I have a Ruger M77 in 7x57 that I bought in '76 and have completely enjoyed it - a fine piece of equipment of excellent mechanical quality. I fell to the allure of the looks of a nice 2005 M77 MkII 270 Sporter last year and bought it off the shelf at a Box Sporting Goods Store, without dry firing it (not doubting Rugers' quality). Big mistake - while the weight of the trigger is fine (I estimate just under 4 lbs), there is pronounced creep. I'm not a good enough shooter to really let this bother me (at least in the field), but it is noticeable and I was disapointed based on the action of my 7x57. Then I saw the article in this months Field and Stream about cleaning up the actions of some name-brand rifles, and decided to have a "quality gunsmith" clean it up. Just got a voice mail from said Smith, stating "don't see any adjustment that can be made, nor can I find much creep. In order to do the work it will need surface work to be done, which I don't recommend. I can drop in a Timney if you like." Reading some of the threads here and on other sites, I figure 1) this guy doesn't know how to do a good trigger job, and 2) maybe the Timney isn't such a bad idea. But ... since the most recent thread is a year old, I thought I would pop this out for comment. The Smith in question was the one most referred in my area - don't know of many more but I intend to find one! In the meantime ...

First off, I have never seen a trigger than cannot be worked down to at least a 1 to 1 1/2 lbs.. Second the Timney would be a good trigger. The Ruger triggers are a little different but i have worked them down with not much trouble. He may not want to be liable as many smiths are these days. The smith I worked with always had his customers sign a waiver when he did trigger work. They never left the shop unless they were safe. Too many false law suits that are making smiths shy away from certain gun work. Saying that now, there is not a thing wrong with a Timney will probably be better than having the factory trigger worked down.

Just noticed this is your first post. Welcome to the forum.

Welcome to the board, Chinde. I'm sure you'll enjoy your stay here and find a wealth of information.

If you look at the "stickey" at the top of this forum, you'll see a thread on adjusting the triggers of Remington 700's and Ruger M77's. Might be worth your while to give it a read. If you hesitate to do the work yourself, one of our Moderators, faucettb, is pretty knowledgeable and may be able to walk you through the process via Private Message (PM) which is located in the upper right portion of the screen.

Welcome to the forum Chinde. Bet that was a surprise the first time you pulled the MKII trigger, I know it was for me.

The sticky on working over a Ruger MKII trigger is pretty easy to follow. If your not afraid to take it apart you will find the MKII trigger pretty simple.

The problem with fixing them vs installing an aftermarket trigger is you have to actually change some of the sear angles to make this trigger work. You also have to stone some on the safety once you've changed the sear angles to make it work. Once your done you may or may not have what you want in a trigger and it's still not adjustable. Most shops will charge from 20 to 60 bucks to do this.

When I had my shop going I always tried to steer a customer towards an aftermarket trigger for the MKII. Most good triggers such as the Timney are both adjustable and able to get into pulls from the 1.5 plus pound range.

One thing is if you attempt to do the trigger and it comes out good your out nothing but a little time. If it comes out bad they your still in the market for an aftermarket trigger. I'ts kind of a win win situation.

Many thanks Shipmates ... I found the Sticky to be very straight forward and will take the advice of getting a Timney and having it installed before going afield this year; and then using the stock trigger as a "project" over the Winter to try my hand at some home-smithing. I will also spend the Winter locating a good, competent and reliable Smith in my area and have them check my work before use! Appreciate the feedback - looking forward to using the Forum in the years to come.

I like the Timney, and chose to go that route. If the rifle ever needs service, Ruger will replace a trigger that has been worked over. You can take the Timney out and reinstall the original trigger should it ever need factory service, and then pop the Timney back in when it comes back.
An additional consideration, if you should decide to sell the rifle down the road, is that you needn't worry about some clown having an accident with the rifle and then suing you because of the trigger job. You just keep the Timney for the next Ruger you come across!

Chinde, I put a Timney in my M77 MkII 7x57 and have never looked back. It is just excellent and I doubt that working over the factory trigger would be as good. Cheaper yes, but probably not as good a trigger as the Timney.

I have a Ruger 77/22 and got the trigger doctered. It still has creep. Now that i shoot a .222 with a single set trigger, Wow! I just have to change the trigger in the Ruger.

I will go for a Timney or a Rifle Basic sometime call a RB trigger. I think the Timney will be my final choice. I have never fitted a trigger so may get a Smithey to do it.

That it for this end of the world.