Ruger 77 tang safety feeding problems

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Alibiiv

Bearcat
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Jul 10, 2022
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Rhode Island
I presently have a Ruger 77 tang safety rifle, built in 1978>, that started out life (I think) as a 7mm Remington magnum. I wrote "I think" because the barrel on the rifle was a 7mm RemMag barrel, and I do not know anymore about the rifle then what I have posted. For all I know this rifle could have started out life as a 30-06 and someone fitted a 7mm RemMag barrel up to it and then decided to sell the gun; it came from Gun Broker or Guns International?? I bought the rifle as a donor rifle to build my son a Christmas present, but...he mentioned that he wanted a 300 WinMag at one point, so that's what I decided to build for him. I had the rifle rebarreled with a 26 inch Lilja barrel, chambered in 300 WinMag, action blueprinted, trigger job, glass and pillar bedded. The rifle sat in the safe for about a year (COVID) and we just got to the range with it a couple of weeks ago. At the range we had a feeding problem where the rounds would either not pick up, or they would jump up past the bolt, or...even jump up and get caught behind the extractor, so.....there's a problem!!! I did not "think" that there was that much difference between the 7mm RemMag and the 300 WinMag that would cause a feeding problem due to the case dimensions???? The changes that I made was to swap out the stock with another Ruger 77 stock because it was a better piece of wood, but...I clearanced, glass bedded and pillar bedded the stock myself; and....this was not my first Ruger 77 that I've bedded. I have too much money in this build to scrap it, and I would appreciate anyone else's experience/input with this problem.
 

hittman

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Welcome to the forum. 🥳

Ruger can tell you by serial number that guns configuration when it left the factory.

Not sure how or IF that would help but ….. I'm no gunsmith so offer no ideas on the rest of your mess. Sorry.
 

Alibiiv

Bearcat
Joined
Jul 10, 2022
Messages
3
Location
Rhode Island
Welcome to the forum. 🥳

Ruger can tell you by serial number that guns configuration when it left the factory.

Not sure how or IF that would help but ….. I'm no gunsmith so offer no ideas on the rest of your mess. Sorry.
Thank you for the reply, I will try calling them tomorrow. I tried finding the configuration by searching online, but struck out there. I have tried every combination of rounds and everything that I can think of to figure out the feed problem. From what I can determine someone may have messed with the feed rails. As I wrote the rifle started out as a 7mm RemMag, and I tried some factory 7mm RemMag ammunition in the rifle and it still has the same feeding issues. The mistake that I did make was that I did not fire the rifle before I sent it off to the gunsmith, and....my thoughts on that are "that" was a big mistake. I bought the rifle used on either Gun Broker or Guns International and I suspect that the seller had an issue and now they sold their issue and made it mine!!! I am going to send the rifle back to the gunsmith who built the rifle and hopefully he can get the rifle to feed. My gunsmith is a very talented man who has built rifles pretty much from scratch, hopefully he will fix the problem. Otherwise I will have a very nice 26 inch, 1:10 Lilja barrel that is chambered in 300 Winchester magnum, a beautifully finished, glass/pillar bedded stock, and an action for parts. A very expensive proposition.
 

hittman

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What's the serial number?

BTW and you may know that Ruger no longer services or supports the Tang safety M77. And if they did I'm sure they'd insist on putting it back to original.

Best of luck to you sir.
 
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