As many of you will recall, I have have severe problems with the stock on my M77 .458 Lott. In fact, on the eve or leaving for elephant and buff to Zimbabwe last June, I broke 2 stocks and had many dealings with the Ruger factory getting them replaced. The third stock got me through the hunt, but I have discovered, through my gunsmith that it, too, was broken. Some of you have had similar experiences.

Fortunately, I ran into a gentleman named LeRoy Barry at the Reno SCI show. He's a custom stock builder, and agreed, without the hesitation I had received from others, to take on the task of rebuilding the Ruger and making a functional and substantial stock for it.

I just recieved it yesterday, and I couldn't be happier. With some coaxing from LeRoy, I agreed to some aesthetic upgrades that include engraving with an elephant on the floorplate and a silver inlayed gripcap with a cape buffalo. Functionally, he did away with one of the lower screws on the forearm, and mated the recoil bar permanently to the action. He installed two new recoil lugs which secure to the stock with two crossbolts. The wood is Bastogne Walnut. The checkering was done by LeRoy's wife, she's an artist with it.















The builder was Canyon Creek Gunstocks.
LeRoy Barry
(406) 546-6433
www.canyoncreekgunstocks.com
131 Bear Claw Tr
Hamilton, MT 59840

Outstanding!

quote:

Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:
Outstanding!

I have to agree with UEG! Very nice stock and engraving. I bet, I can feel, that rifle is going to be lucky now! LOL To bad about your problems with Ruger though????

That wood is absolutely gorgeous. How does it shoot now?

Don't know how it's going to shoot yet. I'll report after Saturday.

A definite upgrade! Very nice.

Why so much stock breakage? Did you use a lead sled or something similar? Screws loose or what.I also have a Ruger/Lott as well as Ruger/Rigby and Ruger .458WM and a Ruger.416 Taylor........yes a Ruger .416 Taylor. All have been shot-a-plenty with no hint of a problem with stock breakage. However, I love your upgrade. Respectfully, Dr.C

Bwanna Ryan,

Outstanding...Those little perks look super and the wood is great with character...
Ele guns to the range Saturday...wish you were closer...

Mike

i really know you might find this rude but i promise i dont mean it that way. how much does something like that cost??? im in awe!!

Fantastic....now all you need to do is write the following letter and includ pics:

Dear Ruger:

This is how it should be done.

WOW! You must be proud of the rifle now.

Right on CongoMike. I would sign my John Henry under his, in any letter to Ruger. I'm going to have the same thing done to my .458 Lott.

Mike, UEG and I were just commenting yesterday how we'd like to show up to one of your cannon shootings.

Charlie, the cost was not as extreme as you might think.

Congomike, when I talked to the Ruger rep at SCI and explained the situation with my gun he said, "we'll take some of the blame, but not all. Some of the blame has to lay with the cartridge, because it has so much recoil! Can you believe that? If they build the gun for that cartridge, I would think they would be able to anticipate the recoil. The stock broke all three times with factory loads.

Dogcash, the stock broke the first time after 7 rounds - off the shoulder, 13 rounds off the shoulder the second time and I can't say for the third as I shot about 50-60 rounds through it both before I left for Zim to make sure there wouldn't be an issue and while in Zim sighting in and at Elephant and Buffalo. I didn't discover that one was broken until the gun was taken apart for the rebuild. The first two broke right behind the tang and the last one in the small piece of wood between the magazine well and trigger housing.

now that is a rifle

Very impressive !!

Excellent work!

im in the market for some custom work and checkering. i want the classic flour de lis look like on the winchesters. if you know who to talk to and how much its gonna run me i would love to hear some opinions

Charlie, I have listed the contact information for the guy that did this gun below the last picture above. His wife does the checkering, and she is very good. You won't be disappointed. Their prices are very reasonable.

Shot the gun on Saturday. I put about 15 rounds through it. The recoil is similar to the original, but might be a tad less. Shoots very well, fits perfectly and feeds flawlessly. I'm shooting all of the factory Hornadys in it, since I have many boxes and don't really trust the interbonds on anything that wants to bite back. I'll stick with Barnes for those critters.

By the way, I would have shot the gun more, but some idiots showed up in the desert, and started shooting themselves near where we were shooting (about 100 feet away). Without warning they suddenly set fire to an abandoned full size van that was sitting there. Within seconds it was a towering inferno and they sped off. We ultimately had to call the fire department so it didn't start an out-of-control brush fire. We spent about an hour and a half ferrying firemen from the mainroad into the area of the fire. It's things like that that give the shooting sports a bad rap. 1% of the idiots ruining things for the other 99%.

Good looking gun, pity about the arseholes stopping your shooting session.

Beautiful!! That is one of the nicest 77's I've seen. Many of us have been following your story, and it's nice to see a happy ending. Curious about the metal work. What screws did he remove and did he do anything with that darn angle screw?
Bfly

Beautiful!! Been following your story and it's nice to see a happy ending. One of the nicest 77's I've ever seen. Curious about the bedding work. Would love to see a picture. Which screws did he remove and did hflye do anything with that darn angle screw? Congrats again.
B

Black Fly. He did remove that angle screw. The one that threads into the recoil stock. The other screw on the bottom is still there.

LeRoy told me to take the barrel and action out of the gun to see what he had done with the recoil system and bedding. I hate to do that, because as sure as I do, I'll bugger a screw or something. If curiosity gets the best of me, I'll photo his work and post it.

quote:

Originally posted by Bwanna:

I just recieved it yesterday, and I couldn't be happier.

I was right for once. I argued on AR couple of years ago that a nice custom rifle could be built on a Ruger action. You've just proved my point.

Thanks JAL, this is most definately a NICE custom rifle.