Making a Ruger M77 lighter..

redrider

redrider

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I have M77 Hawkeye stainless in 25-06 that weight 9.6 pounds with a scope.
How much weight could be removed by recontouring the barrel and fluting the bolt?
Or would selling it and buying something lighter would be more cost effective?

Thanks Dean.
 
Not a whole heck of a lot can be done to lighten them except for you to work out..........(I have 2, a wood stocked one in 7mm, and an Alaskan in .375Ruger .) If you want a light rifle, try to find a Rem 700 mountain rifle or a Browning micro medallion. I've owned both, and they are nice and light and handy. Kimber makes a couple of nice superlight rifles.
 
If you want to lose some weight, work on the heavy parts. I this case, the heavy parts are the barrel and the stock. As Dennis mentioned, you can lose a pound or a bit more off the barrel by re-contoouring. Because this weight comes off the front end, it will have a drastic effect on the feel of the rifle. Going to a lightweight, synthetic stock will probably lose another pound or so. With these changes made, the only other thing to do is be sure not to saddle the light rifle with a big, heavy, scope.
Fluting the bolt might be good for 1.5 ounces. Replacing the heavy trigger guard with an aluminum piece is probably good for 3 or so. If the magazine follower is steel, you can probably find another which is at least 2 ounces lighter.
In the end, you will have spent considerably more than it would cost to simply buy a light rifle.
 
I like the second idea better. By the time you get that work done, you are into one rifle, the price of buying two. Why not keep it as is, and buy the second rifle, or sell it if you want another 25-06, simply applying the cash towards a lightweight model.

Personally i am a big fan of the M77, some say they dont like the finish on the hawkeyes, mine has excellent blueing, and fits me well.
 
Thanks all for the input, I think I'm going to work up a load and sell it to a friend, and start saving my dollars to get a kimber mountain
 
How bout that stock ? Can it be slimmed down, put on a diet ?
Thinking of a winter project, some tinkering.
How much lighter is the Ruger Compact Lite stock with the different profile?
 
One issue with any of the Ruger M77 in 2506 is that Ruger uses a Magnum contour 24" barrel,instead of the regular contour 22" barrel. You are not going to loose much weight slimming the stock down. I have a early MkII 280 stainless that started life in a boat paddle stock. Now in a custom Fagen lightweight laminate stock. 2.5x8 Leupold. 8lbs 2 oz. Balances very well. I had a Ruger compact 223 stainless laminate. 2x7 Leupold 8lbs 4 oz,that was very butt heavy due to the skinny 16.5 " barrel. It had a steel footplate while the early boat paddle has alloy floor plate.

Much like Vanguards or Howa there actions are solid and heavy.

357
 
you could shave some weight by bobbing the barrel back, recrowning the muzzle, removing some wood from the interior of the buttstock and barrel channel, possibly when you shorten up the barrel, you could shorten the stock, and thin down the forend to take some weight down, go with a light weight compact scope, or as the consensus says, sell your hunter and by a light weight rifle.
 
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