Hi guys,I was at Sportsmans Warehouse this morning, saw some nice looking M77 mark II's in stainless laminate. I've read alot in the past about Ruger barrels being on the loose end of specs and having poor accuracy. A couple years ago I bought two M77's from Gart Bros. that were on sale, a 243 and a 308, I put about 100 rounds through each, working up various loads and couldn't get either one to shoot, so I traded them off. I was wondering if you gents could tell me any good or bad about M77's and if Ruger has dealt with thier accuracy problem(if there was one)? My gut tells me to get the Remington 700, but that Ruger sure is purdy! Thanks for your help.- Chris

Chris I have worked with a few, and with the exception of one that was kind of a rascal (a 243 that would do 1.25" at best). The lot of them that I worked with would do sun moa for me with lil fuss, good enough for me.

Mark D

I have had good luck with rugers. My daughter just recived a MKII stainless left hand. I glass bedded it and free floated the barrel even before we shot it. The first group put 180 gr hornadys into a inch at a hundred.

My buddys 338 shots rem factory into 3.4ths out of the box. I wasn't so lucky my 338 is a 1.5 inch rifle. Min. of elk out to 400 yards. But then it is a blued model.

I have had several Rugers. My MKII is a RSM in
458 Lott. Off a rest, it almost puts them in 1 hole.

Most any bolt action rifle will shoot good if the action is well bedded (glass usually) and the barrel floated and the crutial thing.....the right ammo is fed to it. Yes even a Ruger.

My complaints about Ruger is not accuracy always. I had a #1 (6MM Rem varmint barrel) that shot poorly and a M-77 (7MM Mag) that actually wouldn't feed ammo up out of the magazine and another M-77 that shot poorly but I fixed it with glass and floating but the stock warped so much that I finally dumped it off.

My MkII .243 stainless, laminated will do MOA when feed almost any good bullet from 58 to 100 gr. with most suitable powders and primers. roger

I stay with Rem and Win myself. I like the out of the box accuarcy compared to having to work over a ruger to make it shoot good.

I have a Ruger 77 MkII in 243 WIn that will put 5 shots of 100 grain hand loaded Core-lokts through the same hole at 100 yds., it is the stainless and synthetic model. I also have a walnut and blue MkII in 30/06 that will shoot almost this good. The only thing I have done to these rifles is a replacement (Dayton-Traster) trigger for the 243.

MyNameIsEarl

There isn't many a factory rifle out there that
that wouldn't benefit from some work. I have had Remingtons that would shoot into a pie plate at a 100 ect ect.

I have had ones that shoot great most are good but not great.

Just a couple of Rem facts they only test fire one out of ten or so rifles. I am not talking about proof fireing. They factory set their triggers at 6lbs.

I said it before I'll say it again they are mass produce no matter what company does it They all turn out a lemon now and again. They all turn out a great one now and again.

Over all if one would take 100 production rifles out of each company and test them I would bet there would not be any differants in the over all results. Some would fail some would be great most would be avg.

I have onne of the stainless laminate Rugers in .338...................my third ruger, I had this bedded, floated and the trigger done to a crisp 3 pounds, it puts 3 225 gr woodleigh protected points just under 1" at 110 yards.

I am wrapt with this Ruger.

Have a Ruger in 300 win mag. right out the box it would shoot 1 inch groups (3 shot) with 150 or 180 grain bullets. Trigger needs some work but I left it along.

For accuracy I prefer 700s, but Rugers have been getting a lot better accuracy wise. I just tested two M77 RSIs in .243 and .308 Win. The .308 wasn't much good out of the box, but the .243 shot lots of loads (5 shot groups) into less than an inch. Nothing too much under an inch, but uncder nevertheless.

I've always liked the Rugers as well as any of them. For one thing, they have a good scope mounting system, the triggers suck but are easily fixed. I suspect this is most of the cause for the people who can't get one to shoot, although some who know more than I claim it was the fact that they were buying cheap barrels, not making their own- no longer the case. I shot another boring 3-shot perfect triangle with mine this morning .603 in. with a stock Ruger 7x57 with only a kitchen table trigger job and the barrel floated. I've carried this rifle around the world and have a room full of heads shot here and in Africa. It's nowhere close to being a nice rifle, frankly beat up and scratched, but it fits me well and along with my Whitworth .375 is a go to gun.

I am into the Mark I 77's, and have owned and shot more than twenty of them in different calibers. When I worked in a gun shop, I had people tell me the early guns were sloppy, but latter ones were better, and the opposite. But in reality, the only problem I have seen with them was the stock bedding and triggers. Both were easily solved, and I never had a bad shooter. I've slugged a lot of their barrels, and they are all on the mark. My current favorite of the five in the safe is an 06 that consistently puts five 180 partitions in 3/4"(that's a circle drawn around the bullet holes, not center to center) all day long.

I've had 3 Ruger 77s--two older tang safety models (.25-06 and 7Mag, both of which I still have) and I had a LH Mk II in .270. Both the older guns shoot sub-moa with handloads. The .25-06 has a Leupold 3X9, Timney trigger and bedding job. The 7Mag has a new take-off barrel, factory trigger, and no glass bedding. The .270 found a new home because even with trigger work and bedding it was a "4 & 1" shooter. 4 shots in an inch or less every time but the 5th would be somewhere 1-2" out. It wasn't the brass, load, or shooter, and the crown was OK. It was just aggravating so it is gone. I've since worked up loads for 3 other Ruger Mk IIs, 2 7 mags and a .300 Winmag. All three shot MOA or less once I found the right combo.

So, I would say Rugers are no more inherently inaccurate than the Rems, Wins, and Savages I routinely work loads up for. They (and most all rifles) have a load or loads they like and many loads they don't like. Just got to be patient and persistent and figure it out.

All i have in my safe is Rugers! They all shoot better than me. Great gun and value in my opinion.

I have 13 ruger 77s both new and old stainless and blued.The 243 is the least accurate but it shoots 1" groups barely.The 338s all will shoot under 1" at 200 yards.My two 246 win mag rugers will shoot under 1/2" at 100 yards.I think its the stock on my 243 that limits its accuracy.The barrel wobbles at the forend.My 338s have medium heavy barrels which dont heat up and are clover leaf shooters along with the 264s.I had to find the right loads for the 243.Most did shoot around 1.5" but the federal preium 100 gr bt shot right arond 1".

P-Dog Shooter said it right, I think. Anyone who buys a new gun from any large-scale manufacturer is buying a working game-killing tool, not a surgically precise product. If he wants more, he has to be willing to put some degree of himself into the rifle...time, sweat, money, and maybe tears. That's true with any off-the-shelf rifle, by any manufacturerer.

Sure, some may be super accurate, some may be true dogs, but most are good reliable working tools which can serve as a platform for something really nice. But a guy can't just "expect" or "demand" the really nice to magically appear. He has to work with the gun to develop its ultimate potential. Any make, any model.

quote:

That's true with any off-the-shelf rifle, by any manufacturerer.

Don,t agree with that.

There are plenty of forum members here and on 24hr campfire who have had Sako and Tikkas that will easily and consistenly shoot sub moa groups out the box. In fact I have never heard of one that did not.

I think the Kimbers would be the same.

Reason? - These rifles are properly bedded & floated. Rugers are not and so its a hit & miss affair as to wether it will shoot out the box.

Thats not to say that a Ruger does not have the potential to be a good rifle though.

My go to rifle is a MkII stainless synthetic, in 300 WM, that out fo the box shot under an inch with a variety of loads. I did replace the trigger, so I dont have to concentrate on my trigger pull asw much

All my bolt actions are Ruger M77's or M77/MkII's and I've been very satisfied with all of them...

.22 rimfire stainless/synth M77/22 w/factory irons,

.243 Win RSI w/tang safety w/factory irons,

30-06 stainless/synth M77/MkII (4x Burris compact... this is my "go to" rifle hands-down),

.375 H&H RSM w/factory express sights,

.458 WM M77 w/tang safety and iron sights (slickest/smoothest bolt gun I've ever seen and fits me like a good bird gun)

With this five-rifle battery I can hunt every game animal on the planet and ammo can be found anywhere for each.

MLG
While I have always had good luck with Sakos, in the early 80's I had a .222 Remington that was so bad it keyholed at 50 yards every shot and most at 25 yards. In that day and age the .222 and Sako were a classic combination. You can get bad ones in every make, even the Sako which at the time was 2.5 times the price of a Ruger 77. They're all production rifles and shit happens. Now you've heard of one that was nowhere in the vicinity of MOA, this one wouldn't shoot an inch at 20 yards. To be fair I was operating a gun store at the time and this was my one bad Sako, but I sold 50 Rugers, M70's and Remington 700's for every Sako I sold. I'm not bashing Sako either as I currently have 3.

P Dog

You are correct to a degree. I do not know about current Rugers because the older ones have left a bad taste. I have always had very good luck "out of box" accuracy with Rem and Win. I like it when a gun shoots sub MOA. Some people with are happy with 1 MOA or greater. The Rugers that I have owned and shot were over my preference of 1 MOA. I would also agree that sometimes other manufacturers put out lemons. In my expirence Ruger excels at lemons. But this is of coarse my opinion. I guess it all comes down to expirence and what you personally like.

The Rugers I have used took less work to get to shoot good than most other makes. I like the older ones with the tang safety. My 338 shoots like a varmit rifle. Usually it just takes a bedding job and a new trigger.