Ruger M77 stock question

[AndyA]

I have an older m77 tang safety long action and am having a hard time finding a lightweight aftermarket synthetic stock for it. Plenty of MkII or Hawkeye but no tang safety. All it says on the side of the action is "Ruger M77". I also would need a sendero barrel channel as I have rebarreled it.

How much would I need to modify a MKII stock to fit a tang safety action? Just mill a slot for the safety mechanism?

Thanks

 

[Mike Kohout]

Have you checked Boyd's for one?
Mikey

 

[nbkky71]

I received an email from Boyd’s recently and they had an M77 LA tang safety stock listed on sale. Factory barrel channel but I’m sure you could open it up if needed

RUGER M77 TANG SAFETY LA FBC | Boyds Hardwood Gunstocks

PH RUGER M77 TANG SAFETY LONG ACTION , FACTORY BARREL CHANNEL CLARO XX WALNUT HIGH GLOSS KICK-EEZ PAD LASER PANEL ANGLED BLACK TIP CAP PILLAR BEDDING ATTENTION CUSTOMERS: FINISH ISSUES AND DENTED COMB/LEFT SIDE FOREND Barrel Dimensions: Point A = 1 3/16" and Point B = 3/4" Center to Center of...

www.boydsgunstocks.com

 

[AndyA]

Thanks for the replies, but I am looking for a synthetic stock. Boyds has beautiful wood stocks and will be used it I can't find a synthetic one. Really want synthetic though.

 

[mauser284]

No offense but do you know how old that is and how hard and fast Ruger dropped it!

You might as well be looking for Sten Sub Gun optic and laser mounts! LOL

I am not even a ruger Tang Mounted Saftey Hater aka TMSA member. LOL

I always thought it was rough I could not find much after market support for my Ruger M77 Mkii VT that I have owned since 1994-ish. Cricketts for decades! Hard to find anyone that will blue print them as well. All kinds of half truths about them as well.

I am going to let you in on a secret I learned it after about 30+ years of purchasing fantastic rifles that where not Remington 700 or Savage 110. If it is a fantastic design, well made and accurate out of the box and not a Remington 700 or Savage 110 after market support is almost non-exscentint. It has gotten better slowly the past 5-10 years. When I got a Ruger American the first 5 years no one made anything for them. It is still lean but now you can get some after market support.

Howa is under represented. That said the garbage can Remington 700 which at best is only marginaly better than the dumpster fire Savage 110 has always been well supported. You can not swing a dead cat with out hitting something made for the Remington 700. Even to this day a lot of custom actions are designed to fit the external diemensions of a R700 so that all of the stocks for a R700 will fit. Often the contour is the same so scope bases fit and the fire control chain is designed to work with Remington style triggers!

That is not to say there is anything wrong witht he R700 action the design was designed to be cheap to manufacture compared to the Winchester Model 70 and Mauser 98 style of actions. It is a solid design but not a great design. It was excuted as poorly as a rifle can be executed in terms of how it was actual manufactured. It's real claim to fame was how easy they where to remachine to shoot very accurately and how many where churned out kind of like the General Motors Small Block Chevy not a great design or well built but built by the 10's of millions and cheap to purchase or trade a case of beer for a used one!

In the 1980's and 1990's I could build 3-4 high performance SBC V8's for the price of 1 high performance Asian or European inline 4 cylinder or 6 cylinder. I could order my parts from catalogs no problem where for Asian or European car's I had to trach down, write letter's, make international phone calls to track one part at a time often and they had to be hand made to order etc....

I learned a really good lesson "If you want to build custom or high performance and you cannot make all of the parts yourself than start with a platform or powertrain that has a lot of support already in the market place!". To many people go the other route and then are disapounted that they have head a dead end because there is not support for their pet project rifle!

So in the future before you purchase a rifle never assume that the market will provide! Always do your home work to see if chassis, synthetic stocks, wood stocks, 20,30,40 MOA scope bases are available, bottom metal is available etc.....

Bell & Carlson is likely the lightest you will find in a symthetic stock. I doubt anyone makes a trully light weight hollow carbon fiber stock for it! https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1006584116?pid=142705

 

[AndyA]

The rifle was a gift from my uncle many years ago to encourage me to go elk hunting with him in Wyoming. It never shot well so a Bartlien barrel was put on it which made a big difference. I recently changed it again to a carbon fiber barrel in sendero contour and instead of opening up the barrel channel I was hoping to buy a carbon fiber stock ready to go.

If I just have to mill out a slot for the safety linkage, modify the trigger pocket, that is much easier than opening up the barrel channel. A new stock would also refresh the look of the rifle. Wood stocks would be a last resort as that is not what I am after.

If someone could post up a picture of a MkII or Hawkeye inlet that would also be helpful and probably answer my question.

 

[ebb]

Get a Mc Millan and have it milled if you truly want a good stock. But as always if it's something out of the ordinary it will cost. At one time I had 5 or 6 of the tang safety Rugers. Down to two, 338 win mag and a 25-06. Factory wood stocks have done all that is needed.

 

[boltman13]

As a poor recent college grad with a pregnant wife, looking for our first home, and committed to an up coming Wyoming mule deer and antalope hunt, I needed a cheep deer rifle. I found a M77 in 30-06 with a 3X9 Bushnell Banner scope at a LGS for $250. The story was the previous owner had purchased the rig for a western hunting trip and returned afterwards to trade it for a milder kicking rifle. He said it had less than 2 boxes of 30-06 factory 150's through it. It even came with the 2 boxes he had used. The LGS owner even was willing to let me make a down payment and pay it off in instalments every 2 weeks when I got payed. Two months later I took delivery and 6 months later I left my wife and 5 month daughter in our new house and journeyed to Northeast Wyoming with my father and one of his hunting friends where I harvested an average size antalope and spike buck. I used that rifle for the next 30 years to harvest my biggest elk and quite a bit of other elk and muleys. I also loaned it to other hunters in camp and they had some success after I moved to a Model 70 in 300 WSM. With my hunting load of a 180 gr Nosler Partition and WW 760 it was always a 1.5MOA rifle, but always got the job done if I did my part. Finally in 2020 I treated it to a new Lilja barrel, bedding job and trigger work. I gifted it to my youngest grandson for his first hunting rifle. With my same hunting load it now groups about 1.25MOA and the trigger is great. The stock has quite a few battle scars, but for a wooden stock is very light. That may be why it still does kick with authority.

 

[jxb]

Talk to B&C and ask them, possibly they have offerings not on the web site. Appears from this below they at least used to offer them (from now defunct site).


#5031__ Ruger M77, Long Action
Fits tang safety model, can be modified to accept up to #3 barrel contour.
*Note: Made with older molds. Barrel channel rails may be different widths and cannot be returned for that defect.

#5032__ Ruger M77 Short Action
Fits tang safety model, can be modified to accept up to #3 barrel contour.
*Note: Made with older molds. Barrel channel rails may be different widths and cannot be returned for that defect.