6mm Rem

I have an older tang safety Ruger M77, I know, I know, bear with me. It's chambered in 6mm Rem, which in my prior experience has always been a good round. This one is another story. I've been told that with the older Rugers the best way to make them shoot well is to not clean them which I hate to do. The barrel has been floated and the action bedded and still I get near 2" groups at 100. I don't load my own ammo, but have shot every kind made for it. The gun absolutely hates anything under 100gr. Looking for ideas that might help, if there are any. Recently been thinking of cutting the barrel and re-crowning. At this point don't see how it could get much worse. Currently has a 24" barrel. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, and has good head space and the throat appears to be in good shape.

 You don't have to cut the barrel back any to just clean up the crown and it shouldn't cost much.

What you heard about not cleaning the barrel is false.  Having said that, after cleaning, most rifles shoot better groups after you fire a couple of "fouler" shots first because each bullet afterwards encounters the same bore condition until fouling finally builds to the point that accuracy is negatively affected again.  Rugers as a whole don't have a reputation for great accuracy compared to some of their competitors.  However, I do have a couple of M77's that shoot quite well.  While 2" groups isn't anything to celebrate, it isn't exactly horrible either, and it's sufficient for most big game hunting situations, though like you, I wouldn't be satisfied with that performance.  Unfortunately, if you are certain you don't have a bedding problem, your scope mounts and action screws are tight, and you've tried many different types of factory ammo without success, you may just have a bad barrel.  I would also check to make sure both locking lugs are making firm contact when a round is chambered and I would either adjust the trigger to between 2-3 lbs or replace it with an aftermarket trigger.  Recrowning the barrel may help, but if the barrel is a lemon to start with, you may not gain anything.  It's a shame you don't handload, because there's a very good chance you can improve your accuracy considerably by trying different combinations of powders, bullets, and bullet seating depths.

Edited by RifleDude - September/17/2008 at 18:17

RifleDude wrote: It's a shame you don't handload, because there's a very good chance you can improve your accuracy considerably by trying different combinations of powders, bullets, and bullet seating depths.

Everything feels god and firm with a round chambered. How do I go about checking the action screws? Bedding is also good. Any idea what the groove and land diameters are supposed to be? It also seems to be very finicky to the temp of the barrel. It shoots best when really hot. I wouldn't think this with it being a heavy barrel. I read that shortening a barrel can help accuracy. That's why I was thinking of cutting it down a little. I know it sacrifices a little velocity, but it can't get much worse, and also be a little louder. Compared to my 7mm RUM it would still be relatively quite.

cheaptrick wrote: RifleDude wrote: It's a shame you don't handload, because there's a very good chance you can improve your accuracy considerably by trying different combinations of powders, bullets, and bullet seating depths.   This....Start handloading, my friend.

aldribm_123 wrote: I have an older tang safety Ruger M77, I know, I know, bear with me. It's chambered in 6mm Rem, which in my prior experience has always been a good round. This one is another story. I've been told that with the older Rugers the best way to make them shoot well is to not clean them which I hate to do. The barrel has been floated and the action bedded and still I get near 2" groups at 100. I don't load my own ammo, but have shot every kind made for it. The gun absolutely hates anything under 100gr. Looking for ideas that might help, if there are any. Recently been thinking of cutting the barrel and re-crowning. At this point don't see how it could get much worse. Currently has a 24" barrel. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

.................Reloading your own ammo will reduce your group size; better uniformity.

RifleDude wrote: It's a shame you don't handload, because there's a very good chance you can improve your accuracy considerably by trying different combinations of powders, bullets, and bullet seating depths.

What about your scope, base, and rings?  What do you have there, are they tight and torqued to proper specs.  Are you sure the scope does not have a problem?

Currently has a Bushnell Elite 3200 10X40 Tactical with Leupold rings. There is no base because its integrated into the receiver. I have had this scope on another rifle just to check to see if it was the problem and it was fine. I've always heard good things about those de-resonators so I'll pick one up the next time I'm somewhere that sells them and try it. If that doesn't help than I will just break down and get a new barrel. This was my first thought, but I wanted to try a few cheaper things before I spent that kind of money on it. It's still a good hunting gun, other than being really heavy, just wanted to try to make a paper punchin' gun out of it as well. Thanks for all the help and info guys. Glad to hear someone has had luck with the Rugers.

aldribm_123 wrote: Currently has a Bushnell Elite 3200 10X40 Tactical with Leupold rings. There is no base because its integrated into the receiver. I have had this scope on another rifle just to check to see if it was the problem and it was fine. I've always heard good things about those de-resonators so I'll pick one up the next time I'm somewhere that sells them and try it. If that doesn't help than I will just break down and get a new barrel. This was my first thought, but I wanted to try a few cheaper things before I spent that kind of money on it. It's still a good hunting gun, other than being really heavy, just wanted to try to make a paper punchin' gun out of it as well. Thanks for all the help and info guys. Glad to hear someone has had luck with the Rugers.

...........The de-resonator is certainly a cheaper solution to begin with, especially if it works. If not, keep it and use it for another rifle and replace the barrel.