bolt and action job on Ruger Mk 2 M77 stainless.

[Greycliff gunman]

I have a Ruger M77 Mark II stainless with sights and boat paddle stock. Beautiful gun except for the stock. Upside stock is light. Its in a .270 win. I have had it for 4 years and have never fired it. I was looking it over the other day and came to the conclusion its never been fired. According to the serial number it appears to be a 1994. The bolt is very stiff and noisy. Mostly when opening the bolt. It seems fine when sliding it though. What can I do to make it act like my model 70 .375 H&H magnum. I want quiet and smooth. It has the Mauser style action with control round feed. :banghead:

 

[rcmodel]

Trade it in on a well used & polished smooth Model 70??

Seriously, the Model 77 will never be as smooth as a well used old Model 70.

Different steels, different era of hand fitting & polishing, etc.

Your best bet is grease on everything that moves, and a lot of bolt operations to wear in the rough spots.

Some folks suggest lapping with JB Bore Paste on the bolt & raceways.
But that is accelerated wear.

It does work to a certain extent to slick up a bolt if you want to wear it in without shooting it.

rc

 

[BBBBill]

Keeping the bore paste off the mating surfaces of the locking lugs and recesses will be a trick.

 

[Greycliff gunman]

The model 70 and the mark 2 both have Mauser style bolt on them and seem to work well,
I have had other Rugers that were smoother opening the bolt. My 70 has had the bolt lapped before I bought it and I have killed plenty of moose with it not to mention throwing a lot of lead down range. Maybe the Ruger just needs to be "broke in". I know that Browning A bolt, Remington 700, Winchester classic and Ruger M77 mark 2 all shoot very close to each other, and from the factory with factory ammo in a .270 can shoot 1 MOA very easily. I am going to take it in and have the trigger reworked to lighten it up a bit and get rid of any creep. Going to get rid of the silly sling mounts and put on something a little quieter and more user friendly. I am planning a sheep and goat hunts this fall with it and maybe a caribou as well.

 

[rbernie]

Roughness on bolt lift is probably a lack of smoothness or grit in the striker cam surfaces or firing pin recess. I'd pull the bolt apart and hose it out with a good solvent, and then reassemble with a light coat of grease on the cam surface only.

 

[Greycliff gunman]

I would agree with you rbernie, I have been looking it over very closely. It appears most of the stiffness is coming from the rear of the bolt. I personally am not equipt for doing this job but I have a gunsmith I like to take my guns to. Its probably not too difficult to do but I haven't done it before and my lack of confidence to do a proper job holds me back.

 

[Greycliff gunman]

I have operated the bolt several hundred times last night and it definitely seems smoother and less noisy. There is a small amount of creep on the trigger. It doesn't feel much stiffer than my model 70 trigger which has been worked on. It is getting a trigger job for sure.

 

[matrem]

I have one in .223 I bought new in Feb 94.
Between over 500 dead g-hogs with it, hate to admit how many misses, & a "dead" target or three over the years, it has "smoothed" out to my liking rather well.