I have had the itch to build a 6.5x284 target rifle or a 280ai hunting rifle for awhile but just havent tracked down an action. Long story short my dad gifted me his old m77 tang safety 25-06 to do whatever I want with. Part of me would love to just leave it original and rebarrel it to 280ai to keep the sentimental value (even though its rebarreled). Another part of me wants to make it into a long range target/steel rifle and rebarrel it to 6.5284, trigger, stock, the whole nine yards. Couple issues though; I know its tough to find a good smith to work on rugers, and parts can be limited, bedding the action is tricky due to the angled recoil lug, etc. My biggest question though, is the m77 action good enough to use as a long range target rifle? I know its been done but seems like 90% of people use remington, savage, or howa actions. i imagine if I had the action trued it would be just as good as a remington or howa. Im really on the fence about this one, what would ya'll do?
Thanks
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