Ruger M77 Mk. II questions

[Selmer]

I have a Ruger M77 Mark II standard sporter, wood/blued, coming in .260 Remington next week. This is the first Ruger firearm I will have ever owned, and I have a couple questions. Is this the model with the tang or 3-position safety, and do these have the Ruger-made hammer-forged barrels that are said to be a step-up from previous barrels in terms of quality and accuracy? It's a 1-8" twist, which is what I want so I can shoot the heavier projectiles. The trigger has been professionally tuned on it, but it's still the Ruger trigger. Any advice or comments are welcome. I have a Classic M70 in .30-06, a T/C Encore rifle/pistol set-up, and a M700 Mt. Rifle in .260 Remington with a 1-9" twist barrel, plus a bunch of .22s in my arsenal right now.
Selmer

[mcwoodduck]

Your new rifle sounds like it is a MKII Hawkeye.
The Hawkeye is the newest model with a whole lot better trigger that is a lot crisper and smoother. 
Your rifle in 260 will be a three position safety.  They have not made the tang safety for years.
Ruger has been making barrels for a couple of decades now.  When they were first in the boolt action rifle business they were buying barrels and they had problems with some, repeat, some of them. 
As far as shooting the heavy for caliber slugs.  That is going to depend on the twist inside the tube.  knowing Ruger they picked a middle of the road twist that will work well for 120 to 160 grain slugs.
Sorry I'm not more help.  Personally I like the older ones with the Tang safety.  But one of these was my first rifle and it's what I'm used to.

[Selmer]

I know it's not a Hawkeye, it's at least 5 years old according to the seller.  I don't have it in hand yet, it's still in transit.  It's the only .260 standard sporter I've ever seen for sale, everything else has been a carbine or scout model, which doesn't interest me.  I already have a lightweight .260 in the M700 Mt. Rifle I own, and I'd LOVE a sporterweight, the recoil is going to be very, very light.  This is probably the rifle I will introduce my daughters to centerfire rifle shooting with.  And then I can feel okay about making the Mt. Rifle either a .260 A.I. project, or possibly a .243 A.I., but probably a .260 A.I. in the distant future.  It's not the best shooting rifle I've ever owned, and I'll probably put a custom tube on it and have it blueprinted, but I will pillar and bed it myself.  It has some of the prettiest wood I've ever seen on a factory rifle ever, so I don't really want to get rid of it.
Selmer

[Tallwalker]

Your MKII will have the Ruger hammer forged barrel, and the  three position safety. One of the things I like about the Ruger three position safety is that it can be put in the middle position with the bolt out of the gun, or the bolt open. Other three position safeties require the bolt to be locked to do that. Very handy if you want to chamber a live round for example and have the bolt open before you think about it.

[Selmer]

Tallwalker,
Interesting that you brought up that point about the safety.  I had my .30-06 M70 Classic FWT SS out yesterday at the range and ran into one of my youth group kids (13) sighting in a 12 gauge slug gun for a deer hunt.  Anyway, we got him ready for tomorrow morning's deer hunt and he had been looking at my rifles the whole time with a gleam in his eye.  I was shooting 150 gr. cast boolits at around 1700 fps, nice, easy shooting loads.  I offered to let him shoot, dad said sure, and we got him set up.  I was showing him how the safety worked, then I opened the bolt to show him how to load a round.  I had left the safety all the way forward on fire and wanted to move it to safe with the bolt open.  Couldn't do it, and I wasn't about to close the bolt on fire with a newbie behind the trigger.  I closed the bolt, put it on safe, then loaded the rifle.  He had a ball shooting his deer target at 50 yds, he put a dozen rounds through the heart/lung area before his dad said they had to go.  I think I may have sparked an interest, he wondered if he could come out to the range again with me sometime.  I of course told him yes.
Selmer

[yooper77]

I also have a Ruger M77 Mark II standard sporter, wood/blued, but mine is in 270 Winchester with 22" barrel and open sights.

Using the Ruger supplied rings, it wears a Leupold Vari-X II 3-9x40mm scope.

This setup shoot MOA for me with any 150 grain bullet and IMR-4831, if I do my part.

Mine has the 3 position safety as well.

Everything on my rifle is factory to include the trigger, which is crisp.

yooper77

[Selmer]

You guys have me excited to get my hands on this rifle!  The .260 has fairly mild recoil in my Mt. rifle configuration, but in standard sporter weight it should be a very sweet shooting rifle!
Selmer