Ruger M77 opinions

[laserguy]

I have an original M77 light weight with tang safety in .270, it is the higher grade with nice wood and the nicer blueing, I took it to a gunsmith in September to have a muzzle brake installed (wifes gun and wanted to cut recoil for her). Before I took it in the gun consistantly shot slightly under 1 MOA which was exceptional for a light weight rifle, when I got it back it now shoots 2" groups at 100 yards that spread to 14" groups at 400 yards. We hunt coues deer with the rifle and almost all of our shots are 400-600 yards, my wife has taken multiple deer over the years with this rifle, always one shot kills.

I took it back to the gunsmith and after many calls back and forth and several months of waiting the gunsmith declared that there is nothing wrong with the rifle because I should not expect better than 2" groups from a light weight rifle. I will not say who the gunsmith is because they have done good work for me and several people I know in the past and I dont want this post to turn into a discussion about them.

I now have a rifle that is useless for the long range hunting we bought it for so I need to decide what to do. Here are some of the ideas I am kicking around.

1) Sell it. I am not happy with the idea of passing on a problem rifle to someone else without informing them, but if I divulge the problems then I wont get what the gun should be worth

2) Take it to another gunsmith and pay more money to have them either install another muzzle brake or cut the old one off and re-crown the barrel. I dont know for sure that this will fix the problem and pissing away more money doesn't appeal to me unless I know it will fix the problem.

3) Take it to another gunsmith and have the barrel cut down quite a bit shorter to make a "brush gun". The gun is already light weight and with a short barrel would be a very quick handling gun, but this would also hurt the ballistics of the .270.

By the way I won a Howa 1500 in 6.5 Creedmore in a raffle from Arizona Elk society and am planning on making that my wife's deer rifle

[Winmagbill]

Have you tried using different ammo? Might be a bad combo with the break. Can you unscrew the break to inspect the new crown and see how it shoots with it off?

[QuietM4]

How large is this muzzle brake? It could be effecting the harmonics of the barrel, which is making it shoot poorly. The gunsmith could have done a bad crown. The threads could not be concentric, and the bullet could be striking the brake as it passes through.

Your scope could be broken, mounts could be loose.

Many issues to diagnose.

Remove the brake, tell your wife to toughen up...it's just a 270.

[laserguy]

How large is this muzzle brake? It could be effecting the harmonics of the barrel, which is making it shoot poorly. The gunsmith could have done a bad crown. The threads could not be concentric, and the bullet could be striking the brake as it passes through.

Your scope could be broken, mounts could be loose.

Many issues to diagnose.

Remove the brake, tell your wife to toughen up...it's just a 270.

Gunsmith checked the crown, and made sure the bullet was not striking the brake. Mounts are tight but the scope has not been changed so that is always an option.

Harmonics was my first thought and I still feel like that is very likely since it has such a thin barrel

The problem is I dont have a spare scope to switch out so I either pull one from another gun which I dont want to do or I have to buy a new scope just to try that. Wish the gunsmith would have offered to switch it and try shooting it with another scope.

I keep running all of this thru my head and coming back to how much money do I dump chasing this problem?

[laserguy]

Have you tried using different ammo? Might be a bad combo with the break. Can you unscrew the break to inspect the new crown and see how it shoots with it off?

I tried 3 different types of ammo, all with the same result.

The gunsmith said he tried the gun with and without the break and it shot the same, but I have not tried it personally.

[Elk34]

If all else fails and you like the weapon, rebarrel it.

[laserguy]

If all else fails and you like the weapon, rebarrel it.

I had not thought of that, any idea what that might cost?

[Elk34]

Ruger 77 Pre-Fit Barrels - McGowen Precision Barrels
http://mcgowenbarrel.com/ruger-rifle-pre-fit-barrels/


Not sure what it would cost to put it in.

[QuietM4]

I'd start by verifying the scope isn't broken. The gunsmith would have had to either remove the barrel from the action, or remove the scope from the receiver before he threaded the barrel for the brake. He could have dropped it, bumped it, hit it, etc.

It could be harmonics. I had a 22lr that shot like crap until I took off the tread protector....then it shot great. Guns can be picky in odd ways.

Replacing the barrel will just put you back where you started...needing a muzzle brake installed. Then you really would be just dumping money into it.

[smithers599]

Let's see. Before the muzzle brake, shot good. After the muzzle brake, shot bad.
Therefore -- must be the scope? Maybe, it could happen, I suppose.

Shoot it without the brake before jumping to any conclusions.

[QuietM4]

Let's see. Before the muzzle brake, shot good. After the muzzle brake, shot bad.
Therefore -- must be the scope? Maybe, it could happen, I suppose.

Shoot it without the brake before jumping to any conclusions.

I was just going off what the OP was told by the gunsmith...he says it's not the brake. If that is true, the next factor would be the scope. But I think it's the brake that's causing the issue. Take it off. Maybe try installing a softer butt pad.

[smithers599]

If the gunsmith removed the scope, then it could indeed be the scope.
Before removing the scope, shot good. After removing (and replacing) the scope, shot bad.
But still, start with removing the muzzle brake, and if that doesn't work, then move on to scope and other things.

[Elk34]

You know what. If all else fails. Buy new rifle

[laserguy]

You know what. If all else fails. Buy new rifle

Already have the new rifle, won it in a raffle....the decision I need to make is what to do with this rifle.

[laserguy]

What about having the barrel cut down shorter? Like I said before, it might make a cool light weight brush gun