Bucknutz,
There is nothing more frustrating then they type of rifle because there is no good place to start for the shooter himself to do.
When I get rifles like this in the first thing I do is cut a new crown on the muzzle. About 60-65% of the time this solves the vast majority of the problems if the rifle will not shoot any load well.
The good thing is that I charge $12.00 to recrown a barrel. On the ruger there is also a $10.00 barrel removal charge simply because the trigger frame is just a bit wider then my big Jet ZX lathe will accept through the 3 1/8" spindle bore.
Generally this solves alot of problems. From there the cures for the problem gets more complicated and and expensive.
When I see a rifle that will not shoot any load well, no matter the pressure level, I suspect a mechanical problem with the rifle.
Bedding problems will cause some fliers from time to time but generally it will present itself as walking groups and stringing.
WIth a well machined action and barrel, even a moderately good bedding job will shoot in the 1.5 moa range sometimes much less.
But one thing to remember, a perfect bedding job will still not overcome poor machining, EVER.
That said, the Ruger M77 does respond well to a quality bedding job, especially if the action is in good condition.
Free floating a factory sporter barrel is kind of hit and miss. I would say that it runs about 50-50 as far as if factory sporters shoot better with a little forend pressure or free floated, just have to do it and see.
Any custom barrel I fit is floated period. There is no need to induce outside forces to a properly fitted match grade barrel.
Factory barrels are not quite so easy to tame or predict.
The trigger on the Rugers are a true pain in the rear. They can be tuned into fine big game triggers but as they come from the factory they are very poor triggers averaging in the 6-7 lb range.
I guess thats what happens when you get sued like Ruger has been.
If your fiend can into myshop with his Ruger M77, the first thin I would do is recommend he get rid of that factory synthetic stock. Alot of guys like them but they are one of the hardest stocks on the planet to shoot accurately.
If he wants the light weight, there are several other after market composite stocks that would be much better.
Also, the factory stocks should not be bedded. They material they are made of is a patroleum based plastic that will not allow the bedding compound to hold long term.
Generally they seperate very quickly because the stock and bedding compound expand and contract at very different rates in varying temps. This basically pulls them apart.
So with a new stock, I would recommend recutting the crown, looking at the bolt lugs for even baring and when the barrel was off for recrowning, I would check to see if the barrel shoulder was square as well as the receiver shoulder.
If they were not square I would recommend squaring those to get rid of the stress on the barrel that will cause.
The good thing is that if I true up the bolt lugs, say I take off 0.005". This will add 0.005" to the headspace of the rifle.
To correct this I would take roughly 0.0025" off the barrel shoulder to true it up and another 0.0025" off the receiver face to even it up, then we would be back to the original headspace measurement.
THe interesting thing is that most of these factory rifles have some degree of excessive headspace. Sometime alot more then you would expect.
One can easily tighten this measurement up by the mentioned steps.
This may all sound like major surgery but sometimes this is needed to get a rifle to shoot.
If the rifle is worn much, I would recommend getting a new barrel and start over right.
Good Shooting!!!
50
