never was a big fan of ruger 77s

[Lloyd Smale]

Ive had good ones but for the most part they been a lot of work to get good accuracy out of. Ive allways prefered a 700 and own more of them then anything else but i have to say the 264mag i picked up last year has very quickly became probably the favorite rifle i own. I struggled with it at first and it took ruger putting a new barrel on it but now it does moa with 120 ballistic tips and that combo has taken 7 deer total now this year and every one of them has been a bang flop deal. Surprisingly no excessive meat damage except for the one i spined. that load has given consistant exit wounds and hits like the hammer of thor! Longest shot was a tad over 400 yards and the shortest about 150 so the bullet was challanged at both ends of the velocity range. this is the first 264 ive owned. I dont know why as ive allways liked odd ball rounds. I just cant figure why the 264 isnt a more popular round its sure not because of a lack of performance. Another thing ill say is i absolutely think that the hawkeye is hands down rugers best attempt at a bolt gun. I like this one so much I now have a new 7 mag just like it. I dont have time this year to play with that one but it will get a workout next year.

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

   How long is the barrel on this Ruger.264??? What powder are you using with the 120's? Had several .264's including an old model 70 that I foolishly let slip though my fingers...when I had them, the .264 dia. bullet was not popular and there were few bullets to choose from...killed some nice mulies with mine and some antelope...Always wanted a nice one with a 26" barrel......

[shot1]

The only Ruger 77 I have is a custom built rifle with a 24" heavy varmint barrel of unknown maker to me in 30X47 HBR. The 300 Savage case with shoulder pushed back 10 thousands but left the same OAL. It has a Canjar trigger in it. It is bedded in Bisanight (SP?). It is a real shooter with just about any bullet you put in it from 125 gr to 168 gr but have not tried any heaver bullets. This rifle was built as a hunter class bench rifle back in the 1980's and I got it from an estate sale.

As far as the 264 Win mag goes I have one on a Rem 700 action with a 27 3/4" Shilen CM #5 barrel. It was super accurate with the 120 BT but I was afraid to use it on deer because I am apt to get some close 50 yard shots as well as many hundreds of yards away shots. I was averaging 3600 fps with Retumbo powder and at that speed I have great concern of bullet vaporizing on impact inside 200 yards. I use the 130 Accubond with Retumbo and get 3350 fps and have killed 6 deer with it with one as close as 111 yards and it has performed flawlessly.

[drdougrx]

Seems every ruger rifle I own, except the #1, gets rebuilt.  When done, they become my favorites.   Picked up a 77/17 today....looks wonderful, trigger is awful and heavy (4lbs by my scale), bolt lift is sticky, lots of wood touching barrel....I'll shoot 100 rounds to make sure there are no warrenty isues and then off to CT Precision Chambering it goes.

[poncaguy]

I had a 260 Rem Ruger, 77, couldn't get better tyhan 1 1/2" so traded it off. Last Year, traded for a SS Hawleye 338 Federal..........wow  ..........love that rifle.....shoots 3'4" and recoil is not bad at all.Love to hunt elk someday with it..............

[Lloyd Smale]

ruger is 24 inch and im using re22 to push that 120.

  How long is the barrel on this Ruger.264? ?? What powder are you using with the 120's? Had several .264's including an old model 70 that I foolishly let slip though my fingers...when I had them, the .264 dia. bullet was not popular and there were few bullets to choose from...killed some nice mulies with mine and some antelope...Always wanted a nice one with a 26" barrel......

[SHOOTALL]

Having several M-77's I have been pleased .

[pastorp]

Years ago my wife bought me a ruger 77, tang safety, 25/06. It was a new gun and I had just started making western hunting trips each fall & thought it would be a great mule deer rifle, which it was. I worked up 2 loads for it a 90gr HP load for varmit shooting & a 120gr softpoint load for deer. That rifle was a under MOA shooter with the 90gr load and close to MOA with the deer load.
Only problem I had was I needed a bearer to haul it around, so in a few years it went away in a trade for a lighter gun. 

Regards,

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

   Shot1 , what twist do you have in your .264 mag..with the 27 in..Shilen barrel...the only .264 that I had that was super accurate was an original Westerner Model 70...I had two others, but neither was super accurate..getting a consistant group under 1 1/4 " was a challenge..I finally rebarreled to something else...BUT I always loved that caliber..during the years I had this one there were not the fine selection of bullets we have today...

[shot1]

My barrel is 27 3/4" Shilen #5 CM and is a 9 twist. Retumbo has been THE POWDER for me and the 264 mag. It is on a Rem 700 action in a Hogue full aluminum bed stock and barrel is free floating. It will average 2.5" three shots at 300 yards with a heavy cross hair scope set on 12 powder. Meopta 3-12X56. The cross hairs cover up quite a bit of a 4" orange target at that range. Probably could shoot much tighter groups with a fine cross hair higher power scope.

[nomosendero]

I got in some goodies to start load development for my Wife's Swede, for her Cow Elk hunt.
In the next 2 weeks I should start to work on my 264 Number 1.
 
Lloyd, I am glad your rifle is coming together for you!

[Lloyd Smale]

that #1 264 would be a sweetheart of a gun!!

[nomosendero]

that #1 264 would be a sweetheart of a gun!!

Thanks, I hope it is a shooter!

[bigswede]

I am a Remington 700 man through and through, though I do own one Ruger. It is a 375 Ruger Alaskan with the matte stainless finish, and wears a Leupold 1.5-5x20 scope.  It loves Hornady 270 grain bullets and RL15.  It has killed 2 elk to date, one bang flop at 100 yds, and the other was shot quartering away at 376.  That farther one made it about 90 yds before giving up.  No problems with this rifle at all.

As far as the 264 winnie is concerned I agree it is a way underrated cartridge.  I am on my second one, both of them being on Mauser 98's.  The one I have now my great grandfather built in the 70's on a VZ 24 action.  Very accurate rifle,  but the magazine is a little short, so with the long 6.5 bullets I have to seat them in a lot farther than I would like.  It doesn't get hunted much its mostly a safe queen, though some day I will take it for a walk and kill a deer with it. Just because.
  The first 264 i had did such a good job killing deer and elk with a 140 speer grandslam, that my best friend became obsessed with them.  He now has two Model 700's in 264, an interarms in 264, and two 260 remingtons.  And there has been talk of adding a 6.5-06. 

[Siskiyou]

I am looking for some basic bedding advice for my tang 77.  It does great with handloads but shot patterns rather than groups with factory ammunition.  If you have any pictures or links to a Ruger tang safety bedding job please post.

I have always hunted using my loads rather than factory in the 77 but would like to improve its accuracy before I croak;  no use the youngsters suffering 77 frustration.