Ruger rings

[2shot]

I have an old Ruger 77 in 7x57 and I love the rifle but I had noticed that sometimes the point of impact would move around. I would start out with a 1" group of three shots and then the 4th shot would end up about four inches away from the main group. When new the rifle would keep all it's shots inside MOA for as may shots as I would take but then after around 200 rounds I started to have my groups open up. For many years I blamed this on a bad barrel that Ruger had put on some of their rifles way back when and just put it aside for a future project. Well that project day came last Saturday and I looked the rifle over. In the past I had glass bedded the action, changed scopes and honed the locking lugs in hopes that this would make the rifle shoot better but with each trip to the range the rifle shot worse over the years and I once again chalked it up to a bad barrel. Well in looking at the rifle I did notice that the Ruger rings were very much a problem. Not only did the claws on the rings not bare evenly on the action but the screws that tighten the claws were bending. I also noticed there were a lot of burrs on the underside of the rings where they contact the action. All in all the rings are just a piece of s*it that I had never noticed before and I'm sure that this is at least part of my problem.

Before I start ripping into the rifle I wanted to try a different pair of rings but I sure don't want the factory rings anymore so the question is?

WHO MAKES GOOD RINGS FOR THE RUGGER MODEL 77 RIFLE ?

Thanks

2shot

[Ben]

Here they are from MidWay , Millet brand :


30 mm RIngs

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/784119/millett-30mm-angle-loc-windage-adjustable-ring-mounts-ruger-77-super-redhawk-gloss-medium


1 " rings

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/331235/millett-1-angle-loc-windage-adjustable-ring-mounts-ruger-77-super-redhawk-gloss-medium

[snowwolfe]

When new the rifle would keep all it's shots inside MOA for as may shots as I would take but then after around 200 rounds I started to have my groups open up.

Since your rifle once shot very well I would spend some time with a good copper removal cleaner till the patches came out clean and see if this helps. Obviously the barrel is capable of good accuracy, just need to find out what caused the rifle to go to the toilet.
Inspect the crown with a magnifying glass as well to see if there are any nicks. Finally, maybe try a different scope when you put on the new rings.

[shotman]

are you sure you have steel rings or the aluminum that was made for a 22 ? Millit and B square both have nice rings

[2shot]

Since your rifle once shot very well I would spend some time with a good copper removal cleaner till the patches came out clean and see if this helps. Obviously the barrel is capable of good accuracy, just need to find out what caused the rifle to go to the toilet.
Inspect the crown with a magnifying glass as well to see if there are any nicks. Finally, maybe try a different scope when you put on the new rings.

Done that and it didn't help. My rifle sounds typical of the Rugers with bad barrels, shoots good for a while and then patterns instead of groups. Tried 4 different scopes on the gun and wound up with the same results.

2shot

[2shot]

are you sure you have steel rings or the aluminum that was made for a 22 ? Millit and B square both have nice rings

Nope, steel rings that came with the gun. I have never been thrilled with Millet but I haven't looked at them for over 15 years so maybe the quality has improved. I'll check out both the Millet and B square but I would like some imput on the Leupold rings for Rugers if anybody has tried them.

2shot

[cuzinbruce]

I used a set of Leupold extended rings to mount a scope on a Ruger 77/22Magnum bolt gun. Quality product, well made, fit perfect, expensive. Clamp on the receiver dovetails just like Ruger mounts do.

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

Interesting, Not only have I never had one of the "bad" RUGER barrels, but have never had a single problem with their scope rings.

Not saying there weren't some bad one, but since the 60s I have just never had one.

I have a problem with 1/4" bolts, believe me. My rings are TIGHT on the rifle and so are my scope mount screws.

I really can't imagine some one putting more pressure on a set of mount rings then I do. If that happens, well they have a worse problem this I do by far.

No, something is wrong here and unless it is a fluke with bad screws or??? the rings were not the start of the problem.

I don't have a problem with having my scopes and rings properly tightened, but was working with a friends rifle this past Summer developing loads etc. and the scope came off the rifle.

He picked up new rings and had the scope again mounted and they had also been improperly installed and were loose as a goose.

Had I started shooting/testing again, the chances of us having a repeat of damaged rings, mounts, scope are about 100%

Simply the scope, mounts and rings were not properly installed and tightened.

In the situation with your rifle, Was the rifle and/or the rings used? Were they correctly seated on the action before the scope was put in place the first time?

Were they tight?

Having enough grip between the rings and the action has simply never been even close to being a problem I have seen or heard about on a RUGER.

Interesting!

Keep em coming!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[2shot]

Bought the rifle new when Ruger first came out with the 7X57. And yes the rings were tight and mounted properly then lapped.

The plain truth is the rings Ruger supplys, at least the older ones are marginal quality at best. To elaborate more it seems that the bolt/screw that goes through the rings to secure them to the action seems NOT to be of hardened steel but rather just mild steel bolts/screws and mine have a noticable bend to them. I would think that because these fasten the scope to the action that they would have been of harder steel. I'm figuring that once they started to bend that the recoil and inertia from the weight of the scope would bend them more and loosen them. I think this would explain why I would get a group of shots on target then all of a sudden I would get shots spraying all over the target. This bend combined with the burrs on the claws of the rings and burrs on the underside where it contacts the action could/would cause a wondering point of impact. The claws on mine do not give 100% contact with the action either when tightened. After changing the scopes and checking the tightness of the rings the same process would start all over again with a few shots staying in a group and then spraying all over. Over the course of some 40+ years I do not clearly recall if the mounts ever needed tightening but I'm thinking that they always seemed to need a 1/2 turn or so. And Ruger did have bad barrels, your lucky you never ran into one because they'll give you fits trying to figure them out. But I'm starting with the rings because that's the cheapest thing to do and I'll go from there.


2shot

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

Well, be'in an Ol'Coot, I have owned RUGERS since the 60s.

I currently own a really GOOD shoot'in 77 - "flat bolt" which was their first issue/style of bolt actions, and have had numbers of others since.

Single shot #1s, scoped handguns and bolt actions up to an including the Hawkeye.

Not saying their suppliers didn't slip some bad screws in on them OR??? just have never seen or heard of it.

CDOC

[375RUGER]

I think pics might help your quest.
Maybe tell us about your scope too.
But to answer your question about the Leupold rings. get them. I have Ruger rifles with Ruger rings and with Leupold rings. Leupold are definately worth the money.
I also have no problem with buying more Ruger rings either, I've never had a problem with them in the 20 or so years I've been shooting Ruger rifles, and especially have never run across the problems you describe.
I can't imagine torquing the mounting screws enough to bend them, unless: you are over torquing, or the screws were bad and too soft. You can bend Grade 8 screws you know.

[Tom W.]

I have the Ruger rings on my #1's and haven't had any trouble. I also had them on my SRH 480 Ruger, and it did take a bit to seat the rings into the frame of the revolver, I didn't tighten them enough the first few times. The rings never let go of the scope though.

[pietro]

While I too have been shooting Ruger & his rings, ever since the #1 was introduced in 1968, and the Model 77 flatbolts - right up to the introduction of the M77MKII (which I tried & didn't like) , w/o problem one regarding either accuracy or bad rings - BUT know that these days quality rings that fit the Ruger dovetails are made by several companies, one of the best being Burris.

.

[Chicken Thief]

The "sliding" issue is interesting as Ruger rings has a recoil lug built into the rings.

The only issues regarding fliers i have had on my Rugers is/was due to (incert naughty word for urine) poor inletting and umpteen pressurepoints in the barrel canal. Once frefloated properly they all shot great.

[Four Fingers of Death]

I lap rings in using the Bench Rest Technology scope ring lapping tools. He mentions in his video that teh Ruger rings were the worst as far as fit to scope tube goes. I took that with a grain of salt, but have since lapped three sets. They were way out, but finally ok after considerable lapping.

The best ones I have found were the mounts on my SAKO Quad. The scope is the Burris 4 barrel one and I don't know what brand the rings were. I fitted the tools and the rings were perfect. Thye didn't need any lapping at all.

[MtGun44]

I have lapped two sets of Ruger M77 rings one from the 1970s (mine) and one from
2009 or so, for a friend. Both required significant, but not huge amount of lapping.
I have never run into a set of rings on any rifle that didn't need significant lapping.

I think I would ask Ruger for some replacement rings or maybe just bolts. They are
pretty good about this stuff.

Bill