Tang safety ruger 77s don't shoot.

My .300 Win. Mag. tang safety M77 shot very well. Someone had taken the time to bed the action to the McMillan stock. Between that and the palmswell stock, I have no doubt that the cow moose I had the crosshairs on when my Dad shot his bull would have been hit in the aorta with the 200 gr. Partition I was very close to firing. Range was 225 yards. Dad shot the bull at 50 and closing.

 

I have two 77markii 270wsm & a 7mm rem short mag replaced the triggers great guns they shot inch groups at 100yds !!!

 

My tang safety M77 in 243 with a heavy barrel shoots quite fine!

 

I don't know who all made barrels for them,but I'm pretty sure Wilson made some of them.I have had experience with several of their barrels,and if there was a good shooter,it probably had a Wilson barrel on it.Their barrels shoot very good.A lot of those Rugers had bedding problems and the triggers were usually pretty nasty.I bought on of their Precision Rimfires a few months ago,and it's already spending too much time in the safe because of its trigger.Not terrible,but certainly not in the same class as my 541S Remington.A good shooting bolt gun needs a good barrel,a good trigger and proper bedding.The tang Rugers were lacking in all three.At least the half a dozen I had(note had) were.I haven't shot one of their later rifles,so I can't say anything about them,but the tang safety models wouldn't shoot as well as their competetors' rifles.In those days,a M700 was a far better rifle,but they let their quality slip and Rugers are probably sitting in a lot of safes instead of Remingtons because of that.

 

Well, I don't know about your M77, but my old Canoe Paddle, in 30.06, shoots very near MOA.

 

I did glass bed the action and float the barrel on my 77 RL. That's likely to have a lot to do with the rifle's consistency year after year.

 

I think between me and a relative we have like 9 or 10 Ruger M77s. The old M77V rifles, and target grey ones, are sub moa without any work, but we do reload. The M77 sporters are sometimes Sub moa sometimes more like 1.25 moa out of the box. Those that are 1.25 moa benefit from floating and bedding and trigger work. The barrels usually are very good when given a chance.
The Mark II rifles have a real rough "lawyer" trigger.
The Hawkeyes have a decent trigger, no qualms.
In my experience, the Rugers that do not show MOA potential are in the distinct minority, but I have encountered at least one, maybe two.

My last two Hawkwyes are a 270 and a 25-06, both stainless synthetic. The 270 can hold a 1 inch group or better at 100 meters with handloads and I really like it. No trigger work necessary. Very nice deer hunting rifle. This rifle will not likely group 1" or better with any factory ammo. More like 1.25-1.5.
My 25-06 is MOA or better out of the box with my handloads, and I think it would be close to MOA with factory loads it likes as well. These are bone stock.
I have a Mark II boat paddle 223 that shoots sub moa with at least three different reloads. Sweet barrel on it. I have done some trigger and bedding work on that one.