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

Learning curve stuff, not to worry.

was just reading the bedding post and admiring the pics .
however i have some reservations about the 50 thousants clearance , doesn't seem like thats enough. it may be right but i prefer more . barrels really do whip.

I shot my bet groups to date with this rifle today.

Not bad for a first attempt at handloading.

My 60 gr of IMR 7828 under the 130 gr TSX was typical for what I'd seen from factory loads thus far accuracy wise.

When I jumped up to 62.5 gr of powder things started to tighten up.



3/4"

Then the 65 gr of IMR 7828, 3/4" group here too. This was after a scope adjustment to bring things down as the point of impact climbed with powder increases.



Accuracy wise the 62.5 and 65 gr seemed well matched.

But I was worried about the 65 gr being a little too hot. I had one piece of brass (mu first 65 gr load) stick a little on me, hard to extract.

I put a light film of oil on the rest of my 65 gr loads and they extracted effortless.

But I'm still thinking I'll back down to 64 gr and give it another go.

Don't do that.

mathman is correct. no oil, no lube film, no nothing. keep you cases clean.

10-4

I'm going to load some up with 64 gr of powder this week and give it another try.

I am a fan of free-floating - none of my rifles are anything but, and own several Ruger 77 OM- all of which now shoot 1.25 MOA or less with most any loads, bedded and free-floated. But then I'm a gunsmith. I have never found a rifle that did not shoot consistently better over 5 rounds free-floated than it did with fore-end pressure- but it could happen, I suppose. It might shoot tighter 3 shot groups, but 5 or 10 rounds would spread out.... The arguement could well be made about the value of 3 rounds vs more in hunting situations. In fact, I myself chose to go with consistent 5/10/20 round 1.25 groups, vs, 5 inch groups- 5 rounds, the first 3 of which would cloverleaf, pre- free-floating the bbl. in a Ruger 77 '06. I killed a caribou at @ 200 yards just a few days ago with it. I favor consistency over anal tight, within reason, and this 17 inch bbl rifle is good to 400 yards if I do my part.

WTF are you thinking of messing with something that shoots this kind of group- factory or not - ? This sub MOA mania is way out of control. Good enough is good enough! At least for most hunting situations. And abything 1.5 MOA is certainly good enough for most opf us- the rifle is better than we can hold....

The best shooting rifle I ever had was a factory standard RU 77V in .25-06, with handloads. It had considerable fore-end pressure which I never relieved, not knowing squat about guns at the time. I probably would, now... It didn't shoot factory loads worth a crap, but that $19.95 Lee Loader did wonders with neck-sized cases - and the caribou feared....

Settled on 63 gr of IMR 7828. remington 9 1/2M primers (only large mag primers I could get my hands on) TSX 130 gr

Partial full length sized brass trimmed to 2.490"

Seated to COAL 3.180"

3 shot groups on cool barrel have ranged from 3/4" to 1"

I tend to think if I do my part correctly it's 3/4"

I'm very happy with the handloads especially considering this is the result of testing just one powder with one bullet and one primer.

I look forward to trying lighter bullets in the TSX as well as other bullets such as partitions or what ever I find in 6.5

I'll be trying some winchester, federal and CCI primers as well and likely another powder too.

The handloading and the trigger are what I credit the most to the accuracy improvements on a cold barrel. The floating and the bedding I credit for consistency, repeatability in varying weather conditions and as the barrel warms up.

For the most part I can say It will shoot this way spring summer fall, winter, wet, dry etc.


It's a hunting rifle.

I can honestly say I'm happy with it.

First time I read this whole thread... and it's a great one!

Dave, glad to find out you got your rifle shooting the way you want it too. It was a journey.

Now that your hooked on reloading...

The fun is about to begin!

Now you will want to go beg, borrow, buy at least 4-5 other powders to try, along with 2-3 different primers, and at least 3-4 different bullets. The combinations are endless! Then just about the time you think you have it figured out.... along comes neck sizing only, weighing cases, neck turning, competition dies, etc...

It's always a nice feeling to know you are never quite as good as you CAN or COULD be....



Because "as good as it gets" is boring.

Knowing that there are still things out there to experiment with is way funner.

I have RU77's - all self bedded, as are all my rifles.

All I have left to say on this thread is "DIE, MOFO, DIE!!!!

I didn't sticky request this thing so I don't know if I can un-sticky it but I'll try.

I'll PM SYSOP and see if they can pull the thumb tack and let her drop.

edit

I emailed him, we'll see.

I swear I sent the email to SYSOP last week and I got the reply from campfire website requesting that I reply so they know my email wasn't spam. I did so and got another e-mail telling me I was now "white listed" (I think that's good?)

So someone just has to open the email on the other end to see my request to un-sticky this thread.

Hopefully soon we will see it sink off the page, don't know what else I can do.

UNSTICKY???...why???...

This sucker belongs right at the top where she is.

I was wondering the other day how you ever made out with the reloads Dave. Glad to see the rifle is a shooter.

We need a DIY section to post all kinds of stuff.

mounting scope bases/rings, lapping, leveling scopes and setting eye relief... proper cleaning and care.... DIY on everything!

Field dressing game for different situations, cutting for packing meat out on pack frames or typical midwestern field dressing. Cutting and wrapping your own, grinding, canning, smoking, sausage making, jerky etc.

There are so many things that could be shared in a DIY section.

I certainly never had intentions of this thread being a sticky, I would have tried to do better than the casual weekday evening effort from my lazy boy chair if I thought it was going to be a sticky. lol!

As far as the reloads for this rifle, I am just getting my feet wet. I have high hopes, I feel I have only scratched the surface in finding an accurate handload for this rifle.

I think a DIY section would be a wealth of information. We have a lot of experienced outdoorsman hanging out around here.

Keeping this a sticky is a great idea. It just helped me through my first bed job and it turned out picture perfect with absolutely no problems. If it wasnt for this thread, I would have never tried it. Keep it at the top where it can easily be found!

First off i whant to thank you northern Dave for your DIY Bedding post. I read it several times and followed every thing you did. done My Vangaurd 257 wetherby. took it from 1.5" to 5/8" with factory 120 grain patitions at 100 yards. Now i will try working up some reloads. this was the first time for me to bed a stock. would have never tride it on my own if it wasent for your post.Thanks for the DIY post.

Thanks for the nice words guys, I'm glad you projects worked out well.

I agree but I have to add a little. Dave is a great guy and his bedding thread has probably helped many here who may have been scared to take the plunge. It's a great guide and Dave is very helpful to those who have questions. I've been bedding rifles for a long time and this thread is a good one. Thanks Dave.....