Older Ruger M77 Quality

[apache12]

I have an option to purchase an older Ruger M77 6mm. Cosmetically seems fine. I've had a two friends that owned a M77 6mm and both had a heck of time finding ammo that it shot consistantly, one finally gave up and sold his. I'm sure Ruger makes a fine rifle, maybe it's inharently the 6mm round the is finicky. I suppose the only way to know is to buy and shoot it, if it's not good I can always sell it, but I hate to sell a rifel to someone that I think shoots poorly.

 

Any thoughts or advice? Would make a great little rifle for my 13 year olds first.

[Benbrown]

I have an option to purchase an older Ruger M77 6mm. Cosmetically seems fine. I've had a two friends that owned a M77 6mm and both had a heck of time finding ammo that it shot consistantly, one finally gave up and sold his. I'm sure Ruger makes a fine rifle, maybe it's inharently the 6mm round the is finicky. I suppose the only way to know is to buy and shoot it, if it's not good I can always sell it, but I hate to sell a rifel to someone that I think shoots poorly.

 

Any thoughts or advice? Would make a great little rifle for my 13 year olds first.

 

I bought a Ruger 77 RSI in .243 in 1981 to start my daughters deer hunting. Since then, it has started three grandsons and the children of several friends, plus served as a loaner for guest hunters. I just sold it last month, as I never shoot it any more and there are no more grandchildren to start. The same year, I bought a Ruger 77 in 7mm Rem Mag and used it as my primary elk gun for about twenty years. I gave it to my son-in-law in the early 1990s as a gift for doing a lot of plumbing work for my wife's mother. It is still harvesting elk for him. Both of these rifles shot reasonably well. The RSI was a full stock ("Mannlicher") and would keep 95 grain Ballistic Tips and Partitions under 1.5" with several different powders. The 7 Mag was an honest 1" shooter with 160 and 175 Partitions and would do better than that with 120 TSXs. If the price is right, I would not hesitate to buy the 6mm--chances are, it will shoot just fine.

[ThomC]

The 6mm is not a finicky round. I wish it would make a comeback.

[azslim]

have on old Rem Mod 725 in .244rem, it shoots lights out, had been the rifle for many first kills over the years

[singleshot]

I have only sold one firearm in my life, a ruger 77 in 7 mag. We glass bedded it, floated the barrel, up pressure on the barrel, re crowned it, tried every load. Bullet combo imaginable. Three shot wonder, then start all over again. Changed out scopes, rings, bases, never so happy to get rid of it.

[azslim]

my Ruger M77 is the varmint model, .220swift, it shoots straight

[billrquimby]

I have an early model Ruger 77 chambered for .257 Roberts, and it did all I asked of it the only time I hunted with it. I used it to kill Himalayan tahr, chamois, sika deer, red deer, and wild boar and cull a few feral goats in New Zealand after I developed a flinch with my 7 mm RM.

 

All of those kills were made while standing up, shooting offhand at distances of 50 to 150 yards. There were no suitable rocks or trees in sight or, for that matter, time enough to find anything to use for a rest.

 

After that trip, I returned to the 7 mag and haven't looked back.

 

Although that .257 produced tight groups from the bench, such accuracy from a hunting rifle simply is not needed to kill game.

 

Bill Quimby

[yotebuster]

There's a Ruger 6mm in cabelas in the gun library for $400 or $450, can't quite remember, it has a scope on it as well but I don't remember the brand, was a decent scope if I remember though.

[Couesdeer]

Nothing inherently wrong with either the rifle or chambering in question. If the price is right, grab it! If you decide it isn't as accurate as you want, you'll have an easy time selling it....

[SunDevil]

I have one in 270 and it is a tack driver.

[sjvcon]

My son has a Ruger M77 Mark II in 7-08. It is their compact model with an 18" barrel. The thing is ABSOLUTELY LIGHTS OUT. 100 yard 3 leaf clovers. All that has been done to it is a Timney Trigger.

 

The older M77's had some issues with barrels, or so I have heard. They used multiple manufacturers, and it depended whose barrel you got whether your rifle was a champ or a stinker. One of my buddies builds rifles on that M77 Tang Action and loves it. Another buddy had a Tang .30-06 that wouldn't hit the same place twice ever ... of course he never cleaned it, which may have contributed. But I have heard it just depends on your barrel. Solution ... Lilja, Hart, Krieger, Schneider, Shilen or any number of other premier barrel blanks and a good smith.

[vitalzone]

Bought a stainless, synthetic stock Ruger M77 in 1994. Rifle is chambered in 270, put a Leupold VX 3 scope in 3.5 to 10.Started shooting Barnes tsx bullets through it, rifle is a great shooter.consistently shoots 1 inch groups at 100 meters off a Harris Bipod. Definatly my main deer rifle. Also Rugers machined dovetails are in my opinion the best factory scope mounting system out there. I paid less than $500.00 for it .I own several bolt action rifles by different manufactures but the Ruger has more sucess than all the others combined, for deer .

[STOMP442]

I have an early model Ruger 77 chambered for .257 Roberts, and it did all I asked of it the only time I hunted with it. I used it to kill Himalayan tahr, chamois, sika deer, red deer, and wild boar and cull a few feral goats in New Zealand after I developed a flinch with my 7 mm RM.

 

All of those kills were made while standing up, shooting offhand at distances of 50 to 150 yards. There were no suitable rocks or trees in sight or, for that matter, time enough to find anything to use for a rest.

 

After that trip, I returned to the 7 mag and haven't looked back.

 

Although that .257 produced tight groups from the bench, such accuracy from a hunting rifle simply is not needed to kill game.

 

Bill Quimby

 

So your saying the .257 Roberts chambered in one of the finest rifles made was too accurate and to deadly on game to ever be used again. I have heard lots of reasons for not using a gun but too accurate and too deadly have never been one of them.

[billrquimby]

"So your saying the .257 Roberts chambered in one of the finest rifles made was too accurate and to deadly on game to ever be used again. I have heard lots of reasons for not using a gun but too accurate and too deadly have never been one of them."

 

 

 

I will never understand how people read things that are not there.

 

The purpose of my post was to let Apache12 know that older Ruger 77 rifles can be great hunting tools. I said I took a rifle I previously had not hunted with to New Zealand and it did all I asked of it. Even so, I put it away and returned to my favorite rifle. My comment about accuracy simply stated my firm belief that sub-MOA rifles and loads are not needed to kill game. I will stand by that.

 

Over the past half century, my occupation allowed me to buy a lot of rifles and shotguns at below-market prices, both from manufacturers and from people who were simply selling their guns. I seldom passed up a bargain and never sold anything until recently. As a result, I have a number of rifles I've not hunted with, and I will sometimes decide to use one of them, just for a change.

 

For example, I killed a mule deer two years ago with a Remington 700 in 6.5 RM I'd had for more than 15 years without firing it before working up a load for that year's hunt. It's a fine rifle and one shot killed that buck in its tracks at 200 yards offhand, but I've put it away and at my age may never get around to shooting it again.

 

Guns are merely tools, like shovels and hammers, but my 7mm RM has a lot of sentimental value for me. It wears a stock I made myself from a piece of walnut I cut from a tree on a friend's ranch. I have long arms and a short neck, and that rifle fits me better than any factory-made stock. It's also a heavy rifle, which I feel helps when shooting offhand. I've killed a heck of a lot of game -- from the size of 20-pound grysbok to moose and eland -- all over this planet with that rifle.

 

I may or may not choose to hunt with another rifle in the four or five years (if I'm lucky) left in my hunting career. If I do decide to use something other than my 7 mm RM, I have other brands and calibers I've not hunted with yet.

 

Bill Quimby

[Mocha1545]

Well said Mr. Quimby.