Here is what I have in mind and would appreciate your thoughts on the idea. As some of you already know, my passion is old mausers, but they just weren't made for what I have in mind and could use a little help here.

The other day I was in a pawn shop and the owner showed me a S/S Ruger M77 MKII he had in the back in a 7mm Mag. It had the old boat paddle style zytel stock. The action was very smooth and from wear but looks solid. We went back and forth a little on the price and best I could do was $400 tax included. Seemed like a good deal to me but I don't know.

Here is what I have in mind. I'm in need of a long range rifle. I'm thinking of buying the rifle, selling the stock on ebay, giving away the barrel. then ordering a McMillan stock of some sort and brand name barrel (Lilja, Kreiger etc.) Have the action face squared, lugs lapped if they need it and having it chambered in something that screams like a 257 WBY, .264 WinMag or something like that. Maybe even a wildcat but would prefer not to.

What do you guy's think about the plan? bad choice of action or not. My hunting grounds have changed and I'm thinking I could put something like this to good use. It's probably too late for this year but I could get a good start on next year now.


Thanks,
Terry

Say it ain't so, no wonderful mauser, and exceptional wood. Rugers can make a fine rifle, long range or short. I think your stock options are limited though. Sounds like a good winter project.

Unless you have a dislike of both of the McMillan stock patterns for the MKII the Mcmillan stocks should work fine. My MkII classic weighs in at 34oz, a little more than I hoped for in my application but thats right in the ball park for a long range rifle with its longer heavier barrel.

Don't forget a trigger...

I know it. I do this every now and then. I usually figure out a better way to sneak up on'm and the whole long range idea goes out the window and I have a rifle for sale but I still enjoy it.

Yep noKnees, I went right past the trigger didn't I. I pulled it in the store and the 1st thing that went through my mind is that needed replaced! Who makes a good Ruger trigger anyway?

On the stock weight isn't important. I'll just need to tote it to the shoot'n house

Terry

Nothing wrong with your plan but there aren't as many go faster bits for the M77 than for a Rem 700. A second hand M700 would not set you back any more if you are going to strip for the action. Most accuracy gunsmiths have the tooling to work on M700's pretty economically.

If you want to go budget, then go Savage, the floating bolt head removes the need to do the truing, etc. If you are going to get a custom trigger, get the Stevens 200 action even cheaper, plus then you can buy prefitted barrels from Shilen etc.

But if you must have the mauser claw go for it. I did mine on a MRC1999 action with Choate stock (IMHO it is a fair bit stiffer action than a M77 but also heavier). It's very accurate gun not benchrest accurate but then I am not a benchrest shooter either.

Here's an article that may be of interest:

Long Range Rifle on a Budget

Good luck.

Regards,
JohnT

The only problem with a custom based off a Ruger is, few choices for stocks, and you are stuck with their ring system.

I would just keep the original stock, and put a sweet barrel on it.

I have a very good friend (coyotewallace) who has a .257 Roy done on a M77 LA (started life as a 7RM). Damned things drives tacks, shoots like a laser, and handles his VERY warm loads with no problems.

Hard to see where that one went wrong, and I doubt you'd have much if any problems with yours, if that's the route you go.

TC:I have seen some accurate rifles put up on M77 and Mark II actions.But I have seen some accuracy smiths refuse to use them(they say so in their adds)because of issues involving getting the actions straightened out so everything lines up,I guess.

As you know,you will spend a lot of dough(relatively)putting this together,regardless whether you use the Ruger or something else.

IMHO,were I you,I would spend a bit more for an action,find a M70 Classic, send it to Mark Penrod for the basic action work, a new barrel and McMillan stock.You know for sure it will be done right on a good action after Penrod is through with it.It WILL shoot,and it WILL function and will make a great working rifle.

I like the Ruger rifle as it comes,but if I am going to customize something, I feel the money is better spent on the M70.JMHO.

There are a number of aftermarket rings for the ruger, Burris, leupold, warne, millet and others. If thats not enough you could have the reciever DTed for conventional mounts.

The factory ruger rings are very strong, but sometimes need a good bit of lapping. They are pretty much QR and return to near zero ( in my experince less than one MOA. One serious limitation is that you can't (to knowledge anyway) add MOA into the base/ring system so for very long range work you will be using quite a bit of the scopes adjustment. Of course much of this depends what you consider LR.. if its 5-7x100 yds no biggie.. if its 1k+ it may be an issue

I put a Timney in my MkII .260 Rem. It pulls very light, scary light actually, with no failures. Just make sure you have it fit to the safety properly. Mine works, but is a bit hinky....

Kaiser Norton

I do not believe there is anything wrong with having a custom rifle built on a Ruger action! I am currently having a .404 Jeffery built on a Mk II action. I am also, thinking of building a 7x61 Sharpe & Hart on a tang action.

I have a couple of 7 x 57s in a Mark 2... I was thinking of pulling the barrel on one, and rebarreleing it with a heavy barreled 6mm Rem or 257 Roberts for varmint work...I saw someone else do it with a 280 in a very heavy barrel.. did an aftermarket trigger on it...

with a 120 grain V Max or a 140 grain ballistic tip, it could do some scarey things at really long ranges...

Some gunsmiths just become snobs with what they will work with...

It has nothing to do with being a snob;it has to do with the amount of work involved getting the action squared up properly,and making it suitable for a particular purpose,so they have a happy customer at the end of the project.Some will work on a Ruger,and some won't.Does not make them a "snob".

I've got a custom tang safety Ruger. I simply selected the barrel contour, it's lenth, and type of crown and had Pac-Nor do all the machine work in attaching it to the action. I had McMillian do up one of their stocks to PN's barrel contour. The rest was just simple gun smithing, glass bedding, adjusting trigger, lapping the rings a little.
The rifle shoots all sorts of loads under MOA, and some down under .5 MOA. A few down to .2-.3 MOA. It's a .280.
No big deal.
I think alot of their actions. The one piece bolt, the mauser extractor, ejector and bolt stop, the machined bridge for their rings, etc. Their great FP and TG design. What's not to like ?
Either a McMillian or an MPI Kevlar stock if it were mine to do. E

Well, I'm still on the fence on this one. I whole heartedly agree with BobinNH. There are probably better action choices to start with, but I really like the idea of using that M77 MKII action on a custom. I talked John Farmer recently. He told me he'd had pretty good results using them. He said he would square everything up, install the barrel and flute it for $400.

Like I said, I haven't made up my mind but I will be doing something. MidwayUSA just got a batch of Kreiger barrels in. I ordered a stainless #4 in .264 with a 1-in-8" twist yesterday. Something is about to happen, I just don't know what yet

Terry

TC: If you like it, go with it...!For a knock down drag out hunting rifle, it is not possible to beat a Ruger action.I'm sure you've got a good guy that will make it work...you're no stranger to custom rifles!

Here's one built up by Jim See in Wisconsin.

http://www.centershotrifles.com/gallery/

Fast Ed

Terry,

I've replaced three triggers on Ruger Mk II's, plus I've reworked two factory triggers. The best, and easiest aftermarket trigger to install, is a Rifle Basix. With the Timney and Spec tech I installed, I had to fit the safety, which is antsy at best as you must file down the shelf on the trigger to get it to work. And, over filing is easy to do. The Rifle Basix has a better solution, which takes ALL of the mystery out of the installation.

And, I LOVE my Mk II in 257 Roberts. It is flat accurate.

Don

Edit to add: Too bad Ruger didn't make the Mk II in 7mm Mauser. I'd have one...

Second Edit..LOL: Yesterday, I reviewed all of the equipmet used at the Super Shoot at Jim Kelbly's from this year, and about 90% of the shooters were shooting Krieger barrels. FWIW

Well, I decided to go ahead with the project. I went back last week and bought the rifle but for some reason I got delayed on the NCIC back ground check! I'm not sure why, I own and have been approved for NFA weapons. Who knows. As soon as I get the rifle it's off to the smith. Too late for this year, but that's how it goes.

I already ordered a Timney trigger for the rifle. You think I ought to let the smith install it?

Terry

Terry,

If you work VERY slowly, you can do the installation. But, you must do MANY trial installations along the path to make sure you don't take too much metal off. You can do it.. No problems at all.

Will do.

Thanks!

Yes, some of them are snobs.

Some of them only know what they know and won't work on anything else.

Some of them want to mark up parts and will steer you to an action they can sell you a bunch of accessories for.

Some of them are over-priced, over-opinonated, and over-rated.

Some of them do very good work, price it reasonably, and work with the customer to get what the customer wants. Those are the ones I use.

There isn't anything very much different with a Ruger action than a Mauser or Winchester action. A gunsmith who tries to steer you away from it has some other motive other than doing work and helping a customer get what he wants.

JMHO

people diss rugers, but those same people talk about how great pre 64's are, I don't know about you but the pre 64's I have looked at sure have a lot of tool marks and IMO aren't machined all that great, remingtons to me are very boring, they don't have as good a safety. I wanted to do up 2 custom rifles, I went ahead and went with a remington for few reasons, the gun smiths I talked to said don't use a ruger, there are so many things out there for remingtons, stocks, scope bases, triggers, fireing pins, etc. ruger has very little, I wanted to go with a ruger so bad, but the smiths just didn't wanna do it.

I bought a new M77VT MKII in .25-06 a couple months back and was very impressed right out of the box. It has a bit of overtravel in the trigger, but really, other than that I couldn't be happier. With factory loads, I am averaging just under 1 MOA. That thing is an unbelievable coyote rifle. Half way through the second box of ammo I Killed a coyote at 370 yards. I never was able to pull that off with the old 223 I had before this gun. Here in the next month or so I plan to start experimenting with hand loads through it and see what I can really pull out of the gun.

All in all, I couldn't be happier with mine. I've been a big fan of the M77 for a long time.

This thread has me thinking about pulling the barrel off my ruger 350 rem mag and putting a 7wsm barrel on.

I have talked to a few of the 'smiths that won't work on Ruger rifles. They all said the same thing. The receivers are so tough from the investment casting that they are unwilling to invest in the tools tough enough to grind and cut on 'em.

I talked to greg tannel and he says he does um, even is willing to do his bolt sleeving process on them. that could have changed my mind from going with a rem 700

Terry, one of the most tack-driving hunting rifles I've ever seen was my best friends 257 Wby built on a Ruger MKII stainless action... Brown Precision did the work, screwing on a Shilen tube and bedding it in their stock. Flat-out scary accurate rifle, Wby freebore and all. We ran the old 90 grain X bullets and it'd keep five of them in the .4's at an obscene velocity with a top load of RL22... as you'll recall, the original X's weren't exactly known for good accuracy

Any action can be squared by a good smith... some are just lazy and/or only know how to square metal toilet paper tubes (Rem 700's). The real magic is in the barrel.

mcknight77: Don't get me wrong in what I said;I happen to be a Ruger fan,and if I had to pick a rifle for big game hunting in the "popular" price range it would,HANDS DOWN, be a Ruger Hawkeye today,out of the stuff CURRENTLY manufactured.I admire the ruggedness, and simplicity of the design,the scope mount arrangements,etc.And I suspect they will handle a lot of use and abuse while delivering just fine in the field under about any condition.These characteristics are a lot more important(to me) than 1/4" accuracy,the elusive magic associated with some new wonder cartridge, or some other contemporary trends in rifle building.

Were I to build today,I'd prefer a M70,mostly because I have used them successfully for a long time.My response regarding some smiths refusing to work on Rugers was not a reflection of my opinion of the actions themselves,but merely a report of what I've been told by some smiths.Mark Bansner's shop, for example,does not make a stock for Ruger Hawkeye's,but I can hardly consider them to be "snobs".

I don't see the point in refering to these guys as "snobs",because that tells us nothing whatsoever.A more reasonable approach would be to say,these guys have preferences in what they want to work on,are tooled up for some things and not for others,and prefer to specialize in working on particular actions because they get good results for their clients working on some things, but not others.

When it comes to custom work,I learned a long time ago that it would make no sense, for example, to ask a Dale Goens or Lon Paul to build a Palma Match gun,and get annoyed if they said "no" to such a request;and if a smith says he prefers not to work on a Ruger,go find a smith who will.