Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Scope or mounts for a Ruger m 77..

One of my friends has an m 77 in .280.. He bought a Leupold Riflemen scope for it, and has found there is not enough adjustment to get it sighted in.. I know of no mounts for the Ruger that has adjustment in them?? Anyone know of one so he could use this scope?? If that route fails, he wants another scope.. My first thought was a Burris Fullfield 3-9.. I have several and have had good luck with them, but I am mainly a Leupold fan..How do you feel about the Burris????
He is not a gun looney, but just wants a decent glass on this rifle.. What scope would you suggest with enough adjustment to get it lined in and still have decent quality????

Usually Rugers come with medium height mounts.Changing to lows could help if the problem is elevation.I would also make sure the reticle is centered before mounting and adjusting.

Huntz, it was off both elevation and windage.. I am pretty sure it was a new Rifleman scope.. thanks..

Something is waaay off man.

First thing I'd do is take a look at how the rings are configured. No reason you shouldn't be able to zero that scope with medium height rings.



Travis

WyoCoyoteHunter,

I know your friend isn't going to want to hear this, but it's probably the mounts and not the scope.

Ruger rings and actions aren't always perfectly made, believe it or not. I've seen the rings off enough that just switching the front and rear rings on a No. 1 single-shot will solve (or cause) considerable scope misalignment.

On the 77 you can't do this because the rings are of two different heights--which brings another question to mind: Is there any possible chance he has the rings reversed? The resulting problem is usually obvious, but I have seen stranger things done when people mount scopes.

One solution would be to buy Burris Weaver adapters for the 77's action, then use Burris Signature Zee rings to mount the scope. The Signature rings have plastic inserts of various thicknesses that can be used to change point of impact both horizontally and vertically--and also don't allow ring-marks on the scope.

John, Thanks, I will pass this on to him.. I have had little to do with 77's, only owned a couple..

If this doesn't panout, what scope should I suggest he check out? My first thought was the Burris Fullfield 3-9.. As I said I have several, but Leupold is my first pick.. I suppose he will want a variable, I also thought of a straight 6x Leupold.. If not a Burris, what is of decent quality in the Rifleman price range that would have sufficient adj. for the problem..?? If you prefer not to address this on the site, a pm would work if you don't mind..

Sometimes just turning the rings around works. powdr

powdr, we will try that this week, thanks..

unfortunately, that can't be done in this situation.

john gave a good alternative...

I recently went through this on a Ruger 77/17. There was nearly 1/16" vertical misalignment between the rings and the windage was so far off I couldn't zero it with the turrets. I installed the Burris adapters and assumed I'd need Signature rings with inserts. It turned out that regular Z-rings aligned perfectly in the adapters - no lapping needed and the scope zeroed easily.

Maybe before he purchases another scope or rings, you could try another scope and see what happens. Just a thought.
Good Luck
Bfly

Thanks for all the help.. We will work on this problem Thurs..

If all else fails. If I have a problem mount I call Talley and tell them I have a technical question.I have often been connected with the head guy and have always received good advice. I once even got custom rings made and delivered in 5 days. I don't work for them but would be proud to do so. Good luck.

Mike R.

If you are misaligned in windage, you MIGHT be able to salvage things by flipping one ring either way, it will look funny, but might work.
The problem however, is that I have seen Ruger rings WAY off in relation to each other, badly misaligned requiring the Scope Ring Lapping Session From He11 Because There Are No More Rings Available In Town And We Have To Mount This Rifle NOW.
So, spin a ring 180 and if you have a nice one inch bar, see if you have a problem before you crank down the rings on that poor scope.
Ruger rings are tuff once mounted properly -- but it usually takes some doing that I have learned not to particularly appreciate...

Millett makes windage adjustable rings for Rugers. They can be a booger to get aligned, but they can fix the problem of running out of windage. I had to use them on a Ruger #1V that ran out of windage.

dave,

the rings can't be rotated 180 degrees, due to the position of the lug on the bottom with respect to the milled recesses on the sides of the rib--a real bummer, as the "180 degree trick" is so very useful--and effective--with so many different rings/bases...

New rings or a grinder, file, mill, etc. Just get rid of that pesky tab. But also, just be sure they are tight in the receiver.

Doesn't seem like much to loose at this point.

I'm betting on mismatched rings here. I have owned many Ruger rifles and ring sets, and worked on many more, and only once found a problem with the rings. Actually, It turned out to be a problem with the receiver and not the rings.

On Ruger M77s, the front ring is 0.130" shorter than the rear ring. On Ruger #1s, the front and rear rings are equal height. Problems arise when the wrong rings are mounted, or the front and rear rings are swapped on an M77.

Nothing and nobody is perfect, but Ruger makes very good rifles and rings. I would tend to doubt the user first. Call me renegade.

Mule Deer gave excellent advice. I have the Burris signature rings on several rifles. The inserts come in .005", .010", and .020" offsets. This translates to about 5 moa, 10 moa, and 20 moa of offset with average ring spacing. You can double the moa by using offsets on front and rear mounts. And you may offset vertically, horizontally, or any position in between.

I put .020" offsets on my 264 instead of purchasing a 20moa rail. It was a lot cheaper and looks a lot cleaner. Plus my new Vortex Viper 6.5-20x will never suffer ring marks.