My nephew just bought his first new rifle, a Ruger MKII stainless .280. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with this rifle and what your opinions are e.g. accuracy, cartridge and bullet preferences, pros and cons. He is very excited and proud of his new rifle and I would like to help him out if needed. My own .280 remington mountain rifle seems to prefer 160 grain partitions.

Great cartridge!

Hello Nick,

Congrats to your nephew, I think that he made a fine choice. Many here at this forum do not care for Rugers, but I happen to think that they are fine rifles, and the integral scope mount is as good as they come. I have two MkIIs, and both are sub-moa with decent loads. The only "bad" thing that I've noticed about them is that the trigger is not as easy to adjust as a Win M70....

Can't help you with the 280 Rem, though, no experience with that one.

Regards, Bill

Nick-

Very nice choice for a good all around hunting rifle. Rugers are fine rifles, and the 280 is an excellent cartridge. He should be very happy with it for a long time to come.

You say you want to help him out? Get him some ammo (or load some yourself), get him on the range, and have him put some trigger time in behind his new rig. Report back & tell us how it goes.

I think the ruger mkII's are some of the best buys in the over the counter you can get. LIke most factory rifle the tiggers need work or replacement. I have seen them shot well under and inch most out of the box well do 1.25 in. Good all around rifle. that works.

I just recently bought my last ruger . Stainless and laminated. The only reason I've bought rugers,is because they are offered in left hand. None of them have shot all that great. Averaging an 1-1/2 to two inch groups. The last ruger I bought,was sent back to ruger three months ago,because it misfires constantly. Out of a box of 20 shells,I was lucky to get 17 firings. I've lost all trust in the rifle and after I get it back,I intend to put a couple hundred rounds through it at the range,to see if its reliable.Ruger has taken investment casting to the extreme and ended up with a cobbled together piece of dogshit. The inside of the bolt on my rifle,was so messed up it was eating chunks of metal out of the firing pin,every time you pulled the trigger. Accuracy and reliability really isn't that tough to come by or achieve. If you use good materials,with proper tolerances that fit and are installed properly,the rest falls in place. Thats why the foreign market is making such a good showing.

I hope your nephew has good luck with the .280. If I shot right handed,ruger would be my last choice in rifles,as it is I own a cz in .223,so I wasn't worried about it being right handed. CZ is hands down better then ruger. Every cz I've shot has been an honest 3/4 to 1/2 inch rifle with a wide variety of ammo and the trigger isn't some piece of shit like the ruger.Tikka is another rifle with better quality and accuracy then ruger.The integral mounts on the ruger are a good idea,but I've seen plenty of these that weren't in line with the action,so they were useless. Now when it comes to ruger pistols I've had great luck. Hopefully this.280 doesn't spend more time at ruger then it does with you.

[ 06-26-2002, 04:02: Message edited by: RMK ]

RMK gets a bad rifle, so all Ruger Model 77 MK IIs are "pieces of dogshit".

Don't try to tell us that "this is common with Rugers" or some other such nonsense either. I personally own ten stainless Model 77 MK IIs, and have helped people develop loads for about twenty others. I know of exactly ONE that had problems out of the thirty or so that I've dealt with which warranted repair work, and that one was because the owner got a little happy with a stone on the sear, causing a slam fire. If RMK's was a "common problem", or "typical Ruger dogshit", then they wouldn't stay in business long. They'd go broke repairing the rifles under warranty, and have no repeat business.

I love this one: "The inside of the bolt on my rifle,was so messed up it was eating chunks of metal out of the firing pin, every time you pulled the trigger."

If that's the case, why in the hell did you keep firing it after the first shot? If I had a damaged firing pin, I damned sure wouldn't keep firing the rifle.

It seems there was a problem with the limited run of rifles they chambered in .35 Whelen. Excessive headspace, I believe, was the main culprit, along with a marginal batch of firing pin springs. The headspace wasn't enough to cause a case head seperation (at least that I'm aware of), but if the cartridge had a shoulder that was a bit far back (common on factory ammo, to ensure chambering in all rifles), there were some misfires. Other than that, they are an extremely dependable, well designed, well made rifle.

Dogshit posts notwithstanding. Take them for what they're worth.

I had a Ruger #1 in 30-06 and 2 friends of mine have the Ruger MarkII in 25-06 and 270 caliber. All of these rifles will shoot 1"-1 1/4" with factory ammo. Just real nice out of the box rifles. I had a 416 Rigby in a Ruger that would shoot under an inch and better. One of the most accurate rifles I've ever owned.

I did own a Ruger #1 heavy barrel in 25-06 that sometimes it would not hit a pie plate. (and I mean a clean miss with the rifle sand bagged )Absolutely the worst shooting rifle I ever owned.

The 280 Rem is a great cartridge and I hope you got a good one. I think, all and all, they are a well built rifle but every now and then they make a real dud. IMHO

I continued to fire the rifle,to see if it was the ammo or the rifle. After the first box I took the bolt apart and had my smith run the firing pin over a buffing wheel,that took care of the problem for a couple boxes of shells and I figured it was just the pin being rough.Then the problem showed back up again. Head space was fine,so the smith took a scope and looked at the inside of the bolt,it was jumble of jagged parts. So he buffed the pin smooth and replaced into the bolt and dry fired it a couple times,took the pin out to find it tore up. The limited edition 35 whelen guns used the same standard length action with standard 30/06 bolt face,there hasn't been any problems with head space and ruger doesn't give any explanations,they replace the bolts and sometimes the barrel or both. So whats 6.5 stand for? The six and a half inches that bill ruger was giving you in the ass? That would explain all those benchrest accurate rugers you've come across.

As for going out of business because of piss poor quality in your product,if that was the case remington would have went out of business a long time ago. So would ford and chevy.

[ 06-26-2002, 07:59: Message edited by: RMK ]

RMK,

I've seen many of your posts on this forum, and found them to be childish, vulgar, dimwitted, and for the most part, useless.

I've noticed you refer to shit quite often in your posts, and resort to insults about peoples' sexuality from time to time. Do you have a fecal obsession, or perhaps some repressed homosexual "issues"?

I see you're maintaining your normal level of civility and helpful insight on this thread also.

Nice. Keep up the good work.

Your posts would be funny, if they weren't so pathetic.

Well 6.5guy,it's not like this thread was going to go anywhere. These ruger are great threads,turn out to be the same garbage over and over. I keep hearing about all these great M77 rifles,with all of the stories about benchrest accuracy and all of the glamour. Yet every one of these rifles that I've shot especially the new ones have been sorry to say the least. I've shot two of the heavy barreled VT models that would barely do MOA. You hear alot about the rough finish of savage,yet I've seen several M77 that still had cast marks,ruger hadn't even bothered to touch up the action. They've reduced the number of procedures in the investment casting,that now they just pull it from the mold and call it good. The best part,is you'll pay as much if not more for the cobbled together ruger,then it costs for a tikka,CZ or hell even a savage and you know these rifles will all shoot out of the box and you don't have to do some sequence in tightening the action screws in hopes of getting them to shoot. I wish my experience with ruger was the exception,but I've yet to find a reputable gunsmith that actually shoots a ruger himself or would recomend ruger to someone in that price range.

It's kind of funny that some one like 6.5 guy, who wouldn't even be smart enough to try a second round,if he had a misfire,still wants to give out advice on rugers. I guess according to 6.5guy,any time you have a misfire,you should just throw the rifle away and try another.
I was out of line talking about "shit and homos",especially with someone like 6.5guy who's the foremost authority on these two subjects after years of being involved with both,not to mention rugers.

Nick, I own a Ruger MKII stainless synthetic in .308 and my friend has one exactly like it in .270. I installed a Timney aftermarket trigger on mine because the factory had quite a bit of creep.
With 150 grain Nosler BTs and a case full of WW748 it will shoot about 0.75 MOA if I do not let the barrel get too hot. If it heats up it will start to string shots vertically. This isn't the most accurate load that I worked up, but it is accurate enough and pressures seem to be a great deal less that others I tried. My friend doesn't handload but gets groups around 1.25 MOA with factory ammo.
It is not the most accurate or aesthetically pleasing firearm that I own, but for the money I paid for it I think it is a pretty good deal.
Your son could have done a great deal worse.

[ 06-26-2002, 18:12: Message edited by: crowrifle ]

Keep going, RMK, you're on a roll!

Your vast knowledge is the stuff of legend, so please pass on even more of your fascinating insights.

I'm on my 2nd .280. It and the .270 are so close there really isn't much arguement. I just happen to have some .280 cases, and lots of 7 mm bullets. If you use a premium bullet, it will kill elk class stuff as far away as you can hit them. And shoot right through them unless you hit heavy bone, etc.
Ruger has the best floorplate and trigger guard design I've ever seen in their Mk.II. They have a simple, rugged, easy to maintain trigger. Not easy to stone, but some can do this. A Timiney is available to those that need one.
Their bolt stop, extracor and ejector are all copys of the 98 Mauser, except you can drop a round directly into the chamber. Their gas venting system works as it should. They are light actions, and their scope ring design is a real plus. Their rings sometimes do need lapping however.
As far as their "cheap cast parts" go, I would point out that Sako makes their one piece bolts just like Ruger makes their's-by invetment casting.
One thing I have found is to be sure the middle action screw is only finger tight. Tighten it beyond that, the action wraps, and accuracy goes to pot. Just like the famous M70 Winchester. BTW, their angled front action screw works as advertised. E

A year and half ago I bought a Ruger M77MKII in 300 Win Mag. With a Bushnell Scopecheif 3x9-40 I get 1.25" groups at 100 yards with factory Federal Classic rounds. Win PP's group 1.5". This is an out of the box rifle. I've shot only 120 rounds through it so far. Without a doubt, I would buy another.

I just bought a Ruger M-77 in 280 about a month ago. Due to work and family taking all my time right now, I haven't had a chance to shoot it yet but I'm really looking forward to doing so.

This is my second Ruger M-77. The last one was a 30-06 that I foolishly sold for a larger caliber. That 30-06 was an outstanding hunting rifle. From what I've gathered on the 280, it should be just as good or better for deer and the like.

Let us know what you think after you've had a chance to get out with that 280!

i have two Ruger 77's, one in 338 Win Mag and the other in 257 Roberts. The only problem I've had with either was the floorplate assembly on the Roberts was cracked. I bought the rifle used and cheap, so I just fixed it myself. The triggers needed work, not a big deal. With the right load, both rifles are accurate hunting rifles (under 1.25" at 100 meters. I like them, and I especially like the tang safety. It just looks cool. FWIW - Dan

I have an MK11 in 30/06, I just need to replace the boat paddle stock. I have not fiddled with loads at all really. I load the 165 Nosler BT in front of 49 Grains of AR2208 for around 2800 fps. It will shoot 1.5" groups with this load. If I got rid of that stock and experimented with the loads a little more it would do better I think. All in all there not a bad working rifle.