I have had an incredibly difficult time trying to get this Ruger M77 Mark II .30-06 rifle zeroed.
Just a quick bit of history, I bought the rile as an impulse purchase at the Indy 1500 YEARS ago. Didn`t know anything about centerfire rifles, but just thought it would be “cool” to have a .30-06 in the gun-safe. It`s the beautiful blonde laminate stock, with the Stainless Steel barrel. I put a Leupold Vari-X II 3x9 on top of it, and indeed, tucked it away into the gun safe. Over time as it just sat there, it ended up selling it to my Nephew for next to nothing. MUCH less than I had invested in it. As Indiana finally opened up white-tail deer hunting to centerfire rifles, I bought it back from him, and began my quest to zero it with a suitable .30-06 bullet.
My first trip to the range, I shot the Federal 165 grain Trophy Bonded Tip round, and it was an adventure. The rifle didn`t seem to group well at all. My targets looked more like they`d been hit with buckshot at 100 yards, and worse yet, when I tried to adjust the scope, it seemed to over correct, and I was shooting a LOT of very expensive premium ammo, and getting nowhere. On the drive home from the shooting range, I called Leupold and told the tech what I was experiencing, and he recommended sending the scope to them. I did that, and from the report they sent back with the scope, it seemed that they had replaced everything inside the scope except the lenses. I had the scope mounted again and sighted in off a bench, and the best I could do was about a 2 and ½ inch group at 100 yards. I was so frustrated. Someone I talked to said to check the action screws. I took the rifle to my gunsmith and he said the action screws were loose. So loose that they could easily be turned. I got the factory specs from Ruger and he attempted to torque them to factory specifications. He was unable to get the front action screw to the Ruger spec of 90 Inch pounds, so, I sent the freaking rifle to Ruger. They were gracious enough to allow me to send the rifle to them with my scope attached. The tech polished the crown, installed new action screws and did a few other things too, as well as shooting the rifle. He said he got approximately an inch group at 50 yards shooting a 180 grain bullet, and got approximately a ½ group at 50 yards shooting a 150 grain bullet. They shipped it back to me, and my hope and expectations were high.
I took the rifle to Deer Creek Shooting Range near Putnamville this morning. Invested a vacation day and another significant amount of premium and EXPENSIVE .30.06 ammo trying to zero this scope. I had finally gotten some Winchester Deer Season .30-06 ammo and was also shooting the Federal 165 grain ammo. I shot the Federal ammo first at 100 yards, and actually had a fairly respectable group just to the right of the bullseye at 100 yards. The 5-shot group was maybe an inch and a ¼, or inch and ½. I was happy and expectant. I then loaded the Winchester 150 grain rounds into the rifle and slowly squeezed off a 5-shot group and my heart sank. The target looked again like it had been hit with buckshot. I talked with the range officer, and he felt the barrel of the rifle, and said the barrel was HOT, and I needed to let the barrel cool down in-between shots. SO, I changed out my target, shot a 3-shot group allowing about 10 minutes between shots, and the shots were STILL all over the target, and whenever I tried to adjust the point of impact, the scope seemed to over adjust like before. The range office, who says he is a gunsmith, oscillated between placing the blame on the hot barrel, the scope, and then, the rifle itself when he tried to slide a dollar bill between the barrel and the stock and could not, saying the barrel needed to be “free-floated”. I called and talked with MY gunsmith on the drive home, and he said neither hot barrel NOR the barrel not being free-floated should be causing the problems I`m seeing.
I`ve contacted Leupold and they said sent the scope back and they`ll install it on a rifle and shoot it to see if the recoil causes an issue. (Still waiting on the shipper label they promised si I`m not paying for shipping back to them). I`ve contacted Ruger, and still waiting to hear back from them, but I`m really thinking this is a scope problem and that Leupold should have just warrantied the scope and given me a new one.
What the thoughts of the rifle/long range shooting experts here? Why am I having this ongoing, continual problem? In all honesty, I`ve lost ALLL confidence in this scope and rifle combination. No matter what resolution comes to this, (IF one ever does), I really don`t even want this rifle and scope anymore. I likely don`t have any choice but to figure this out and hunt with it, IF I can ever figure out the issue, but I don`t want it anymore. I don`t have the time or patience to deal with this. And with what ammo costs today, I don`t know HOW many HUNDREDS of dollars I`ve spent already, trying to zero this rifle. I`ve never in my life had so much trouble trying to get a freaking rifle zeroed.
I don`t believe for a second that this is an option, but just on the VERY, VERY OFF chance that it would be an option to buy a NEW rifle, what rifle in .30-06 would you experts recommend if I could just start over and get a new rifle? Neither Remington nor Browning are rifles I`d consider and Winchester would be my dream rifle, a Winchester Model 70. But besides the Winchester Model 70, what would your suggestions be for a good bolt-action rifle?
More than likely, I`ve just got to get this problem figured out, and I`m guessing the scope is the problem, I think Leupold should have just sent me a new scope the last time, but time will tell I suppose.
I`m just so mentally and emotionally exhausted by this seemingly endless problem with this stupid rifle and scope. And I can`t in good conscience even try to sell it to someone with the issues it has, yet, I have too much money wrapped up in it to lose it. What do you all think?
Just a quick bit of history, I bought the rile as an impulse purchase at the Indy 1500 YEARS ago. Didn`t know anything about centerfire rifles, but just thought it would be “cool” to have a .30-06 in the gun-safe. It`s the beautiful blonde laminate stock, with the Stainless Steel barrel. I put a Leupold Vari-X II 3x9 on top of it, and indeed, tucked it away into the gun safe. Over time as it just sat there, it ended up selling it to my Nephew for next to nothing. MUCH less than I had invested in it. As Indiana finally opened up white-tail deer hunting to centerfire rifles, I bought it back from him, and began my quest to zero it with a suitable .30-06 bullet.
My first trip to the range, I shot the Federal 165 grain Trophy Bonded Tip round, and it was an adventure. The rifle didn`t seem to group well at all. My targets looked more like they`d been hit with buckshot at 100 yards, and worse yet, when I tried to adjust the scope, it seemed to over correct, and I was shooting a LOT of very expensive premium ammo, and getting nowhere. On the drive home from the shooting range, I called Leupold and told the tech what I was experiencing, and he recommended sending the scope to them. I did that, and from the report they sent back with the scope, it seemed that they had replaced everything inside the scope except the lenses. I had the scope mounted again and sighted in off a bench, and the best I could do was about a 2 and ½ inch group at 100 yards. I was so frustrated. Someone I talked to said to check the action screws. I took the rifle to my gunsmith and he said the action screws were loose. So loose that they could easily be turned. I got the factory specs from Ruger and he attempted to torque them to factory specifications. He was unable to get the front action screw to the Ruger spec of 90 Inch pounds, so, I sent the freaking rifle to Ruger. They were gracious enough to allow me to send the rifle to them with my scope attached. The tech polished the crown, installed new action screws and did a few other things too, as well as shooting the rifle. He said he got approximately an inch group at 50 yards shooting a 180 grain bullet, and got approximately a ½ group at 50 yards shooting a 150 grain bullet. They shipped it back to me, and my hope and expectations were high.
I took the rifle to Deer Creek Shooting Range near Putnamville this morning. Invested a vacation day and another significant amount of premium and EXPENSIVE .30.06 ammo trying to zero this scope. I had finally gotten some Winchester Deer Season .30-06 ammo and was also shooting the Federal 165 grain ammo. I shot the Federal ammo first at 100 yards, and actually had a fairly respectable group just to the right of the bullseye at 100 yards. The 5-shot group was maybe an inch and a ¼, or inch and ½. I was happy and expectant. I then loaded the Winchester 150 grain rounds into the rifle and slowly squeezed off a 5-shot group and my heart sank. The target looked again like it had been hit with buckshot. I talked with the range officer, and he felt the barrel of the rifle, and said the barrel was HOT, and I needed to let the barrel cool down in-between shots. SO, I changed out my target, shot a 3-shot group allowing about 10 minutes between shots, and the shots were STILL all over the target, and whenever I tried to adjust the point of impact, the scope seemed to over adjust like before. The range office, who says he is a gunsmith, oscillated between placing the blame on the hot barrel, the scope, and then, the rifle itself when he tried to slide a dollar bill between the barrel and the stock and could not, saying the barrel needed to be “free-floated”. I called and talked with MY gunsmith on the drive home, and he said neither hot barrel NOR the barrel not being free-floated should be causing the problems I`m seeing.
I`ve contacted Leupold and they said sent the scope back and they`ll install it on a rifle and shoot it to see if the recoil causes an issue. (Still waiting on the shipper label they promised si I`m not paying for shipping back to them). I`ve contacted Ruger, and still waiting to hear back from them, but I`m really thinking this is a scope problem and that Leupold should have just warrantied the scope and given me a new one.
What the thoughts of the rifle/long range shooting experts here? Why am I having this ongoing, continual problem? In all honesty, I`ve lost ALLL confidence in this scope and rifle combination. No matter what resolution comes to this, (IF one ever does), I really don`t even want this rifle and scope anymore. I likely don`t have any choice but to figure this out and hunt with it, IF I can ever figure out the issue, but I don`t want it anymore. I don`t have the time or patience to deal with this. And with what ammo costs today, I don`t know HOW many HUNDREDS of dollars I`ve spent already, trying to zero this rifle. I`ve never in my life had so much trouble trying to get a freaking rifle zeroed.
I don`t believe for a second that this is an option, but just on the VERY, VERY OFF chance that it would be an option to buy a NEW rifle, what rifle in .30-06 would you experts recommend if I could just start over and get a new rifle? Neither Remington nor Browning are rifles I`d consider and Winchester would be my dream rifle, a Winchester Model 70. But besides the Winchester Model 70, what would your suggestions be for a good bolt-action rifle?
More than likely, I`ve just got to get this problem figured out, and I`m guessing the scope is the problem, I think Leupold should have just sent me a new scope the last time, but time will tell I suppose.
I`m just so mentally and emotionally exhausted by this seemingly endless problem with this stupid rifle and scope. And I can`t in good conscience even try to sell it to someone with the issues it has, yet, I have too much money wrapped up in it to lose it. What do you all think?
back over to the left.
I believe that each company thought it was fixed, but it could have been drop-kicked at least 5 times between their door and yours.
