Welcome aboard from another Mississippian here. I'm in the northwest part, however. Like the others, I don't like using bullets lighter than 180 in the .300 WM. I will use a 165 on occassion, but 180 grs. and above is what I prefer in mine.

As far as the Ruger is concerned, I'm not too crazy about them. I had a 7mm mag a few years ago that wasn't very accurate. I ended up selling it. I bought a .243 Compact for my son last year and it doesn't shine in the accuracy department either. Worse yet, the bolt is the roughest I've ever operated. I fault myself for not checking it out more thoroughly before I bought it. I doubt I'll ever buy another Ruger 77 and when my son get's old enough to shoot something bigger (probably next year),the one I got now will be sold.