RE: Ruger 77 Rifle Accuracy
I don't intend to badmouth Ruger because the M77 MkII is a beautiful rifle and an excellent value. However, after buying one in 2001, I finally traded it in frustration for a Remington 700 BDL last year. The problem was unpredictable accuracy from the Ruger.
I tried everything - - trigger job, floating the barrel (disaster,) bedding (better than floating but still shot wild,) tuning the tension of the action screws (no effect,) checking all the obvious things like crown, scope, scope mounts, yaddah yaddah etc and so forth, plus every imaginable iteration of careful handloads. One five shot 100 yard group would be 4+ inches, the very next would be 0 5/8" with the exact same load. Cool barrel, hot barrel, no difference. Tried David Tubb's Final Finish bore polishing bullets, which did help some, but the darned thing was just INCONSISTENT. It drove me to tears, because I loved that rifle. The Mauser style action was exactly what I wanted. I was obsessing over the accuracy problems that neither I nor my gunsmith could solve. I finally decided to get rid of it so I could concentrate on something else.
My Remington, on the other hand, is extremely stable out of the box. It has a nasty heavy trigger pull but it is at least crisp, so I haven't messed with it. With 49.8 grains of IMR 4064 underneath Remington 165 grain CoreLokts it will print about an inch or so if I do my part and if I let the barrel cool between shots. The accuracy out of the box satisfied me to where I have not done anything to improve it other than the Tubbs bullets, which made cleaning the bore much easier and reduced fouling quite a bit. On the other hand, it only has the two position safety, it is a push feed, the extractor is wimpy and if you want customer service you'll get better from Ruger than most anyplace else. I had good reasons for choosing Ruger over Remington the first time, things just didn't work out the way I wanted. [X(]
I still put wild boar and deer in my freezer with the Ruger. In reality, even the 4" patterns it would throw would be adequate to fill the freezer at ranges of 100 yards or less, but my confidence in shooting it was destroyed. I hope the next owner can sort out what the problem was; I couldn't, nor could my gunsmith. Every manufacturer can turn out a lemon product once in awhile from an otherwise fine product line, and I just happened to get one.
I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Ruger sometime, but I wouldn't hesitate to dump it either if it started giving me problems.