Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger 77 MK/II gunsmith recommendation

Who is a good gunsmith that works on Ruger 77 MK/II rifles? Because the rifle was rebarreled (7mm-08), Ruger will not address why my bolt is binding and not feeding.

I actually purchased the rifle years ago and had a gunsmith install a Hart barrel. Until recently, all I did was single feed it during load development. I've found since, that it binds and does not feed well at all when 3 rounds are placed into the the magazine box.

Often, the bolt doesn't even push a cartridge into the chamber because is has literally stopped forward motion. It isn't a chamber issue at all. It is a feeding from the mag even before the round chambers.

I own several Ruger 77 MK/II rifles and I've never had this issue.

Any suggestions or recommendations??

This time of year it's gonna be a LONG wait for a reputable smith. You're stuck in "waited until the last minute but need it for deer season" traffic now. I use David Sams for everything. Old school smith. Excellent work.

Added: if you're looking to ship to a specialist, make sure to read up on recent UPS issues if you aren't going to go through your FFL.

I've a ton of other rifles so I'm not pressed to use this one at all.

Wow, UPS sucks!!!!!!

Yeah UPS sucks. Don't use them. Same can be said for the "gunsmith" that installed your barrel. I'd also have to add that if you did not re-barrel to what the original cartridge was, you can sometimes have issues. Example: if it were a 30-06 before and you go to 7mm08, you could have feeding issues. What was it chambered for before? You don't say in your OP.. With this being said, Ruger will not re-barrel a rifle to a different cartridge than what it originally had. This is part of the reason for that.

If Dennis Olson in Montana is still active he is who I suggest for working on controlled round feeding issues.

Sounds like the issue is not related to the barrel. Have you taken the rifle apart to make sure there's not a magazine box binding issue, or action screw hitting the bolt? Start at the start, as they say.

It was a brand new in the box 243 that I bought for the purpose of installing a Hart 7mm-08 onto the action.

The barrel isn't an issue, though the gunsmith should have seen the issue before sending it to me after he installed the Hart barrel. It does not appear to be an issue with the magazine box.

I even checked the bolt serial number to make sure it was the right one for the action. It is.

I've played with the bolt all afternoon and it just seems like the bolt is just not gliding smoothly and is binding for whatever reason. I'm hopeful that it is a minor issue that can be readily fixed by someone with more knowledge and skill than me.

Yes sir, I agree. I even took it out of the McMillan stock and put it back into the factory synthetic stock and there is zero difference with it.

If it feeds single rounds successfully for load development, it probably wouldn't be a screw binding the bolt. Does it feed any better with just 1 or 2 coming from the mag? (You only described what happens with 3 down.)

Are you only trying to chamber reloaded ammo? If you haven't tried factory ammo I would.

It sometimes will feed a round and many other times is binds well before a round even enters the chamber.

Even with no rounds it sometimes binds so bad that you can actually stop the bolts forward motion completely.

It shouldn't be this rough and aggravating to operate the bolt.

I’d PM Charlie Sisk - if he couldn’t help you I’m sure he’d point you in the right direction.

Thanks Pinto, I'll contact him.

I don't remember if MKIIs have the notch as part of the metal or in the tang wood, but you've got the slot for the bolt to travel through on the aftermarket stock, right? (I watched someone replace a commercial Mauser stock and forget to add the slot which obviously makes the bolt very hard to cycle.)

You mention owning other 77 Mk II rifles - try one of those bolts in the trouble rifle, even if it's a long action bolt. If the test bolt drags back and forth, you have a problem in the receiver. If the test bolt moves freely, you have a problem with the bolt, perhaps the extractor. Worth a free test anyway.

This is a somewhat common issue in some Rugers, mostly in the stainless ones. I have addressed it in a few. There is a little too much slop in the bolt and that combined with some sharp angles in the rear bridge and other places can bind the bolt. It probably has nothing to do with the rebarrel job.

I mostly use a diamond file to break the edges and then a Dremel with a polishing wheel to clean things up. For the bolt itself I use a polishing wheel on a bench grinder. It's about 30 minutes work, maybe 30 minutes more to get all the polishing compound out of the nooks and crannies.

It might be instructive to cover the entire bolt with magic marker and you'll see where it binds/drags.

1) Take the rifle out of the stock and clamp the barrel/action in a vice so you can see your work and keep junk from falling into the action where you can't get it.
2) with a diamond file or stone or Dremel, break the sharp edge on the inside rear of the receiver bridge--this is usually a 90 degree angle and it will catch the bolt. I would go all around the inside rear edge of the receiver bridge.
3) do the same on the front side of the receiver though this is usually not problematic
4) break the sharp leading edges of the bolt lugs. Don't touch the rear edges of the lugs (which determine headspace). But sharp front edges of the bolt can dig in and drag on the feed rails.
5) check the spring collar that holds the extractor in place. Sometimes this can sit proud of the bolt and catch on the receiver bridge. Pull the collar and break the sharp edges.
6) Polish the entire outside, top, and bottom faces of the extractor.
7) Polishing feed rails can help but for me it never made too much difference.

Worth noting that I had one MkII that nothing helped... I got the bolt NP3'd, which fixed the problem completely. Very slick finish. Another option is Birdsong Black-T... or any slick teflon finish.

In fact you could probably just send the rifle to Birdsong and not do any of the above. But I'd smooth it out first and then see if it needs a slicker finish.

TX35W, I believe you have described exactly what the issue is!!!

Good info since I just bought my first MKII ever !!

I still love the Ruger 77 MK/IIs. I own several.