I've been stocking and bedding rifles for 25+ years and I personally have NO problems with bedding m77 actions. In fact,I believe that is 1 of the best things about ruger m77,and m77 mk2 action design features,as it pulls the recoil lug down AND back to positive lug contact with stock when action screws and tightened. Glass bedding these rifles are NO harder than other popular rifle action designs. I know this from experience from bedding/building rifles from these actions over the years.
Ruger has indeed improved barrel quality since they started making their barrels in house. In my experience,quality hammer forged barrels are smoother and require less hand lapping than similar barrels that have button rifled or cut rifling.
ORIGINAL: cma3366a
That said, Ruger does have a bad barrel reputation, related mainly to the period in which they outsourced their barrels to Wilson IIRC. They have since moved production in-house and quality is rumored to have improved.
There is one other problems with Ruger 77 accuracy; their angledrecoil lug. Bill must have been drunk when he designed this doozie, it makes bedding overly complicated, difficult to make good contact, and inconsistant. inconsistant bedding = accuracy woes.