Ruger M77 Trigger Question

BlindTyldak

BlindTyldak

New member
I just bought "my" first gun . . . the hubby has plenty, but this is the first one I have ever purchased myself. It's a Ruger Hawkeye .270, model M77 (blued, wood stock). It is new out of the box and I have some concerns about the trigger. Reading up on it, lots of people say that this gun usually has a lot of travel and a heavy pull; my concern is that this gun has no travel whatsoever - it feels like if you breathe on it, it's going to fire. I like a low amount of travel too, but this no-travel bit has me a bit nervous.

My husband has always had used guns (his dad sells him ones he is tired of) except for one Henry .22, so he can't say for sure whether this is a factory issue or the gun just needs to have a few boxes put through it to break it in. My dealer recommended calling Ruger because she hasn't heard of that with one of these guns in her 40+ years of business; however, she also said she has not had a similar model in stock in a long time and they may be tuning the trigger differently now. Outside of the .22's and handguns, Rugers just aren't popular in this area.

Has anyone bought one of these recently, and what was your experience? Any advice from people familiar with the gun? Thanks big time in advance.
 


Welcome,

Ruger factory triggers are okay. You need to get it to the range and do some shooting.
If you still want it changed. I sent my M77 to Timney Triggers and they installed a
very nice trigger in my rifle, $170.
 
The Ruger Hawkeye has the new LC6 trigger from ruger. The L is supposed to stand for light, and the C is supposed to stand for crisp. That said the hawkeyes I have fired have seemed lighter and crisper than the previous M77 MKII triggers, but your mileage may vary. As long as the trigger is safe to use (no slam fires, or unintended discharge etc), you should be good to go. It sounds as though your husband would be able to tell if it was safe to use. I'm a huge fan of ruger rifles, and have quite a few, although I prefer the MKII finish to the newer hawekeyes. Regardless congratulations on your first rifle. Treat it right and it will treat you right. If you have access to a scale that will allow you to check how much weight it takes on the trigger to set it off, it will give us on the forum an idea of how safe it is.

Best,

Adam
 
Originally Posted By: BlindTyldakI just bought "my" first gun . . . the hubby has plenty, but this is the first one I have ever purchased myself. It's a Ruger Hawkeye .270, model M77 (blued, wood stock). It is new out of the box and I have some concerns about the trigger. Reading up on it, lots of people say that this gun usually has a lot of travel and a heavy pull; my concern is that this gun has no travel whatsoever - it feels like if you breathe on it, it's going to fire. I like a low amount of travel too, but this no-travel bit has me a bit nervous.

My husband has always had used guns (his dad sells him ones he is tired of) except for one Henry .22, so he can't say for sure whether this is a factory issue or the gun just needs to have a few boxes put through it to break it in. My dealer recommended calling Ruger because she hasn't heard of that with one of these guns in her 40+ years of business; however, she also said she has not had a similar model in stock in a long time and they may be tuning the trigger differently now. Outside of the .22's and handguns, Rugers just aren't popular in this area.

Has anyone bought one of these recently, and what was your experience? Any advice from people familiar with the gun? Thanks big time in advance.


I have a ruger m77 mark II in 7mm mag and I just put a timney trigger in mine. Easiest trigger ive ever worked on. If I were you id check your lc trigger spring and see if you can get a heavier spring to increase your trigger pull alil bit. Since it is not adjustable you may have to send it back to Ruger and have them look at it.
 
A GOOD trigger has no creep. When you feel it move, the rifle should fire. It should "break" like a tiny glass rod. The light pull is good, to a point, some bench rest rifles have triggers that break around 1-2 oz. Hunting rifles need more to be safe, something like 2-3 pounds or even more. You can have this poundage checked by a gunsmith, anyone that messes with guns should have a trigger pull gage. You could even check this yourself by making SURE the rifle is empty. Hanging a known weight from the trigger with the rifle vertical. Something like two 16 oz. Cokes and some string. See what weight it will hold, before it lets go.
 
Originally Posted By: ninehorsesA GOOD trigger has no creep. When you feel it move, the rifle should fire. It should "break" like a tiny glass rod. The light pull is good, to a point, some bench rest rifles have triggers that break around 1-2 oz. Hunting rifles need more to be safe, something like 2-3 pounds or even more. You can have this poundage checked by a gunsmith, anyone that messes with guns should have a trigger pull gage. You could even check this yourself by making SURE the rifle is empty. Hanging a known weight from the trigger with the rifle vertical. Something like two 16 oz. Cokes and some string. See what weight it will hold, before it lets go.

LOL..!! I've always used a trigger pull gauge to determine pull weight, but I like your idea.

I might start with a full jug of Crown hanging on a string and "drain it" a bit at a time. When the trigger no longer breaks over, I'll weight the jug and that will tell me the approximate trigger pull weight. Then I'll continue to drain the jug and destroy the evidence. A total win-win situation.
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Doesn't sound like a problem to me. I cleaned up the trigger in in my Ruger GSR by myself with a jewelers file and some fine grit sandpaper, now it breaks clean as glass although a bit heavy due to keeping the factory spring.
In a Ruger Frontier I installed a Spec Tech trigger, it also breaks like glass and it came with a lighter spring. At $75 I'd take one of his triggers over a Timney any day.
 
If the trigger makes you uncomfortable, by all means change it! Timney makes a great trigger that can be adjusted to your preference. Save your original trigger components as well. There may come a time when you are looking for that zero movement, light weight trigger, and you can recoup your costs by swapping this trigger for one that is not up to snuff.

Congrats on your first rifle!
smile.gif
 
Sounds like you got the one everyone hopes for. Buy or borrow a trigger gauge and see what it pulls. Ideal would be 2.5 to 3.5 pounds. No travel and crisp. This is what you get when you stick a Timmney trigger in a Ruger. Everyone has their preferances in guns and after working with a couple of the Rugers, getting them to shoot sub moa, I really like them.

You might want to spend some trigger time just dry fire practice to get used to it. I would say if it shoots good you have made a good choice.
 
Thanks a ton, guys. I'll bring it into the shop next week and get the poundage checked before calling Ruger. I suspect it's low now that you've weighed in on the recommended pull, and the last thing I want is to jostle it in the field and have it go off.
 
I'm guessing you'll find it breaks crisply and cleanly at just a hair over 3 lbs.

I bought a M77 in 250 Roberts a few years ago, and it has one of the sweetest triggers I've ever shot on it. Breaks clean at 3.5 lbs. every time.
 
Never had a problem with mine and I've carried it a bunch, however... I do treat it nicely.

Spend a little time at the range and learn to appreciate that trigger, the newer models truly are a great gun. I know a lot of guys fuss about how ugly the triggers are on the older models, but Ruger seems to have that figured out on the newer ones. With that trigger, it should group reasonably well straight out the box also.

If you need a nice padded soft case for it, I'd give two thumbs up on this one...
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/1366261...=ProductFinding

Plenty of padding to protect your gun, zippers have worked flawlessly every time, a nice pouch to stuff a couple boxes of ammo in, scope caps, whatever. And, it looks great!
 


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