I like this rifle,but the trigger sucks! Is there anything that can be done to the trigger to smooth it up and take off some weight? Do I have to buy a new trigger and if I do, how hard is it to install? I have ajusted the Winchester M70 trigger befor. Is the Ruger about the same. This is a M77 MKII Stander in 6.5x55 for my wife, she is thinking about going back to the 1906-M96 swed even if its a little hard to cock when you push the bolt in.

well you do have to replace the trigger timmley has a good one you can get it at midway or mid south just about every one has them about 65 $ the only mod you have to do is on the safty the pc will have to be ground down to fit take it slow in the grinding so not to heat it up to much did my own the rest of the barrle work was done by earl lebertrol you can see my m77 mkII here http://community.webshots.com/album/389701592TNSbXJ
as you can see I go for under a .25 @ 100 yards just finishing up the stock on my m77 before I seal it .. hope that helps

You can have a gunsmith doe a trigger job on your 77 but a Timney trigger is adjustable. I put one in my 77 308 and it made a big difference. Just be careful to follow the directions on fitting the saftey. It took about an hour to do mine.

I've put them in a couple of rugers for friends and if you follow the instructions and go slow with the file to fit the safety its not that hard. File a little off and try fit it till it works. Don't take too much off or it won't work.

If you guys will scroll down the main page to the "Gunsmithing" forum, you will find a sticky thread on how to work on the Ruger M77 trigger.

We had our gunsmith work on the trigger of our ruger when we bought it . He (Epps) managed to get the pull down to a nice crisp two pound pull.

We did not need to replace it and thus saved the cost.

These triggers are pretty simple and can easily be worked if you are so inclined. The sticky below in "gunsmithing" that Kdub references is excellent in describing what to do - especially the part about not trying to cock the sear more as you pull the trigger. I can get one to a crisp 3 lbs with only removing what I would call a small amount of metal. I would think a gunsmith could do this fairly cheaply.

There are advantages and disadvantages to working over a Ruger stock trigger.

The advantages of working over the stock trigger is if you do it yourself it costs nothing to do.

The disavantages are that you still have a nonadjustable trigger and if you mess it up your going to end up with a factory replacement that still may have a crappy trigger pull.

If you want a rifle for target or varmit work I'ts amost impossible to get a factory Ruger trigger down to the oz level necessary. You should put in one of the aftermarket adjustable triggers.

If your just interested in a hunting trigger in the 3.5 pound range the Ruger trigger can be worked over to a level that is usuable.

Personnally I like the ability to adjust a rifle trigger and the difference between the $40.00 a smith charges and the hundred to purchase and install an aftermarket adjustable trigger seems worth it.

Frankly I've gotten away from the Ruger's and went to rifles with adjustable triggers such as the Remington, Winchester and now the New CZ's with their beautiful adjustable single set triggers. I do have one Ruger rifle, a #1, but it's an old one with a completly adjustable trigger.

Depending upon how mechanically inclined you are you can rework a Ruger trigger. I used a set of diamond hones when I do. They are fast and effecient. Be sure and use a good dial indicator to measure sear depth before and as you cut down the sear. Remember when you cut down the sear your gonna have to cut down the safety with a flat file or it will bind. If you install any aftermarket trigger your going to have to refit the safety also.

These are simple parts and not at all hard to do. You can mess one up, but learning sometimes causes that, replacment parts are available from Brownells, and that can always be an excuse to put in a good adjustable trigger.

Here's a link to an article we did on the Spec-
Tech trigger for these rifles, perhaps the best after-market trigger available for the M77MKII in my opinion.

Spec-Tech Triggers (http://www.beartoothbullets.com/open_sight/archive_open_sight.htm/16)

God bless,

There are advantages and disadvantages to working over a Ruger stock trigger.

The advantages of working over the stock trigger is if you do it yourself it costs nothing to do.

The disavantages are that you still have a nonadjustable trigger and if you mess it up your going to end up with a factory replacement that still may have a crappy trigger pull.
...
Personnally I like the ability to adjust a rifle trigger and the difference between the $40.00 a smith charges and the hundred to purchase and install an aftermarket adjustable trigger seems worth it.

Frankly I've gotten away from the Ruger's and went to rifles with adjustable triggers such as the Remington, Winchester and now the New CZ's with their beautiful adjustable single set triggers. I do have one Ruger rifle, a #1, but it's an old one with a completly adjustable trigger.


I agree completely with faucettb. It was fun to work the Ruger's trigger, and wasn't too difficult for a person who'd never done it previously. Three and a half pounds was fine for me and relatively simple to achieve. (This was a completely easy trigger to disassemble, taking maybe 30 seconds to disassemble then reassemble after the first, nervous, time.) Removing metal took took some thought, and I suppose I removed and replaced it 40 or 50 times. I used coarse sandpaper to smooth the tool marks and a small triangle file to remove metal. I cut too many coils off the trigger return spring, and it would no longer hold the trigger in place, but a replacement from Wolfe worked better than any cut-coil spring. (If you want to wish someone bad luck, wish that they have to cut a coil of spring steel!)

Another disadvantage to your re-worked trigger is that Ruger will "fix" it back to factory junkiness if the rifle has to go back to them for any reason - and they won't sell you trigger parts.

I've also moved from Ruger, since I'm no longer willing to put up with rifles that are unusable out of the box. Rather than CZ, however, I've moved to Kimber, with fantastic triggers and recoil pads right out of that box.

Jaywalker

Here's a link to an article we did on the Spec-
Tech trigger for these rifles, perhaps the best after-market trigger available for the M77MKII in my opinion.

Spec-Tech Triggers (http://www.beartoothbullets.com/open_sight/archive_open_sight.htm/16)

God bless,
Thanks Guys, looks like I will order the spec-tech trigger.

Here's a link to an article we did on the Spec-
Tech trigger for these rifles, perhaps the best after-market trigger available for the M77MKII in my opinion.

Spec-Tech Triggers (http://www.beartoothbullets.com/open_sight/archive_open_sight.htm/16)

God bless,
I got a spec-trigger and just finish installing it. Took around an hour and it really feels great. Thanks guys, all of you are a great help.

I like this rifle,but the trigger sucks! Is there anything that can be done to the trigger to smooth it up and take off some weight? Do I have to buy a new trigger and if I do, how hard is it to install? I have ajusted the Winchester M70 trigger befor. Is the Ruger about the same. This is a M77 MKII Stander in 6.5x55 for my wife, she is thinking about going back to the 1906-M96 swed even if its a little hard to cock when you push the bolt in.


Well, a gun smith should be able to follow the instructions below. You don't need to buy another trigger as long as the person doing the trigger work knows what to do and can follow the directions provided. The link has two pages, and the first page has a link titled "Drawing." The drawing is the second page.

The instructions are recommended for gun smiths only:

http://www.centerfirecentral.com/77trigger.html