[Ridgerunner]

Hello Shooters! I am new here, and this is my first post. My name is Bill, but I will go by Ridgerunner, or RR for short. I live in North central WV and enjoy hunting, flyfishing, trapping, and shooting. I spend a lot of time in the mountains of WV, and also hunt locally. No time like the present, so here is a question: I have a Ruger 77/22mag. I replaced the barrel with a match grade varmint taper in stainless steel (416). My gunsmith rechanneled the stock and did a full length bedding. I wanted it floated, but he talked me out of it. I did the manufactures suggested break in procedure. I do not wish to name the barrel maker, as I have not as yet, isolated my problem. The problem is very poor accuracy. The groupings (5-8 shots) are stringing, therefore I suspect a stock problem. I have sanded the chanel with a dowel rod, and reseated the barrel and action about 3 times so far. This moves the groupings around, and sometimes sends the string in the other direction (high right or high left) about 3" at 100. This barrel is quite heavy, and my question is: Do I have a seating problem or a barrel problem? Or Both? I have loosened and tightened the seating screws while firing, to no avail. Are there any other factors that would contribute to this frustrating situation? Also, I checked the barrel mounting allen screws. they are tight.   Thanks for all replys.          "RR"

 

[MikeG]

If you get different points of impact when removing / replacing the stock, this is a textbook bedding problem.

Normally free floating is the way to go.  But.... when you have a really heavy barrel on a light small action, things get tricky.  The action may not be stiff enough to support the barrel, especially the way that Ruger builds the 10/22 and 77/22.

I bedded my 10/22 barrel for 100% contact on the barrel, and have the action floated.  Works good, if not spectacular.  The barrel band tension is a factor in accuracy with that gun.

Hmmm.... that's a tough problem.  I guess I would be inclined to mess with the stock screws and see if I could establish a pattern, and make sure that the action isn't in a bind.

I suppose you've tried several brands of ammo?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Mike: Thank you for your response. Yes, I am shooting Federal, CCI, and Winchester ammo. Even with the current situation, I can tell the gun does not like the CCIs. The Winchester and Federal are too close to isolate until this problem is corrected.I also have some OSSI with the v-max bullet, but as you can imagine, I won't shoot that ammo until things are right with this rifle. Thanks for the tip about the action possibly being on a bind. I will check that, and I was thinking about putting it back together with a piece of carbon paper  between the barrel and stock chanel. Maybe I could find some darker marks where the pressure is occuring.  Take care, and thanks again..........RR

 

[Black Mesa Rifle Co]

Ran into this before   was  the fit of  barrel and  action.
pull barrel and check, fit in the action,
scope is mounted on action and sloppy fit will cause  scattered  strung  groups .

 

[Ridgerunner]

B M R Co. : Thanks for your response. I did this, this evening. The fit seems snug, as in no apparent wobble, but the barrel did slip out of the action easily. I cleaned things up and put 'er back together as square as I could, then I torqued down the allen screws. I will shoot it tomorrow and let you know the results...........RR

 

[IDShooter]

RR,
    If you're not a purist about inletting, you might try glass bedding that rascal full-length. This sometimes works well with rimfires and is much easier than trying to get the stock inletted just right.                 IDShooter

 

[Ridgerunner]

ID Shooter: I may have used a little fuzzy wording in my initial post, but this barrel is already full length glass bedded. One thing I haven't done so far, is to see if it might possibly be the scope. I kind of doubt that it is the scope, (leupold) but it is one place to look.  Thanks, "RR"

 

[Ridgerunner]

This is a correction to an earlier post I made. I dismantled this rifle once again, and loosened the barrel retainer screws and removed the v-block barrel retainer. There  is   wobble present here. Can someone advise me on how to correct this? I would assume some type of shim.  "RR"

 

[Ridgerunner]

I spoke with my gunsmith over the phone, and described the amount of "wobble" that was present. He advised that this was not uncommon with the Rugers in these models, and that the V-block arrangement was designed with a very small amount of "play" in mind. Anyway, I went to work on the barrel chanel with the sandpaper and a dowell rod. Sand and re-assemble......over and over......I did this procedure until there was absolutely no bind between the barrel and receiver. That did the trick. She is now shooting MOA @ 100 yds. Thanks to all for your help and input. I now have more confidence in my ability to address these kind of problems.           "RR"