Ruger Tang Safety M77 30.06 Make-Over (Oh Boyd)

[JINKSTER]

This is my 33 year old Ruger M77 bought new in 1987 for $425 (and the factory lam stock was a $50 upcharge)

Time and age hardened the factory recoil pad to a state of stone where along with the slightly too long for me length of pull?...made it painful to shoot by the end of 20-30rds.

A thicker recoil pad would've just sent the already too long LOP even longer so I started shopping stocks and wound up ordering a Boyds Thumbholde stock with a custom LOP of 13 1/4" including an upgrade to the 1" thick Pachmayr Decelerator recoil pad.

I also ordered pillions and acraglass from Brownells.

PROS:

1. I love the custom fit LOP
2. I also like the Varminter style flair on the forstock
3. This custom stock arrived 9 days from the date of order (fast)
4. The stock is relieved for Free-Floating of the barrel

CONS:

1. While the shortened LOP is nice it's still a long reach to the trigger (some reshaping of the grip may be in order)
2. The stock is cut to Free-Float this sporter weight barrel with no tip pressure pad (the dollar bill slides all the way)
3. Good thing I got glass and pillions...there's not much left of the angle front hole going into the recoil lug.

 

[JINKSTER]

I knurled the pillars and custom ground a piloted counterbore to follow the existing holes...which were installed at my kitchen table with a hand drill.

 

[JINKSTER]

This is a 22" sporter profile/weight barrel so I'm torn as to whether (or not) to bed the action with "Stock Tip Pressure" in mind or to just bed it with the stock cut as is which leaves this sporter weight barrel "Free-Floated"...I'm still researching that decision.

 

[spife7980]

I would free float it, you can fold up some paper in between the barrel and stock to test the pressure later if you dont have good results free floated. Tougher to go the other way.

 

[BenW]

I had very good luck free floating my .308 M77 Hawkeye with it’s sporter barrel. The lighter barrels whip more, so I needed more than a dollar bill worth of float. More like 2-3 business cards.

 

[JINKSTER]

Finally had a day to focus and concentrate on Glass/Pillar Bedding my Ruger M77 30.06 in the new Boyds laminated Thumbhole stock I had custom ordered. First was sizing the length of the front & rear pillars and then it was arts and crafts class with surface prepping, plumbers putty dams, taping off the stock, applying release agent and finally mixing the glass bedding compound and bedding the rifles action and pillars all at the same time.

Guess I did okay as everything that was supposed to gush out of certain places did....should turn out to be a tack driver!

 

[VDVSNIPER]

I really like my old stainless steel M77, I have one in .338 win Mag. Have the paddle style stock that I changed out for a hogue full aluminum bed stock. With custom made ammo I am getting 5”-6” groups out to 700 yards, great truck rifle or as a back up on mountain hunts.

 

[JINKSTER]

Got it cracked apart this morning...

 

[JINKSTER]

Well after assembling and disassembling more than several times to figure out where relief inletting was necessary to stop my safety from binding?....things went real well..besides it gave me the opportunity to find and remove all the little specs of release agent in the nooks and cranny areas. LOL!

Turned out it wasn't the notorious safety transfer bar binding but the underside of the actual safety button itself where it protrudes above the area I leveled off with putty so?...I just needed to create a bit of a relief well for it to exist and move within.

Scope & Rings: I really fought with myself about topping things off with a new 3-15X50 Weaver Tactical EMDR Illuminated for $530 (from natchez) but?...with this 33 year old M77 having the old vintage brightly polished deep blue finish and with there being no new scopes to match that finish like my 23 year old Baush & Lomb Elite 3000 3-9X50 does?...besides it's Japanese Glass as well and just goes with the rifle...heck...I was already having a bit of sentimental anxiety over just swapping out stocks but?...I'm sure glad I did because now?...it's like everything finally fell together in that?....

By going with a 1/2" shorter stock for a proper fitting length of pull?... this allowed the scope to be moved forward in the rings which in turn?...allowed for the use of a new set of Med. Height Leupold rings instead of the High Mount Redfieds that were on it with the objective bell almost slap up against the forward ring...(it's amazing the circle of problems an ill fitting stock can cause)...and now the crown of the bell is only a little over 1/16" off the top of the barrel and down closer to my eye on the stock...cool!

Free-Float Results: I can slide (5) bills all the way up to the chamber area and (2) bills up to the action itself.

I think things went well and am looking forward to range day.

 

[JINKSTER]

Well I finally caught a break in the weekend rains to hit the range and see how this Pillar/Glass Bedding job in this new Boyds Thumbhole stock turned out and the initial results were rather dismal where if anything?...my groupings out of this 33 year old Ruger M77 have gotten a hair worse after this bedding job where I now suspect that the "Free-Floating" of this sporter weight barrel may not have been a great idea on behalf of Boyds and further enhanced by me making sure it was completely and entirely free-floated (including the chamber area all the way up to the action itself)

Now there were some extenuating circumstances such as the benches at this range being fashioned out of a single construction (inter-connecting) 1" Plywood Top where I could feel and see the vibes of other firearms being shot as my rifle sat in the arms of a light and rather unstable plastic molded sled.

I also believe two other issues at play here were...

Issue #1: "Ammo"...I only had two types of ammo and both are/were plain jane off-the-shelf fodder and both in 150gr loadings...some 20+ year old Remington Core-Lokt and some recently purchased Federal Fusion...In the past this rifle never did like the Rem Core-Lokt and shot the old plain 150gr federal real well butthings flip-flopped with this new Federal Fusion ammo where my M77 now produced better (yet still sad groups) with the Rem Core-Lokt but?...also shot that Rem Core-Lokt better than it ever has before which has me flip-flopping thinking that this proves that the free-floating of the barrel has potential in that it did shoot the core-lokt better which tells me the free-float has made the barrel "More Ammo Sensitive" and if I was willing to get back into reloading?...or maybe even just tried some other ammo like Black Hills 168gr Match Ammo?...that leaving the barrel free-floated for the moment may be the thing to do until I try other bullet weights & loadings and?...

Issue #2: "Trigger Weight"...while this is the original older style "Tang Safety" M77 that came with an adjustable trigger from Ruger?...and even though I have it set just so and it breaks real clean?....as compared to the Geiselle Trigger I installed in my DPMS LR-308 AP4?...this stock trigger in my M77 requires at least twice the pressure (more like 2 1/2 X's and maybe closer to 3X's) to break where I compared the two as soon as I got home and the Geiselle breaks at just under 3lbs...but I'm pretty sure I just cured that by ordering a Timney for the M77 from Midway this morning.

The good news?...I was only sad about 1 thing but very happy about 3 things...

The Sad Thing: No perceivable improvement in accuracy.

The Happy Things:

1: I managed to lite off 36rds in relative comfort thanks to the extra thick 1" Pachmayr Decellerator Recoil Pad...(the rock hard pad on the original stock would've had me flinching before the end of a box/20rds)...and I seriously think I could've lit off 100rds without much pain.

2: In the sea of Dark earth and Flat-Black Tactical weaponry that lined the benches?...my bright finished scope and barreled action set in a laminated thumbhole wood stock received several compliments regarding its appearance.

3: My 23 year old Baush & Lomb 3-9X50 (made in japan) scope still managed to impress me as despite my rifles yet questionable accuracy?...the turret caps are metal that seal on rubber seals and the wingnut styled turrets were both crisp clicking and easy to adjust and I got exactly what I dialed as I walked the newly set in Leupold Medium height rings scope back to center.

4: Of the 30 or so weekend warriors on the rifle range?...I was the only one to plant a target at the full 200yd max distance where it seemed no one else was willing to take that 400yd walk with me!...and then they were slack jawed when they saw "what" I was shooting....civilians...go figure! LOL!

My goal with this rifle is this: I have a friend with an A.I. .338 Lapua topped with a S&B who likes to shoot at Manatee Range that offers up to 600yds and I would love to go there and shoot with him but before they allow you on the 600yd range?...you have to hold a 5 Consecutive Shot 5" group at 300 yards to qualify for the 600yd range and I know my rifle and I aren't there yet but?...I'm working in it! LOL!

I think a good quality bipod with my rabbit ear bag might be a good idea as well...Wish me luck.

 

[JINKSTER]

Phase II...