Ruger M77 Tang

[bomberodevil]

Hugetesticles reporting an update here. Here is a summary of the work I had done. I put a vortex viper hs and rings on it when I inherited the rifle. I then had the barrel floated and had the action bedded with devcon. I got my rifle back from the smith who bedded it for me. I ordered a wrench and got the front lug tightened to 50 inch pounds. The back bolt is at 25 and the middle one is just barely tight enough to hold the screw in. And here is my result. I'm using 160 grain Barnes TSX. I took 2 shots with cheap ammo to get it on the paper after bore siting and then took 1 three shot group at 100 yards with the Barnes. I'm thrilled with the results.

That's a great hunting group! My 1975 M77 tang safety shoots .350 groups, with some modifications. It's a good rifle.

 

[Frog4aday]

That is some great shooting and I'm so glad to hear you got your rifle working so well. I'm a big fan of those tang safety Ruger 77s. Always good to see someone getting one tuned up and shooting accurately. They definitely are capable. Thanks for the follow up. (HugeTesticles comment cracked me up, ha!)

 

[DSheetz]

I'm glad it worked out so well for you . For me it's interesting and fun to figure out what needs done to get one to shoot well . And you got a new good nickname out of it also .

 

[Doghunter23]

I have a safe full of tang safety Ruger 77s. Unless your Ruger 77 has been shot to death, it, "WILL shoot". The last Ruger77 that I bought off of GunBroker looked like it had been dragged behind a truck! The first thing that I would do it to glass bed and float the barrel; float the barrel from 4 inches in front of the recoil lug. I use two layers of Brownells .010 thousandths pipe tape. Pillar bed the rear screw, don't really bother with the front lug because the pillar really isn't that long and almost not worth doing. The front receiver screw gets torqued between 60-65 inch pounds, the rear receiver screw gets 25 inch pounds and the center screw (just behind the magazine box) gets tightened finger-tight, just enough pressure to prevent the screw from turning back out. Also I would be checking your scope out as well as make sure that your scope rings are torqued properly; 30 inch pounds on the base and 25 inch pounds on the rings. I have a 35 Whelen, when the groups open up, usually it is because the scope rings have loosened up. Do you have a round top or do you have the integral scope base? There's a really good gunsmith in Montana who likes working on Ruger 77s, have used him to build a couple of rifles for me, and do some bluing and gunsmith work. His work is impeccable and meticulous, prices are reasonable and turn around is two to three months because that is how long it takes to get a barrel from Lilja. I strongly suggest that you don't give up on this rifle right away. If you can get the work done on your rifle that I have suggested, it will shoot sub-MOA.

What is his name? I might send him my 77

 

[greenejc]

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?

I found a Ruger M77 tang safety at a pawn shop this Winter in 30-06 and I don't think it had more than 100 rounds put through it. It will shoot less than an inch with my hand loads. I love the M77 series, and the torqueing advice given works. I have three M77's and they all shoot well.