been shooting m77 for years had many of the aforementioned problems. mine both would shoot 1.5 at 100 with most any ammo the cheaper the better out of the box this is fine for hunting accuracy.

but then i got into accuracy shooting. and thing changed.

one thing i learned along the way about m77's is they can be made to shoot as well as any other brand. my 6.5/08 shoots .5 to boredom and when i am really in rare form and the handload god is smiling on me i can get it to shoot .3"s
but it takes some bedding work to get this kind of accuracy and a new trigger which i read that you have changed.

frist thing i would do is as mentioned before clean the bore. had a son-in-law with a m77 25/06 that he bought used and it would not shoot well i had him clean it using bore solvent and a couple hundred strokes then took it to the bench made all the difference in the world. i then developed a load that would shoot .75 all day for his M77.

1: important to tighten the front lug screw frist and only hand tight do not try to pull the lug through the wood.

2: then tighten the front guard screw just to where it holds the trigger guard snug against the wood.

3: tighten the rear guard screw just to hand tight.

if you want the details as to what i have done to my 6.5 to make it accurate email me.

I know Buzz and the way he is about accuracy...well, let's just say you just asked Hefner to give up women....

Buzz,
If it were mine I'd bed the lug, work up a 180gr partition or Accubond load and go elk hunting (while you're still young). If you have your heart set on MOA factory sporters, Savage makes your rifle.

RMK,

I have to disagree with the lack of accuracy - I've owned a lot of 'em, tang safety and MkII, and if I knew how to do it, can show scans of typical half inch 5 shot groups at 100, using my 270.

Apart from figuring out the action screws, I fitted a Timney, and bedded the action, floated the barrel.

All my Rugers have been real shooters, and all were sold to people who bought them for their accuracy!

Each to their own, but I've also owned a couple of Rem700's that I wouldn't even use as a tomato stake!

A good trigger of 3 to 2.5lbs and the center action screw loose,should give you an idea of accuracy potential.



The other problem,is ruger actions are screwed by design. They don't lend themselves well to accuracy. Ruger himself didn't design them for good accuracy,he designed them for hunting accuracy or 2 to 3 inch groups. With the current in house barrels,the barrel is seldom a blaming factor.



The original M77 was a better action for accuracy,because you had more to work with. The barrel was almost always a piece of shit wilson or other dogshit brand. The whole reason for the M77 II,is cheaper production,ruger effectively eliminated half the procedures required to produce an action with the MII.



The best thing to do with a ruger,is buy it for big game,sight it in with a quality scope and hunt with it,totally forgeting how fuckin' bad the accuracy really is. If you keep thinking about accuracy with a ruger,you'll get to the point of not even hitting haystacks.