m odd in that rare ducks like that are neat to me. I can almost figure out a place in my brain where that rifle would work excellent for some sorta niche I’ve developed in my head…

I’d guess off the top of my head with the right powders you’d be in the 2800+ range pretty easily with 200 PTs or around 2900 or so with the 175 LRXs you’ve got. Pretty good places to be with either bullet.

Yeah, I'm with you on that too buddy. I like rare rifles. This one in particular only being made for 1 year (in the Ruger m77) is appealing. At least that is what I found during a search on this particular rifle. Someone correct me on that if I'm wrong. I also heard the SAUM's feed better than the WSM's because of the different shoulder angle. I know I'd have to glass bed it and work a little magic on the trigger, but the nice thing about these Rugers, is they are quite functional and easy to work on. Triggers don't need to be replaced, just fine tuned and accuracy has always shrank by 1/2 with a good glass bedding job.. I am down to 1 Ruger m77 mk2 in the safe right now and it is chambered in 300wm. The first 300wm I owned. Its also in a laminate stock, so the little rifle would fit in well with it. At one time I was collecting 300 magnum rifles, but didn't even think about the 300 SAUM. Thanks for your input.

I think you should by it. Those are great actions unless you want a lightweight. Lightweight it ain't.

Is is the gray coated stainless or just stainless?

Just stainless. Not the teflon coated..

I do the same damn thing.

My pea brain has spots picked out for a particular rifle. Even if I'll only be there once every few years.

I agree buddy. It is a nice cute little package. What caught my eye first was it was a short action Ruger 77 in a laminated wood stock. I could only see the floor plate side facing me while it was in the rack, but knew it was a Ruger 77. I asked to see it and was surprised by its heft. Probably 9.2 pounds all up, by my best guess. While not bad for a 300 magnum, a lot heavier than the Tikka's I've been playing around with lately..

Well, I'm running out of room in the damn safes because of friends like Scotty!!!! ha ha.. I am going to have to start hanging them on the wall or peg board in the shop.. Probably not legal anymore to do that though!!! My thoughts are now to maybe use one as trade bait. I had to take one of my AR10's to a shop in town and put it on consignment. Got an offer the other day on it for $300 more than I paid for it. I have a great shooting 204 Ruger Tikka T3x that I'm thinking about sending down the road. I pulled every piece off of it that was an "upgrade": B&C Stock, Mountain tactical bolt handle, Mountain tactical aluminum bottom metal, Mountain tactical rail, and swapped with my new 22-250. That new Tikka is a shooting machine and I like the 22-250 cartridge more than the 204 Ruger. Gave it a fair shake though, but it may get traded for this Ruger?..

Hell yes. I’d trade the Tikka 204 all day long for that Ruger.

You can always get another 204, you aren’t going to see many of the 300 SAUMs in a Ruger.

Their laminates are tanks. But if you’re good you can drill a few deep holes in the butt to get rid of some weight if you wanted. If it ain’t checked that was always a nice touch too.

I’m glad I’m in good company!

The rare of the rare are 325 WSM’s in the ruger 77. Followed by 7 wsm. Followed the rsaum chamberings. I never seen a ruger chambered in a 270 wsm. But I seen 325, 7wsm, 7 Saum and 300 saum over the years.

I haven't really been looking for Rugers lately. Made it a mission to sell off some of the ones I did have and keep the win model 70's. I do appreciate the utility of them though. The same shop has a beautiful Ruger number 1 (shop owner says its a number 3) 6.5x284 varminter. Very nice rifle as well. Can probably get that one for a killer deal. Back to the 300 Rem SAUM, I have been checking prices on dies, brass and double checking what that zeiss sells for. The best deal I found was $425. So $400 is pretty close for a quick sale. $50 for a good die set, and a dollar a piece for brass. Everything seems to be available, but online prices for ammo is freaking ridiculous!! Also my best guess on the weight of the rifle may be off by a bit. It looks so small, I don't know how it could be in the 9 pound range. I'm curious to get it on a scale...

Ok Scotty. This is how it went down today:

Took in some trade bait: Newly purchased Tikka 204 Ruger from last month. I stripped everything good off of it. That would include the $455 B&C stock:
Tikka T3x B&C stock OD green with black spiderwebbing

Mountain tactical bottom metal: $150
Mountain tactical rail: $62
Mountain tactical bolt handle: $75

Total: $742 Just in aftermarket parts I took off of the rifle. I replaced the stock with a T3 stock I had laying around from an old rifle. Keep in mind I took it back to the shop I bought it from last month. I know the guy in there very well and he gives me pretty damn good deals, so I wasn't wanting to screw him or anything. Told him how about $500 for the Tikka. He says how about $550? I say ok, sounds great. He knows I pulled parts off of the 204, but the main one was the stock. I originally paid $750 for the rifle and he also threw in a box of ammo for free. Ammo worth about $40. I also brought in some steel cased 223 55gr FMJ Wolf ammo. 18 boxes that I was never going to use: $9/box. Brought what I owed on the rifle down to $388.00. As I was driving home I thought, damn I have a lot of bullets, I have been buying for the 204, I'm not going to use those so I give the guy a call: Hey, do you want some reloading components for that 204 I just sold you? "Hell yes:, he says, "bring them in". Well, we arrive at $20/box for the bullets. I paid $19/box for them. I also had some primed brass I threw in. That was put towards the rifle at a sum of $220.00. Now I owe $168 on the rifle. I think it worked out very well for a Friday afternoon... Oh, incase you are wondering where all those Mountain Tactical parts and B&C stock went:



I need to take that rifle to the range and put up a clean target!! That sob is jumbled, but that day there were a lot of guys at the range and I didn't want to interrupt shooting by walking down to set up a new target... As for the new Ruger, it's going to take some work. The barreled action shifts in the stock, so it is not glass bedded and someone freefloated the barrel. I imagine the original owner, or whoever did that was getting something like 5" groups. Probably the reason he sold it. Little does that guy know I will work some magic on it and make it a sub moa shooter. The solid black 1/2" rubber butt pad is going to get replaced with a red pachmayr. I imagine what's on there now would feel like getting hit by a 2x4 or a mule. I'm not even going to think twice about putting a better recoil pad on that one.

One of these will work^^^^

I found a die set in town for $44, so I need to find some brass and I'll be ready to rock and roll...

BSA be patient on the brass. More 300 saum out there than 7 saum by a damn site but out there. I chased 7 mm saum for 2 years before I acquired enough....mb

Thanks Bob. I have some once fired heading my way and in contact with another member for some more after the holiday. I won't need a whole lot, just enough to do some testing and I'll probably keep a box of 50 loaded up after finding a great load. The rifle is going to need some work right from the get go, with a new red pachmayr decelerator, glass bedding and you know how the triggers are on these rugers. When done, it will be more like a fine tuned model 70 than a ruger. Should shoot decent enough for what it is too. We will see though. My expectations are only 1" 3 shot groups, but ive had some rugers shoot much better than that. This one has a pretty skinny short barrel, hopefully it was machined well, with minimal residual stresses!!

I'll tell you I never heard Jud bitching about his 7 saum in the ruger. My boat paddles in 308 and 223 are sure enough good shooters even with original heavy triggers. Good luck and keep us up on it..mb

Nice grab on the 300!

Any pictures of this rig yet BSA?

Not yet buddy. I'm on vacation with my daughter, so maybe next week?

Just for you Scotty:




I also checked it for function (the reason the dummy rounds were in the picture). Works great. That was before cleaning and polishing the feed ramp and raceways. Now it is even better. I set my die up so there is very minimal shoulder bump. After I fire some off, I'll do a proper check to get a .002" bump or so and it should be fine. All once fired brass that I received from a member here works fine after sizing brass. Looks promising, so far..

Whoever mounted the scope, must have been a short mother fu cker. I will re-do it later after all the other work is done. Glass bedding and stock refinish. I adjusted the trigger down to a very consistent and safe 2 5/8 pounds:


I didn't want to go any lighter because these Ruger m77 mk2 triggers can be sensitive. Kept all the angles, replaced the factory spring and went a little lighter. It is very smooth and crisp now. Should be great, as compared to the 6 pounds it was at when I checked it. Totally factory setting. That is a good sign, actually. The rifle cleaned up real nice. Barrel shows minimal use, but was dirty as heck. Rifling looks great and lands are sharp. I'm still expecting pretty good accuracy after glass bedding and load work up. I have 65 pcs of brass now and am expecting another 50 pcs tomorrow. I wont' be shooting it for a few days though. Giving the finish a little time to cure. Laminate stocks are pretty easy to re-finish, so I chose that route. I believe this is a JRS (John R Sundra) stock from Boyds. Not factory, even though Ruger started using this same style laminate stock. The recoil pad was solid rubber and hard like a car tire, so I replaced it with a red Pachmayr Decelerator. My preference these days. The scope is in like new condition. One of the reasons I bought the rifle:




New recoil pad after some jig work. Not cleaned up, just checked for fit:

That will be much better than the solid rubber pad it had.




The glass is super clear, as one would expect from Zeiss. I guess the rifle was roughly $675, which is not a stellar deal by yesterdays standards, but a good deal these days. I'm thinking I'll be pretty happy with it, as it fits well. We will see how it shoots later this week. I may just sling some cheap azzed FMJ's I pulled from some 1942 30-06 ammo. ha ha... We'll see though... I'll show the bedding work after I get that done. That will be in a few days though. Here are some pics of the red pachmayr and after sading on the stock:


I think it's going to be a pretty good one after work is done... I may also put the new Zeiss V4 4-16 on this rifle. I was trying to decide which rifle that scope would work on well and this one may be it???
This is how it sits for now, until the stock work is done:


Bubba smith out...

Looks great!

That this is great BSA! Don't sell that one too quick, looks mighty handy. I'd have to find someone to check it for me, but man, what a wicked little rifle! Looking forward to seeing what it does on the range. How long is the mag box on it?

Thanks Teeder. I appreciate the brass! Funny, the other lot of brass I ordered is coming from Cresco PA.. Weird coincidence. That is supposed to be here today..

Thanks Scotty. I thought so too. We wills see how she does. It is sitting in Devcon 10110 right now as we speak. I have 50 pcs of brass primed and polished, ready to go. The mag box measures 2.903" roughly. Which should allow me to load up close to the lands with no problems.. I haven't checked OAL's for different bullets yet. I'll wait for the bedding to harden up a bit before messing with it too much. Its also frefloated right now. I'll shoot it as is and if accuracy is not good, I'll have to play around with business cards at the tip of the forend. Generally 2 points of contact work well for these Rugers, even if you have to put a pressure point in. Something a lot of guys don't get.. No bedding in the azz end, as you want to maintain necessary clearances (It's a Ruger not a Model 70). Its a mechanical theory that generally holds water from what I've experienced. We will see though.

It be a fine hunting rifle. I like laminate stocks.

Thanks hanco. I like them too. Pretty impervious to the elements. A tad heavy, but that helps with reducing recoil on a magnum rifle. I'm curious as to how this one works out in that department. Like Scotty said, should be a pretty good little handy rifle. The Ruger 77 is a workhorse of a rifle.

Had the same rifle but in 300 WM. Blonde laminate, SS - was a great rig.

Yeah, I have a 300WM that I've had since '95 like that. I put it in a laminated wood stock because the boat paddle pounds the crap out of you. I didn't want to alter the Zytel stock, so I left it original and recently sold it on ebay for something like $380!! Damned near what I paid for the rifle many years ago.. Speaking of stock color though, I changed this one up a bit. Went with a more red stain, that I like to use to bring out more color in the stock, then I applied 5 coats of poly to it... Sanded out some scratches and installed the red pachmayr. Looks slightly different now. Not like your typical Ruger laminate.. I've done this with laminated wood stocks and it works great. Finish is pretty strong and even more impervious to the elements that way.. I think the bedding is going to turn out pretty good too. Plenty of coverage, I hope!!

That's funny! Had the same darned one. Got it when I first got stationed at Camp Pendleton in 97. Now one of my good friends owns it.

It was responsible for destroying 2 Burris scopes of the time and making me shun them ever since. Late 90's or so. Back when you bought rifles at the hardware store.

I got mine at the PX and mounted and VXI 3x9 of the day on it. Darned thing never skipped a beat. I got dumb after reading too much internet..

Killed a few elk and deer with it.

8.5 pounds as you see it. Ready to rock and roll. Or at least see what it can do. Glass bedding is solid, as I had expected. Checking different bullets for OAL right now..

You guys made me pull my 300wm out. It is a laminate wood stock, with some red in it. Probably a Boyds, not factory Ruger..

For the longest time, I used a Ruger m77 mk2 blued wood 338wm when I hunted elk. That rifle was so damn accurate. Why did I ever get rid of it?? ha ha.. I've had many Ruger 77's, stainless laminates (3 338wm's with the pepper laminates back in the late 90's), those were exceptionally accurate rifles. Shot way above their price point. Many 30-06's, a few 270's. Great utilitarian rifles.

Agreed. Workhorse rifles.

That looks excellent.

Thanks buddy. Hoping it shoots well too.

Own a few Hawkeyes and one MKII. Some are stainless and some blued. To me they're a staple because they're lefties and the ones I have are no longer available and not the easiest to aquire. Two of them get get a lot of use.

Yeah I’d bet it’ll be good.

When’s the range day?

At one time back in the 90's, I sold every rifle I owned and just kept a left handed 300wm. I used that rifle for everything. I could never get used to the left hand action though and built my collection back up.. Old Craig Boddington's writings convinced me I only needed a left handed rifle. Boy was he wrong!!!

Not sure. It's hotter than hell here today and yesterday. That bedding hardened pretty quick. 104 degrees and 16% humidity. Same for the finish on the stock. She's ready to be shot right now. Later on tonight I may mess around with some loads. Got OAL measurements on about 10 different bullet types earlier. about half of them I can run .020" off the lands, then the other half I have to load to mag box length, which is about .050" off the lands.. Kind of sucks, but "it is what it is". The rings are also too high for that scope, but I'm hoping they will be perfect for the new Zeiss V4 4-16x44. I was pulling my hair out trying to decide which rifle I was going to be trying that scope on. Now I know.. Should be about the perfect match for this cartridge and rifle. Oops, I'm going to need 30mm rings. ha ha..

That’s great. I don’t sweat seating depth myself most of the time. If they’re straight I don’t see much issue.

Yeah, for the most part I like to know where the bullet is in relation to the lands, so as to develop a reliable load. I'll generally run most bullets .020" off the lands and call it good. Always able to find a sweet spot with OCW..

Same here. I like being able to get square with them for cup and cores but if I can’t I won’t totally go nuts.

Yeah, sometimes you can't for sure. The dang 165 TTSX I checked was .100" off the lands at 2.890" OAL. Those Barnes like quite a bit of jump most times anyway. Not always, but most times. I'm curious as to how those perform. Not exactly sure what I'm going to be loading up first for load development. Wanting to fireform some brass to my chamber, but the brass I got from teeder fits nice after sizing. Checked and the fired brass from his rifle chambered in mine as well, so I used that brass for checking bullet to lands dimensions.. Worked great that way.

I’d load them as they sit. Might surprise you.

Pretty hard to make a Barnes shoot like crap.

I believe that and have seen the same thing. My buddies 300WSM I was talking about in a different thread that is hard on brass really likes 165gr TSX. When I worked up a load on that rifle, most everything shot into 1/2". It was weird. He later said he didn't know how good the TSX is and said the TTSX should shoot better. I just laughed..

I can go right handed if needed but it feels unnatural still and not dominant eye. I'm used to left hand actions because I dry fire and practice speed and bolt manipulation without ammo. It becomes extremely ingrained into muscle memory.

I wonder about safety issues and keeping my face and eyes as shielded as possible from the port of the receiver and I like the idea of a proper sided action. Could it be an safety issue? Maybe? I'm not 100% sure but I thunk about it. Then again I have leveraction and they're not anywhere near as safe and strong as any sided bolt action.

Yeah, that is definitely a consideration. Just growing up with right handed bolt actions engrained that into my muscle memory. There's no right hander that is faster off the bench, but that only makes sense. Think about it.... Of course shooting offhand the righty is faster in bolt manipulation. However, Since most of my shooting is off the bench or prone or supported, shooting a right handed bolt works out better. The funny thing is it's never really been an issue while hunting either. Grew up shooting running jackrabbits with my m1917 sporter 30-06, so I've probably had more practice than most running a right handed bolt gun..

Alright, some nitty gritty. Range day time. Ran into an issue with some slightly bad brass. TIR's were high. In the .009-012" range. Way more than what is acceptable by my standards. Not a huge issue, I'll work around that. Here's a pic of the rifle when I took it to the range the other day. Still had the infamous Zeiss Conquest 3-9x40 on top:

Pretty big fn gap on that objective huh? Don't worry, that got fixed!!! This scope is almost useless to me, with the bassackwards turret dial and no hash marks in the reticle. It may get sold on ebay. Just sayin.. You guys that use these and love them, my hat goes off to you. I like a simpler approach though: Here's what it is now:


Groups shot that day were less than stellar. Using "once fired" brass from a different rifle. Kept them in the 1.5" ish range, with Hornady 180gr BTSP interlocks. Generally those shoot better in all of my rifles..:




Knowing the rifle should shoot much better, I had to check some things. Found the ammo was not real straight. Brass has uneven neck thickness. Good enough for "hunting" ammo though. Now today I was better prepared. I shot some brass that was fireformed in this rifle. It chambered better, it had a .002-.003 shoulder bump and was ready to go. The only thing was the TIR was high on some of it: IE: up to .012"!!! I shot that at 100 yards and then said "f it, I'm shooting the straighter ammo at 400!!!" Well, here is one group shot at 100:

Rifle likes that book max, but I'm going to bring the chrono out next time and bump the charge up 1/2 grain. Don't tell Barnes!. I want better than 1" basically..

Well, here are some of the 400 yard results:


This was the first 400 yard group. I had loaded some ammo with an arbitrary load of 59gr Big Game, but this ammo had much better TIR numbers^^^> I figured I'd use it to check the dial at 400. Worked pretty good, and oddly enough, no adjustment on the dial:

It's not perfect, but it's pretty close, for what it is..^ I'll paint over the ".556" info on top of the dial..

I was pretty happy with that for starters, but had to shoot some of the #5 charge weight (book max that did good at 100):


Oh, before I go any further I have to tell you that I switched scopes. Went with one of my favorite scopes that are inexpensive and track very well. I just bought this one on ebay for $122. It's a $350 AR scope that has been discontinued. This is a SFP scope, so those of you that think you need a FFP scope, move on, this is not the thread for you. This is the first outing at 400 yards, so stay tuned for better.. :

I have to say, I really like this rifle. Yes, it is totally "utilitarian", but it will get the job done. Its reliable and it will shoot better guaranteed. As it is, it would be an elk slaying sob with this load, but I'm hoping after I get the brass sorted out and all sub .003" TIR, it will be much better. Check this out. Before I leave the range I always have to shoot at the 400 yard yote. Pretty easy target really. This was a quick shot with the Ruger. You can tell which one is the Barnes. Its copper colored:


One shot in the neck is where I generally aim on my less precise rifles:

I figure this Barnes would work^^^ Copper Barnes mark of death... Those other guys shooting 7" groups on that yote suck balls. ha ha..

Thanks for watching and good shooting!! Now the shop owner is wanting me to by the Ruger #1 6.5-284 Norma he has in the shop. It's a HB, but I don't have a real good feeling about it. $1,000.00 for a rifle that was only made one year according to him??????

Careful, there’s a tool that runs around constantly talking sh it about 3 shot groups and hitting the orange dot.

“Just saying”.

Well done BSA. As far as the trigger goes, you could consider a nice trigger shoe. I have one on an old M77 that was rebarreled to 338-06 AI. It was a rifle my had had for years as a 25-06 and has a nice trigger shoe that helps the feel out a bunch. He would always joke about it as being the poor man’s trigger job.

That's funny. Maybe a good suggestion, but I've never tried one. I don't mind the shape of the m77 trigger shoe as is. I have 2 different variations I can use, but this one gets it done very nicely and is a very consistent 2 5/8 pounds.. I'm pretty content with it. Didn't really think about it much when out on the range today, and that is when you know you have a good trigger...