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I have been messing around with a Ruger M77 Hawkeye chambered for 338Wm that has been driving me crazy. One day it looks like it wants to shoot sub MOA and then the next range session looking to improve the groups and it was no where near where it should have been. I picked up a used Hogue with pillar bedding and that didn't help much either. Went back to the factory synthetic stock and filled in the pockets in the forearm with epoxy and pieces of carbon fiber arrow shafts. That helped some but still not what I wanted. In my travels I stopped in a local GS and they had an assortment of H-S Precision stocks on hand and one for the M77 MK II so I bought it and took it home. They have a full aluminum bedding block and are made from Kevlar,fiberglass,carbon graphite with a foam core. the barreled action basically dropped right in with a little light sanding. Hoping this will help settle this rifle down. sorry for no pictures I don't know how to post pictures here. | ||
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Re: Ruger driving you crazy.... in my experience this may very well be a bedding issue. First, a question. After shooting a few rounds, do you check the front guard screw for tightness? In my experience particularly with the bigger calibers, it tends to loosen. I believe this is due to the angled design, and can be aggravated if the recoil lug is the least bit loose in the bedding. I've seen a couple of laminated stocks where the lug actually battered it's bedding surface. And the Ruger lug has quite a bit less lug surface area to absorb recoil than a lot of other actions. Typically, you start out with the guard screws tight (center screw not too tight) and after firing maybe 5 or 6 shots, they begin to "walk" on the target. At that point if you check the front guard screw it has loosened. In all cases I've encountered so far, bedding the forward part of the receiver and maybe 1 inch of barrel, and using blue Loctite on the front screw, combined with free floating the rest of the barrel to taste, has cured the ptoblem. Suggest you try maybe something like this before tossing a bunch of money at a new stock.... A good job is sometimes just a series of expertly fixed fark-ups. Let's see.... is it 20 years experience or is it 1 years experience 20 times? And I will have you know that I am not an old fart. I am a curmudgeon. A curmudgeon is an old fart with an extensive vocabulary and a really bad attitude. | |||
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I have a Ruger 77 MkII that drove me crazy for years, glass and pillar bedded it, re-worked the 8#+ trigger, tried dozens of different bullets, pounds of powder and every range session it would shoot to 3-4" groups to different points of aim. One time I forgot to clean it and it shot the best groups that it ever had. I cleaned it and it went back to shooting like crap. So I ran experiments and the gun will only shot good groups when it is heavily fouled. I have to shoot 20 - 25 rounds in the gun after cleaning and then it will shoot consistent one inch groups for the next couple of hundred rounds. It's a stainless gun so I just don't clean it often and it shoots fine. Frank "I don't know what there is about buffalo that frightens me so.....He looks like he hates you personally. He looks like you owe him money." - Robert Ruark, Horn of the Hunter, 1953 NRA Life, SAF Life, CRPA Life, DRSS lite | |||
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I bought the stock and wasn't happy with the cheap factory synthetic that came on it. The rear screw is the one that was working lose and discovered that when I last shot it working up a ladder test. I also had it in a pillar bedded Hogue which I could feel the barreled action twisting in when I fired the rifle. Fjold, It's a stainless model and I have stopped cleaning it altogether where before I would clean the carbon out of it leaving the copper behind. Surprisingly it put 10 rounds in about 2" at 100yds when doing a ladder test. The last three rounds opened up the group and the tang screw had loosened about 10"lbs so I'm thinking this was most of the problem. I plan on checking the torque between groups tomorrow to see if it still loosens up and if it does I'll put some green loctite on the screws since that's the weakest and what I have on hand. | |||
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Loctite is your friend here. Blue would work fine. Just stay away from the red if you ever expect to get things apart. A good job is sometimes just a series of expertly fixed fark-ups. Let's see.... is it 20 years experience or is it 1 years experience 20 times? And I will have you know that I am not an old fart. I am a curmudgeon. A curmudgeon is an old fart with an extensive vocabulary and a really bad attitude. | |||
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Went to the range today with 4 different bullet seating depths and this stock has turned the rifle into a consistent shooter. I checked the screw torque values and the screws never loosened while shooting. I really think the factory stock was the main problem with this rifle being to weak to hold the 338Wm and flexing every time you fired a round. The H-S Precision stock made a big difference in it. | |||
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I know HS Precision will tell you that bedding is not needed or recommended but I've worked on enough to know that in some circumstance bedding even helps them to a great degree. Just another thought but maybe you're already at a very acceptable level with the stock upgrade. Zeke | |||
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Thanks for the tip Zeke. With bullet seating test I have it shooting well under 1" at 100yds now it's time to stretch it's legs to see what she can do. | |||
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truck driver, With all respect you have become totally delusional if you think a hunting rifle that shoots under an inch is time to see what she will really do! that is a classic case of unreasonable expections, barely possible nor is more accuracy needed especially on larger calibers such as the .338 Win...Add to that a deers kill zone is one foot and a elks is 2.5 ft. or more!  Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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Well Ray if I don't find out where it shoots at over 100yds I think I would be delusional to think I could just put the scopes cross hairs on an Elk and expect it to be a bang flop dead animal. Heck it might be shooting 2' to the right or 2' low at over 100yds. I do try and wring as much accuracy as possible out of my hunting rifles to make sure that I can put the bullet where I want it to go other wise I would just use a shot gun with buck shot.  | |||
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I have to agree with Ray but I won't go so far as to say you are delusional. 1" at 100 yards is 2" at 200 and 3" at 300. That's more than enough accuracy for hunting any medium or big game animal. The question is, how does it shoot on the first shot? If you go to the range, take it out of the case, and fire the first shot from a cold barrel, where does it hit? You can spend an entire range session getting your rifle zeroed only to find out the first shot from a cold barrel is way off from where you thought you had it zeroed. It's entertaining to watch someone at the range firing thirty or forty rounds chasing a zero until the firearm heats up to a temperature it then maintains and the "zero" is achieved. It also guarantees the next range session will be filled with wonderment that the rifle has gone out of zero and another thirty or forty rounds will be spent chasing the zero the same way as before. . | |||
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I think some where along the line we missed the point here. This rifle wasn't consistent with anything that was shot out of it due to a flimsy factory stock which replaced with a premium stock and I'm tickled to death at how well it now shoots. Any one who doesn't practice at longer ranges than 100yds to go hunt Elk in Montana is writing a script for failure. This is an non braked 9lb 338Wm and I would love to see someone shoot it 20-40 rounds from the shoulder off a bench with out a lead sled with my hunting loads and not turn their shoulder into hamburger. If you can do it your more man then me and I'm not ashamed to say it. As far as where it shoots with a cold barrel the first shot has been repeatable right where you aim. I also don't shoot it hot and let it cool while I plink with a .22 to pass the time. What's more than enough accuracy from some is not acceptable to others. Some are satisfied with 3" at 100yds I for one am not. | |||
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