Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Re-barrel M-77 or retire it.?

Since it's a family heirloom of sorts, you might want to try some of the suggestions here to bring it up to snuff, before you re-tube.

If you decide to re-barrel, I suggest you also consider a fast-twist .22/250.

Do you hunt in AZ?

That's some nice elk country, I would rebarrel to another 308. 10 twist would cover all your bases.

As mentioned here, check the magazine box fit and make sure the bolt handle is not touching wood. In addition, take a 1/4" rat-tail file and relieve the angled front guard screw hole in the stock.

I thought you wanted to rebarrel. If you would be happy just to get exising barrel to shoot here are a few ideas that were not mentioned.

Be certain the front action screw is not bottoming out in the receiver's blind hole. Sometimes it is epoxy other times the screw is too long.

Be certain the tiny claw on one side of the scope ring is grabbing the integral base correctly.

Enlarge the holes in the stock to ensure the action screws are not touching.

Also make sure the trigger so it isn't touching the stock.

Trigger shouldn't touch the trigger guard

Box magazine should be able to be wiggled around when action screws are tightened.

Be certain the recoil lug isn't making early contact in bottom of bedding (rocking action)

Barrel having adequate clearance if it is supposed to be floated

A bore scope inspection of barrel can be very helpful. Could be damaged or missing rifling or even if crown was redone it could still be bad.

I live in Tucson and would be willing to look at your barrel with my borescope if you don't have access to one. You didn't say where you live.

Since it has sentimental value, give it to your son for Christmas and be done with it.

It is what it is, a super deer rifle and served you well for 22 years. If it aint broke......Sounds like you have some target rifles.

I would send it back to Ruger and have them put a new .308 barrel on it. They won't rebarrel to a different chambering than the original .308, but right now Ruger makes some of the best factory barrels in America. I'm betting it would shoot really well.

Guys,

Thanks for all the input. To answer a few questions:

Live in Paulden. Yavapai County. Yes, good elk, deer, antelope, etc.

Safety is 3-position.

When it was bedded I had the smithy check all contact point etc.

Tim, I'll be driving again and hopefully we can get together this year for a few cold ones. Might need a new knife!!

My 3 year old Granddaughter, Audrey, made the decision for me. She and I were out for the day and she spotted a herd of antelope off of highway 89. She said, "PaPa, I want to shoot a antewope."

Decision has been made, thanks to her and you guys. Going to build her an "Antewope" rifle. Off to Classic Barrel and Gunworks this week. I'll fill Dan in on the issue with the rifle and let him work his magic.

Think I'll go with the...

I'll let you all know when it's done. Stay tuned.

"Antewope" Rifle, I wike it

Bet Dan will figure it out.

As for the previous gunsmith checking all contact points...my friend had a well known gunsmith bed his Ruger Mark II and it still shot poorly. The gunsmith then condemned the barrel without looking at it with a borescope. (many gunsmiths don't own a borescope which would make a great topic for another thread)

The rifle was rebarreled and still shot poorly. I was hunting in the area and my friend presented the rifle to me saying he was very frustrated with its performance. I checked the tension on the action screws and felt the front screw just stop and not get tighter. We ground the bolt shorter as it was bottoming out in the blind hole! After that the rifle shot nice tight groups.

Another friend bought a very expensive custom. He had fits trying to get it to shoot. In frustration one day he pulled it apart at the gun range and inspected it in bright sunlight. He found a piece of bedding material in a blind hole. He was getting a false tightness but in reality the action was shifting around. Boy was he pissed. We henceforth called it the dreaded booger. Always check for the booger was our mantra.

One would think that a gunsmith wouldn�t miss such obvious attention to detail but things like the booger do get by them.

I know of three gunsmiths that have done this to date. One was MY tang safety Ruger with bedding material in its front action screw blind hole.

Take the butt plate or recoil pad off and set aside. Then screw it on to a new Savage or Remington and be done with it.

I had an old Ruger 77 Round Top in .257 Roberts, the one that came with open sights. Had it glass bedded by the late Gene Imbert, then sent it over to Micro Sight Co. and the gunsmith reamed it to .257 Roberts Ackley. Damn thing shot .35" 10 shot groups with either the Hornady or Sierra 75 grain HP and a load of H-380. Killed so many ground squirrels with it the throat washed out. So had it rebarreled by Ruger in .30-06 and it never shot well again. Don't like Ruger 77's, because of that crappy angled front screw, so never bought another one.

An aftermarket barrel will cost $400-$600, my last Pac-Nor ran $601 in .308 Winchester, not including the muzzle brake, and took 7 months to receive. And that was a prefit I installed myself. If your rifle is still killing deer, I'd just clean the barrel extra well and keep using it.

Haven't read through all the replies, so I may be repeating.

I've had (have) several RU77s in tang, and have worked on a number of others, both styles.

Since you are retired, try neck-sized only handloads- even if you have to have them custom reloaded by someone else.

I had a factory standard 77V in .25-06 that shot 5" groups with factory. Once I went to neck-sized only, it was MOA or less.

I have found accuracy increases to a greater or lesser extent in all rifles with neck-sized only rounds that I have tried, and have never had a problem with chambering in the field, but then I run every cartridge thru the rifle before it goes into the field.

Just saw this thread.. Since it was a gift it probably has quite a value in itself..

I'd rebarrel it and go huntin'..

$300 rebarrel vs first trying a $30 Lee-Loader (plus Forester case trimmer)?

Whatever floats the owner's cork...

Tho there is something to be said for going hi-end first. I've spent a lot of money over the years going "cheap", then more expensive when that didn't work.

High-end works first time out of the box more often (tho not always) than less expensive routes.

Youse pays yur money and takes yur chances.

I'd still try the neck-size only route first. All chambers ain't equal, and fire-formed brass sometimes makes great gains for little epense, tho a tad more effort.

If one is NEVER going to reload, then rebarrel.

Sounds to me like you either got a bad .30-06 barrel or had other issues after the rebarrel. There wasn�t any issue when the rifle was shooting .35� 10-shot groups, was there?

I float my barrels and then tighten the action screws per recommendations. Doing that has resulted in every Ruger I own shooting very well. None have required bedding, a fact I credit to the �crappy angled front screw� that draws the action down tight to the stock and helps keep it from moving.

.243 or 7-08 antelope rifle for the young lady sounds awesome! And good for you for getting her into hunting! Love the old M77's, I've got a couple 1982 vintage tangers (.243 and .270) that are largely retried now and spend most of the time in the safe, waiting till I get me some grandkids myself� I cut my teeth on those two rifles in the 80's, as did my own son in the 00's. Waiting for the day I have an excuse to get 'em out again, dust 'em off and start the third generation "whack and stack" all over again! PS- both rifles have shot 1.5" or less at 100 yds since the day they were made, and with just about any ammo (even factory). Have ALOT of pills down both tubes over the last 30 years and they are both still accurate enough for minute of venison.

Foxx

Different strokes, etc.

I bed and free-float all my rifles especially the wood stocks. I don't believe in torque wrenches. With wood stocks this is likely to change with inclement weather, unbedded. I tighten the front screw down as tight as it will go, then the rear. If a middle one, then just snug.

If there is any more than a half turn on either front or rear from coming snug to tight, then something ain't flat- hence the bedding of both receiver and floor plate/trigger guard. A quarter turn is more better...

I use epoxy "column bedding" around the receiver screws and between top/bottom beds. Metal pillar bedding may be better- might have to try it some day..

Seems to work...