I just acquired a new Ruger M77 MKII in a .308 with a sporter barrel and a walnut stock. I am wondering what are some of the things that work as far as making one of these shoot to its full potential. I am sure the trigger is first on the list but what else have you all found.

First of all - how well does it shoot now? If it ain't broke, you may not want to fix it! ;)

Didn't say if you have a wooden, laminated or synthetic stock.

Have a bunch of Rugers - from rimfire to big centerfire. Most respond well with merely routing out the barrel channel to get a free-floated barrel.

Bedding the action of a tang safety M77 can be a bit tricky, but the newer MkII is fairly straightforward.

Since the MkII's have triggers the normal owner can't mess with, best take it to a good gunsmith or opt for one of the drop-in replacements that can be adjusted. The MkII V/T's come with a pretty good trigger, as is.

the new gun has a wood stock and to be honest I have not shot it yet so I am not even sure if it shoots well. So floating the barrel is always a good idea anyway right.

Shoot first and see if the accuracy is acceptable to you. May not have to free-float.

Be sure to use more than one brand/weight/type of bullet before deciding if the accuracy level is OK or not. Rifles, like people, are all different and respond differently to different loadings. Shoot enough types and you'll surely find the sweet spot your rifle is capable of.

That's one of the big advantages of hand loading - you can experiment with a wide range and not get all that expensive store bought ammo wasted.

Shooting your gun first is a good idea. This will give you your starting point for accuracy. You'll probably find that its not quite what you're looking for. Most "out of the box" rifles aren't tack drivers but you never know. Then go to work. Float the barrel, glass bed the action, and get a quality trigger job done and try again. This should improve accuracy. I don't reload...yet, and don't know if you do(ignore if you do), but if you want the really tiny groups I might suggest that paying extra for the premium ammunition is usually worth it. Good luck that should be a fine rifle. :)

I would make sure I had a good trigger pull- either a new trigger or get a gunsmith to work it over- then work up loads with the rifle as is.
You don't know that the rifle needs any work until you shoot it.
Ruger 77 Mk11's usually come from the factory with some contact at the forend tip- and it may shoot better that way than free floated- I have seen some that do.

Shoot the gun first. My unmodified M77R in 243 Win will print 3 holes from 100 yards that can be completely covered by a dime.

My M77RS 35 Whelen did NOT like it's barrel floated! At one time I thought I wanted all barrels floated because weather-related stock changes do not affect POI as long as the stock doesn't touch the barrel. Then I tried it on the Whelen. Without going into detail, bad things happened to accuracy. Then I put a shim between the barrel and forearm tip and voila - I had a shooter.

Sometimes you can get an 'idea' how the gun responds to barrel floating by placing shims between the stock and barrel shank or front of receiver to temporarily float the barrel. Conversely, you can temporarily increase forend pressure with business card shims.

The most common bedding malady in my experience is 'ambiguous' contact between stock and barrel. By that I mean yes, the stock touches the barrel, but it isn't a firm, well-defined interface. To cure this you can do some light sanding in the barrel channel to remove high spots (a source of said ambiguity) and place small shims at the 4 and 8 o-clock positions at the tip of the forend. Shims so placed increase overall forend-barrel pressure and eliminate the chance that the barrel is slipping side-to-side in the forend. Even my permanent shims are cleared at the bottom (6 o-clock position).

Let us know what you discover.

Live well

I am definatley excited to go out and shoot this little hummer. I have been kicking back and forth looking at all the ways people have suggested to break in barrells. From shoot and clean for 100 rounds to shoot 1 and clean for 20 rounds. Then clean every 5 till 100. I also have talked to a buddy that said he runs a patch with JB Bore paste 100 times and then shoot 5 time and JB again for 100 times and then call it good. I will tell you that shooting and completely cleaning a gun after every shot is not within my tolerence. So I am going to try the JB Bore Paste route.

Any thoughts?

... break in barrells... I've never bothered. I clean all the factory gunk out of the barrel before shooting the first time, then clean normally afterwards. For me, that's very rarely.

Floating barrels - In my experience, some like it, and some don't care. I glass the fore-end to see if it likes that first; it's easier to put stuff in than to take it out. That almost always helps - so then you have to decide whether the improvement is enough for you.

M77 MkII triggers are pretty easy to take apart and to adjust. One easy step with it is to replace the factory trigger return spring with one of a lower weight. Wolff Springs has one for $9 (delivered) that reduced the pull from 6 to 4.25 pounds. (It still needed work on the creep, of course.)

Ruger MkII barrels are remarkable things, as fine as some custom hand-lapped units I've seen. My last Ruger (6.5X55) required only three patches - dirty, grey, then clean - even after 50 to 100 rounds. (I said I cleaned rarely.) It rewarded my care with some of the smallest groups I've ever seen from a sporter - average of over 500 rounds of reloads less than an inch at 100 yards from five-shot groups. Some of the groups were under half an inch, and the best two goups in a row had in the first group four of five going into .26" and the second group had four of five going into .31" (new 4X Weaver K4). Ruger makes good barrels these days.

As accurate as it was, I still didn't care for it, though. The "blueing" wasn't attractive, and the firing pin falling vibrated the rifle ("clunk...nnk...nnk...), and the bolt was anything but smooth. If you can get past those admittedly non-functional issues, you'll have a very good rifle.

Jaywalker

If it is new your trigger is a new type that is adjustable and your rifle just may be PILLER BEDDED new from the factory

BalljointIf it is new your trigger is a new type that is adjustable and your rifle just may be PILLER BEDDED new from the factory Interesting news. Do you have a link?

Jaywalker