My cousin shot a nice Mule deer buck that was coming out of a "V" shaped coulee and it rolled a few times into the bottom. We could see that it was dead and was going to get dark in an hour and a pack horse at camp was about an hour round trip. I tied my horse to a tree and we went into the coulee with his horse to retrieve the buck. Gutted the buck and hoisted it unto the horse and brought it out. We rode double back to camp.

Back at camp I pulled my rifle out of the scabbard and was shocked to see the wrist was cracked. While tied up, my horse must have been "horsing" around and bumped the tree.

After the hunting trip I spent some time looking for a replacement and came across a Ram-Line synthetic stock on Gunbroker.. The best part of this was the guy lived 30 miles from me and said bring the barreled action along to see if it drops right in. It did, but when the angled action screw was tightened you could not release the magazine floor plate. The magazine box its self was loose, so that was a good thing. Later, a little Dremel tool work on that stock hole area cured it.

I applied the screw tightening procedure for a M77 and made sure the scope mount and rings were secure and took it to the range. The rifle did not respond well at first but after experimenting with the three screws, I got the best 5 shot, 100yard group I ever did with 154 gr Hornady Interlok's. The rifle did not respond well with "gorilla tight" on the angle screw, but backed off and found the sweet spot.

Some of the guys at the range kidded me about shooting a "Darth Vader" Ruger 77.

Love those old tangers.

Why "Darth Vader". That is a sweet rifle. Very utilitarian, besides I though most young guys like those black rifles these days. Not worth your time, but if you glass bedded it, action screw torque would not be as critical. Obviously when you go gorilla tight, you are tweaking or stressing the receiver. I'd also check the mag box and make sure it is not overly tight. That could also be causing your issue when tightening down on that angled screw. A good neutral stress free bedding job would help, but again, may not be worth your time. I know what I'd be doing though..

I got it dialed in the way it was before.

Very nice. Hard to beat that!! Keep doing what your doing buddy.. Great info on your target too. That way you can go back to it and use it as a reference. I'd be ecstatic if my new to me Ruger shot like that.

Those 154 gr look like they will get it done...way to get it back in action!

Dammit.....now I want a Ruger M77 tanger in 7X57MM.......

Super nice that you took an old rifle and made it work for you. Truly I enjoybseeing this instead of going and buying an new latest and greatest product.

Congratulations on getting it shooting again. I learned yrs
ago never leave your rifle alone with a horse....

Years ago I bought a RamLine for a Rem788, I really liked the ergonomics but wasn’t wild about the plastic so I picked up a Boyd’s laminate and put the RamLine away. Fast forward a number of years and a friend gives my teenage son a well worn 788 in .222. I pull the RamLine out of the closet and swapped it in. Thanks to a post here on the ‘Fire I picked him up a new discontinued Burris 4.5-14x42 FFII to replace the clouded Weaver V-9 it had worn. This was the result with some of the same fellows handloads he’d passed along with the rifle.


As mentioned above, my boy doesn’t mind black rifles but he still gave the RamLine a rattle can paint job in grey.

The force is strong in that rifle.

Looks like she's dialed in now.

If I was an obnoxiously large buck in your area....I'd be very afraid.

I have a tanger in 7X57. I'd be tickled chitless if it shot as well as yours! Very cool.

Even an obnoxiously small ground squirrel should be afraid at 400 yards or further with that rifle.

Man it does not get much better than that. Excellent shooting on your part as well.