accuracy of ruger m77 .308?

[12guagecody]

I may be able to pick up a ruger .308 m77 for a good price and i was wondering what experience/tips you guys have on these rifles, its a standard weight barrel in a wood stock with a bushnell 4-12 i may be able to get it a little under 400 what do you guys think?

 

[juk]

Is it a mkII or a tang safety 77? There is no way of knowing how the rifle will shoot without firing it yourself. Over the years, Ruger has put out some very good rifles and some pretty mediocre rifles. I know they outsourced there barrels for a period of time, and that didn't work out too well. They have an action design that is supposedly time consuming and difficult to bed. I am pretty sure that many have a pressure point where the stock will contact the barrel.

I'm sure, at the very least, that the gun will be hunting rifle accurate. I've heard of some that would do a 3" group at best and others that would bughole. I got lucky with mine. It was an 84 model year production 77 with the heavier contour barrel in 308. I relieved the pressure point, put on a decent scope, and worked up a load for it, and it will do around an inch all day long with no wandering zero. 400 Does not sound like a bad price. They are well built rifles and can take abuse. They may not be refined, but they work well.

 

[451 Detonics]

Mine shoots very well and will hold 1 inch groups easily at 100 yards with 168gr Gold Medal. It shoots subsonic loadings of 200 grain bullets equally well. One of the keys to accuracy with the Ruger is torquing the receiver screws in sequence. Angled front screw first torqued to 50, rear to 30 and then middle to 30 has worked well for me. This is a factory heavy barrel worked for the suppressor...



a shroud is when when the suppressor is off...

 

[12guagecody]

safety up at the rear of the bolt, the owner is gonna let me shoot it before i decide so i guess that will tell all

 

[jmr40]

Sounds like a tang safety model. Back in those days Ruger didn't make their own barrels. Accuracy was very much hit and miss. They purchased barrels from outside suppliers. They varied from match grade to poor depending on what the suppliers sent them. Ruger started making their own barrels in the early 90's and they have been much more consistent since then.

Not to say it will be a poor shooter. Many were just fine, it is just much harder to predict on the older Rugers.

 

[12guagecody]

the guy i'm buying it from said it was a mkII

 

[jmr40]

Safety on the MK-II is on the right side behind the bolt handle. It is a 3 position safety similar to a Wincheser. Original M-77's is a tang safety directly behind the bolt. Some of the very first MK-II's had contract barrels, but this is when Ruger started making their own barrels so most of them are much better.

If you have the SN you can go to www.ruger.com and look up the date it was made.

 

[joed]

It really is luck with the Rugers. I've seen some that were alright and some that were sad. Haven't seen to many newer ones do badly though. I have always tried to stay away from Ruger rifles since i shot my first one. Not that they're bad, but there's better made from other manufacturers.

 

[OKcarburetor]

Haven't had any experience with a M77 in .308, but my MKII target in 25-06 is what I'd call accurate enough. It is the target version, but my friend's tang safety sporter in .243 shoots very close to as well as my target version.

Here's a recent group shot in gusting wind at 100 yds. All I've done is bed the recoil lug and make sure the action screws are properly toqued and loctite applied. It, and other Rugers, will scatter bullets if the screws are torqued improperly. Shooting soda cans at 500+ yds is a piece of cake with this rifle



for a target/varmint gun it's pretty too IMO





For $400 you can't go wrong.

 

[SwampWolf]

All of the Model 77s that I've shot have been decent shooters in terms of accuracy; at least as good as most Winchesters and Remingtons that I've shot. I currently own four of them (two of the early ones and two MKIIs); one of them (a 7X64 Brenneke) is a real tack-driver, typically 1" and under, 3-shot groups @100 yards, with factory ammunition. The other three aren't one inchers-but all three (a .308 Winchester, a 30-06 Springfield and a .257 Roberts) regularly shoot three bullets under 2" @ 100 yards.