The gun hates that projectile but would likely work fine with a flat based soft point. M77s are not defective just because they are not free floated, they are supposed to make contact between barrel and the stock, that’s how most rifles controlled barrel harmonics throughout the last 150 years. Sporting profile barrels will heat quickly and I also get that same impact shift after three shots; I now only shoot three shot groups. You might find the accuracy at the bottom of the book load, I know that’s not what your hoping for but accuracy surpassed velocity when making game dead.
I have a M77mk2 in .243, I had all sorts of problems with poor groups, it was suggested that the front action screw should be torqued to 95 in/lb or 7.9ft/lb, I bought a new alen head bolt and my local rifle builder did the torque thing, with 100gn partitions over 40gns of H414 it now shoots one hole groups, the M77 is more reliant on front action screw torque than any other rifle, I have shot literally hundreds of deer with that rifle, .243win is an amazing deer cartridge
I am getting 1/2" - 3/4" groups out of my 6mm remington using imr 4831 with hornady 100 gr interlock, with an average speed of 2868 fps spread of 46.0 ad a std spread of 15.1 out of a 20" remington 660
You might try shooting a shorter lighter weight bullet. that long Eld is probably on The Fringe of stabilization for a 1 in 10 twist... To get better accuracy.
I think you’re right. Because it wasn’t key-holing, I figured it was stabilizing fine, but when he shot some factory ammo with 80gr bullets, the rifle performed better. If I try loading for it again it’ll be with lighter bullets for sure.
@@TheOutdoorGeneralist i have seen some bullets leave holes that were not tumbling but you could tell they were wobbling. Random flyers are excused as a wind gust by nearly everyone but I think they are more often a result being barely stable.
I have had good luck recrowning the muzzle to improve accuracy, especially on Factory barrels most Factory crowns are crap. It can make a big difference.
I bought a recrowning tool from Brownells. And cut it back until there is nothing left of the old crown. The tool uses a pilot to center it with the bore. And can be done without a lathe. I do not chamfer the rifling I leave the 11° cut. Some of those chamfering jobs I think are the biggest problem with accuracy.
I'd be very interested to see you try the 90gr ELD-X bullet with the Hodgdon H4350 with a light powder load say around the 41gr, which I use, plus may be 0.5grn either side! I have now found out that The Hodgdon H4350 is made in Australia by ADI and is AR2209 powder and is then repackaged by Hodgdon. I'll look forward to warching your new video with the new stock.
I was so pleased to find your video. I have a Tikka T3X in 243 and I'm reloading the ELD-X in 90gr too. I'm also using H4350 powder. my load is a little bit lighter at 41grn! My results are better with about a 1/2 MOA group. I put this down to no barrel contact with the stock. Also, maybe the way you are bench resting your shots. With the shortage of powder here in NZ, I'm having to switch powder to ADI AR2209 I would like to see you try it too if you could. Keep up the good work.
Thank you. I agree that you are getting heat issues on shots after 3rd. Surprised it isn't stringing more. But either way it isn't grouping well at all.
I'd love to try that sometime. The guy who owns this rifle recently told me he's had some decent luck with 80gr factory loads. It didn't like the 65gr vmax any better than the 90gr ELD-X so I didn't think it was the bullet at first, but this may be a rifle that is a bit picky about which bullet it likes. If I load for it in the future, I'll try something in that 80-85gr range for sure. Thanks for watching!
Great Video but I as watching you shoot and you're really yanking on that Trigger pretty hard. That can really effct your accuracy. But I would also look into re-Crowning the Barrel on that Ruger and trying Stabal 6.5 and IMR-4350. The 243 loves those two powders. You never stated the velocities you were getting either. I've been Re-Loading, Load developing and Long Range shooting for 55+ years. I've learned what work's and what doesn't.
The stock is touching the barrel and you keep shooting with terrible results wasting components? Fix that problem and start again, and drop those charge weights, max + is just silly!
Could be better. 1. You should show a complete cartridge for curious viewers. 2. You need more ear protection for all the shooting you do. How about your ear plugs plus on/off ear phones?
Complete cartridge shown in the first video in the series. Nothing has changed externally since then. I wear earplugs with every shot. I’ve switched to foamies only for maximum sound reduction. I do wear muffs as well when I shoot pistols, but they don’t allow me to get a proper or consistent cheek weld for rifle shooting. And I now shoot suppressed whenever possible. Thanks for watching!
Always! But IIRC, I did grab another rifle to check myself a few times during this load development. As frustrating as it is, I think we just need to try more bullets to find something it likes better. Thanks for watching!
Looking at those groups from here... Knowing your able to shoot. I believe you have bedding problems with that rifle. Light barrels should bot be judged by 5 shot groups. IGNORE the keyboard commandos telling everyone they need 5 shot groups to be pertinent. Ignorance runs strong with many of those folks. You can add a business card between action and stock @ the front stock bolt. This can "float" the barrel. Still wont help bedding allot, but can eliminate if ya thinking barrel contact is your biggest contributor.
Thanks for the feedback! I do remember reading that in the past about light barrels, but haven’t had much experience with them myself yet. That business card thing might be worth a shot. I’ll be doing some more shooting with it to fire form brass, so I may try that in the process. Thanks for the idea!
Good videos. Appreciate the approach and follow through. I also once had a 77 that shot like that. Sold it for a song and don’t miss it
The gun hates that projectile but would likely work fine with a flat based soft point. M77s are not defective just because they are not free floated, they are supposed to make contact between barrel and the stock, that’s how most rifles controlled barrel harmonics throughout the last 150 years. Sporting profile barrels will heat quickly and I also get that same impact shift after three shots; I now only shoot three shot groups. You might find the accuracy at the bottom of the book load, I know that’s not what your hoping for but accuracy surpassed velocity when making game dead.
That’s kind of the conclusion we came to on the bullet selection. The rifle did shoot slightly better with 80gr soft points.
I have a M77mk2 in .243, I had all sorts of problems with poor groups, it was suggested that the front action screw should be torqued to 95 in/lb or 7.9ft/lb, I bought a new alen head bolt and my local rifle builder did the torque thing, with 100gn partitions over 40gns of H414 it now shoots one hole groups, the M77 is more reliant on front action screw torque than any other rifle, I have shot literally hundreds of deer with that rifle, .243win is an amazing deer cartridge
I am getting 1/2" - 3/4" groups out of my 6mm remington using imr 4831 with hornady 100 gr interlock, with an average speed of 2868 fps spread of 46.0 ad a std spread of 15.1 out of a 20" remington 660
Great combo!
My ruger m77 didn't shoot the lighter grain bullets very good either. I went up to 100 grain soft nose bullet and now it's a tack driver at 100 yards.
3 shots and cooling down the barrel is the method I use!
Alot of CRF rifles only feed correctly from the mag.Wont function when directly fed 1 at a time.
You might try shooting a shorter lighter weight bullet. that long Eld is probably on The Fringe of stabilization for a 1 in 10 twist... To get better accuracy.
I think you’re right. Because it wasn’t key-holing, I figured it was stabilizing fine, but when he shot some factory ammo with 80gr bullets, the rifle performed better. If I try loading for it again it’ll be with lighter bullets for sure.
@@TheOutdoorGeneralist i have seen some bullets leave holes that were not tumbling but you could tell they were wobbling. Random flyers are excused as a wind gust by nearly everyone but I think they are more often a result being barely stable.
I have had good luck recrowning the muzzle to improve accuracy, especially on Factory barrels most Factory crowns are crap. It can make a big difference.
I have often wondered about that myself. Any suggestions?
I bought a recrowning tool from Brownells. And cut it back until there is nothing left of the old crown. The tool uses a pilot to center it with the bore. And can be done without a lathe. I do not chamfer the rifling I leave the 11° cut. Some of those chamfering jobs I think are the biggest problem with accuracy.
I'd be very interested to see you try the 90gr ELD-X bullet with the Hodgdon H4350
with a light powder load say around the 41gr, which I use, plus may be 0.5grn either side!
I have now found out that The Hodgdon H4350 is made in Australia by ADI and is
AR2209 powder and is then repackaged by Hodgdon.
I'll look forward to warching your new video with the new stock.
Oh alright, good to know!
Ck screw wt on that ruger might make big difference
I was so pleased to find your video.
I have a Tikka T3X in 243 and I'm reloading the ELD-X in 90gr too.
I'm also using H4350 powder. my load is a little bit lighter at 41grn!
My results are better with about a 1/2 MOA group.
I put this down to no barrel contact with the stock.
Also, maybe the way you are bench resting your shots.
With the shortage of powder here in NZ, I'm having to switch powder
to ADI AR2209
I would like to see you try it too if you could.
Keep up the good work.
We don’t have that powder here in the States, as far as I know. But I have changed out the stock, video should be coming on that fairly soon.
Try the hornady 95gr sst.
I might have missed this, but why not free float the barrel?
It’s a plastic stock, and not my rifle.
What’s the brand of coat you’re wearing in this video? My dad is interested for when he goes shooting himself! 😁😁
Both the shirt jacket and the coat are Carhartt.
Thank you. I agree that you are getting heat issues on shots after 3rd. Surprised it isn't stringing more. But either way it isn't grouping well at all.
I agree. Wish I could make it better in its current configuration, but I don’t think we’re gonna get any further.
@@TheOutdoorGeneralist Your 6.5 set up performs great. So it isn't the shooter...imo.
Maybe the gun would like 80 or 85 grain bullet with the 1:10 twist 🎉
I'd love to try that sometime. The guy who owns this rifle recently told me he's had some decent luck with 80gr factory loads. It didn't like the 65gr vmax any better than the 90gr ELD-X so I didn't think it was the bullet at first, but this may be a rifle that is a bit picky about which bullet it likes. If I load for it in the future, I'll try something in that 80-85gr range for sure. Thanks for watching!
Why not free float your barrel?
Those shots look like they are coming apart! I'm looking at the holes.
Have you been doing any shooting? I'm missing your content.
I have! Should have a video up within the next week or so. Thanks for watching!!
@@TheOutdoorGeneralist alright, good deal. Im sure what ever it is will be good, but hopefully it's some center fire rifle load development.
andy347495 It is for sure. Will be working on a load for spring bear hunting.
My Tikka T3X 243 shoots Hornady 87 gr. vmax into 3/4 inch groups with 38 gr. IMR 4064
I don’t think it will group unless it’s free floating or full length bedded
In the next video I did with this rifle, I did put it in a stick that free floated the barrel. It may have helped a bit but not much.
Great Video but I as watching you shoot and you're really yanking on that Trigger pretty hard. That can really effct your accuracy. But I would also look into re-Crowning the Barrel on that Ruger and trying Stabal 6.5 and IMR-4350. The 243 loves those two powders. You never stated the velocities you were getting either. I've been Re-Loading, Load developing and Long Range shooting for 55+ years. I've learned what work's and what doesn't.
The stock is touching the barrel and you keep shooting with terrible results wasting components? Fix that problem and start again, and drop those charge weights, max + is just silly!
Could be better. 1. You should show a complete cartridge for curious viewers.
2. You need more ear protection for all the shooting you do. How about your ear plugs plus on/off ear phones?
Complete cartridge shown in the first video in the series. Nothing has changed externally since then. I wear earplugs with every shot. I’ve switched to foamies only for maximum sound reduction. I do wear muffs as well when I shoot pistols, but they don’t allow me to get a proper or consistent cheek weld for rifle shooting. And I now shoot suppressed whenever possible. Thanks for watching!
Do you need practice
Always! But IIRC, I did grab another rifle to check myself a few times during this load development. As frustrating as it is, I think we just need to try more bullets to find something it likes better. Thanks for watching!
Looking at those groups from here... Knowing your able to shoot.
I believe you have bedding problems with that rifle.
Light barrels should bot be judged by 5 shot groups.
IGNORE the keyboard commandos telling everyone they need 5 shot groups to be pertinent. Ignorance runs strong with many of those folks.
You can add a business card between action and stock @ the front stock bolt. This can "float" the barrel. Still wont help bedding allot, but can eliminate if ya thinking barrel contact is your biggest contributor.
Thanks for the feedback! I do remember reading that in the past about light barrels, but haven’t had much experience with them myself yet. That business card thing might be worth a shot. I’ll be doing some more shooting with it to fire form brass, so I may try that in the process. Thanks for the idea!
I would sell that gun . After seeing the groups the other 243 did , there is nothing wrong with the load . That rifle isn’t worth keeping .
He needs to hunt out of his bow stand and try to shoot around twelve yards to get accurate shots
Lengthen the seating depth and try different bullets.
that gun got to go lol