Real world accuracy of Ruger tang safety rifles

[Scharfschuetze]

I'm a bit late to this thread, but I have some experience with the topic.

I bought my first M77 in 1973 or 74 in 308 Winchester. As a young buck sergeant, it was a pretty significant hit on the pay check, even with jump pay. It was a standard weight rifle. With M118 White Box match ammo, it wouldn't hold 4 MOA even after playing with the bedding, both the action and the barrel. It was quickly sold.

The second one was a heavy barrel in 308 in 1976 as I recall. It would seize up with factory ammo and required a wood mallet to open the bolt after almost every shot, even with a cold barrel. It was DXd pretty fast.

In the 70s, metallic silhouette was pretty popular and standard rifles were still competitive so I, like any psychotic, bought a third heavy barrel M77 somehow expecting a different result. The third rifle was pretty accurate with the White Box match ammo, but either the barrel was screwed in crooked or the sight bases were cast out of alignment as any scope tried on it didn't have enough right windage to zero up at a 100 yards. With windage dialed in all the way to the right with a top of the line Redfield scope, it was still about 8 inches left of the point of aim. It too went the way of the first two M77s.

I have't bought one since.

My Dad just gave me his M77 Mk II in .223. A quick trip to the range last week showed it key holing badly at 100 yards with my mid range match load of 69 grain Sierra Match Kings. Suspecting that it has a 1 in 12 twist, I tried some 55 grain FMJ bullets through it for satisfactory results of about 1 1/2 MOA through 200 yards. Now I just need to replace or fix the absolutely horrible trigger on it before using it on prairie dogs or coyotes. As it was a gift, I'll probably keep it... I guess.

I'm glad to hear that others have had more positive experiences with the M77. I've always felt that it was a good looking rifle and my nephew slays deer and elk every year with his 30/06 M77.

[BBOB662]

I own 4 M-77 bought in the '80s all with tang safeties. The .220 Swift & 25-06 both heavy bbls V models shoot great. My International model in .250-300 Savage grouped poorly. and a 7mm Rem mag took a full sheet of typing paper to cover a 10 shot group @ 100 yds. However, if I loaded 175gr bullets the group decreased by 50%.
I used every trick in the book to get latter two to shoot better. Finally re-barreled the International To .250 Ackley Improved & went to a synethic stock which shoots fine now. The 7 mag went bye bye in a trade to a friend who wanted the action as basics for a wildcat project.

[Old Coot]

I have owned two tang safety model 77 Rugers. One in 243 and the other in 7x57 Mauser. Both are quite accurate at least enough for my purposes. I sold the 243 to a friend for his son, and still have the 7x57. I have had to real problems with either rifle except for the 243 had a tendency to jump the top round out of the magazine when my oldest boy over filled it. the 243 killed one deer, two goats, and has accounted for several hogs since Jim bought it. The 7x57 took two deer, three elk, and a number of hogs and I still have it. Brodie

[Jim_P]

I have a M77 Tang Safety I bought in 1983 in 7mm Rem Mag and a sporter barrel. At 100 yards with hand loaded rounds I get 1/2 to 3/4 inch groups consistently. I love the gun. I've used it for deer and elk hunting. I did hone the rails for the bolt. I guess it's all a bit of luck which one you get.

[jjohn143]

I know its an old thread, but couldn't resist. Some years ago a friend who ran a large gun store called and said he had some trade-ins from the tactical unit (they were converting to semi's) of one of the larger cities near me and said I could snag one reasonable. I went to the store that day and sorted thru for the best looking rifle and mated it to the best looking leupold scope and took it home. All of the rifles were .308 Win and wore heavy varmint barrels. To say the rifle is accurate is a gross understatement. I swear the gun aims for the hole in the target all by itself. I have 3 loads worked up for it 125 gr, 150 gr and 168 gr. From a bench the 168's shoot 5 shot groups in the .4's at a 100 all day long if I'm with it, under an inch at 200 and even had a couple just over an inch at 300. I am sure that since they were purchased for the tactical unit they probably had a little more care when being built and I wouldn't trade it for the world.
A friend and I went to South Dakota a fews years back prairie doggin' and it took 5 dogs off a hill that that ranged 529 yds. My friend couldn't believe it, said it wasn't right taking out a whole family like that. The .308 handled the wind out there so well, I quit using my 22-250.
My work horse is a 1984 30-06 tang safety ultra light, a hunting rifle (in terms of accuracy) and I just had Veral (LBT) make a mold for it and hope to see how well it will do with cast. Now I wouldn't even hope for the .308 type of accuracy but it will be fun to play with and is a lot nicer to tote.
So as far as Ruger tang safeties, I got a good one and a great one, nice to hit the lottery once in a while.

[Lloyd Smale]

sounds like you got a good one. I had one of the wood stocked tang safety 308 heavy barreled gun and worked hard to just find one load that shot one inch at a 100 yards. Most were closer to 2inch. Kind of shows you the main problem with the tang safety guns. Its inconsistency from one to another.

I know its an old thread, but couldn't resist. Some years ago a friend who ran a large gun store called and said he had some trade-ins from the tactical unit (they were converting to semi's) of one of the larger cities near me and said I could snag one reasonable. I went to the store that day and sorted thru for the best looking rifle and mated it to the best looking leupold scope and took it home. All of the rifles were .308 Win and wore heavy varmint barrels. To say the rifle is accurate is a gross understatement. I swear the gun aims for the hole in the target all by itself. I have 3 loads worked up for it 125 gr, 150 gr and 168 gr. From a bench the 168's shoot 5 shot groups in the .4's at a 100 all day long if I'm with it, under an inch at 200 and even had a couple just over an inch at 300. I am sure that since they were purchased for the tactical unit they probably had a little more care when being built and I wouldn't trade it for the world.
A friend and I went to South Dakota a fews years back prairie doggin' and it took 5 dogs off a hill that that ranged 529 yds. My friend couldn't believe it, said it wasn't right taking out a whole family like that. The .308 handled the wind out there so well, I quit using my 22-250.
My work horse is a 1984 30-06 tang safety ultra light, a hunting rifle (in terms of accuracy) and I just had Veral (LBT) make a mold for it and hope to see how well it will do with cast. Now I wouldn't even hope for the .308 type of accuracy but it will be fun to play with and is a lot nicer to tote.
So as far as Ruger tang safeties, I got a good one and a great one, nice to hit the lottery once in a while.

[Hickok]

Had a Ruger 77 in 7mmMag that I bought in the 1970's. 1 1/5"-2" groups were the norm @ 100 yards, no matter what I tried, trigger work, re-bedded, different powder and bullets.

It got "gone" and was replaced by a 700 Remington in 7 Mag, a real tack-driver!

[ballistim]

Had a Ruger 77 in 7mmMag that I bought in the 1970's. 1 1/5"-2" groups were the norm @ 100 yards, no matter what I tried, trigger work, re-bedded, different powder and bullets.

It got "gone" and was replaced by a 700 Remington in 7 Mag, a real tack-driver!

I have a Ruger M77 tang safety in 7mm Magnum that was Mag-Na-Ported by the previous owner. Group size using Nosler 140gr. BT & H4831 consistently groups under an inch at a hundred, recoil is less than some of my 30-06 loads with the porting, so guess I had better luck. I just recently picked up another tang safety M77 in .358 Winchester and have only tried one cast load in it at 50 yd. that went under an inch, so it looks promising too.

[Hickok]

I guess it is a flip of the coin if the older M77's have a good barrel or not.

I have a newer made M77 Hawkeye with the Win. M-70 type safety and it shoots great, No problem getting MOA @ 100 yards. Excellent rifle!

[ballistim]

I guess it is a flip of the coin if the older M77's have a good barrel or not.

I have a newer made M77 Hawkeye with the Win. M-70 type safety and it shoots great, No problem getting MOA @ 100 yards. Excellent rifle!

So I've heard. Everyone raves about the Remington Model 7 but the one I own in 7mm-08 refuses to shoot anything well. I'm really kind of stuck with it as it was a 40th b-day present so I've really been looking at having it re-bored to .358 Winchester with all the rave reviews from guys here who've had JES do theirs. One thing I know about guns & guitars and that is they can be the same model exactly & one is a winner & the other is a dog, no disrespect to dogs intended.

[Motor]

Been at this shooting thing for over 30 years. Been reloading since 1985 for close friends and family. I have owned 2 tang safety Ruger M77s and have hand loaded for a few more. From .243 up to .338 Win mag. I competed in Highpower Sillhoutte with a M77V (Heavy Barrel Varment) in .280 Rem. I've nevr seen one that would not shoot good with the factory barrel. In fact I had the barrel on the M77V replaced by Ruger after I wore it out. The replacement barrel was as accurate as the original.

Yes a few of these rifles had to be bedded to reach full potential. Some were free floated while others were glass bedded and pressure point employed.

I also had a .243 that was load sencitive like one other has posted. Some loads it shot great while others were lucky to stay on a pie plate at 100. Nice to be a hand loader.

Motor

[Motor]

So I've heard. Everyone raves about the Remington Model 7 but the one I own in 7mm-08 refuses to shoot anything well. I'm really kind of stuck with it as it was a 40th b-day present so I've really been looking at having it re-bored to .358 Winchester with all the rave reviews from guys here who've had JES do theirs. One thing I know about guns & guitars and that is they can be the same model exactly & one is a winner & the other is a dog, no disrespect to dogs intended.

Hey, just saw your post. My brother had the same trouble with his Model 7 in 7mm-08. I think he solved his by bedding the stock. If you want I'll get the details from him.

Motor

[ballistim]

I changed the stock but didn't bed it yet, and accuracy was about the same but it might help. I'd be glad to get the details on what he did & what improvement resulted. Thanks!

[Huffmanite]

Came home with a used 270 Ruger Tang Safety from a LGS several years ago. Rifle was a featherweight and it'd been well used, but still in decent shape.....price was $210. Anyway, shot various reloads in it from benchrest at range I'm a member. Accuracy was decent enough for hunting, but nothing to brag about. Would rebarrel the rifle to 7x57 with an inexpensive heavy barrel and installed a $40 Rifle Basix trigger sear (wasn't a complete trigger assembly) and it turned out to be one of my more accurate rifles. Used it in my range's monthly rifle competition for awhile with decent results....kinda irritated some of my fellow shooters that I'd outscored them shooting an old Ruger.

[BrassFinger]

Had some decent (for January in N. Illinois) weather to take my '71 "hollow bolt" 30-06 to the range today. 100 yds. with 10-12 mph wind mostly at my back. It wears it's original Redfield WideView 4X scope. I put various loads down range, but the star performer was (and always is) 16gr. 2400 under the RCBS 165-SIL boolit, BAC lube and copper GatorChecks. The first two shots were the foulers on the clean barrel and the next three made a nice little Mickey Mouse. I ran some 4759 as well, ranging from 20 to 22 gr. and the 20 and 21 gr. loads did well, but not nearly THIS well. I'm running fairly soft alloy, so I think once I start to push it higher than 16 gr./2400 velocities I might be distorting the boolit from the acceleration?

I also have the old 180-SP RCBS mold and it does well, too, but once I start to get above 23 or 24 gr. of 4759 it just 'patterns'. Probably should move on to slower powder at that point, but I rather just keep the load down and plink for accuracy. I've only shot a handful of 150 gr. factory loads, so I can't say much about accuracy there, but it wasn't bad, but wasn't good either. Those were fired after quite a few cast rounds, so residual lube and such could have affected it.

Chris

[country gent]

My brother had a ruger 77 varmint in 220 swift that shot very well ( around .5-.7 with most loads at 100 yds) until the barrel went south. He also ahs a model 77 stainless lightwieght in 300 win mag that is around 1" at 100 yds with 180 grn partitions. Hes taken 2 elk with it so far. He did have a vais muzzle break installed on it to help tame recoil some. Both are / were great rifles. Bedding isnt a cure all for fixing everything. A bad barrel isnt going to get better by adding epoxy. Bigger calibers in lighter guns get much harder to shoot well also.

[wrench man]

My M77 338WM is a "liberty" model, it was an 1 1/2" rifle, good enough for Elk, but everything I read about them said to free float the barrel?, so I did and it cut the groups in half.
I have a 7x57 made in '72, it shoots about an 1 1/2" too, but I got it new in the box about a two years ago?, I had to clean the cosmoline goop out to shoot it, it only has 14 shots down the barrel, I'll give it some time and some alternative loads to see if it falls within today's standards?

[EDG]

I have a 6mm Varmit that shoots almost everything near 5/8"

I also have a 7X57 that shoots no 140 or 150 grain bullet under about 1.5 to 2.0.
That includes Remington and Federal factory ammo in the 140 weight.
Bullets used were Hornady, Nosler BT, Nosler Solid Base and Sierra. In the Hornady and Sierra lines I tried both flat base and boat tails. The flat base shot a little better but not a lot.

However the plain vanilla Federal 175 RN factory ammo shot about 3/4" groups.
In this 7X57 it all seems to be about the very long throat. I also have a 1895 Mauser with a mint bore made in 1895. It shoots close to 1" with this ammo and the military sights which does not say much for the factory barrels in Rugers.

I also shot a lot of these same bullets through a 7mm Rem mag. This rifle is a Ruger #1-S - the one with the Alex Henry forend and sights on a 26" medium heavy barrel. It was just as sorry with the 140 and 150 grain bullets. Maybe one group out of 30 groups was 1".

[DougGuy]

I have a 1970s M77 in .308 that when I got it, would do 3" @ 50yds. Yeah I know.... I did the following steps to it and got it to put 3 into a guitar pick @200yds from the prone position.

Free floated barrel, it did NOT like this at all.

Pillar bedded the action and tang screws, honeycombed the wood behind the recoil lug and filled with steel bed, inletted 1/16" of the wood 100% of the way from the tang to forend, and steel bedded the entire action, with a 100rd box of .45 Colt ammo tied to the front sling swivel. After the bedding set, I have gradual upward pressure the full length of the forend after removing the box of .45 Colt I used for a counterweight.

Lapped the bolt faces, shoot only fireformed brass, use a collet crimp die with the boolit set out of the case to within .025" of the rifling, lapped and bedded the scope rings.

It doesn't take much to get these tang safety 77s to wake up and shoot. This was my first decent centerfire rifle, and look how it has come along with the minimal knowledge of rifle 'smithing I have.

[Mtnfolk75]

I've have had a 3rd hand 1976 built Tang Safety in .270 Win since 1996, I know both prior owners. It has been a 1" MOA rifle with just about everything that I have shot through it. I have had Winchesters, Remingtons, Savages & Weatherbys over the past 42 years also, this rifle is the best shooter I have ever owned. I plan on giving to my Grandson when I am beyond shooting ....

FWIW, I also had a Model 7 in 7-08, went back to Remington twice for headspace issues before I bought it. I was the 2nd owner but was good friends with the original owner, so I knew the history of the rifle. I killed 2 deer with it and it started having the headspace issues again, it went down the road with the new owner informed of the headspacing issues.