Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles DIY bedding M77 (pic heavy)

Thanks Dave, I am about to do my first bedding job on my Remington 673 6.5 Mag. and your instructions are great. It's just as I thought but your pictures are worth a million words. Thanks, Dee

Well I hope it's of some help. As for the rifle in the pictures here I mounted a new Matte silver VXII 3-9X 40MM on it last week. The FFII is going back on my little .17 HMR.

I have trust issues with that perticular FFII. If the .264 improves (accuracy/consistency) with this VXII, then the FFII will be going back to Burris for a tune up.

Just wanted to say thanks again to Northern Dave. I bedded my M77 and it went from 4" to 1" at 100 yards. It's a .257 Roberts and I was about to scrap it. Follow his instructions closely and don't get in such a hurry and this works great. Only made 2 mistakes. 1. That stuff sticks to everything. Broke a little chip out of the tang when I "destocked" it. Glued it back and only I know it's there. And I got a little "hair" of the stuff on the stock. 2. Brownell's instructions say to wait ten hours. Five is better. Was not easy to remove the action after bedding. Thanks Dave!

congrats, glad to hear that worked out for you.

Yes, put electrical tape on the front sides and bottom of the recoil lug. The only contact should be on the rear of the lug.

This is an interesting thread, and takes me back aways. In the late 1970's, I started getting interested in bolt action rifles. I read extensively, and became a big fan of Peter Paul Mauser. I bought an Argentine 1909, new in cosmoline, and was given a surplus 98 in 8MM. Both those guns would shoot 1.5" or better 5-shot groups with iron sites. In fact, the Argentine put 5 Sierra 150 gr Spitzer's into 1.25", at 3000FPS. But, I wanted a modern bolt gun, so I could scope it, and Ruger 77 has a claw extractor. It didn't have CRF, but what did I know?

In about 1983, I finally could afford a new rifle. I bought the 77 in 7X57, what else? I put on a Leupold 2-7X, loaded some rounds, and was excited to get to the range. Much to my chagrin, it printed 2.5-3"!!! With a scope, no less. So, I bedded it, did the trigger, loaded more ammo, which I think were Sierra 140 grain bullets. Still, crappy groups. I couldn't understand why the Ruger, with a good trigger, free floated barrel, etc, couldn't match up to a surplus 8MM Mauser. The Mauser doesn't have matching numbers, has a hand guard and a barrel band, but shoots under 1.5". I have come to the conclusion that the Ruger was just a bad gun, and it was probably the most disappointing gun ownership experience I have ever had. I sold it, of course. I later bought another 77 in 22-250, and it was good for about one inch. It left the house, too.

Bedding won't turn a pig's ear into a silk purse. If you screw a good barrel into a square action, your rifle will shoot. I have bedded all my bolt action guns, whether they need it or not. But bedding won't make up for sloppy machine work. I think it's a minor consideration. As I read through this thread, I was wondering how the gun would shoot after bedding. I'm not surprised by the results, and in fact expected the poor groups after the work was done. Maybe it is better now, but what does a ten shot group look like?

If I've got to shoot at something 10 times to kill it.... i'm sure as hell not going to tell you guys about it!!

I haven't shot it since I rescoped it with a VXII 3-9 40mm. I have suspected this Burris FFII has bad juju for quite some time. As much as I don't want to send a scope in for work, I hope I'm right about the Burris.

I'm saying that a lucky five shot group is not statisically signicant, and does not an accurate rifle make. A ten shot group is a better indication of what your rifle will do than 2 five shot groups. It used to be that acceptable acccuracy for military rifles was 3" at 100 yards. But that was with iron sights. When I talked to Ruger about my M77, they told me that it was within accuracy standard, even though it was scoped. I felt they set the bar too low.

My point is that, given reasonable loads, a good rifle will shoot. I bought a Remington 700V used once, and it came with some ammo. I was alarmed at first, because it shot 3" groups. Then I shot some of my own loads. With almost no load development, it shot most loads under 0.5", with a few in the .3's, just using 50-52 grain bullets. It just didn't stabilize the other loads. That's an unusual case, though.

Anymore, if a rifle won't shoot under 2", there's something wrong with it. It may be a bedding problem, but I think it's usually a more fundamental issue of poor manufacture. Of course, gunmakers would have you believe accuracy is a mystery, that if you glass bed, free float it, and do extensive load work up, you might find the Holy Grail load that prints down near an inch. I don't buy it. Good barrels make good rifles, and proper machine work guarantees accuracy. Why else do you think Cooper is able to guarantee .5" groups? Given, they are talking 3 shot groups, but a lot of those groups are one ragged hole.

I haven't done any load experimenting with this one so I'm not ready to give up.

I've actually really taken to the rifle.

I don't know what it is about it, i've got others that shoot better with common easy to find factory loads. but this one doesn't shoot terrible & i haven't had the time... or haven't given the time to really find the best I can do with this one yet.

I've had others... a m70 coyote in 22-250 most recently that I simply couldn't be happy with so I sold it.

But I actually feel pretty good about this M77 .264, I think It's going to come around. Just got a feeling.

That was what my last honest efforts netted with factory loads. I've got dies, brass, bullets, primers... I think I'll just give backwoodsbrian a goody bag to load up for me & we'll see if we can tighten things a bit further but I really am happy with the above group in a hunting rifle.

Plus I've since changed up for what I feel is a better scope & haven't shot it yet wearing the new glass.

like I said, i feel good about this one. It shows promise I think.

You picked up some Barnes TSX to feed it didn't you? Did you ever get load data for it?

You can snag a PDF from Barnes if you need it.

http://www.barnesbullets.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/264WinchesterMagnum.pdf

yes I did, they are on top of the safe, primers are in the safe, brass is next to the safe...

That's how far I got with it lol!!

I think I should give all this stuff and your load data to Brian for now until I get set up for loading myself.

Thanks for the link!!

Pick heavy is right but a lot of great information

Remember Dave-Imitation is the Highest Form of Flattery.


This discussion help motivate me to do a little more work to try to get this .300 RSUM to shoot. I bedded the tang, action, the complete barrel shank and the bottom metal in a Boyds laminated stock. I also sealed the inside of the stock and floated the barrel. The rifle has had a trigger job, the action screws replaced, trigger pins secured in place, action trued and a factory contoured PAC-NOR barrel installed. In other words, I have done enough work on this Ruger that it should be called a Mark lll. It is now a consistent one inch or so rifle, and I have a pretty good hunting rig. CP.

Woe!! Sweet!

ND, Got any tips on bedding a Remington 700 Classic? Bought a new one in 8MM Mauser and it needs work. Had to replace the trigger, but I am thinking about bedding this one and removing the barrel hump so it is free floated just like my Ruger 77. Looks easy enough. Just do the recoil lug and tang and follow the same procedures? Have always been afraid to do anything like this but my 77 was a snap thanks to your post and worked like a charm. Thanks!

A question with an obvious answer maybe, but I can't figure it out.

If a poor man's way of floating a barrel is to put a card or two under the action then why wouldn't one put a more permanent shim under the action when bedding? Seems like this would save the hassle of removing wood from the barrel channel. That's the part I dislike anyway.

bump

I really need to let a pro answer that one as I'm more of a hobbyist.

But I would think it has to do with keeping the action low in the stock and keeping the action straight with the stock as the manufacturer/designer intended.

Blowtorch, you'll do fine with the remington. Just think it through before you glue It all works out about the same for the do it yourselfer level of bedding like this. (which has always been good enough for me)

Nice work! I did this years ago to an old Remington 700 ADL I have, as well as to a Remington 700 Mountain Rifle, which I no longer have. For those of you who are afraid of doing it, it was a piece of cake. I didn't do my tang though; only the recoil lug area and around the base of the barrel. The fit is so perfect now that I didn't see any reason to do the tang, too. The gun will now put three in a half-inch or better at 100 yards with several factory ammo choices, including the typical Remington green box stuff. Very happy I did it!

Yep.