Ruger 77 .308 Winchester Accuracy??

[TonyR]

A friend has a Ruger 77 in .308 Winchester and is unhappy with the size of his groups. The rifle has been "accurized" including pillar bedding by a gunsmith whose work I respect, but my friend is still seeing groups up to 2 inches at 100 yards off a bench with factory ammunition. I am going to work up some handloads to try and improve things if I can. Any suggested loads would be appreciated. He wants to use the gun for deer out to 200 yards and I think a 150 gr bullet should be about right.
Thanks
Tony

 

[M700]

Take a look at a good charge of Varget, Federal 210 match primers and a 150 - 165 grain Sierra SPBT Gameking, or a Nosler Ballistic Tip in the same weights. Winchester brass is fine with a little prep. Typically a load like that will give useful velocity and very good accuracy.

 

[TonyR]

Thanks for your advice. I had been considering the Sierra 150gr GameKing with either Varget or RL-15 and the Federal 210M. I'll have to order the bullets, but I have the other components on hand. I have been debating the RL-15 versus Varget and have been leaning towards the Varget because it is said to be less temperature sensitive than the RL-15.
Thanks again.
Tony

 

[2506]

I have done a lot of bullet experimenting with the 308 on deer and have found that 46 grs of IMR 4895 behind a Nosler 125 gr ballistic tip in a Winchester case with a CCI BR-2 primer OAL 2.742 is the ticket for deer. This load does 3050 fps from my 21 1/2 inch Heart barrel. I have personally shot around 15 deer with this load from 50 to 300 yards and have not had a single one take a step. With a 3 inch high @ 100 yard zero you will only be 3 3/4 inch low at 300 yards. That is flat shooting for a 308. I also used the 125 ballistic tip this year in my 30X47 HBR at 2850 fps to kill one big 9 point buck at 112 yards and a big body cull spike at 135 yards and both deer where BANG FLOP. Others that I have told about this load are sold on it also. They can't believe how it drops deer in their tracks. Oh! In my experience this is a very accurate load in every bolt gun 308 it has been tried in. It has a lot lighter recoil than 150 gr loads also. I can't take full responsibility for finding this load. My hunting buddy tried it first for his girl friend to use in a youth model Ruger 77 in 308. He wanted to find a light recoiling load for her to use on deer. On the first hunt he took her on they where using the same shooting house. They did not see anything that morning and my buddy climbed down out of the stand and she lowered her rifle down on a rope to him. He just happened to look up and at the edge of the field 200 yards away was a BIG 200 pound 8 point buck. He tried to get her to pull the rifle back up and shoot it but she was afraid that she would spook the deer so she dropped him a bullet down and he load up and braced on the ladder of the stand and he said at the crack of the gun that big buck dropped like the ground had been jerked from under him. His girl friend did kill a good number of deer with this rifle and load and never had a deer take a step either. Give this load a try you will not be sorry.

 

[FryeGuy]

i have to agree with 2506 on this one. I also use 125 grain bullets. I was personally a little skeptical, but i knew so many people that told me the same thing i tried them as well. only difference i was using the 125 SPT by sierra. it actually ended up being the most accurate bullet in the model 600 i use. very light powder charge of imr 4895 and win primers. i think it was 41.5 grains. chronographed it was only shooting about 2400-2500fps, depending on temp. i shot a very large doe,field dressed just over 100lbs). shot thru the shoulder a little high, catching partial spine, and out opposite shoulder. after it left the deer it took a 1/2" to 3/4" oak sapling completely in half, and another limb in half behind that. so evidently penetration isn't a problem. did i mention she folded?

 

[boogershooter]

Yea, he is probably right,After I had the trigger worked on my Ruger bolt it was much better...It would typically shoot an average of 3/4" after that, and bedding.