Fumbler
Member
I don't own one, but I've recently worked on two for a friend.
IMO they are beautiful rifles, much more so than a 700.
My friend's M77 MKII was shooting 4-5" patterns. He took it to a "gunsmith" who freefloated the barrel. He didn't have it bedded because it was going to be $80.
The stock fit was horrible, you could move the barreled action around and the barrel would move left and right 1/8" each way at the end of the forearm.
I bedded it for him and since then he's sighted it in and said it was shooting right at 1" 3 shot groups.
I haven't heard back from him about the second M77. It had the same problem and I bedded it too. It is his dad's gun and is a MKI. His dad hasn't shot it because my friend got him a Browning A-Bolt Medallion for xmas...can't blame him
One thing to note: The first generation of M77s, with the tang safety, is not CRF. It has a Mauser style extractor but the bolt face is not recessed for CRF and it has a spring ejector.
Kinda bassackwards to have a Mauser extractor on a push feed if you ask me...
You can also get a Tikka T3 for the same price as an M77. They're guaranteed to shoot 1MOA and my T3 Lite in 308 is a consistent 0.5MOA gun. Neither are as pretty as a walnut stocked blued M77 though.
IMO they are beautiful rifles, much more so than a 700.
My friend's M77 MKII was shooting 4-5" patterns. He took it to a "gunsmith" who freefloated the barrel. He didn't have it bedded because it was going to be $80.
The stock fit was horrible, you could move the barreled action around and the barrel would move left and right 1/8" each way at the end of the forearm.
I bedded it for him and since then he's sighted it in and said it was shooting right at 1" 3 shot groups.
I haven't heard back from him about the second M77. It had the same problem and I bedded it too. It is his dad's gun and is a MKI. His dad hasn't shot it because my friend got him a Browning A-Bolt Medallion for xmas...can't blame him
One thing to note: The first generation of M77s, with the tang safety, is not CRF. It has a Mauser style extractor but the bolt face is not recessed for CRF and it has a spring ejector.
Kinda bassackwards to have a Mauser extractor on a push feed if you ask me...
Now I wouldn't say that. You can get a heavy barreled Savage that would shoot circles around sporter weight M77 for $500.Can't beat them for the $$.
You can also get a Tikka T3 for the same price as an M77. They're guaranteed to shoot 1MOA and my T3 Lite in 308 is a consistent 0.5MOA gun. Neither are as pretty as a walnut stocked blued M77 though.