wish i had swampys midas touch!

[Lloyd Smale]

I picked up a blued walnut mark II ruger o6 off a buddy who got it on trade a couple weeks ago. Its been a struggle. I kind of wanted to shoot 165s as ive got two allready that use 150s. I had ballistic tips, corelocks, sierra flat base and boat tails, hornday bonded spitzers, and nos partions on the shelf. I tried all of them with 4350, ramshot hunter, 4831 and re19 varying the charge weight 3 grains up and down I tried cci and ww primers and the best it would do is 2 inch. I then bedded and floated it and didnt see enough of an improvement to write home about. Still around 2 inch with most loads. Next step is to replace the terrible trigger. Its got to be 7 or 8 lbs and no ajustments on it. I also ordered some tubbs lapping bullets and if those dont do the job its down the road. Problem is that a guy puts money into a lemon like this and never gets it back. to be honest if it didnt have such nice wood i would have pawned it allready. I even tried a couple 150 loads that were on the shelf and it did about the same with them. I know some will say that 2 inch is good enough but a gun that wont do under a 1 1/4 for 5 shots at a 100 yards just doesnt float my boat. Ive got tang safety rugers and hawkeyes but this is my first mark II and i thought they had the accuracy problems in the tang safety guns addressed with these mark II guns. Maybe it just needs one of swampys majic corelock loads!

[Brithunter]

Sorry the hear of these woes ...................................... I know how you feel believe me. Have a couple that have driven me near nuts getting the sorted out and still not totally happy with their performance.


I wish the best of British luck my friend...................  .

[smokehouserex]

  Hey Lloyd:
  I don't know much about the ruger rifles as I have only owned 2 of them. The 25-06 did not like the factory fore end pressure,  a trigger job and I bedded it and floated it from just forward of the swell on out, group size cut by almost 50%.
  The 338 shot 3 shots under 3/4 inch right out of the box so I left it alone as it is NO FUN to shoot from the rest when shooting the 250 gr. bullets.
  The trigger on the 338 has not been touched, probably 4 lbs. or so. On the other hand the 25-06, took the trigger apart and stoned and polished all surfaces and it turned out just right.
  I know you know a lot more concerning guns ect. than I do but I hope this may help some.
  HM

[mechanic]

Try a deresonator.  Yep, they're ugly as sin...but you might be surprised.
 
Ben

[Lloyd Smale]

cant abide something that ugly on my gun. Id sell it first

Try a deresonator.  Yep, they're ugly as sin...but you might be surprised.
 
Ben

[cwlongshot]

I must say this mirrors all my personal experiences with Rugers rifles. Round tops, tang safety guns, the short 77 series and mark II guns. Reciently even a beautiful Hawkeye 375 Rugers my friend has. I REALLY tried just as you have! I bedded most of them. One I even had Bertelsmann cryogenic ally frozen!!! ( yes it did help a little)

The single acception is a aweful looking plastic ruger stocked stainless steel 270 my ill brother bought from a guy in his work lot one day. (no funny business he was going thru devorce and knew my brother would buy if price was rite). That freakin gun will touch with fed red box or win ammo right off the shelf!!

I love the looks of the tang 77's. I have a beautiful custom walnut stock for a short action. It's been empty for almost twenty years. It's had a 22/250, 308, 7/08, 243 in it none shot worth a damn. (2" at best. When you have lever guns doing better with open sites it's hard to "settle" for a bolt doing worse). My uncle has a tang 358 that shoots right at 2" as well but nice groups and with him shooting. He is not a shooter . I have been promised first rights to it should he sell. That will goin the fancy stock.

Sorry you are at the same point as me with ruger bolt guns... As a rule I don't buy them they don't shoot well. I fear even Swampys Midas touch corlokts can't make a silk purse from that sows ear....

Sorry my friend,
CW

[Dave in WV]

Try 60 in/lb on the front scrrew and 50 iin/lb on the rear screw and the center screw barely in. Make sure the magazine box isn't binding the stock.

[Savage_99]

Agreed with fussing with screw tension.  Bring a screwdriver to the range and try various combinations.  Also have some electrical tape to shim up the bedding.

Once those tweaks and some different loads don't shoot as well as wanted then I polish the crown on the barrel.  Just touch it light with some fine emery paper using the techniques show on the net.

A Kimber Montana 270 WSM was just ok until I did it's crown.

Here is one of the links.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b43odFm0mrI

[Drilling Man]

I picked up a blued walnut mark II ruger o6 off a buddy who got it on trade a couple weeks ago. Its been a struggle. I kind of wanted to shoot 165s as ive got two allready that use 150s. I had ballistic tips, corelocks, sierra flat base and boat tails, hornday bonded spitzers, and nos partions on the shelf. I tried all of them with 4350, ramshot hunter, 4831 and re19 varying the charge weight 3 grains up and down I tried cci and ww primers and the best it would do is 2 inch. I then bedded and floated it and didnt see enough of an improvement to write home about. Still around 2 inch with most loads. Next step is to replace the terrible trigger. Its got to be 7 or 8 lbs and no ajustments on it. I also ordered some tubbs lapping bullets and if those dont do the job its down the road. Problem is that a guy puts money into a lemon like this and never gets it back. to be honest if it didnt have such nice wood i would have pawned it allready. I even tried a couple 150 loads that were on the shelf and it did about the same with them. I know some will say that 2 inch is good enough but a gun that wont do under a 1 1/4 for 5 shots at a 100 yards just doesnt float my boat. Ive got tang safety rugers and hawkeyes but this is my first mark II and i thought they had the accuracy problems in the tang safety guns addressed with these mark II guns. Maybe it just needs one of swampys majic corelock loads!

  Keep throwing money at that Ruger!  You'll get there eventually!
 
  DM

[huntducks]

Lloyd
 
Have a MKII that only shoots well with a very dirty barrel like 15+ rds dirty.
 
Had a Md 700 BDL in 30-06 that would not shoot under 2" did all the good things to it no use.
 
Tried Barnes 168gr TSX the gun turned into a 3/4" shooter with RL-19 and 215gm .070 off lans. i'm not a Barnes fan but it worked.

[Lloyd Smale]

I kind of found that with barnes bullets. Guns that dont seem to shoot well with anything seem to majicaly love barnes bullets. Thing is i used them to shoot a number of deer last year and sure wasnt impressed with the results. Only gun i have that shoots barnes bullets right now is a 300wby vanguard that did crappy with everything else and just loves 180tsx bullets. It will shoot 5 into 3/4s of an inch. I figure with the 300 wby even the tsx should poleax deer. My #1 2506 is a real finiky gun too. It just loves tsx bullets though. Luckily ive found a couple loads that dont use them that do pretty well. It took alot of work though. I have no doubt that if I fool around enough ill find something this gun likes. It gets to be an obsession with me. thing is a guy burns enough powder and differnt bullets trying that he could of about bought another gun! Ive got a couple hawkeyes that shoot real well. A 264 and a 7mag that ive found a number of moa loads for. I wont buy another tang safety ruger myself. Ive just had to many bad ones but this is my first mark II and I hoped that it would shoot like the hawkeyes. Guess ruger still hasnt really got it together.

Lloyd
 
Have a MKII that only shoots well with a very dirty barrel like 15+ rds dirty.
 
Had a Md 700 BDL in 30-06 that would not shoot under 2" did all the good things to it no use.
 
Tried Barnes 168gr TSX the gun turned into a 3/4" shooter with RL-19 and 215gm .070 off lans. i'm not a Barnes fan but it worked.

[drdougrx]

Have a MKII in 243. The Ultra lite version....did the bedding, trigger, shims and I guess hundreds of $$ on loading supplies....still 3-4" at 100.  Sent it to Shaw for a new barrel....fixed....but how much did it REALLY cost me....don't even want to think about it......

[gr8ful]

what you need is this box of majic 150gr "green tip" (from lead oxidation) remington cor-lokt that I found under a footlocker in my old swamp camp, garranteed to shoot sub-moa in any 30-06 and 1/2 inch groups at 300yrds in any of the swamp remington 700's standing knee deep in mud, offhand, with factory iron sights, at moving targets, one shot one kill, should bag your deer for the next ten seasons, at least. 

[Barstooler]

I bought a pair of Ruger 77 Mk IIs in 2003.  One was in 25-06 and the other was in 30-06.  The 25-06 had a horrible 10-12lb trigger while the 30-06 was slightly better at a 6lb trigger.
 
Initially the accuracy of both was about 2" at 100 yards with typical reloads.  I floated the barrels on both of them and they came down to around 1.5" at 100 yards.  I adjusted the tension on the screws and it helped a bit, but I knew it was not going to get better unless I replaced the triggers.  Installed Timneys this year and essentially I will restart load development with both because there is such a difference.
 
Barstooler

[Swampman]

Sounds like a Wilson barrel.  Try 180 grain Core-Lokts.  If it won't shoot them well, sell it.

[Lloyd Smale]

Most of what im going to use it for entails 300 yard shooting and ive just seen to many times 180s and yes especially corelocks just pensil though a deer without expanding. I think ive tracked more wounded deer in my life shot with 180 grain o6 ammo then all the other guns combined. Ive been trying mostly 165s mostly because i allready have two o6s i shoot 150s out of but if i cant get 165s or 150s to shoot it will go down the line. Even my 300 win mag gets fed 165s. I dont step up to a 180 until i take out the 300 wby.

Sounds like a Wilson barrel.  Try 180 grain Core-Lokts.  If it won't shoot them well, sell it.

[saddlebum]

Have you elliminated any possible issues with the scope and scope mounts? Have you tried a different scope? Does the muzzle crown look good under a magnifying glass? Many guns don't perform well until the load is at or very near max pressure. When I had a 77, I tightened the lug screw as tight as I could first. Then the tang screw and then the middle one. It was glass bedded with a floating barrel. Do your groups string or scatter? I got .75" groups out of mine with 180gr Sierra Game Kings with little effort using 55grs of IMR 4350. Also .75" groups with Hornady 165gr Interlocks. The factory barrel pressure point caused it to string groups until I fixed it. You can run a tight patch through it to see if it has a tight spot in the barrel that might need to be lapped out.
Just my thoughts.....................

[Swampman]

Most of what im going to use it for entails 300 yard shooting and ive just seen to many times 180s and yes especially corelocks just pensil though a deer without expanding. I think ive tracked more wounded deer in my life shot with 180 grain o6 ammo then all the other guns combined. Ive been trying mostly 165s mostly because i allready have two o6s i shoot 150s out of but if i cant get 165s or 150s to shoot it will go down the line. Even my 300 win mag gets fed 165s. I dont step up to a 180 until i take out the 300 wby.

Sounds like a Wilson barrel.  Try 180 grain Core-Lokts.  If it won't shoot them well, sell it.

I'd sell it then.

[Bugflipper]

Bedding and free floating usually doesn't do as much for a 77 as a normal bolt action. Sometimes you can get 1/2" by doing them. Lapping is almost a given with the barrel. Ruger runs worn out machinery for decades past it's prime. Just look at the mini past the late 80's to almost current and the 10-22 past the mid 90's to current.


On a good note the 77 trigger is probably the easiest to work on.
http://www.centerfirecentral.com/77trigger.html
http://www.centerfirecentral.com/images/trigger.gif
If a fellow doesn't feel confident in polishing up a trigger the shade tree method could be done by most. Put jewelers rouge on the sear and dry fire about 10x. Repeat as needed 2-5 times to get the parts meshed well until it feels like glass. Then install a ball point pen spring to replace the factory one or a wolf 20% reduced power.


They usually benefit the most from lapping the lugs and recrowning if the barrel is giving half way decent groups to begin with. If you are running at or just under 2" now, after bedding and free floating, it would probably be a waste of money to do either though. A new barrel and truing the bolt would be the way to go, but again not cheap. Sounds like you are on the right track with the lapping and trigger job. Pretty well free and hopefully can get you closer to an inch with 5 shots. As folks have already posted, a torque wrench is a must for consistency on the 77. Hope you get it to where you want it Lloyd.

[Swampman]

How will lapping an oversize bore make a rifle shoot better?
 
An M77 will always shoot better with a little forend tip pressure.  I took one from 4 MOA to about 1/4 MOA just by giving it a little forend tip pressure with a piece of business card.  It prefered IMR-4831 at a little less than max. and Sierra Boattailed bullets.

[Lloyd Smale]

The problem with them isnt a bore that to large its a bore thats to rough.

[yooper77]

Re-bore/re-chamber it too the 338-06 A-Square.
 
yooper77

[Lloyd Smale]

well back to the range with it today. I actually shot a couple loads into 1 1/2 with 4 out of 5 going into an inch. So theres at least a good place to start now. Id say lapping probably knocked a 1/4 to a 1/2 inch off the group size. Ill take those two bullets that shot good which were the 165 sierra bt and the 150 sierra fb and work some more with differnt powders and primers now. Ill get this thing to shoot an inch if it kills me and my wallet!

[drdougrx]

Hahaha.....it just might!!!!!!

[Ranch13]

Try some H 414 with the hornady interloc bt's. Also try different brands of brass. My ruger likes federal, hornady ,winchester and remington, in that order.

[Swampman]

Your bullets are too light.  Get some 180s.

[Lloyd Smale]

the only ball powder ive tried so far is ramshot hunter. I do have some 414 though and will give it a try. Ive allready tried 4064, 4350 and re19. Ive got a bunch loaded today with 4831 to try and i should be able to at least look at my data and get it down to two or three bullets that do the best and then unless something miraculous happens today ill give 414 a try. Are you using a mag primer with it in your o6 loads? I also ordered a box of speer 150 and 165 flat based spitzers today. My shelf is bare of speers under 180 grain so theres to more oportunitys there.

Try some H 414 with the hornady interloc bt's. Also try different brands of brass. My ruger likes federal, hornady ,winchester and remington, in that order.

[Ranch13]

No just cci large rifle primers. I've found with the 414 that running right on maximum listed powder charge is where the accuracy gets the best, in both my 06 and the 243.

[Swampman]

A 180 over IMR-4831 will likely shoot the best.

[Ranch13]

In my rifle I found that 4831 really wasn't to efficient until the bullet weights got to 200 grs, or using one of the old Model 70's etc with a 24 inch barrel. From what I found using 4831 with barrels under 24 inches the velocity was well below the "4350 and 4064" class of powders, and the muzzle flash when fired in low light conditions was something akin to the drawings in the Marvel comic books.