M77 overhaul

[coldboremiracle]

Some of you guys may have seen this already, but I thought I'd share a project that has rebuilt one of my dads favorite varmint rifles.

Ruger M77 Overhaul: Turning 50 aint so bad

The Ruger M77 bolt action rifle has been around for over 50 years, today we rebuilt one of the rifles in a custom 220 Swift

coldboremiracle.com

 

[JB10]

I bought a M77 mk2 several years back 2nd hand. Its a 223 target/varmint model. I love the heck out of it. Do not ever plan to get rid of it. Got it from my gunsmith good friend. It was in good shape. I wish Ruger made them more. Dont realy care for the models they are still offering.

 

[WyleWD]

I bought a M77 mk2 several years back 2nd hand. Its a 223 target/varmint model. I love the heck out of it. Do not ever plan to get rid of it. Got it from my gunsmith good friend. It was in good shape. I wish Ruger made them more. Dont realy care for the models they are still offering.

A little known fact..... most if not all of the MK2 rifles and some of the #1's sported Douglas and Wilson barrels. I was told this by both Ruger and a Douglas employee on several occasions back in the 1990's after I bought a Ruger VT in 6PPC that still resides in the safe. WD

 

[JEFFPPC]

A little known fact..... most if not all of the MK2 rifles and some of the #1's sported Douglas and Wilson barrels. I was told this by both Ruger and a Douglas employee on several occasions back in the 1990's after I bought a Ruger VT in 6PPC that still resides in the safe. WD

I have always heard the same thing. Also, if you had either without the above mentioned barrels it was probably not very accurate. I like the looks of Rugers and it ends there. I have been tormented with beautiful #1s over the years that decided when they wanted to be accurate. Only one I ever shoot that impressed me was I think a 22/250 AI that was rebarreled and tuned by a gunsmith I think in one of the Carolinas. I had a neighbor with one from the 70s in .220 Swift. It shot like a bench rifle.Over a time span I never had one you count on to be a 1 moa gun. Maybe half the time at best. My last one in .257 would shoot .5 one day and the same day after lunch 2 moa, maybe. It did have good Karma though. I hunted 2 PA opening days with it and shot a racked buck both days.

 

[JB10]

A little known fact..... most if not all of the MK2 rifles and some of the #1's sported Douglas and Wilson barrels. I was told this by both Ruger and a Douglas employee on several occasions back in the 1990's after I bought a Ruger VT in 6PPC that still resides in the safe. WD

I have several friends with the 6ppc in a m77. My brother in law located one about 1 hour away from me and i was going to run down and get it. Was good condition. But i know would have sat more than being used, so i passed. Hope i never regret it.

 

[Pyscodog]

I guess I'm in the same place as JEFFPPC, I love the looks but not to sold on the rifles. I to have had 77's and No 1's and accuracy has always been 50/50. Some shot OK and others not so OK but they were nice to look at. I love the look of the No 1's but have never had one that shot to my expectations. But I'm a little finicky on accuracy. I had a stainless 77 in the paddle boat stock that shot good but gave it to my son.

 

[coldboremiracle]

I love the looks but not to sold on the rifles.

I guess it depends on experience, typically if a rifle doesn't shoot, I rebarrel it. I love projects like this one.

 

[nakneker]

Neat Article. I would guess most of us have rifles or firearms that have sentimental value which can be worth more than the $$ worth, sometimes much more. My Uncle had a 222 Sako when I was growing up, he didn’t have a Sako budget but he managed to get that rifle and me and my cousins would get to handle it every so often. That rifle was legendary. Unfortunately when I was away at college my Uncle traded it off at a gun show because it had quite shooting itty bitty groups. He wasn't the type to rebarrel a rifle, not sure he even knew that was an option. Me and my cousins to this day still talk about that rifle and wish we could have prevented its departure from the family. Kudos for fixing that rifle up and keeping it a swift, the swift is amazing. Nice write up.

 

[searcher]

That was a nice write-up for a nice rifle! I have three M-77's, a lightweight .257 Roberts, a Varmint .243 Winchester and a Rem. 7 mm Mag. All shot "O.K", but I eventually did a makeover of sorts on them about 20-25 years ago by first sending the first two to M.P.I Stocks and had them install fiberglass stockS and full bedding jobS. I had already built a hand-laminated foam stock for the 7 Mag. I added Timney triggers to them and they all shot better, especially the .243 and 7 Mag. Back then, there were few stock options available (Brown Precision and MCMillan being about the only two readily available, though at a price significantly higher than the rifles were worth - and just as few (or fewer) trigger options. Those M-77's have barrels like a gravel road but still shoot surprisingly well once a good load is dialed in. The .243, stoked with Reloader 15 and V-Maxes is as accurate as any custom rifle. The skinny barrel .257 is limited with that spaghetti barrel. Some gunsmiths don't like to re-barrel them due to the investment cast receivers, which can break once in a while if one isn't careful removing the old tube. I've left my factory tubes on as I really can't expect anything better from custom tubes. I think these rifles all cost in the vicinity of $275.00 when new back in the mid 80's. someday - I'll re-barrel the .243 and 7 Mag if I'm still fit to shoot another 5-10 years and they become inaccurate.

 

[coldboremiracle]

That was a nice write-up for a nice rifle!

Thanks!

 

[SeabeeKen]

I had a tang safety M77 243 back in the 70's. It was topped with a 25X Leupold benchrest scope. It took over 400 groundhogs and never missed 1. Most accurate rifle I ever had and loved the Sieera 85 gr HPBT. In a moment of stupidity, I traded it for something else. One of my few regrets in life

 

[pipe]

Very good project that turned out well. I have one that i will be starting as soon as it cools off a little.

 

[coldboremiracle]

In case anyone was wondering how it performs: