I bought a M77 in 270 in 1976.  Good rifle. Pre warning.   When I got old and put my deer hunting days behind me I sold it to a young fellow who continues to use it.

Been shooting a M77 in 300 Win mag for 30yrs. Wouldn’t trade it for anything.

My 1995 Ruger 77 Mark II 270, has never been a tack driver. I've tried every bullet, powder, case, length, everything. I finally glass bedded, and floated the barrel. Had the trigger lightened. Best it will do today is 1.25". Im a fanatic for tiny groups, but this one won't do it. To be fair, it's fine. Back in the mid 90s, rifle manufacturers didn't have to make nail drivers. They weren't asked to. Not until the Savage Axis and Ruger Americans came along, that manufacturers HAD to make every rifle shoot as good as possible. One day I may swap the barrel for a custom, but then again, it's good enough for deer. I rarely take shots around here past 250. Its never failed me.

I have an M77 MKII European Model that I purchased in 1991 in 30-06. I absolutely love this rifle and will never sell it. It will get passed down to my grandson.

That was a great piece of history !!
I always read Outdoor Life and Jacks column first !
My Dad always like the pre 64 Win and the last one he bought was in 1953 !
Today I own several Ruger’s my favorite is the 77/22 !  Blued steel and black walnut it’s a mini 77 but a full size man’s .22 !!

I bought the Mark2 all weather in 308 the first year of production I think it was 1990, still my favorite.

I have always been a gun nut. Even when I was a young boy, any magazine article gun related, I was gonna read it. Dad had a few old guns. He wasn't a collector, he was a hunter. He had only what he absolutely needed. A Remington 742 in 30/06 (no scope), a Remington 1100 12ga, a Remington Nylon 66 22 rifle (no scope), and a 1966 Ruger Single Six convertible. I wanted more. I wanted to have the rifles I read about, the shotguns I saw in Outdoor life, or Field and Stream. My first real gun, was a hand me down Stevens single shot 410. 2 of my older cousins started on that shotgun. It had a shortened stock for little people to shoot. I remember at 8, it took both thumbs to let the hammer down. Squirrels were not safe. I slew them! My first deer rifle was another hand me down, Springfield 30 caliber carbine. (Wish I got to keep it). Used it until Santa  Claus brought me a Youth Winchester 120 pump 20ga. I had slugs and buckshot, and used it to take my first deer. But then, at age 14, Santa stepped up again, I had been begging for a 308 Remington 7400. Santa had gotten it a month early, and left it under mom and dads bed!! Every day after school, before my parents got home from work, I'd sneek in their room and slide the box out, open it up, and drool. It was gorgeous!!! Not a blemish. I could tell it was used, but barely. Santa had already mounted a Tasco 3-9×40 scope, with Holden see through mounts on top. I would set on their bed, day dreaming about 10 pointers running down a hollow. Then Christmas came. I acted so surprised. I don't think they knew I had been looking at it, because I would wipe my fingerprints and drool off after each fondling. I begged to go shoot it that morning. So we took off to the old chert pit in the flat woods. Set a target at 100yds, rolled up a pair of coveralls across the hood of daddys 68 Chevy truck. I single loaded it 5 shots to get it sighted in. Not bad for an autoloader, 1.5 moa. But then, I wanted to shoot it fast, so I loaded 4 in the magazine, and on the second trigger pull, it jammed. Long story shorter, it never shot twice. Done everything dad knew. Tried different ammo, nothing worked. We took it to a gunsmith, and he could tell I was heart broke, so he loaned me his very own deer rifle, (old 742 30/06) to use while he worked on it. 2 weeks later, he called and said it could t be fixed. It needed to go back to Remington. So, instead, dad talked the gun store into trading, and all he had close was a Remington 7600 pump 30/06. I knew about those, from studying dad's old 1964 Remington catalog. (I still have it too!) I loved it. Took my first trophy buck the next season with it. 141 3/8th 11 point. (Good for North East Alabama). But I had always dreamed of a 270win. All the Jack O'Connor articles I had read in Outdoor life, had me wanting one. I also had read that a Ruger 77 was what he bought just before he past. So in 1995, when I was 21, I bought a left handed walnut and blued, Ruger 77 Mark II in 270. I still had my pump 30/06 that dad, I mean Santa gave me, but now I had a professional woodsman rifle. I've bought, traded, and sold several rifles over the years, but those 2 will never leave me. The first my dad bought me, and the first I bought myself. Sorry for the long story. All those hunting magazine articles taught me how to write a story. 🙂

I have a Ruger M 77 Hawkeye chambered in 300 WinMag and I love that rifle but I also have other M 77 rifles chambered and other calibers and I love those rifles.

I had a md. 70 pre 64.  12 years old and didn't know what i had.
in 3006 and a ammo can full of 3006 fmj.  Never had a scope on her . Learned to shoot in hills and desert of Gallup New Mexico

My M77's and the one built around the M77 platform are all not "old" ones but after some customize for me I love everything about about each one.
a M77 in .357 that I tossed the plastic stock and dropped in a nice walnut meant for a .44 it is basically a drop in swap but my smith did do a contouring before bedding & pillaring it. My other M77 is a Guide Gun that I deck out with all Alaska Arms up grades along with NECG Full Moon rear & tritium sourdough hooded front Sight . Not only was this one bedded & pillared it also got a second cross bolt as they only come stock with one in the 30-06 chambering and my Gunsite Scout is basically just a modified Hawkeye/Mark II. All three have been fantastic and all shoot under 1 MOA with the .357 getting the tightest groups of all 3 at .47 MOA but that's why it's such a grate varmint rifle. It really wasn't hard getting all of these rifles to shoot sub MOA once you figure out what loadings the barrel likes but all 3 will still keep under 2 even with cheap surplus ammo . I'd never get rid of a single one of them. They fit their rolls perfectly for me.

I purchased a new M-77 chambered in .280 Rem, 1979.

That angled front tang screw has always been a problem, it was a stupid idea.🤔🦘 Cheers from Australia.

A friend had a M77 bolt rifle in 7 mag, great rifle   ,shot flat. I don’t know if he ever got an elk with it but I’d like think so

Ruger M 77 IWas And Still A Beautiful Rifle

Saludos cordiales desde Uruguay tengo un ruger m 77 hawuik con acción controlada en calibre 223 es un modelo todo clima ya descontinuado por su alto costo y dicen que es una rareza ver un rifle de esos con acción controlada en 2223 es un tanque solo la recámara tiene 10 milímetros de espesor

I would buy another Ruger if they still made them with the safety on the tang.

I'd love to see the drawing at 17:47 animated...

Took well over 100 deer with my M77 in .308

A lot of this is exaggerated. Jack O'Connor had more rifles built on Mauser actions than Winchester model 70's, and it wasn't the lack of a long claw extractor that put him off the post '64 Winchester rifles, it was many things, not least the general notion that Winchester had simply cheapened the rifles.
And I don't think him ordering a custom rifle built on a Ruger 77 says very much either- he ordered it his last days when he wasnt doing any hunting, and he was a personal friend of Bull Ruger. Another way of saying this is - Jack O'Connor never actually used a Ruger 77 for anything.

The thumb nail shows Jack O’Connor, a writer not a gunsmith.