Allen head screws for M77 rifles

[RJ556]

For those who would rather have Allen head screws on your M77 rifles instead of the factory common headed ones. I have found a low cost alternative. I like the Allens especially for Rugers because you can torque the down to Rugers heavy spec, (or less) without the screw driver bit slipping off and scratching your bottom metal. The front action screw is 1/4"-28x7/8", ($.40). It as well as the other screws are available at Ace Hardware. I have only found this screw at Ace in black oxide. I have not yet found a local source for this screw in stainless. With the floor plate closed, this screw is not visible anyway. The middle countersunk and rear action screws are size, 10-32. They are available in black oxide or stainless steel. I buy the 1.5" length and trim off a bit of the length to match the original screws. There is one caveat on the rear action screw. The Allen head button head screw is .250" in diameter, just a smidge too large for the rear trigger guard hole. The original factory screw head is .230" in diameter. Just chuck the screw in an electrical, spin it and use a file to remove .020 off the diameter. Touch it up with cold blue ( for the black screws) and it will fit perfectly. These two screws, black or stainless are $.65 each and they both use the same size Allen wrench. So there you go. For less than $2 you can have Allen screws attaching your M77 to its stock . Something you cannot say for your Remington or Winchester.

 

[buckeyeshooter]

great tip!

 

[RJ556]

There is a company called Marshalls Hardware that will sell hardware by the piece. There is a $5 fee on orders less than $20. Also shipping is around $6. The good thing is that they have 1/4-28 x 7/8 TORX cap screws. For the M77's front action screw, I don't think you would ever have to worry about stripping out the head of the screw with that heavy 95 in/lbs torque that Ruger recommends on that screw.

 

[The Blackhawk Kid]

Brownells!

 

[RJ556]

Blackhawk Kid, would you please provide a link or catalog reference page number where Brownells offers torx or allen head screws for Ruger M77 rifles? If they do offer them, it sure got by me.

 

[KurtC]

A while back I had a stainless Mk II bead blasted by the factory to a matte finish like the current Hawkeye model, and it came back to me with allen (hex) head action screws.

I would check with Ruger to see if they are available.

 

[208packinheat]

B Squared of Fort worth Texas used to sell the set, #2S2365, but not sure that they still offer. A call might yield some left overs for those who want them. Someone above suggested Brownells, maybe they now package them.

 

[RJ556]

Before I started my "hardware store" search for these screws, when asked, Ruger said they did not stock any replacement action screws for M77's, except the original factory screws. A lady at Brownells told me that they had the allen replacement screws available for Remington and Winchester but not for Ruger. If I could have bought them from Ruger or Brownells, I would not have wasted my time looking elsewhere for them.