About a year ago I bought a Hogue over molded stock with full length bedding for my M77 22-250. I was disappointed to see it was not made for the tang safety but for a newer M77MkII and the full length bedding did not match up. I started to trace out the tang outline and cut it with a razor to remove the soft outer material. I then got my wife's dremel tool and tried to make the action fit. It still had hang ups and spots that were not touching yet. After a few hours went by I called my brother in law and he came over and took a look at what I had done so far. He use a thick sharpie and colored all of the metal bed and then put my action on and wiggled it and then removed the action to examine the metal bed for scratches. We used the dremel tool to remove the metal that had scratches because the scratches represented high points that needed to be machined down. We colored it again and put the action on and kept repeating the process until it could be assembled with the trigger gaurd and screws. Basicly if it had scratches, machine it down until there were no more marks on the colored surface. I kept doing this as I assembled and tightened all of the screws. Finally one last high point was just under the tang safety, this was a scary one! When the bolt was put in and turned as in loading a round we heard the firing pin strike. We both looked at each other with big eyes and were glad we did not chamber a round. When I checked the gun out to see what was wrong, the safety did not slide anymore but was stuck. When we machined that spot under the safety and re assembled it, the safety worked and no more firing pin discharge without the trigger being pulled. The only thing I have yet to do is put some kind of spacer on the front trigger gaurd screw, it fits but has decreased the amount of rounds the magazine holds. It holds 3 or 4 instead of 5. Looking back I would have bought the stock with pillar bedding, it would have been lighter and easier to cut to make fit. With this stock my gun shoots so well I don't even mind the slighty heavier feel. The stock has the feel of a pair of rubber armored of binoculars in your hands from the rubber overmold. The full length bedding alone made my gun shoot 1/2" groups without any alterations to the gun. I use speer 70 bullets and have taken countless deer and seals here in Alaska with it. Now my wife uses it when we go hunting. Hope this helps anyone that got in the same bind as me, or encourages someone to try this stock on an older gun. If anyone wants to try this and wants pictures let me know and I can show the cutting head we used and the spots we had to machine on the frame. Geo.
