I noticed during break in that it was shooting factory stuff well. I went today for first trip with my reloads. This what happened: First load was 150 Speer SP loaded at 42grains of IMR 3031, win primers, and OAL of 2.785" It printed a group of 5 at 1.56". Second load was 150 Speer SP loaded at 45gr. of IMR 4064, Win Primers, and oal of 2.785" It printed a group of 5 at 2.385" The last group shot today was 150 gr. Speer SP loaded at 45gr. of RL-15, Win Primers, and oal of 2.785" It printed a group of 2.663" for 5 shots. What is especially good is that I made no scope adjustments between any of the 3 groups and if I superimpose the groups onto one page, they all hit in the 3" black circle. I measured and at 15 shots, they hit 2.923" I am happy with this rifle thus far. I will try to tweek the loads a bit and see if I can get them to tighten up some.
Whitey

Is this a .308? Do you have any more details? roger

Hey, Whitey 66 just gave the same report at 24hr.

Hey Idaho Shooter that is me on 24 hr board. I have some friends over there so I try to use both boards. Any other details I can give I will if you just let me know what you want.
Thanks
Whitey

that is about how my ruger 22-250 shoots, sure is disappointing!!! ruger is a rifle that seems to have it all, floor plate, nice wood, good scope mounts, mauser style, good saftey, but man if they could fix the trigger and the accuracy problems I would be happy

Last Wed. At the range we were using 3 mod. 77 varmints at the same time; a .223,a22-250 and a .243. The 2ea. 22 calibers are sub MOA all the time. the .243 is sub MOA but it takes a little work to get there.I guess we were just lucky to get good mod 77s. Oh we were also shoting a tange safety mod 77 varmint circa 1972. It was the best of the four and has been since the day I bought it in "72". roger

Just my two cents.... I like Ruger M77 rifles and own more of them than other brands. During the last few years, I have found that Ruger seems to be using an impact wrench to tighten the main (front) action screw!! It's very, very tight as it comes from the factory. I purchased a new M77 Mk II in .30-06 back in 2001 with the intention of taking it to South Africa in 2002 for a plains game hunt. The rifle is blued steel with the plain walnut stock. I installed a Leupold Vari-X III 1.5-5x scope after lapping the Ruger scope rings. The rings lined up nicely.

I worked up some loads (220 gr Hornadys and 220 gr Woodleighs at around 2400 fps) and tried it out. The rifle was giving "patterns" instead of groups. Seriously, it was shooting groups of around 2.5 to 3 inches at 100 yards. I wasn't satisfied with that so I decided to give the rifle a going over. But, I am far from being a gunsmith by any means.

As I said above, when I went to take the action out of the stock, I found the front action screw was very, very tight. I really had to crank the ol' screwdriver to get the screw to loosen and come out. Once I got the action out, I inspected the barrel channel in the stock. I found where it was uneven at places and it was binding the barrel on one side. With a little sand paper wrapped around a dowel, I smoothed out the barrel channel and then resealed it with Tru Oil. Nothing fancy. I also noticed that the recoil lug was bearing fairly evenly on the stock so I didn't touch that. I then put the action back in the stock and carefully tightened the action screws; just snug and hand tight. The barrel was NOT free floated; I left the barrel pressure point in the stock but I tried to make it more perfectly round with the sandpaper to match the contour of the barrel. No glass bedding and no trigger job was done; just the standard Ruger trigger as it came from the factory.

I then took the rifle back to the range. With both the 220 gr Hornadys and the 220 gr Woodleighs, the rifle started shooting 1.25 inch groups at 100 yards!!! And, it would do it consistently every time I went to the range to practice. Good enough accuracy for bushveld hunting. I was very pleased. Not bad for just a little amateur work on the rifle. I took the rifle to South Africa in 2002 and took five animals with it.

I plan to have a proper glass bedding job done on the rifle and a Rifle Basix trigger installed. I've just been playing with other rifles since the 2002 trip and haven't gotten around to taking it to my gunsmith yet.

So, my advice is to check the action screws. Personally, I think Ruger over tightens thems. Second, if you have a wood stock, then check the barrel channel for any binding of the barrel.

Just some suggestons.....
-Bob F.


My Bushbuck taken in 2002 along the Limpopo River in South Africa using the rifle discussed above.
.30-06 handload, 220 gr Woodleigh RN at 2460 fps.

Bfaucett,

I will take on board what you have said with the Rugers as I have just gotton a lam stainless .338, but am considering a 30/06 same as yours as they are on special at the moment. Lot to like about the Ruger actions for the price.

At one point I swore I would never own another Ruger after two poor shooting ss rugers a .222 & 30/06 so I am buggered if I know what caused the change in me. To be honest I think it was the milk jug stocks, I am getting my .338 bedded and floated and trigger done before even shooting it.

PC, are you not even the slightest interested in how it shoots stock before making the changes? As you know and have responded to my post, My Ruger 308 is shooting sooo gooood! I have done nothing to it. I am even going to leave the trigger as is. I have been very trigger picky in the past but even though this one is noticeably heavier, it breaks like glass. With the way it is shooting stock, I am afraid to even think of touching it. Im even going to check the action screws with my torque wrench to see what they actually are the way its shooting now, so I can make sure it returns this way. Good Luck bud.
Whitey

Yes but, if a rifle is shooting really well from scratch, it's hard to imagine a good bedding job and a decent trigger would make it much worse?? What I would worry about, but I don't know if it makes much difference, is the forend pressure changing with stock warping/weather etc.
For a big game hunting rifle I'd rather have a consistant 1.25 group over a factory variable 0.75" group.
I didn't touch my old 77 in 22 swift as it didn't know what over minute of angle meant but leaving the coast for outwest once, it started shooting 2" higher.
John L.

Bearbuck I know what your saying but I want those variables taken out of it...................I also read on this forum or another forum that the .338 win mag had split a couple of Rugers laminate stocks, wether thats right or not I don't know but bedding will cover that base as well. The trigger on mine is breaking at 6-7 pounds my gun dealer checked it I want it at a 2.5-3 pounds.

It is good that yours is going well, there have been some positive Rugers tsories on this forum of late which would be a bit of a change from te status quo.

hi
the new r77 i have bought is a surprise to me ,because the trigger is so fine i guess a little bit over 1 ib!! and synthetic stock with a soft ruber recoil pad is a delight to shoot no felt recoil att all and as far as accuracy i haven't yet done the propper break in and haven't been in shooting field, but close range(around 50 yards) off hand shooting it is as good as my brno fox 222 rem with hair trigger(actually i like more ruger's trigger). i am glad for my ruger it is more solid gun than the other options on the market.
regards
yazid