Tang safety ruger 77s don't shoot.

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Well this one does lol.

The target is cluttered from shooting two different rifles and one with its sights as well.
The right side is from my pre64 m70 in 270 pretty good for its age and just cheap Winchester ammo, top is with the scope, bottom is with the sights. Scope 3 power weaver at 100 yards.

On to the tang safety ruger it's a 1974 in 7x57, one of the ones that Supposedly are the bad barrel years. Well I'd say it shoots, I changed my normal load to help with brass life. I'll have to double check the load in my book.

The group in the middle 3 inches high is the ruger, first 5 shots are the cluster to the right. That's .510 center to center. After a few minutes to cool I adjusted and shot two more to confirm the change.
The dots covering are from the guy next to me shooting my target, there not even the same color lol.

So if you see a ruger for sale and are afraid it won't shoot, buy it you never know.
Edit, scope on the ruger leupold varix-ii 3-9x40 on 9 power.

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While I was in college in 1974, a buddy bought an M77 in .270.
We took it to range and shot his hand loads with iron sights.
We both shot 3-shot groups under 1” with iron sights off a bench.
We were both impressed! (And 18yr olds!).

A gunsmith friend had a 1984 production.338winmag that shot 8” groups with a Zeiss scope. Ruger wouldn’t warranty it. It was rebarreled with an E.R.Shaw barrel. Would then shoot under MOA.

I also had a M77MkII in .257Roberts that was a “loose” shooter....
It seems to be a haphazard “luck of the draw”.
 
Prior to 1991 Ruger didn't make their own barrels. They made the actions and then bought barrels from various outside sources then assembled the rifles. Some shoot great, some don't.
Think this one falls into the Wilson years, hard to tell with the 7x57 they said they had leftovers for years since they didn't make as many then say 3006 or 270 for a example.

You can get the bad ones to shoot tho, there's a few tricks that really work on the m77. It at least keeps them more consistent.
 
This is the fourth round fired with the new Federal Trophy Bonded Tip ammunition. Cold fouled barrel @ 100 yards off sandbags. A correct one round group is all I am after for hunting. The rifle is very consistent year to year. Rifle hasn't been touched since and won't be until the hunt is completed. I just ran a ballistic calculator on it. Federal says 3060 FPS at the muzzle. This is a 20" barrel so I used 2900 FPS. Dead on at 230 yards, - 4.9 @ 300 yards, -10.3 @ 350 yards

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Ok double checked the load, only for modern 7x57.
46.3gr imr 4350 140 Sierra pro hunter, 3.00 col, rem brass, fl sized new brass, no crimp, wlr primer, funny thing is this was a lee diper load, used the 4.3cc diper, did verify weight.

Old load was about the same but 50.0 gr imr4350 weighed out tho and 3.100 col, still shot under one inche but harder on brass. Think I shot 4-5 deer with this load all but one was drt the other went 10-15 yards.
 
I sure hope they shoot because I bought a 338 on gunbroker a half hour ago.
Don't worry, the 95 or so 338 M77 I had was a Lazer! Like sub moa every day and a true 1/2 moa 5 shot group on a good day. I loved that gun, but I shot it so much I broke two stocks (big forend cracks), so you may want to bed it at the recoil lug. I miss that rifle. Wish I had a picture of it.
 
My only experience with M77's is my brother in laws MKII 270. His was a bit of a pooch. Like 2-3" groups and the POI would shift dramatically from season to season. It always took several minutes of angle worth of scope adjustments every year sighting it in for deer season. Also had like a 9 lb trigger. I wouldn't have given you $50 for that rifle. Finally I convinced him to let me work on it a few years ago and I found the stock was warped and putting a huge amount of pressure on the barrel. After free floating the forend and doing nothing else the POI dropped 10 inches at 100 yards. Next I epoxy bedded the front action area and tang only and did a trigger job on it. It is a real honest tack driver after that.

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There are 4 bullets in that hole on the right. I should have stopped there because that would have been the tightest group I've ever shot in my life if not for the last one going left. I went from basically considering that rifle to be a tomato stake to trying to buy it from him ever since. I finally decided I needed one of my own but I've always wanted a 338.

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Had an m77 in 3006 in the early 90's real pretty rifle, but a heavy gritty trigger and 4 -6 in groups kind of soured me on them for a looong time, I've seen where a lot of ruger products are turning out some great accuracy makes me want to try out a newer modei.
 
No complaints on this '06 ultra light. Gave it to my #4 son.... he backpacks with it in pretty deep black bear country.

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Back in 1985 when I bought the .270 RL, I had the devil's own time deciding between .270 and .30-06. In the end Jack O'Connor's writings that I pored over won out.

That's a very nice rifle. It goes without saying I would have been well served with either choice.
 
It has a mint 5 star Redfield 1-4 on it. Shoots 150g Hornady RN with med-heavy load of H4895. The bullet is designed for 30-30 velocities,he's an accomplished mountain man,hardcore hunter that can run up mountains. He and the oldest are the most "deep woods" of the bunch.

Just gave him a NIB first year(of the 1st revision) Ruger security 6....

Ruger basically had this guy in mind when designing these firearms. He'll get years of hard hunting use out them. And hopefully pass them on to his boys.
 
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