Ruger M77 Tang

[JC in Calif]

I've got an elk hunt coming up in October, if covid doesn't get in the way. I've got a 1970's model Ruger M77 7mm rem mag tang safety that was passed down to me. I've shot 5 different boxes of ammo through from Barnes to Nosler, to Hornady. The best group I got was from the Barnes TSX 160 grain. It was a little under 2 inch group and it wasn't consistent. I'm having a smith float the barrel but he said he really only uses aluminum blocks for bedding and it would cost me $150 to do it. My question is this, if get the rifle back from the smith after floating and it's not shooting any better am I better off cutting my losses and putting the $150 into a different rifle? I've never bedded a rifle and I was thinking about attempting to glass bed it myself before going a different direction, but with no experience I'm wondering if I'll do more harm than good. I've been reading that tightening the lug and action in the correct sequence can do wonders for accuracy as well. I'll make sure and check it out once I get it back. I don't really need it to shoot 1/4 inch groups but getting down to a consistent 1-1.5 inch rifle would be nice. Anyone with experience with the Ruger M77 tangs have any words of wisdom they might impart on m

 

[hugetacticles]

If your P O I is shifting with the weather the wood in the barrel channel probably needs sealed with tung oil or some other wood finish

My smith said when he floated the barrel he gave it a light coat of acriglass.

 

[John Klingenberg]

Once it is free-floated, torque the front screw to 40 in/lbs, rear screw to 25 in/lbs and middle screw to 5in/lbs (just enough resistance it doesn't fall out...virtually no torque.) Go shoot. If 1" or better, call it good. If accuracy poor, increase front screw torque to 45 in/lb. Try again. Still no good? Go 50 in/lbs on front. Stop at 60 in/lbs (it won't get better beyond that.) Go to rear screw and increase to 30 in/lbs. Then 35. Then 40. Don't go beyond 40. At some point you should find the sweet spot. Write those numbers down and save it for future reference.

If still not getting results, recut crown.

Still no good? Try Tubbs FinalFinish ammo

Save glass bedding for last. It is a tricky pain in the heinie on the Ruger 77s, but do-able. Just not an ideal 'first gun, practice bedding' project.

I love the tang safety Rugers. It should shoot 1moa or better. Usually just a matter of getting action screw torque right. But on any USED gun that won't shoot, you have to suspect the crown has been dinged up at some point.

Boring as it is, some accuracy issues are as simple to fix as a very good cleaning to get all the old copper out of the barrel. Sweets 7.62 cleaner can help solve that. Good luck!

This is a perfect process for 77s. I would add one thing. If it's not working try adding a shim or a epoxy bump about two inches down the barrel channel or if it has the bump already in the stock to epoxy it over to make sure it has even contact

 

[hugetacticles]

I also would like to hear how it comes out . I just got one to shoot 3/4 " groups for a friend It had a few problems . The action screws needed torqued to specs. I had to put the pressure point back in the fore end , try some business cards under the barrel after you get the action torqued correctly to see if yours needs the front pressure point , you just need enough to have the barrel move the same every time you fire it and come to rest in the same place every time . The bolt was rubbing against the stock . The mag box was bound up in the stock and the bottom metal was miss aligned with the stock causing the front action screw to bind in the stock and not torque correctly . You can tell a lot by just looking at the stock and action with them taken apart . Look for dark spots in the stock and shinny spots on the action that will tell you if it is moving around the stock or if the bolt is rubbing on the stock . As has been mentioned before check to make sure that the front action screw isn't bottomed out , use a small screw driver or pick to clean the screw hole out . The one I just did started with 3 " groups I think that some one started with a box of left over parts and tried to build a rifle .

Did you end up bedding the action?

 

[hugetacticles]

Once it is free-floated, torque the front screw to 40 in/lbs, rear screw to 25 in/lbs and middle screw to 5in/lbs (just enough resistance it doesn't fall out...virtually no torque.) Go shoot. If 1" or better, call it good. If accuracy poor, increase front screw torque to 45 in/lb. Try again. Still no good? Go 50 in/lbs on front. Stop at 60 in/lbs (it won't get better beyond that.) Go to rear screw and increase to 30 in/lbs. Then 35. Then 40. Don't go beyond 40. At some point you should find the sweet spot. Write those numbers down and save it for future reference.

If still not getting results, recut crown.

Still no good? Try Tubbs FinalFinish ammo

Save glass bedding for last. It is a tricky pain in the heinie on the Ruger 77s, but do-able. Just not an ideal 'first gun, practice bedding' project.

I love the tang safety Rugers. It should shoot 1moa or better. Usually just a matter of getting action screw torque right. But on any USED gun that won't shoot, you have to suspect the crown has been dinged up at some point.

Boring as it is, some accuracy issues are as simple to fix as a very good cleaning to get all the old copper out of the barrel. Sweets 7.62 cleaner can help solve that. Good luck!

Do I tighten them down in that order? If the first round of tightening doesn't work do I back then all out and restart the sequence or just keep tightening them down?

 

[5gauss]

Awesome advice so far. Looks like there are quite a few things to try before abandoning the project. Maybe I'll get lucky and the only thing I'll need to do is float the barrel. I'll post updates as I go. Thanks again for the awesome info.

Good input here. My old tang 25.06 pencil barrel w adjusted trigger shoots just under 1 MOA with simple bedding. You tube can show you bedding..not hard at all. Do not overlook scope/mounts etc. If you KNOW the scope is good......OK...If not, a simple variable to change. Don't give up on it..they are good rifles. I loaded my own 110 gr accubonds FYI

 

[pahuntnut]

Like others have said. Your barrel could be shot out. It has had 50 years of 7mm down the barrel that is what I would check first.

 

[ofbandg]

I owned a number of tang safety Rugers in .338 Mag, 7 Mag, and my wife hunted with a 7x57 for some years. All had some rough spots but with a little work they shot very well. All needed the barrel floated and the front lug glass bedded. The triggers were a joy to adjust because all it took was a screw driver. The tang safety itself was a problem on the magnums because the recoil would rock it back into your thumb so I shortened and smoothed out the back end of the slider. The seven mag was the oldest, it even had one of those early slim line stocks, but the linkage to the safety was poorly fitted so you had to watch when you took it apart that pieces of the safety didn't fall off and get lost. The wood on them was better than most rifles in the same price range at the time. It was a nice walnut with straight, tight, grain, and it was well shaped for recoil. I liked the scope ring set up, thought it was a bonus. The chambers on a couple of them were rough but it didn't seem to effect accuracy, although it did scratch up the brass. Over all they were well worth the money.

 

[floyd kittrell]

I've got an elk hunt coming up in October, if covid doesn't get in the way. I've got a 1970's model Ruger M77 7mm rem mag tang safety that was passed down to me. I've shot 5 different boxes of ammo through from Barnes to Nosler, to Hornady. The best group I got was from the Barnes TSX 160 grain. It was a little under 2 inch group and it wasn't consistent. I'm having a smith float the barrel but he said he really only uses aluminum blocks for bedding and it would cost me $150 to do it. My question is this, if get the rifle back from the smith after floating and it's not shooting any better am I better off cutting my losses and putting the $150 into a different rifle? I've never bedded a rifle and I was thinking about attempting to glass bed it myself before going a different direction, but with no experience I'm wondering if I'll do more harm than good. I've been reading that tightening the lug and action in the correct sequence can do wonders for accuracy as well. I'll make sure and check it out once I get it back. I don't really need it to shoot 1/4 inch groups but getting down to a consistent 1-1.5 inch rifle would be nice. Anyone with experience with the Ruger M77 tangs have any words of wisdom they might impart on me?

The first thing I would do is check the " Crown" ! That could be your culprit . Have your Smith check it and if there is any possibility of a problem , have him re-crown it, it's cheap and removes 1 thing from the equation.

 

[hugetacticles]

By bolt appears to be good, not touching the wood stock. My mag box may be an issue, how does one know if it's binding? Also, how do you fix it if it is binding?

 

[montana west]

H you willl never ger a Ruger to shoot sub mos like the 700 remington-- However the 77 is a fine hunting rifle well build and it is more than likely you need to adjust the trigger I am now doing one for my neighbors 280 rem in the 77 tang . I had a 7 x 57 in one and it was great. but alot of the 77 have trigger pull o 64 oz and that is awful. it should bread at max 48oz. or 3lbs. I like my rifles to break at 42 oz.. on a magnum 48 is really good. as far a bullets for elk the nosler 160 partican is the very best and the accubond is next tied with the speer grand slam.. solid coppers are no good they will not open up.

 

[RCMSTER]

I currently own 5 ruger 77's. All hawkeyes, but that doesnt matter. All will shoot less than 1" groups with the right bullet, and most times they'll do 3/4". First thing I've done on all 5 is to pillar bed the stock. I use pro-bed 2000, and have had very good luck. Next is to float the barrel rather generously. When that is done, then I hog out the action, recoil lug area, and first 3 inches of barrel channel in front of recoil lug. I do that with a dremel, btw. When that's done, I mix up my bedding and apply to stock. Make sure to use liberal amounts of release agent on all metal surfaces that will contact the bedding. Put the action into the stock, and I clean away all excess that oozes out of the spaces with a rag or paper towel. There's different theories on how to secure the action to the stock while the bedding is curing. Personally, I use the action screws, but they're not tightened to spec at all. That comes last, which brings me to that. After the action has been in the stock for 12-15 hours, I pull the action out to release any bonding that is overflow. I'll clean up the action, and then put action back in the stock for 2-3 days. After that time, I'll pull the action back out, clean up all the surfaces of release agent and any other excess bedding that's left, and then torque to spec. I read another post that said front angle screw should be torqued to 40 inch pounds. That is incorrect to the point it's not even close. Factory spec, per ruger factory tech guys is to tighten front and rear action screw as tight as possible by hand. Then the front angle screw is torqued to 90 inch pounds. I know that sounds like alot, but it is factory spec, and believe me, a rifle not torqued to that spec will drive you mad. Been there, done that. All my ruger triggers have been either replaced with Romney's or reworked with Emery cloth to polish the surfaces. Rugers will shoot dang good, you just gotta monkey with em' a bit.

 

[DSheetz]

You have a flat bolt . When you are torqueing the action screws you don't need to loosen them and retorque unless you want to , just do the front one first . Yes I did end up doing a bed job to it . After the action was bedded I ended up putting a pad under the barrel about 1 1/2 inch wide a little back from the end of the stock all the way up to the top of the stock . I put painters tape on the barrel in front of and behind where the pad was to be to fill the space between the barrel and stock and used shoe polish paste wax on the barrel and tape then just snogged the action screws until it cured . Clean the excess that squishes out of the stock before it sets . I like to use a tongue depressor with the end cut off square , using a pair of wire cutters for the bulk of the clean up the paper towels that are dampened with water for the final clean up .

 

[barefoot1]

I have had a few tangers. My current 300 WM has been worked over so may not be much help. It shot about 1.25-1.5" with the old barrel, bedded wood stock, and the sear replaced. Now it sports a new barrel and stock.

As mentioned clean it back to bare steel.

Then I would order the Rifle Basix Sear. It will reduce trigger down to manageable pull weight. Very inexpensive start. Mine was very heavy. https://riflebasix.com/product/ruger-ru-t/

I think you could float the barrel yourself with a little patience. Bed the front lug with just a little epoxy.

I did that on an old varmint 308 and it shot lights out for a factory older gun.

I can't agree more on the Rifle Basix Sear. I gave mounted new scope on my old .270 M77 and hadn't shot it in years. Wow it was one terrible trigger pull and that was affecting my groups. Varied between 6 and 7 lbs and had no break point that was consistent. Now it is a consistent 3 lbs and break is consistent. I also read about the torque on the three action screws. When I disassembled it those screws were cranked way too tight. So try tightening them as was suggested above. I was getting 1 moa last time out with some old ammo. Have loaded some 130 gn GMX and Barnes TSX to use for hunting as the non lead laws are in effect here in Kali. Once the range reopens I will test these out and see how this old girl shoots.