1983 ruger M77, good buy?

The old pre-MKII Ruger M77s were sort of hit-and-miss on the barrels....Ruger did not make their own barrels at that time and they bought barrels from a number of different sources. QC wasn't always as good as it could have been. There were some that had excellent barrels and some that had terrible ones. Those triggers were good, but the MKII triggers can be easily worked by a competent smith, or replaced with a Timney (or any one of about a dozen different aftermarket brands). Ruger started making their own barrels when they started building the MKII...the quality and consistency improved dramatically.

If you get a good pre-MKII, you've got a good rifle....if you get a bad one, you'll end up rebarrelling it to make it shoot.

They also had noisy floorplates, and I had a couple of them that the floorplate wouldn't stay latched. I believe there was also a recall on the trigger at one point.

contender* said:

It would depend on what caliber the rifle is. If by chance it be a rare one it could be worth way more even refinished.
Great rifles no matter what caliber.

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Yeah, if you find a 77R in .284 Win or in .350 Rem it's worth about twice as much....or if you find a 77RS (with open sights) in .284 Win, .350 Rem, .35 Whelen, or .358 Win, same deal.... but that's about it for M77s....I don't know of any super-valuable ones.

Typically they are $250-350 guns.

Rugers are my favorite bolt guns. Tang's,MKIIs and Hawkeyes.

The new LC6 Triggers in the MKII's and Hawkeyes are the best factory triggers I've ever used.....The one on my 257 Roberts is better than the $200 Jewel HVR.

Also, I don't own a Ruger that won't shoot sub-MOA with my handloads.

Bruz

Bruz said:

Rugers are my favorite bolt guns. Tang's,MKIIs and Hawkeyes.

The new LC6 Triggers in the MKII's and Hawkeyes are the best factory triggers I've ever used.....The one on my 257 Roberts is better than the $200 Jewel HVR.

Also, I don't own a Ruger that won't shoot sub-MOA with my handloads.

Bruz

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I haven't tried the new LC6 triggers. Are they adjustable at all?

My favorites of the Ruger M77s are the MKIIs. I hate the stock triggers, but that's real easy to fix....you fix that and you've got one heck of a nice hunting rifle. I like to drop them into a nice laminated stock, like a Boyd's...glass and pillar bed them and they make a great little rifle. I love the scope mounting system....it's as solid as a rock.

germag said:

I haven't tried the new LC6 triggers. Are they adjustable at all?

My favorites of the Ruger M77s are the MKIIs. I hate the stock triggers, but that's real easy to fix....you fix that and you've got one heck of a nice hunting rifle. I like to drop them into a nice laminated stock, like a Boyd's...glass and pillar bed them and they make a great little rifle. I love the scope mounting system....it's as solid as a rock.

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Germag,

You can adjust them but so far I haven't had reason to. The 2 LC6's I have break at just over 3lbs with no creep.

They are as good or better than the Timney's in my other Rugers and the Jewel's in my Remingtons in my opinion.

If you are looking at MKII's the LC6 will have a hollow back where the standard trigger is solid. They are hit and miss with MKII's right now. I ordered in 2 identical rifles last year and one came with the LC6 and one with the standard.

Robert

Bruz said:

Germag,

You can adjust them but so far I haven't had reason to. The 2 LC6's I have break at just over 3lbs with no creep.

They are as good or better than the Timney's in my other Rugers and the Jewel's in my Remingtons in my opinion.

If you are looking at MKII's the LC6 will have a hollow back where the standard trigger is solid. They are hit and miss with MKII's right now. I ordered in 2 identical rifles last year and one came with the LC6 and one with the standard.

Robert

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I may have to give them a try....I'm thinking about setting up a .308. Do they have a heavy-barrelled Hawkeye?

Dead Eye Eddy said:

Sounds like a gun I would pass on unless it was really cheap. I probably wouldn't pay more than about $250 based upon your description of it.

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If that pawnshop is like the ones in Buford they probably want $450 and think you are insulting their intellegence if you try to haggle.

germag said:

They also had noisy floorplates, and I had a couple of them that the floorplate wouldn't stay latched.

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I am looking at the same rifle that has the floor plate issue. How hard is that to repair?

i looked up my m-77 in 280 cal i have had it since 1994 it was made in 1988 i love it low recoil have shot all my deer with it since then it looks like a gun thats been hunted with for 20 years but it is going to be only gun for 20 more