Jay,

About 18 years ago I loaded for 2 friends and they both had out of the box Ruger 77's in '06. Both guns liked the 180 Nosler Partition Protected Point driven by 54gr. IMR 4350. If I recall correctly we used Rem. cases, CCI 200 primers, and OAL 3.32". Both rifles liked that load but one would consistantly shoot 5 bullets into 1" groups all day long.

Hope this is helpful.

Regards,

Mark

I don't have my Ruger anymore but I recall it liked either 150 or 180's. Didn't like the 165's.

What really worked in mine was plane old Speer 180 flat bases spitzers over max IMR4064.

You may not get a lot of hits on this thread. Your buddies Ruger may like one bullet whereas mine or someone elses likes something totally different.

Ye Gads! I haven't had a Ruger 77 in 30-06 in years. IIRC, the Sierra 180 gr. Pro-hunter shot very well in mine and the same load with the 180 gr. Nosler was also a good shooter. I don't remeber the loads though, other than the powder was IMR-4350. The load I worked up for the Sierra was also the load for the Nosler. I've found this to work in other 30 caliber rifles as well. I just call it serendipity.
Curently, I do have a Ruger 77 RSI in .308 Win. That damned rifle will not shoot any 180 gr. spitzer bullet that I've tried. Best accuracy has been 4.0" with the 180 gr. Sierra. However, the 180 gr. Sierra round nose will do .75" to 1.0" when I do my part. I did find that it would shoot the 165 gr. Speer Hot-core reasonably well, although it would never come close to winning any bench rest contests. (1.25-1.50")
Still, it was more than good enough to take a nice Mule deer at 250 yards.
My point being, if it won't shoot a 180 gr. spitzer, try the 165 gr. bullet. It's a reasonable compromise, and with a premium bullet still more than adequate for game up to elk.
Paul B.