Ruger M77 All weather bolt problems

[30-06man]

i bought this gun last year for a very cheap price since a fellow dropped it off his truck after leaving it on his roof. he found it and sold it covered in mud bought it and cleaned it to new condition and now i am having troubles with play and looseness in the bolt when i open it. it moves left to right and up and down. it still shoots well. it is a little hard to close if it get sideways. i was wondering what yall thought

[bustedknee]

Sounds to me like someone dropped that rifle off a truck!  With the bolt back.

I doubt Ruger will work on it.  They most likely will not want you shooting it either.

So they may offer you a good deal if you will "trade " it in.

You may find a gunsmith willing to spend some time working with it.  Maybe a new bolt and minimal work on the action?

I think I would hang it on the wall and make up a good story about the elephant that stomped it into the mud and I had to kill him with my hunting knife.

[30-06man]

no i knew who owned it. he told me that he always takes the bolt out after he gets into his truck since the local law enforcement tells us to remove the bolt and ammo and keep them in the front of the truck and the gun in the back. see he was taking it apart on his truck set the stuff inside and forgot the gun. the bolt had no mud on it and everything including the hard wear that holds the bolt in was in the truck. so i don't know. i am a few months short of becoming a gun smith but this isn't anything covered. it sorta sounds like the factoy bolt was too small from the factory or the action was too large. i know when it fell it had nothing to do with it. infact the scope didn't lose its zero but it fell at 20mph. so thats just how good simmons scopes and ruger mounts are. i may contact ruger sometime tomorrow

[Hairtrigger]

Call Ruger.
I will be very surprised if they will not fix it.

[SingleShotShorty]

Call Ruger.
I will be very surprised if they will not fix it.

Ditto

[30-06man]

they are going to send me a new bolt and i sent in my old one. they sent it to my ffl not to sure why but anyways it should be here by next week. if that doesn't fix it they will send me a new rifle they said. it should be fixed because i really don't want a new rifle

[Hairtrigger]

I have always believed that you could not safely change bolts without checking headspace

[30-06man]

don't ask me. they said that it should work. they did say take it to a gunsmith but i am only 2 months short of becoming one and i already know how do this.

[safetysheriff]

i can't see ruger telling you to take it to a gunsmith after sending you a bolt.

something is wrong here, i think.

ss'   

[30-06man]

well i recived it and put it on and it is all fixed. it shoots better now anyways. i don't know why they said that but they did. it was sorta stupid since it tells you how to remove and put back on the bolt.