Has anyone accurized a Ruger M77?

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Tikka223

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I've got a Ruger Gunsite Scout on the way and I'm wonder in advance if there are any improvements I can make that will accurize it. I understand that it uses the same M77 action as other a ruger rifles.

I understand that this isn't a "precision rifle" and I will be using it for hunting / plinking but I'd like it to be as accurate as possible. I've never owned a Ruger rifle and I'm not very familiar with the M77 action. It seems it has a strange recoil lug as well. If I decide to bed the action, are there going to be any nasty surprises that would make a bedding job more difficult than say on a Remington or Tikka?

I will be hand loading for this rifle. I understand that it is a 1/10" twist 18" barrel. Any suggestions on ideal bullet weight for that twist? I have 155gr AMAX on hand as well as 180gr Bergers but I'm not too sure how well these would perform on a deer. The a Gunsite Scout takes AI 10 round mags so I'm assuming my OAL should be pretty generous.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
The angled recoil lug is the only complaint I've heard about the M77 action (this was many years ago, in the context of Ruger supplying Palma rifles for the 1992 Palma Match... an example of no good deed going unpunished but that's another story). I don't actually understand if the angled recoil lug makes the bedding job more difficult to do, or if it raises (possibly theoretical) concerns about the longterm stability and durability of the bedding. Quite honestly I don't think I'd worry too much about this.

It will be interesting to find out the throat length of your chamber, and whether you'll be able to load match bullets out to the length you'd prefer. With a nice long magazine perhaps you'll be able to (those AI magazines cost about as much as a Chinese M14, right? ;-)

I would think that any good target bullet which you happen to also stock for other rifle(s) would be a good choice for the majority of your shooting, with the only possible exception being when you want to go deer hunting with it. There is the line of thought that various Berger match bullets are OK for hunting light thin skinned game such as deer. If you want to use a purpose-made hunting bullet, I have found Nosler Ballistic Tip bullets to give match-grade accuracy and near-match-grade performance (certainly fine to 600y, only worth fussing about well beyond that). I have found both the 180BT and the 150BT to be very accurate and can certainly recommend either (my biggest complaint about them is when Nosler "got smart" and started packaging them 50 to a box rather than 100 to a box, without changing the price very much at all).

I've always like the idea of Scout rifles. Hope you really enjoy yours!
 
I own one and cannot see how accuracy will suffer in a hunting rifle. They are as good as any Mauser action I've shot.
Spoke to Bill Leeper about this and he doesn't find any real flaw to the angled recoil lug.

I'd concern myself more with trigger and handloading improvements.
 
They seems to like 180gr btsp for hunting but i still feel like i havent found the right combo yet, very generous mag for long OAL.
 
The recoil lug is angled at 90 degrees as are most recoil lugs... it is the screw that is angled to pull the recoil lug back against the bearing surface of the stock. Accuracy is about the same as a Mauser 98.
 
I've never fired a Mauser. If the screw is pulling the action backwards and against the recoil lug then perhaps that's actually a good idea. I've also never held one of these, I bought it as a bit of an experiment. I wonder if the barrel contour will have any impact on accuracy after a few shots. The barrel is tapered down in three steps, giving it three different contours.
 
I have put custom barrels on two of the older tang saftey m77's.
They shoot just fine as an accurate hunting rifle.

Never put any heavy barrels "yet".
I really like the black finish of this model!
 
I have a Ruger Scout as well. I've been thinking of taking it into Alberta Tactical to see if they had any ideas on how to improve the rifle. That said, I find it to be more than adequetly accurate. Mine shoots MOA consistently with cheap PPU 147gr FMJ, and that's just with a Leupold FX-II 2.5x28 scope . I'm sure it's capible of sub MOA with handloads or match grade ammunition, and a conventional scope.
 
I have a 77 Mk II stainless, laminate, varmint/target model in .308 that shoots like a darn. I can show you 3 shot 100 yard groups that I can cover with a dime. I've done nothing to improve the rifle. I really don't know where the bad rep that Rugers seem to have comes from.
 
Madmardigan said:
I have a Ruger Scout as well. I've been thinking of taking it into Alberta Tactical to see if they had any ideas on how to improve the rifle. That said, I find it to be more than adequetly accurate. Mine shoots MOA consistently with cheap PPU 147gr FMJ, and that's just with a Leupold FX-II 2.5x28 scope . I'm sure it's capible of sub MOA with handloads or match grade ammunition, and a conventional scope.
Click to expand...

Good to hear! I'll have the exact same scope on the rifle and I was a little concerned with how much accuracy I could expect with such low magnification.
 
762shooter said:
I have a 77 Mk II stainless, laminate, varmint/target model in .308 that shoots like a darn. I can show you 3 shot 100 yard groups that I can cover with a dime. I've done nothing to improve the rifle. I really don't know where the bad rep that Rugers seem to have comes from.
Click to expand...

I can tell you first hand that the first 4-5 of these rifles
Shot like cr*p! They were all the tang safety mark 1,M77 version.

I could not get any of them to shoot under 2" at 100 with any regularity!

I glass bedded each, free floated, pressure bedded the barrel as well. Adjusted triggers.....etc. All in an attempt to improve the accuracy. Nothing made a significant difference.

As soon as I replaced the factory barrels to custom varieties, everything changed instantly!
That tells me what the issues were! But thats just my experiences with this model.

Still really like the style,fit, bluing/black finish! One of my favorites for sure.
I am not a "BIG" fan of the newer models, but still own a couple.
 
2" is pretty poor, I won't be happy with those results. I'll be more than happy with 1MOA. 1MOA should be enough to nail a deer at 600m but I doubt I would attempt that shot with a 2.5x scope without trying it on paper or steel first.

The rifle comes with some 1" ruger rings that can replace the rear iron sight so perhaps I'll mount a 5-15x Bushnell Legend that I have to test some loads and go from there.

One thing I would like to do is find a load and then put it through iSnipe and then make myself a little laminate card with hold-offs for distance and wind. It's too early to say I suppose.
 
I picked up 100 180gr Nosler Balistic Tips today. I'm not sure if I should go for a full on ladder test to determine a good load (it's going to be for hunting so I'm not looking for bench rest accuracy. I'm wondering if I should load up according to my reloading manual and see what the results are?

I have H4895 on hand.

Still waiting on the rifle ...
 
Tikka223 said:
I picked up 100 180gr Nosler Balistic Tips today. I'm not sure if I should go for a full on ladder test to determine a good load (it's going to be for hunting so I'm not looking for bench rest accuracy. I'm wondering if I should load up according to my reloading manual and see what the results are?

I have H4895 on hand.
Click to expand...

They (Nosler BTs) are pretty un-fussy bullets.

Hodgdon says start 40 max 42.5 of H4895 with a 180 in a .308. I'd load a couple at 40, a couple at 41, ten at 42, and a couple at 43, with the bullet seated to standard magazine length (2.80") and head to the range. There's an excellent chance that all will show themselves to be be safe in your rifle, and that the ten rounds you loaded at 42 will shoot more than well enough for some precision deer hunting. In which case you can load up 20 of them for deer hunting, and then independently of that perhaps figure out if you can do even better, if/as you have time and range access.
 
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