I have been trying to work up a load for my friend's Ruger M77 7mm Rem Mag and haven't been able to get anything that will shoot better than 1.3" groups.

I've tried IMR7828, H414, H4831SC, and RL22 with Sierra 150 grain Gamekings, Hornady 139 and 154 grain SSTs. I know there are many, many more combinations I can try, but thought I'd see if there's something that several of you have found to be good loads.

My load is 69.5grs of Reloader-22 with a 139gr Hornady.This is not a max load in my rifle,but it shoots near one hole groups so I quit right there.Also,you might try a flat based bullet too.I've got a 270 that nearly a one holer with flat based bullets,but boat tails shooter better than an inch.

I had the same problem trying to get a 7mm rem mag in Ruger M77 to group, and in under 12" at 100m. It was appalling, I tried different ammo, bases, sights. Nothing worked.
The mechanics and stock seemed fine.
The rifle was binned.

Ruger would consider that to be one of their more accurate rifles. Is it one of the original 77's with the tang safety?

Some remove the hump in the fore end part of the stock that presses on the barrel and free float the barrel on Ruger rifles for better accuracy.

I have an Encore in 7mm Rem. Mag. that shoots quite a bit better than 1 MOA using RL-22 and 140 and 162 gr. bullets. What I do differently than most is to use large rifle (Federal 210M) rather than large rifle magnum primers for this cartridge.

My son shoots a tang safety Model 77 in 7RM. My load for it (and my Model 700) is 79 grains of WC 860 (or AA 8700) behind a Nosler 162-grain original Solid Base, lit with a Federal 215. COL is ~.010" off the lands, and it is a one hole rifle at 100 yards.

Its all in the barrel. 1.3" groups is as good as its going to get. Sorry

That sounds pretty good for a Ruger actually.

Try 175 gr FLAT Base bullets and don't push them to hard.

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Originally posted by Red C.:
I have been trying to work up a load for my friend's Ruger M77 7mm Rem Mag and haven't been able to get anything that will shoot better than 1.3" groups.

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Its all in the barrel. 1.3" groups is as good as its going to get.

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That sounds pretty good for a Ruger actually.

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Ruger would consider that to be one of their more accurate rifles.

Actually, for it's intended purpose as a tomato stake, 1.3 inches isn't too bad!

I have a Ruger 7 Mag that when I started I would have been very happy to get 1.3" groups out of.

After spending a stupid amount of money on it and a couple of years of trying different components I accidently discovered that the barrel need to be fouled pretty heavily before it will group consistently.

With a clean barrel it will put 3 shots into anywhere between 3" and 5" groups. After twenty or so rounds it starts to settle down to just under 1MOA and so far it's still shooting well almost 400 rounds later.

Mine's stainless so I'm just going to keep it dirty until it starts grouping badly and then I'll clean it and start over again.

While I would try a 160gr flat based bullet of some sort, in truth a honest 1.3 shooter is gonna kill anything your buddy is hunting. Is this a 5 shot group?? If so, you're probably outshooting a lot of the folks claiming MOA groups when they're only shooting 3 shots.

1.3 inch groups, 3.9 inch groups at 300 yards. Means you will hit within 2 inches of where you are aiming at 300 yards. Personally I would be happy and spend more time on the range with the 1.3 inch load.

If that doesnt work for you glass bed the action, check the loads for run out, examine the crown. Try switching out the scope. Last chance would be to have a new barrel installed.

Try a bullet in the 160gr range. For some reason, that weight seems to shoot best in the 7mm Rem Mags I've had.

I've worked with several Rugers that were difficult to get them to group .Some have quite long throats and will not group with lighter bullets. Bullets with a full ogive that can be seated out close to the rifling will usually shoot. One of these was a 7mm that grouped in the 8in range at 125 yds. I tried the 160 gr Speer bullet with 7828 and by playing with the seating depth got the groups down to 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inchs at 125 yds.Another was a 338 that wouldn't group with any bullet except the 250 gr Sierra when seated as far out as the magazine would allow.

61gr of Rl-19 under a 160gr bullet

IMO; If a 7 Rem Mag won't digest the following an group consistently ,there may be another problem other than Loads !.

Red C.; You made no mention of FLR or neck ,nor distance off the lands ?. I set my shoulder back .002 in all of my 7's and the chambers are different in every one of them , so I have to mark loads for respective Rifles .I also stay off the lands .005-15 an find it works well enough for sub MOA in nearly any of my 7's .

H 4831 58.5-60.2 162Gr SST or ( H4831 60-64 168 Sierra's ;not positive of load number without consulting my book but somewhere in there )

H4831 64-65 gr, 168gr SMK

If you haven't bedded the action and free floated the barrel that is where I would start. along with a good after market trigger.

1.3 is good for elk out to 500 yards or so unless your going to shoot small varmints or match's with it.

What power scope is on it and what size target are you aiming at. I found that to get really tight groups a very small aiming point and a scope of around 16x or better helps. What type of rest ect all comes into play.

Thanks for all the input.

I tried to tell my friend that 1.3" groups was not bad and that most rifle manufacturers wouldn't guarantee their rifles to shoot better than 1.5" if that. But he wants to try and get the group down to an inch, so we'll try some other things.

I'm going to try some of the loads you suggested and try seating some at various distances from the lands. To do this I'll have to use the heavier bullets. I like to seat bullets at least one caliber deep, and doing this with some lighter bullets won't let you get as close to the lands as you would like.

I'll report back after we get a chance to shoot again (which will be after Christmas sometime).

Oh, someone asked if this was a 5 shot group. No, it wasn't it was a four shot group.

I shoot a Winchester Model 70 that is built now exclusively for hunting Coues deer. I shoot 140 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips with 64.5 grains of IMR 4350. My groups are normally under 1".

I got this recipe from a friend of mine who has recommended it to several 7mm shooters and we all get the same results.

Once had a 7x57 that wouldn't group could not keep them on a 8x11 at 50 yards. bullets key holeing ect. Thats not grouping.

In side of the stock was all broken out the rifleing was gone out of the last 2 inchs of barrel. Glass bedded it cut and recrowned the barrel. Now she puts them into one hole at 50.

I have serveal rifles that group under .5 inch if I do my job. Does that mean all my other rifles some that do under a Inch don't group or are not useful for hunting.

I have killed dozens of head of game with rifles that only do around two inchs.

A very accurate rifle is a joy to own but a rifle that well put them into 2 inch is still nice to own and well kill lots of game.

Well not win match's kill p dogs out to 500 yards. But well hit and kill lots of big game at normal hunting ranges.

Lots of people get one or two very accurate rifles and think all others should be the same.

One time I was shooting a accurate 06 and a very accurate 223 I shot 5 shot groups with both right after the other. I looked thru the spoting scope and said what the hell happen to my 06 the group is horriable. When I went up to the target the 223 was one ragged hole the 06 was 5 in .750.

Does that mean the 06 was a bad rifle no it means the 223 was just great.

One can spend a lot of time and money trying to get the last quarter of a inch out of a rifle. When truth be know unless one is shooting matchs , small varmints or big game out pass 500 yards it is really not needed.

A two in rifle is 10 inchs at 500 5 inchs with in your point of aim. Plenty to kill a elk, deer ect.
Not saying there is not lots of other factors involved in hitting at that range. But if it was only the rifle a center kill zone shot on a big game animal would results in a dead animal.

I'm impressed. You guys have managed to hit all the key nails squarely on the head, and nobody has suggested useing benchrest loading techiques to try to polish a turd.

1) 1.3 is good enough for hunting. 1/2 inch won't kill any big game any deader.
2) rugers aren't famous for shooting in the first place.
3) Some barrels need to be dirty to shoot. I really want to say most.
4) Flat base bullets are easier to get to group at close range.

I'll add a bit:

a) If you want to improve longrange range accuracy, test your loads at long range. Its not the same thing.
b) The easiest and cheapest way to get rifle shooting is to start with a good barrel. If you have to spend hours and hundreds of rounds tricking a rifle into working, it's barely working.Don't bet on a long and happy life with the magic load.

I had a Ruger M77 in 7mm. Rem. in the early 80's and it only liked bullets around 140 gr. Living in the West where I hunt elk, I wanted to shoot heavier bullets so I sold the rifle. A friend bought one a few years ago and found Ruger had changed the twist to 1:8", and it likes heavier bullets. You might try 160-175 gr. bullets and see if you get better accuracy.

150gr. Ballistic tips or 160gr. Accubonds

When my Ruger MK II was factory (a 270), the best I could do repeatedly was about 1", sometimes just under with 3 shots. If you plan on hunting under 350 yards, don't worry about your 1.3" groups.

One of my 7mag loads that is a real tack driver is a modest load: 150 Btip, Win brass-necks turned, 215M primer, 63.0 IMR4831.

There have been some long damn shots made while hunting with rifles/loads less accurate than 1.3" @ 100yrds.

That would have been a "holy grail" type of load in Jack O'Conners day.

If the man missed a soda can at 200yrds, he couldn't blame it on the rifle.

If the current load holds up, that is still a 4" group at 300yrds.

Good luck working up a new load.

my rem 700 likes combined tech. 140 gr BST with 65 gr of H4831SC seated right at the rifling (2890 fps). i get sub 1 moa groups out to 300 yds on a regular basis and have put kill shots on a human silhouette target @ 500 and 600 yds the first and only time i shot it at those distances.

rifle is just a plain 700 adl with nikon buck masters scope.

velocity for this load should be over 3100 fps, the only thing i can figure is the Lubalox coating on the bullet causes it to exit the barrel at lower pressures.

P.S. I have tried H4350 and RL-22 without any success, H4831SC is the only powder that works well in my 7mm.

I really appreciate all the replies, but I haven't had a chance to try anything since I made the original post. My friend took the rifle to a gunsmith for his inspection and suggestions and he doesn't have it back yet. As soon as he gets it back, I'll let you know what the smith suggests and try some of the things you guys suggested.

As I stated before, if it were my gun, I'd go with it the way it is, but he wants to try to get below an inch, so, I'll work with him for awhile.

If your buddy has taken the rifle to a smith, I'm thinking that he doesn't have a rifle, he has a money pit. I'm pretty sure the smith is gonna suggest a new barrel and letting him "accurize" the rifle.
Ask you buddy how much is .5" worth to him in a hunting rifle?? (and that's with no guarentees)