Some things I like about the Ruger are the two stage trigger on that particular model. (shoud put it on other models of the 77, but to each his own.) Stock is of excellent design/shape for prone style shooting. Not a fan of bi- pods, sticks, bags, etc. but could easily inlet a hand stop rail in the flattened forearm of the rifle in order to use a heavy duty sling for support regardless of shooting position. Believe the twist is 1/12 which is ideal for bullet weights from 150- 190 Sierra MK's. Outstanding with the Sierra 175MK's. Barrel length is 26" and have been told that Ruger does not use their barrel on this model, but rather a Schnieder barrel????? We all know about rumors, but the few I have seen shot at long range prone matches did OK but a whole lot of rifles performance is due to the "trigger puller" or the "third screw in the butt plate..."

Negatives are the difficulty of finding solid bedding (flat bottom and angled recoil lug) and maintaining zero. This I have been told, have no personal experience with that matter but have heard a lot of knowledgeable 'smiths complain about the effort necessary. Barrel is not heavy enough and needs to be of Rem. 700 profile for better heat control and the little added weight is an adavantage as well. Scope mounting is rocksolid, but does not lend itself to using long range bases for those shots out near and to the 1000 yard mark. May not be important to you???
Little if any aftermarket items out there for future mods on the rifle if desired, but you may not want to do that, so again, not a problem to everyone. Rem. 700's permit almost endless mods to the owner if desired. I mentioned long range matches and would say that I have only witnessed one or two at the most being used by a competitor whereas the Remington's are endless in one form or the other.
All in all, for a field gun, hunting varmints, large or small, believe the Ruger to be very well qualified, but not suitable for serious match shooting. Just my opinions and we all know about opinions.

The only guy I know that used Ruger M77MKII VT actions in cometition was Larry Racine in Keene NH. He has a couple of the Palma rifles from when the Palma team used them in '92 (not exactly sure of date).
I beleive he is using Savages now.
At any rate you can do a search for Larry or call information. He will definatly be able to answer your questions.

I have a .22-250 VLE that I really enjoy shooting. Holds its zero with no issues and is a 1/2MOA rifle. Bedding is a three step process and the rear screw hole can be pillar bedded with a peice of steel hydraulic tubing. If you don't glass bed, at the very least take the action out of the stock, apply some lamp black, re-install and take apart, then releive the stock where it touches anything but the normal bedding areas. The M77MkII is notorious for having false bedding points, these will raise havoc with "zero shift".

The two stage trigger is decent out of the box, but if you can ream the holes and put in over-size pins (a couple thousands bigger) it is truly a great trigger.

Like Driver said there is very little to no aftermarket parts to play with. But I like mine and would buy another if I was in the market for that style rifle now.

If you are looking at using it for competion I strongly recomend you conntact Larry.

I have VT in 223. It does well with the right handloads. My Rugers seem more picky on what they'll shoot well, once the load is found alls well.

My Ruger MkII VT in .22-250 was shot out in 1300 rounds and I bedded and rebarreled with a .308 Lothar walther bbl. Since then, it's been one of my most accurate rifles :


3 x 5-shot groups fired in a row at 100 m

I have a VT in 243. Had it bedded and re-crowned. Shoots the 55 grain ballistic tips, various 70 grain bullets and the 87 grain Vmax very well.

This is the only VT I have owned and I would buy another. I have and have owned just about every brand you can name.

Mike.