Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Ruger M_77 Tanger

4 at least, and maybe 5. Two stand out. One was an RL model in .257 Roberts. Second was a varmint in .22-250. One, not favorite but memorable, was a .300 win mag .. killed my first elk with it. One was a real lemon, a .25-'06. Not sure that chamber had a throat. It was a laser with 75 grain Sierras but it was a primer blowing SOB with anything heavier. I'm a little fuzzy .. I think there was another one but I don't remember what it was.

One more .. I suppose was technically mine but not really .. dad and I split the cost of a "green meanie" tanger in '06 for my mom.

have a 257 AI and just a few days ago picked up a 300 Win in a B&C carbalite with a timney trigger

Sold my 7Mag as I don't travel west anymore. My baby is a .308 Flatbolt, my first centerfire, and it has traveled with me to many states hunting. Not the most accurate rifle I own, but always brings me luck.

Naive question but ......why doesn't Ruger bring back the tanger? Seems to be a lot of interest and I bet they would sell a bunch if they used decent wood , a 22" non threaded blued barrel and round top receiver.

My first rifle was a roundtop .270 ca. 1976 and I've had nothing I liked better or shot better since.

Not a gun writer, but that I can remember, I've had four. 1.) A 22-250 flat bolt that had some family history. It was supposedly a tack driver new, but when I got it, it had no rifling for the first half of the barrel. 2.) A flat bolt 22-250 I bought at a local gunshop with a 7.5x Leupold. It shot acceptably but not spectacularly. 3.) A .30-06 that my dad bought for me in 1985. It never shot well at all. We messed with it for a few years. Not sure what finally happened to it. 4.) a like new 1974 .30-06 with a K4 Weaver that I picked up for $300 at a combination shooting range / gunshop. After a lot of fiddling with it, it remained a 2.5" rifle. 5.) A .270 round top that shot everything into an inch or slightly better.

I also had a .243. I can't remember if it was a tang safety or Mark II. It shot spectacularly but into two groups spaced about 5" apart. After messing with bedding, I realized the dovetails for the rings were badly out of alignment. Even after lapping the rings, if you tightened down the rear ring, the scope would stick up about 1/2-3/4" above the front ring and thereby putting the action in a severe bind. I've seen that a time or two since on Rugers but that one was the worst.

I still have it along with several other 77 tangers. Haven't headed to the mountains with that .338 yet, but it is ready to make the trip. Enjoy shooting it at the range.

My dream (affordable) rifle would be a Ruger 77 tanger round top with nice wood ( no Ruger rings ) and 24" ( no open sights) 280 AI otherwise I'd "settle" for a 22" 280 or 270 Maybe Lipsey will commission a run.

My first was a .280 in 1977. Good shooter but hard trigger. Tried a couple more through the years; .2 338WM,(both shot poor) my last one was a an older one in 7x57. It shot pretty good, but I upgraded my 7x57 itch ( an older mod 70 fwt 7mm Mauser) rather than spend tweaking money on the Ruger. Haven't got it back from being set up by my smith. He and his wife, me and a older fiend, all got Covid from different places, but about the same time. Rough..it killed my older friend. I'm just happy its over! ha

That's awesome. That tanger must have an exceptional barrel. I've had many m77 mk2 338WM's and they were all exceptional shooters. Not as good as my current pre 64 338wm, but exceptional nonetheless... Now to answer the op's quetion:

1. 270 round top:

Do I miss it? NO. It was a great shooter, but was a tank compared to my 270 pre 64 FWT. It went down the road

2. 300wm that I bought about 5 years ago. Funny story: This old indian fisherman came into the gunshop and asked how much the owner would give him for it. Owner said $150. Indian guy left and I asked the shop owner if he wanted to make $50. He said yes. Took rifle home glass bedded it shot it:

Shot well enough, even though it was missing some rifling. I put another $175 into it with a nice cerakote job and the guy also jeweled the bolt. The rifling kind of irritated me, so I sold it to a friend. That kept asking about it. He really wanted a good shooting 300wm.

3. 270 winchester. Found this rifle for a damn good deal. It was in a synthetic stock and it felt great when packing around in the woods. I only paid $250 for the rifle and it was a damn good shooter. But nonetheless I don't like the 270 winchester so I sent it down the road.

4. One of my favorites was a 30-06 in a green and red laminated wood stock. I miss that old rifle. I killed many a coyote with it and it shot very well. A solid rifle that I should have never sold. I think about that one from time to time.

5. Tanger in 243 win. Shot so well, I have no idea why I sold it. Except back in the 90's I was reading Boddington and he said that if you are a left handed shooter, you need to sell all your right handed bolt actions because they are the devil. I sold all of my good rifles and bought 1 left handed Ruger m77 mk2 300wm. Later found out Boddington was so full of chidt his eyes were brown.. Now I have right handed rifles again. FU the douchebag that says they are the devil...

41rem: A bunch!
My favorites are/were a "Liberty" Model 77-V in 220 Swift - this Ruger "tanger" shoots pretty well and has been a loyal friend since 1976.
I wish I had kept another "favorite", a Model 77-V in caliber 7m/m Express - I harvested a lot of long distance Antelope and Mule Deer with that Rifle.
Another "favorite" I wish I had never traded off was an early dog-leg bolt "tanger" in 6m/m Remington.
Also foolishly sold off a Ruger 77 "tanger" with medium heavy barrel in caliber 257 Roberts - yeah I wish I had that one back!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Varmintguy, you reminded me of the one that I wish I would never have let go, my 416 Taylor! It started as either a 300 or 7mm mag, can't remember which. I sold it once, a few years later bought it back. A few years later when I needed to pay a bunch of medical bills, I sold it again. Sometimes I amaze myself at how stupid I can be, should have sold something that I could replace. You can't fix stupid.
Bfly

My 416 Taylor is built on a tang safety M77. It's a great shooter and has been to Africa but sees a lot of use in the deer woods. I wouldn't part with it.

I have some.

1- .243 Flat Bolt
1- .257 Roberts UL
1- .308 Flat Bolt
1- .30-06 Flat Bolt Round Top
1- .30-06 Flat Bolt w/ Iron Sights

All very nice rifles in beautiful condition.

I have a tanger in 250 sav

I added a like new #73 prefix, 1978 era M77ST roundtop in .25/06 to the collection. I mounted a Leupold M8-8x36mm scope in Buehler Code #6 vertical split rings & bases.

Old thread resurrection time!

I'd like an old Tanger in a sporter weight .22-250 that shoots decent if anybody knows of one?

41

When I was young and had lost my small rifle collection due to a divorce, bought a tang-safety Ruger 77 .30-06 to get started again. It was one of those pre-hunting season deals at a local that included a scope, in that instance a Bushnell 4x, which worked fine. Used it for several years to take the standard variety of Montana big game--pronghorns, whitetails, mule deer, black bear and elk--and Eileen used it to take a bighorn ewe.

It was pretty darn accurate, grouping three shots of its "favorite" handloads into 1 to 1-1/2" at 200 yards. Can't imagine anything that would have done better on most of the big game animals I've taken in various places since, but hindsight isn't foresight....

I have 2 77 tang safety Ruger, first is a 1974 .30-06 and the other is a 1982 77V .22-250, both have been very good shooters.

I've got a tanger in 270 that I bought new over twenty years ago. Been hunting with it at least once but never dropped anything with it.

Now it sits quietly in the corner of the safe.

Factory stock except for free floated Wilson barrel ?1979 30-06 which shoots 1.5 inches at best but is fine for Michigan deer hunting.

Gun show purchased ( along with dies and a bunch of handloads) tanger in slim laminated stock and 338-06 Lilja barrel which shoots better than I do...most of the time. Found out later that it belonged to a family friend of a work colleague who wasn't happy with the way it shot with heavily crimped loads. I load 180 grain bullets and don't use a heavy crimp.

And a 7 x 57 which I got in a three way horse trade which I have not shot yet. Need to check and see how it is throated before committing scarce/expensive components.

I have not been inclined to fiddle with the 30-06 since it was a gift from my wife shortly after we were married. But after a few decades of loading for and shooting other rifles I'm thinking about a barrel swap. I have a stainless Ruger 30-06 barrel that ought to be an improvement but I'm not convinced the chamber meets SAAMI spec or would drop in headspace after DIY barrel removal and installation. Unfired factory loads wiggle a little when dropped in the chamber. Or perhaps a JES rebore to 338-06 or 35 Whelen.