Just finished anglophiling my Ruger M77!

[ChrisG]

Hi all! I just thought I would share some pics of a Ruger M77 in 6.5x55. I refinished the original walnut with 17 coats of oil, being careful not to get any in the checkering and retouched the checkering, added a Bocote forend cap, a barrel mounted sling swivel, and Dakota express sights. I also tapered the forend to be lightly "Rigby" inspired. I personally love the way it turned out! I would have loved to do it to an original Mauser but I thought I would start small.

 

[gillettehunter]

Nice job. Looks great. Bruce

 

[CAustin]

Very nicely done sir.

 

[Rob404]

Looks real Good

 

[cpr0312]

Nice!

 

[tarbe]

Very nice!

I did something similar to a M77 in 7Mag back in the 80s. Slimmed and rounded the forend and took the sharp edges of the stock around the floorplate.

Made the rifle sleeker looking and it felt a lot better in the hands.

 

[Rule 303]

Now that is one Ruger I like the looks of. Well done.

 

[ChrisG]

Thanks everyone! I always wanted a classic small rifle in a classic cartridge. I love the 6.5x55. It has been one of my favorites right alongside the .375 H&H. It was a really fun project! I may yet take that awful plastic pistol grip heel off and round over the bottom of it and recut the checkering to match. I have always loved the sleek classic lines of original Rigby Mausers and, as I currently don't have $9,000 to drop on an old .275, I figured I would just start with a rifle I liked and make it myself. It would have been nice to have a gunsmith around I could trust to do the whole thing, but I had an idea in my head of what I wanted and the tools to attempt it. I am glad that it came out as well as it did. I have realized that it may take me a lot longer, but going slowly, my projects tend to come out better! I even made a hot blue bath for the small parts from lye and potassium nitrate.

Fitting the barrel band was the hardest challenge because you cannot solder to a ruger barrel, as they are hammer forged and will create a loose spot in the barrel. So the band is fit as an interference fit, like all of Ruger's original hardware. I fitted the band until I got it about an inch higher on the barrel than where I wanted it. Then I built a channel to guide the sling swivel nub so that it stayed straight as it slipped onto the barrel. Heating the band up until it was glowing red swells its inside dimensions by a small fraction and then the really nerve wracking part came... I had to line up the nub with the channel I had built and then drop it on the barrel, hoping that it stayed in the channel and aligned all the way down. As soon as it hits the metal on the barrel it cools rapidly and shrinks back down, making, for all intents and purposes, a permanent fit. It worked!

Thanks for all the comments and likes guys! This rifle will be going with me on a black bear hunt this fall!

 

[enysse]

Nice work, I love the iron sights on your rifle!

 

[ChrisG]

Nice work, I love the iron sights on your rifle!

Thanks! The Rear is a dakota express and the front is a checkered steel ramp with a dovetail. I mounted the front sight 7/8" from the muzzle to give it more of a classic English look!

If I do another rifle someday it will most likely be a Mauser or a Mauser actioned piece (Granite Mountain comes to mind) and I would love a true big bore, like a .505 Gibbs with a quarter rib. But we will see.

 

[Hearties]

Looks great - congrats!

 

[Witold Krzyżanowski]

Nice rifle. Congrats.
Witold

 

[nztimb]

I have a couple of observation that may not exactly please, but in the main, the Rigby forend would be quite a bit shorter (from 7 to 8 in from the front of the reciever ring) and with more taper on the underside. One little trick I use to get the proportion "about right" is to come back an inch from the end of the forend tip and have it about 1/8 in deeper at this point than the dia of the barrel. The curve up to the end (and recurve back over the barrel channel) starts from this point. This seems to keep thing in a visual balance especially if I am looking to achieve the style of the early English gunmakers.
I do hope that dosent cause offence as I am quite aware of how our pride in the work we have done on our rifles can be dented by unkind words and that is certainy not my intention. Doing any alteration to an existing stock and being pleased with it is an achievment that not many acomplish and your desire for the fine proportions of these preeminent gunmakers is a credit to your sense of style. I do aplaud the results you have achieved.

 

[AZDAVE]

It is always fun to personalize your stock rifle to meet the lines you think are more pleasing. Like Von Gruff I have a couple comments. The "Bocote" forecap isn't right as that wood looks like padauk, I do allot of custom wood work and who ever sold that as Bocote wasn't correct.

Bocote

Padauk

Would suggest that you get a good mauser on the sale rack at your local shop that somebody bubbaized and since you seem to like classic calibres do a nice 7x57 or 9.3x62. Thank you for sharing as it is always nice to see other's work and get ideas for new projects. I especially liked you description of putting the barrel band on.

 

[ChrisG]

It is always fun to personalize your stock rifle to meet the lines you think are more pleasing. Like Von Gruff I have a couple comments. The "Bocote" forecap isn't right as that wood looks like padauk, I do allot of custom wood work and who ever sold that as Bocote wasn't correct.View attachment 59672 Bocote

View attachment 59673 Padauk

Would suggest that you get a good mauser on the sale rack at your local shop that somebody bubbaized and since you seem to like classic calibres do a nice 7x57 or 9.3x62. Thank you for sharing as it is always nice to see other's work and get ideas for new projects. I especially liked you description of putting the barrel band on.

Hi Dave, I appreciate your insight. It actually is Bocote. The camera has given everything a red hue. I used to do a lot of work with "exotic" woods working for a luthier. The bocote was very tight grain and the oil has darkened it considerably. The whole piece was actually resembled cocobolo, but clearly it is not cocobolo. Thank you for your insight though!

 

[AZDAVE]

You gave me a idea on what to do with a factory ruger stock, I built a 416 express (350 RemMag necked up to 416) I have it in the basic factory stock, I have some bocote like in the pic that would make a nice fore cap and grip cap. I usually do a custom stock as my LOP is 15in and Ruger for some reason ($$$ most likely) seems to think everyone has a 13 3/4 LOP. So I end up with a very thick recoil pad and or pad and spacer. I like the working for a luthier comment. I keep looking at making a string instrument just for experience, as I have NO musical talent and the only guys I know that play, all are into electric.

 

[Savage Hunter]

cool job.

 

[ZG47]

@ChrisG Nice work, mate. Did you seal under the butt pad, with thinned coats? I have found that area to be a significant weak point with Ruger stocks. Remembering, of course, that end grain can absorb moisture up to 100x faster than the face! It is also worth remembering that one of the reasons for the initial market success of the Remington M700 Mountain Rifle was the superior quality of the stock sealing on those rifles.

Finally, with all due respect, did you consider using a toothbrush (or M16 mutant toothbrush) to get some thinned stock finish into the checkering?

Please keep it up. I like your dedication and attention to detail.

 

[Clayton]

ZG47 knows whereof he speaks. Bought an old M70 .338 So Mag once that the butt stock was significantly larger than the factory pad. It had NO sealant back there.

 

[ChrisG]

@ChrisG Nice work, mate. Did you seal under the butt pad, with thinned coats? I have found that area to be a significant weak point with Ruger stocks. Remembering, of course, that end grain can absorb moisture up to 100x faster than the face! It is also worth remembering that one of the reasons for the initial market success of the Remington M700 Mountain Rifle was the superior quality of the stock sealing on those rifles.

Finally, with all due respect, did you consider using a toothbrush (or M16 mutant toothbrush) to get some thinned stock finish into the checkering?

Please keep it up. I like your dedication and attention to detail.

Hi ZG, thanks for input! Yes the whole stock was stripped and refinished including the end grain which was actually sealed with a mixture of beeswax and mineral spirits. The checkerin, I touched up with checkering tools which removed most of the old finish and then I just used two coats of tung oil to bring out the grain. The pictures and lighting don't show it well. Thank you for the post, people are giving me a wealth of information.