Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger M77 tang safety trigger question

I'm looking at a Ruger M77 at a local gun shop. It is the older tang safety trigger (Mk 1?) version. I was listening to Tom Gresham's Gun Talk radio show last week and this model came up.

It was suggested that the guy send his M77 off to a good gunsmith to get the trigger worked on as "it can't be removed." The guy wanted a smoother trigger pull. Can these triggers be adjusted? And is it better to have a gunsmith to any and all work on these triggers? Would I do better looking at a new model M77?

Thanks for the help.

John

They can be adjusted to a point. You can buy a lighter spring and that helps too.

Most gunsmiths can make then quite nice for not much. I paid $30 for that last one I had done and he did it while I waited. I have started to do the MkIIs myself. It took a few minutes to figure out how, but once you have the mechanics understood its not that hard, a little polish and a lighter spring and its a very nice trigger.

I have been using one in 280 with a factory heavy barrel for almost 10 years that was adjusted by a smith down to somewhere around 3lbs. It's very smooth, very little creep and breaks clean with no perceptible overtravel. I really like the tang safety, and wouldn't consider the MKII version with so many tang safety versions available on the cheap. There is no snick or sound at all with the tang if you press down slightly as you push forward.

John,

Back in the day when the M77 was new and tang safety was the only variety available, the common tweak to improve pull was to cut one coil from the trigger spring. You can definitely remove that trigger, I recall putting a Canjar in a M77V .220 Swift and a Timney in a .338 Win Mag.

One of my relatives still hunts with the .338.

jim

I have a 1989 Ruger M-77 with the tang safety and the trigger is definitely removable. Just as HunterJim has done, I've replaced it with a Canjar trigger. The trigger assembly has a vertical rod that is press-fitted up into the receiver. The rod can be tapped out through a small hole in the receiver assembly. I believe that the hole can be seen by removing the bolt.

I have a timney trigger for a Ruger M77 tang safety that I am willing to part with. PM me if interested.

The m77 safety is easily adjustable and I prefer it to the mkII.

I have a .270 tang-safety M77. My local gunsmith adjusted it down to 3 pounds with no creep and a clean break. I have Timney and Jewell triggers on my custom rifles, and, at the risk of committing sacrilege, I must say that the factory trigger on the Ruger, after being adjusted, suits me just about as well as those two after-market triggers.

Tang safety triggers adjust exactly like Remington 700 triggers do.