The MKII is not a Hawkeye and the Hawkeye is not a MKII... they are guns of different eras with differnt design subtlties. The LC-6 trigger was introduce with the Hawkeye model, but I personally prefer the MKII "lawyerized" trigger after I have worked on it... for the most part, I dislike the Hawkeye matte finishes in both stainless and blued... but the "satin" blued finish is nice... I prefer the MKII "bright" stainless and deep blue finishes... I also believe fit and finish is better (in general) on the MKII guns.
What do you mean by "lighten the beast" are you referring to the trigger pull or the physical weight? Trigger jobs are simply done... as for the physical weight, M77's are robust builds (I like that), so weight reduction will primarily come from the stock, barrel contour and barrel length... if weight is an issue start with the Ultralight (RL) model as the 20" pencil barrel and smaller comtoured stock save about 20 ounces out of the box over the Standard model (R).
I own M77's in many calibers and most versions, including the Stadard (R), Ultralight (RL), Iron sighted (RS), International (RSI), Express RS, Safari Magnum (RSM) all of my rifles are MKII's with the exception of an M77 RS 20" Carbine .358 Win which was never made in the MKII series... if it had been, I would jump on it.
The MKII is not a Hawkeye and the Hawkeye is not a MKII... they are guns of different eras with different design subtlties. The LC-6 trigger was introduce with the Hawkeye model, but I personally prefer the MKII "lawyerized" trigger after I have worked on it... for the most part, I dislike the Hawkeye matte finishes in both stainless and blued... but the "satin" blued finish is nice... I prefer the MKII "bright" stainless and deep blue finishes... I also believe fit and finish is better (in general) on the MKII guns.
What do you mean by "lighten the beast" are you referring to the trigger pull or the physical weight? Trigger jobs are simply done... as for the physical weight, M77's are robust builds (I like that), so weight reduction will primarily come from the stock, barrel contour and barrel length... if weight is an issue start with the Ultralight (RL) model as the 20" pencil barrel and smaller contoured stock save about 20 ounces out of the box over the Standard model (R).
I own M77's in many calibers and most versions, including the Stadard (R), Ultralight (RL), Iron sighted (RS), International (RSI), Express RS, Safari Magnum (RSM) all of my rifles are MKII's with the exception of an M77 RS 20" Carbine .358 Win which was never made in the MKII series... if it had been, I would jump on it.
Pretty good summary..... The M77 action is a beefy one, so pretty hard to make a truly light rifle out of it.......
I am pretty sure the MKII frontier was made in .358...... Either that or I spent a lot of time searching for a unicorn..... Lol
The MKII is not a Hawkeye and the Hawkeye is not a MKII... they are guns of different eras with different design subtlties. The LC-6 trigger was introduce with the Hawkeye model, but I personally prefer the MKII "lawyerized" trigger after I have worked on it...
I am pretty sure the MKII frontier was made in .358...... Either that or I spent a lot of time searching for a unicorn..... Lol
I've owned a M77-MarkII that had the LC-6 trigger from factory. It was a stainless compact in 223.
PS- is there any way to lighten such beast?
WL
I've owned a M77-MarkII that had the LC-6 trigger from factory. It was a stainless compact in 223.
I've had a couple of tang safety Rugers, but only one MKII... generally unimpressed. Big gaps in the inletting (rain gutters), and the action was so rough I never did manage to polish it enough to stop it from binding.
I have had more than a 100 M77's and that has never been my experience.




























