Ruger M77 Mark II Upgrades

 

I just aquired a stainless .270 Mark II with the ugly Skeleton stock from my brother (he only shot 1 box through this gun!) and I am looking to try and make this thing more accurate.  Any recomendations by any Ruger M77 owners?

 

Thanks,

 

First, either replace the non-adjustable trigger with a Timney or other good aftermarket trigger or have your gunsmith stone the sear surfaces and install a lighter trigger spring.  A crisp 2-3 lb. trigger is good for a hunting rifle, and will help you to reap the accuracy potential the rifle is capable of.  I would do this regardless of how well the rifle shoots.  I don't care for the factory Ruger trigger.  The newer trigger is better, but still not great.

 

Second, properly bed the stock.  I would replace that particular stock entirely, if for no other reason than I don't like the way it looks.

 

If bedding and adjusting the heavy factory trigger to a more reasonable weight doesn't give you the accuracy you expect, have the crown recut and muzzle chamfered.  Get some JB Bore Paste and polish the hell out of the bore.

 

Experiment with different amount of torque on the front (angled) action screw, and don't tighten the rear screw as tight as the front.

 

If none of the above measures produce good accuracy, then you most likely have a bad barrel, and the only solution is to replace it.

 

Keep in mind that 1.5 MOA accuracy is pretty typical for a sporter weight factory rifle, so if you are getting that level of precision or better from your rifle, that's actually pretty good... especially for a .270.

 

Which laminated stock do you have? I have the ugly black skeleton stock and would like to get a boyds thumbhole laminated or try to find a factory laminated Ruger brand, or a tactical style (which is hard to find)?

For M77 Mk II aftermarket laminated stocks, check out Boyds.  They have a classic style called the "JRS" (for Jon R. Sundra, who supposedly designed it) and a thumbhole style stock.  They may have other styles, but those are the two I've seen offered for the Mk II.

 

 

Works for me and my Ruger M77 Hawkeye in .308. 

 

I have a good assortment of M77, MKII's and have found the plastic stock needs less work for good accuracy than the wood stock. Brownells has a newer type replacement plastic stock for M77, MKII's that looks better than the old type. Plastic stocks can be epoxy bedded. The wood stocks with Ruger's diagonal bedding screw often use extraordinary front (large) screw tension to draw the small recoil lug into contact with the back of the lug recess. The wood stocks really need to be epoxy bedded. The great Leonard Brownell designed the M77 stock and I prefer it to the Boyds classic. Many wood M77 stocks have much sap wood that the factory has skillfully hidden with a thick layer of stain/finish.

 

The factory trigger is terrible but it can be fixed by carefully stoning the sear to reduce the amount of engagement (unless you have really thought this out go to a good gunsmith), the amount of trigger spring force can be reduced by grinding off 1 to 1 1/2 coils. Replacement triggers cost about $100

 

Barrel quality varies from very good (under 1 moa) to bad (3 plus moa). Rebarrel jobs are real expensive but so are bullets, powder, brass, primers, ammo. After messing with stock & trigger consider a rebarrel job or short range shooting. One my Ruger M77 barrel had a knife sharp edge at the back of the barrel and chamber that shaved brass from each loaded round. Hopefully Ruger has improved its barrel quality.