Yukon Delta

It would be an interesting challenge to rebarrel one of these Ruger Magnums. Ruger insists on fitting their barrels so you would have to use, say, a Douglas. How in the world would you fit the Douglas recoil lug in the Ruger forearm? Sooo a new stock............

Well, it has been done but there is the little thing about having enough time and money. On the plus side, the Ruger barrels are hammer forged and normally quite good. You wouldn't want to know what it would cost to replicate the quarter rib, etc.

Please let us know how the barrel gets sorted out with its roughness. Of course, you should just shoot it first and see...might not bother you at all?

It might be time to get a custom stock made by a gunsmith. Check around your area - I'm sure you can find someone. You could have the stock dropped and have a custom box put on to hold 5 .458's down.

One option is Serengeti Stock works. Their stuff is expensive, but worth every dime.

I just posted s review on gunsmithing on an Accurate Innovations stock I bought for my Howa 1500 SA; don't buy one of these either!

Since this is turning into a general thread on gunsmithing Rugers, can anyone recommend someone who is good at improving them? Also, anyone tried putting a bigger mag-box in them and the cost of doing so?

Bwanna: You have a PM.

JLS

I received the gun. It has a nice piece of wood on it - for the second time! I will be shooting it, unaltered, in the morning. I'll let everyone know how it turns out.

Gentlemen,

Read this thread with interest as I have a Ruger 416. I have shot it a lot, probably some 200 rounds. I took it to Africa and shot a Cape Buffalo with it. I think I got it in 2000. I replaced the recoil pad with a Kick Eze and replaced the trigger. So far, I have not had any trouble with splitting the stock, but I have never been real comfortable with the bedding system. However, I have resisted steel bedding the stock as I thought that tight tolerances might set up the stock for splitting. After reading the horror stories on this thread, I am beginning to think that I probably should bed it and make sure there is ample relief behind the magazine well and tang. Does anyone have a a method or recomendation as to the best way to steel bed the action and the recoil plate? When I first got the rifle, I posted this same question and got no answers, so I did not do the bedding. I am going to take the rifle to to Tanzinia this August for Cape Buffalo and I have to say that every time I shoot it, I worry about it cracking and my having to leave the rifle behind. The closer my hunt comes, the less time I would have to deal with a split stock. Would appreciate any help or advice on bedding the stock.

Thanks,
HOOT

I can appreciate the "not sufficient time to deal with stock splitting" issues. I just got the gun today - one week before departure!

Hoot: Don't know how much time you have, but Mark Penrod did a great job for me. I never really worried about the stock splitting, but I had the steel plate bedded by Rick Rankin out of Pensacola Lock & Gunsmith, and Penrod tuned the action for me. After my return from Africa, I had the stock out of the rifle to clean it and tightened it myself. I've probably put about 40-50 rounds since then with no apparent problems. jorge

Here's the report all, took the gun out with the third stock on it and shot 22 rounds through it off the bench (ouch!). It shot beautifully, and no stock damage. I have decided to take it and leave the .416 Rem at home.

I shot both the Honady loads and some Barnes banded solids that were loade for me by Safari Arms. Both loads were shooting clover leafs at 50 yards. The Barnes shot about 2 inches higher at 50 than the Hornadys.

I have to say, even given all of the problems, I am impressed with the accuracy of this gun. Ruger, despite their odd explanations, was excellent in getting the gun back to me twice y overnight shipping. Have to give them kudos for that.

Hopefully the jinx if off me and the gun will function properly in Zim - I'll report back.

Right on. Ruger is a great company overall and Bill Ruger was a genius.

While I will say up front that my RSM in .416 Rigby shoots great, I will add that I am concerned that perhaps the quality of the Ruger product is slipping. I have an RSM in .375 H&H that I bought 5 years ago for a trip to RSA. The gun has a beautiful piece of wood on it, is built like a tank, has functioned flawlessly and shoots splendidly. Two weeks ago I bought a second RSM in .416 Rigby. The magazine box was bent and the shell follower would catch on the lip of the magazine box and not go down, one of the screws on the scope rings stripped out mounting the scope and the wood is a pretty plain piece of walnut.

For others that are RSM owners that bought several years ago and then again more recently, have you seen a modest decline in quality too?

quote:

Originally posted by Bwanna:
I received a call from the customer serive rep at Ruger who informed me that she was holding my stock and the technician was standing there as well. She said that the gun showed signs that the stock screws had been tightened after it left Ruger the last time with the new stock on it. . . . She responded that this cannot be done on the Ruger magnum as it will cause the stock to be out of alignment and void the warranty.

Any thoughts on Ruger's explanation?

My thought is that they are full of $#!*. On page 20 and 21 of their online manual for YOUR rifle (They only print one manual for the CF bolt rifle; Ruger M77 MKII & M77 MKII Frontier for calibers .204 Ruger up to and including .458 Lott) there are instructions for removing and replacing the stock, with tips on tightening the screws. On page 22, in the section "Regarding Accuracy," the first check Ruger instructs you to run if your M77 MKII rifle doesn't shoot well is to "be certain the two trigger guard screws and floorplate hinge screw are snugly tightened as described in Step 4, p. 21 of the 'Reassembly' section of this manual."

There are no words along lines of "except for the Magnum rifle." The only special section for the M77RSM concerns the sights. I hope you don't have any more problems with the rifle, but if you do lay into that airhead and tell her you can't possibly viod the warranty by following the instructions in the owner's manual.

She deserves to be fired.

I bought a .375 Ruger at the beginning of 2005. It has functioned well (terrible trigger, though), but the wood was rather plain - definitely not what they show in their pics and not what I have seen on older ones. The quality of the wood on both grades of CZ's are a lot better at this point.

I see a lot of big bores every year ,while guiding water buffalo ,and i have several ,here the best known gunsmith glass beded all the 458lotts mostly czs to be honest i didnt see a ruger 458lott but one thing is true i saw cracks even in expensive rifles ,some of them has a lot of oil and i suspect that thats aids in the problem ,because the oil is in the wood too,on the other hand wwe shot hundreds of shots with a heym 505 gibbs whitout bedding and its like new isnt it Andre.Juan

Once Bwanna gets back we're going to restock both of our .458 Lotts with either American Walnut stocks or Bastogne Walnut stocks. Proper bedding will be a part of the whole process. After what I have personally seen with his I am not going to take any chances whatsoever.

I stand corrected on the tightening sequence. The forend screw that connects the stock to the recoil plate should be first then the angled screw then the others front to back. It's been a while...

Brett

China, good observation! I have not found anything in the manual that warns against tightening the screws. No pun intended, but I think Ruger is "screwed" on that argument!

Jorge,

Thanks for the reply. I have been real busy as of late and not getting around to checking my posts etc. Can you explain the bedding of the recoil plate. It sounds like it is "glued" in place and does not come out. I would also be interested in how the rest of the action was bedded.

Thanks,
HOOT

Hoot: I;m sorry but I don't remember whether it was fixed in place or not. I can tell you that was the only part of the action that had any glass added to it. Sorry. jorge

Hott,

I also have a first edition 458 Lott..Got one of the first sold rifles..
Had it bedded and all from the magazine box forward...
Have put over 500 shots thru it no problem and when it wore a scope I was able to shoot a 5 shot group of under 2 inches at 100yds.

Mike