On page 79 of "Africa's Most Dangerous" Kevin Robertson writes: "It's only fault seems to be that the MK II action sometimes fails to eject a spent cartridge when the bolt is cycled quickly."
Anyone know what causes the malfunction? How is it corrected? Thanks.

i've never encountered this

I have hunted with an shot several Ruger 77 MKII's for a long time and never encountered a failure to eject. I have several thousand rounds through a MKII Safari in .375H&H. Never had a problem. With the gun. Only a few problems with the shooter in all those years.

I have heard this explained as happening when the bolt is operated slowly and will not occur when the bolt is opened and closed with authority.

Never had a problem with my 458Lott RSM.

If you open it slowly enough it will probably leave a loose cartridge sitting on top of the magazine but nobody does that unless they are trying to retrieve a case or cartridge in their hand.

To the point......This DID happen to me! While an Elephant was charging up or down my tailpipe, however you want to view it. Supposedly, the problem had or has something to do with the Barnes Solids and the older flat tips. They started round....then went to flat....then back to round again (presently). Apparently they have some problem with the flat tips. Anyway....it WAS an emergency situation. I simply hit the bottom of the floor plate, dumped ALL the bullets. Already had the bolt open, and crammed one up the spout in one motion as quick as a blink. The Elephant got dead at seven large steps.
When it was over, I was not shaking one little bit. It all looked like super-slow motion to me. When it was finished......Graeme told me that bull would have been on us in another second and a half. Stupidity has its advantages! Today, thinking about it gives me the shakes. Then......it was simply, KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON.
ANYWAY..........That rifle screwed the pooch with me. Now the walls of the magazine are as slick as greased glass, and the solid bullets are round tips.

I have it in .375 H and H. no problems for me......yet. Sounds like you handled your situation like a pro.

My old .416 Rigby RSM (an early '90s gun) did the very thing described by Robertson to me twice over the years...once on buffalo, once on elephant.

Both instances began with full magazines and a round up the spout. First round ejected smartly, second round fed and fired as directed. Cranked the bolt for the third round...no joy; stovepiped the empty case of the second round. Yanked the bolt back and manually snatched the case clear; ran the bolt home on the third round and resumed hostilities. You might argue that I simply short-stroked the action, but three decades of magnum length cases dented from my overly-enthusiastic ejection argues otherwise. Years of casual bolt cycling never surfaced the problem with this rifle; only the added "oomph" of "game time" operation.

Carried the rifle to Tip Burns finally, who slicked up the channel in the bolt face where the ejector blade rises, as well as adding a stronger spring under same. Haven't had the problem since but, in truth, haven't put it in a stressful situation since the "fix". FWIW, I seem to remember reading in African Hunter some years back about a similar problem surfacing during the ZM PH shooting exams at Rifa...

So, yeah...it can happen. At least it did to me; twice. Next year I'll be watching ndlovu over the sights of my Searcy .470. With that rig, any FTF or FTEs will be ALL mine!

Cheers,

Mark

Thanks everyone for your insight.

218 bee: A respondent to my question on the fire described the ejector blade hanging up just as you said. Your idea of adding a stronger spring is more insurance. Thanks.

It has been a l-o-n-g time ago....and I might be full of cock-a-do-do, but it seems like I remember talking to Buzz Charlton about the very same thing. I think????? he had the same problem as I did.

Chime in there Buzz! (He is probably on a plane home from the SCI in Vegas...saw him there).

The M 77 mk II has a blade ejector at the bottom of the action which is lifted up (flips up) as the bolt is pulled rearwards and this ejects the spent cartridge case.
I once had an apprentice PH who owned such a rifle in .416 Rigby. During speed shooting / simulated charge scenarios (where the emphasis was on speed and accuracy) his rifle would sometimes not eject - especially when the bolt was worked very quickly. When worked a bit slower, it ejected just fine. The problem was corrected by the fitting of a stronger spring which lifted the ejector blade quicker.
It is a real pity these rifle are no longer made as they were (and still are) deemed to be a good choice for Guides and DG PH's when in .458 Lott.

Mine was.....and is a .416 Rigby. And, when the malfunction occurred I was working the bolt as quickly as I could.
By the way.....I did speak to the Ruger folks about this. You never saw people cut and run as fast as they did when I spoke to them about it. Absolutely NO answer from anyone at Ruger...ever!
Still have the rifle.....toooo many memories.

This was hashed out in the forums here years ago.
The consensus was that deburring and slicking up the ejector with addition of a stronger spring was the cure.

How does the Hawkeye action differ?

I was busy looking at a 416 Ruger Alaskan as a loaner rifle for DG. Any comments on problems that have been had with it and would you as a client be happy to see one of these rifles waiting for you in camp?

Hunting the box: They are great rifles. I took one to Zim in 2011 and am taking it back in August. While "hoovering" behind my PH and his 25" barrel CZ, I really appreciated the 20" barrel on the Ruger. I had a CZ 416 Rigby that I sold. The best description I have heard is that handling a CZ 550 Mag is like driving a garbage truck. I could not agree more. For a PH who handles his rifle daily and has the upper body strength, no big deal. For us old, fat guys (like most of your clients) who have lost upper body strength, the Ruger handles like a side by side shotgun. The rubber coated stock is quiet in the jess among the buffalo herd. Get an New England Custom Guns receiver sight that fits the Ruger action, smooth up the feed rails and bolt raceways and fix the ejector and spring. If you get one I'll know where to get some ammunition when the airlines loose mine. Did I fail to mention that ammunition availability is the other drawback to the 416 Ruger in Africa?

Doctari: Thanks for the explanation.

quote:

Originally posted by bcolyer:
Mine was.....and is a .416 Rigby. And, when the malfunction occurred I was working the bolt as quickly as I could.
By the way.....I did speak to the Ruger folks about this. You never saw people cut and run as fast as they did when I spoke to them about it. Absolutely NO answer from anyone at Ruger...ever!
Still have the rifle.....toooo many memories.

Brennen:

One of Buzz's DVD's does in fact show a jam with his 416. I do not know what kind of rifle it is.

Hunting the box: I just thought of another item the Ruger 416 needs tweaking. The safety lever is very small and you need to practice finding it and getting your thumb on it during your gun mount. I saw a Ruger rifle that a gunsmith had welded an extension onto the safety lever so it was more accessible. I left a message with the gunsmith who did the work and I will let you know if he responds.

Rip: Thanks for your help. Do you know if it was on the gunsmithing forum? I vaquely remember a discussion and I think there were detailed instructions. In Zim 2011 I shot a zebra and had a feeding malfunction. I polished the slot and the ejector but did not replace the spring. I thought perhaps I short stroked the action but considering the amount of dry firing I did prior to my hunt, I may need a more powerful ejector spring.

Probably on the big bore forum ...

Found this on the Ruger forum. Thanks everyone for the help:
What you describe is common to Ruger rifles due to the weak factory ejector spring and the development of a bit of dust, dirt or dryness on the ejector.

Easy fix.

1} Remove bolt and with a fine jeweler's file, file a slight bevel on both sides of the edge of the ejector groove on the bolt. Doesn't take much, just a bit, then...

2} With same file, reach into the action from the rear and while holding the ejector UP with a screwdriver, file a slight bevel on both sides of the ejector blade. Again, not much needs to be taken off.

3} Clean all filings off with a toothbrush and replace bolt. You are good to go.

If you choose to see the problem in action before doing the fix, twist the bolt as you are ejecting the round. With a little "practice" you can duplicate the failure to eject just to say you got it to botch on-command as it were.

Ruger needs to put a wee bit of bevel on these surfaces and they also need to install a heavier ejector spring from the git-go. For a better version of the same "Win 70" type ejector {sporting a harder spring}, see a modern CZ550.

I do not recall how stiff the Win 70 ejector srings are and I don't own a 70 so I don't know if they are better, but I have heard of similar failures in Win 70's {pre-64} so maybe they need the same treatment at times.

Ruger .416's do not have a monopoly on the original poster's problem. CZ550's in 6.5x55 do ditto and some will not {as original Mausers, also} close on a round dropped into the chamber, so you are really screwed if the round gets ahead of the extractor/bolt and you then try to close the bolt on it.

On my 550, I modified the extractor to cure the drop-in problem but sent the gun back to CZ to be rebarreled to 9.3x62 to cure the feed problem. CZ's have a queer extractor, too, so I should note that I replaced the extractor with a stock GI-Mauser-98 job and now all's well. Feeds upside down, sideways-bothways and even right side up!

I have the RSM IN 375 h&h. It is the fastest working bolt action rifle I have ever used. I practice e and shoot it a lot. I have never had any issue with fast cycling of the bolt in any way. I guess it may happen with some but never with mine.

quote:

Originally posted by clayman216:
I have the RSM IN 375 h&h. It is the fastest working bolt action rifle I have ever used. I practice e and shoot it a lot. I have never had any issue with fast cycling of the bolt in any way. I guess it may happen with some but never with mine.

Good shooting clayman216!!