Tang Safety M77

[Swampman]

A local shop has one in .270 for a very reasonable price.  What do you think the chances of it being accurate are?

[Lloyd Smale]

ive had mixed luck with the older rugers. Mostly not good. I wont buy another tang safety ruger unless i can shoot it before i hand my money over. Dirty crime though as I do like a tang safety on a bolt gun.

[tuck2]

My 22-250 and 220 Swift tang safety Ruger rifles shoot under one inch groups after I gave them a tune up.  Glass bedding the action, free floating the barrel, and adjusting the trigger has improver the accuracy of most bolt action rifles I have owned. When purchaseing any used firearm you never know what you got untill  after you shoot it, but that also can be said of new out the box firearm. Over the years my smallest groups from any rifle has ben with reloaded ammo.

[Dee]

I have owned too many Ruger bolt guns with tang safeties to mention, dating as far back as the 70s. I've never had one that wouldn't shoot well if given a chance. I always liked the control feed bolts, although I don't know what real difference it really made, but I was NOT partial to the triggers that were hard to adjust, but were admittedly, reliable and consistent.
I once bought a new stainless that shot 6" to the left at 25 yards regardless of the scope or mounts. It was in 308, and it was 2 1/2 weeks before deer season. I boxed it up, and sent it back to Ruger telling them the situation, and a week and a half later it arrived at my door with a new target in the box.
The next week I killed a doe with it at 300+ yards with a heart lung shot. I don't own any of them now, as I sold all my bolt guns, and hunt with a 53 year old Winchester 3030, but there as good as any in my opinion, and I really like the scope mounting system.

[BBF]

Most accurate rifle in my presently much reduced inventory is a 77 that started life as a 7mm-08 and now rechambered to .284 Win.

[Siskiyou]

I would say you have a fifty-fifty chance.  In the early 1970’s there was a guy on the job who bought two or three tang safety Ruger rifles.  He could not get them to shoot and he was not a reloader.  A couple guys were waiting in the wings because they knew he would sell them at a lost.  Once the guys had the rifles in hand between bedding and reloading they have good accurate rifles.

I decided I needed a magnum and the owner of a local shop had a deal on tang M77 rifles.  As I posted before the new rifle shot patterns not groups.  It has shoot pattern consistently for thirty years until I tried 160-grain PMC ammunition.  I was shooting it up for the brass.  This is the best factory ammunition group I have from my 7MM Remington Magnum.

 

If I recall correctly this is a six shot group.


There has been a lot of discussion over the years regarding the difference barrel sources Ruger used for the early M77.

I also replaced the hard rubber butt plate with a Pachmayr Decelerator what made a world of difference.

Knowing what I know I would buy if I wanted another rifle and the price was right; knowing that I might have to do some work to make the rifle a shot.

Take a look at the underside of the bolt handle.  Rifles with a “T” there have had a special locking over travel adjustment set screw installed at the factory.

The trigger overtravel adjustment set
screw (shown on right) in a few of these
rifles may not be securely tightened and
may move too readily. This change in
original adjustment can, in extre m e
cases, either cause the rifle to fire unexpectedly
(with the safety “off) or cause
the rifle to not fire at all. This may occur
suddenly, without warning.
Current production rifles have this
set screw permanently secured. These
rifles have a “T” inscribed on the underside
of the bolt handle. This condition cannot occur in any of our other
firearms, such as the 77/22, 10/22, No. 1, No. 3, or the .44 Carbine, as their
trigger mechanisms differ.
For your safety, we ask that all owners of M-77 rifles (except those with a
“T” underneath the bolt handle) contact us, using the coupon below.
You will receive a new locking screw that will replace your present overtravel
adjustment set screw and detailed instructions for quick, easy installation.
There is no charge for this service and replacing the screw will have
no adverse effect on trigger pull.
Do not use your M-77 rifle until you have received and installed the

[Huffmanite]

I bought a used Ruger Tang Safety featherweight 270 Win for around $220 a couple of years ago.  Would have been a good carry rifle for hunting...but accuracy at range with its pencil thin barrel left a lot to be desired.  Ended up having it rebarreled to 7x57 mauser with a heavy varmit type barrel and installed a Basix trigger sear.  Now instead of a 1 1/2 to 2 inch group at 100 yards, 1/2" to 3/4" groups fairly easy for me.

[DANNY-L]

My 308 shoots the 130 and 150gr. at 1 1/2" or less at 100yds. stock rifle only add-on is a scope.

[Val]

I have a tang safety Ruger in .243, 25-06 and .308. All three of them are shooters.

[JPShelton]

My dad is a big-time Ruger fanatic in the same way that Swampman is keen on Remingtons.

I once bought a pair of tang safety Ruger M-77 Ultralights in .250 Savage -one for me, and one that I gave to him from Christmas.  Mine wasn't very accurate at all and was actually less accurate than my Marlin 336.  His would shoot five shots from a cold barrel into clusters where all the bullet holes touched each other, using a handload topped with 120 gr. Sierra Gamekings.  It shot Remington factory 100 grain Core-Lokts very well, too.  His barrel, I think, was much better than mine.  Mine was prone to serious copper fouling.  These two rifles were close in serial number, too.  They couldn't have been more different from each other in terms of end results.   I remember being pretty disgusted with the performance of the rifle.

The .250 Savage Ultralight was actually my third attempt at trying a tang saftey Ruger M-77.  The other two that I had previously were .30-'06's and they weren't particularly accurate, either.  I know they can be, because my dad's shot well from the git-go and I have a hunting buddy out in California who has a .25-'06 that is one of the most accurate production centerfire rifles I've ever shot.  Another buddy has one in .220 Swift that is very accurate, too -as accurate as the other fellow's .25-'06 but more finicky about diet.

That is part of what made my personal experience with them so dissapointing and frustrating.  I was expecting the same kind of performance that friends were getting with their examples.  Didn't happen for me, but then, I am probably the only person on the planet to have owned a Remington M-700 and vowed to never go down that road again because it wasn't as accurate as my dowdy little Marlin 336, either.

I think if gnat's testicle accuracy was of paramount importance to me, I'd elsewhere other than a tang safety Ruger M-77, unless I knew the gun I was buying through shooting it or seeing it being shot.

JP

[drdougrx]

I've got 2...bought them new in the 1980's both rebarreled....as is my MkII.

[wreckhog]

Just got a used tang safety UL in .308. Mixed bag, mostly good.

The thing was so light (plus 1). Til I scoped it with a Chinese Tasco throwaway. Still quite handy. The Ruger rings are nasty. I need to lap them or buy new rings before I put a $$$ scope on (minus 1). Guy that sold it to me said it liked 150's and gave me some factory ammo with it. Did not even bother trying them yet as I had some pet reloads for another gun. Loved my 180's best (plus 1). I shot mil surp too. Had several misfires with reloads and mil surp (minus 1). Which fired after 2-3 tries. The gun will put the first 3 shots with my 180's wherever I want (plus 1). I shot enough that after about 20 rounds, my shoulder felt it and I started waving around the muzzle too much for good groups. Overall, it was a good trade. I gave a Marlin lever for it. Mine is made in the last year of production.

[Flash]

I have two of them. A 30-06 and a 270 with open sights and they both shoot within an inch at 100 yards

[Darrell Davis]

I've had a number of them over the years, and every one was a good shooter.

Some took a bit more effort then others, but they all shot well.

First off, bed the action and float that barrel and you half way there.

I have an old "flat bolt" 243 that has always been a great shooter.  Probably one of those that will get rebarreled if it ever needs that treatment, as the wife bought it for me a good while back.

Keep em coming!

CDOC

[Graycg]

Have had at least 5 77 tang safety models over the years, 22-250, 25-06, 7mm-08, 30-06 and 338 mag, all have been shooters and the 25-06 especially so, seems to have the same barrel countour as the 338, but is not a varmint special.  I think they are great values also, the stocks are awesome.  My only complaint is the aluminum bottom metal gets scratched rather easily, though it is also fairly easy to repair the finish.  I think a thing to keep in mind is, that if you are buying a 270 for hunting, it will likely be much more accurate than you can shoot with under field conditions; if you want a benchrest rifle, buy a benchrest rifle.  if the price is right, buy  it without reservation.

regards,
 Graycg

[elkhunter1]

Long time reader but first time to post so here goes. I have several Tang safety model 77 rugers. one in my favorite cal. is the 338 win mag. I used this rifle all over the west hunting and guiding elk and deer hunters. It has several miles on her. I have herd some people say the the tang safety is not adequat. I have to call BS on this one because when I bought my rifles the first thing I did was check the safety and repair anything wrong. belive it or not on my 257 roberts the tang was installed upside down. All ways remember to make the saftey work use it and use common sense. There is really notheing worng with the 77 tang safety. Oh yes you can unload the rifle with the safety back or on safe. For the trigger. the set screw for weight works well. There would be some minor polishing to sheer. and testing of springs but nothing out of the norm. bench shooters do it all the time. I do like the controlled feed action. I was almost bucked off a horse one time while my bolt was open. stayed on the horse and never lost a round out of the gun.
Scope mounting is pretty stright farword some regular ruger rings and maybe a shim and your ready. The one down side is you have to find a bullet and load the gun likes. For me on any of my guns ready rolled just didn't do what I wanted them to do, so I went to the reloading bench. my 338 loves 225 Noslers. Using a Nosler 225 grain Part.over IMR 4831. speed tracked at 2890 fps, Good Elk and big game load.
My 257 roberts likes the Nosler 110 BT at 3050 fps and the 115 part. over a strong load of IMR 4831 at 2900 fps.
My 270 is the same as above using noslers 130 Part. at 3065 ft per sec. Put these over eather one of the 4831 and you will do the job. Long load if possible
These are my main hunting and guiding guns that are used and used correctly several days a years.
Have help several other hunters in camp straighten there 77's out also.
Learned a lot on the form hope to visit some more.