Ruger m77 Hawkeye safety jam?

[HENRY GRIFFITHS SAFARIS]

I have a Ruger m77 in 375 Ruger caliber, i have been using this gun for more than 10 years on dangerous game. I had a very interesting bad experience with it on the Safari&outdoor dangerous game shooting competition this past Saturday. I will post a video below showing what happened but in short if the safety is bumped while pulling the bolt back the safety lever will get stuck in the bolt effectively jamming the gun. The bolt will not move forward or back unless the safety is pulled back to the fire position.

I know this is kind of freak occurrence , but i think it can happen again ,now knowing it can happen i will pay close attention to it and if it does happen and one know about it it can be fixed pretty quick.



I was curious if anyone else have had this problem, and a possible remedy, my local gunsmith says not much can be done other than removing the safety all together, something im not comfortable with doing,

 

[roklok]

Does anybody make a bolt mounted Winchester 70 type safety for these Rugers? I never cared for the Ruger safety at all, especially for a DG rifle. When it is fully rearward on safe with bolt locked, it does not give a very large area for the thumb to purchase for manipulating it.

 

[Hunt anything]

Thanks for sharing, I have the exact same rifle. Gives me something to look out for. Thinking on it my safety is different, putting the safety in the middle position is how I unload the chamber. I will do some experimenting on it tonight when I get home.
David

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

@HENRY GRIFFITHS SAFARIS I cross-posted your problem to another forum. In that I asked James Wisner if along with M98 and other 3 position M70 safeties, if he or anyone he knows of makes a M70-type safety for the M77 Ruger.
Keep your fingers crossed!

 

[HENRY GRIFFITHS SAFARIS]

@HENRY GRIFFITHS SAFARIS I cross-posted your problem to another forum. In that I asked James Wisner if along with M98 and other 3 position M70 safeties, if he or anyone he knows of makes a M70-type safety for the M77 Ruger.
Keep your fingers crossed!

Awesome thank you very much!!! Lets hope for the best!

 

[ActionBob]

That is precisely what happened to Bossie Mostert some time back except it happened as he was attempting to chamber i think the 3rd round in his 416 Rigby Ruger RSM as a pissed off buffalo was on top of him and he had the barrel into the bottom of it's chest!

He survived that by the Grace of God and removed the safety after he recovered. He has a habit of carrying his rifles with the bolt handle up so that is his safety anyway. This seems to be how many in South Africa learned to carry and shoot a gun growing up

It is a major concern with a Ruger that has the 3 position safety.

 

[HENRY GRIFFITHS SAFARIS]

That is precisely what happened to Bossie Mostert some time back except it happened as he was attempting to chamber i think the 3rd round in his 416 Rigby Ruger RSM as a pissed off buffalo was on top of him and he had the barrel into the bottom of it's chest!

He survived that by the Grace of God and removed the safety after he recovered. He has a habit of carrying his rifles with the bolt handle up so that is his safety anyway. This seems to be how many in South Africa learned to carry and shoot a gun growing up

It is a major concern with a Ruger that has the 3 position safety.

I asked several people today about this and one relayed Bossie’s story, yes its very true myself included I like to carry my rifle with the bolt up, but I would like to have a working safety if i can , but if no other solution is available that is the way i would go

 

[ldmay375]

My 3 position safety Rugers do have the ability to do this.

My 3 position safety CZ can also be placed in the mid / non-firing position with the bolt handle fully up. It requires no intentional rearward bolt movement.

I personally have not had this happen when using these rifles. But, definitely something to be aware of. Thanks for sharing this.

 

[KurtVH]

I asked several people today about this and one relayed Bossie’s story, yes its very true myself included I like to carry my rifle with the bolt up, but I would like to have a working safety if i can , but if no other solution is available that is the way i would go

I'm not sure how carrying with the bolt up would help with this potential issue. If it's going to be a problem it will be when you're working the action to load another round when you really need another round.

I have several M77s with this safety and have never had this problem. Learning from your experience is much better than learning it in the field. Thanks.

 

[Cheesehead]

I never had that happen with my Ruger but I could see how it would happen looking at the design of the safety. I wonder of a gunsmith would be able to put a bevel on the front of the safety and back edge of the extractor so the bolt would push the safety back to the middle position in this scenario.

 

[Hunt anything]

When I got home tonight I tested my 2 Ruger M77s, my .338 Win mag African and my .375 Ruger Alaskan. When I tried the Alaskan it would not jam, it would just jump over the safety. The African got hung up once out of about 20 cycle’s with me pushing in on the safeties.
I bought the .375 in 2013 and the .338 in 2020. I could just be the way i manipulate the bolts . I don’t know if it makes any difference or not but I’ve only run about 100 rounds through the .338 but have run around 1,000 through the.375. Just my 2 cents.

 

[ActionBob]

I'm not sure how carrying with the bolt up would help with this potential issue. If it's going to be a problem it will be when you're working the action to load another round when you really need another round.

I have several M77s with this safety and have never had this problem. Learning from your experience is much better than learning it in the field. Thanks.

You missed the point by about 10 miles. Many PH'S in Africa carry their rifles with the bolt handle up partway. It is how they learned as children to handle guns in a safe manner. Obviously with the safety off. Then when they need to make a quick shot they palm the bolt down and shoot. If practiced at it, that is a very quick and smooth operating method. And Obviously it is not possible for the rifle to go off with the bolt raised. So to the the point; if one were to remove the safety lever so this issue cannot happen, that is your remaining option to carry the rifle loaded but in a safe manner.

Now to your second point; how many times have you been underneath a charging buffalo wounded by a client? And how many times do you plan to practice reloading your rifle as a buffalo is on top of you trying it's best to kill you?

 

[roklok]

Even if the safety didn't impede the bolt operation, if it is inadvertently flipped on during bolt manipulation it would prevent firing the rifle. Not as serious as a problem as a jammed rifle, but still could be a matter of life and death in the wrong situation. So modifying or angling edges so the safety wouldn't tie up the bolt wouldn't wholly eliminate issues if the safety is flipped when running bolt.

 

[Hunt anything]

One issue I saw with the bolt up carry was when in Mozambique a PH friend carried his old Brno .375 H&H this way. We were in some rough stuff around a pan and the bolt was either pulled back by some brush or just fell open and ejected the cartridge. We had to backtrack and find the cartridge as he was responsible for it. I have carried my rifle like this but couldn’t get used to it so I rely on the safety full time again.

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

@HENRY GRIFFITHS SAFARIS I cross-posted your problem to another forum. In that I asked James Wisner if along with M98 and other 3 position M70 safeties, if he or anyone he knows of makes a M70-type safety for the M77 Ruger.
Keep your fingers crossed!

I received an answer from James Wisner and it isn't good...

"I do not know of anyone who has made one for the Old Ruger M77 in about 25 years."

Sorry guys

 

[Nkawu]

Could the safety from a left handed M77 be fitted to a right handed rifle? It would then be on the opposite side of the extractor and could still be pushed forward by the thumb of the trigger hand.

 

[KurtVH]

You missed the point by about 10 miles. Many PH'S in Africa carry their rifles with the bolt handle up partway. It is how they learned as children to handle guns in a safe manner. Obviously with the safety off. Then when they need to make a quick shot they palm the bolt down and shoot. If practiced at it, that is a very quick and smooth operating method. And Obviously it is not possible for the rifle to go off with the bolt raised. So to the the point; if one were to remove the safety lever so this issue cannot happen, that is your remaining option to carry the rifle loaded but in a safe manner.

Now to your second point; how many times have you been underneath a charging buffalo wounded by a client? And how many times do you plan to practice reloading your rifle as a buffalo is on top of you trying it's best to kill you?

I missed the part in your post about the hunter removing the safety. My mistake.

As to your second point, I thanked the man for sharing a lesson so that others, especially me, don't have to learn it the hard way. Perhaps you missed something by a mile or two yourself?

 

[375Fox]

You missed the point by about 10 miles. Many PH'S in Africa carry their rifles with the bolt handle up partway. It is how they learned as children to handle guns in a safe manner. Obviously with the safety off. Then when they need to make a quick shot they palm the bolt down and shoot. If practiced at it, that is a very quick and smooth operating method. And Obviously it is not possible for the rifle to go off with the bolt raised. So to the the point; if one were to remove the safety lever so this issue cannot happen, that is your remaining option to carry the rifle loaded but in a safe manner.

Now to your second point; how many times have you been underneath a charging buffalo wounded by a client? And how many times do you plan to practice reloading your rifle as a buffalo is on top of you trying it's best to kill you?

I think you did as well. There was nothing derogatory written in the post you responded to and his first point was valid. There are several big negatives to carrying a rifle with the bolt up. I haven’t hunted with a PH yet that does that, but if that’s how they learned so be it. I’m not sure which is worse though a potentially faulty safety in a rare circumstance or accidentally stoking out the bolt losing the round and possibly getting leaves or brush in the action when you need it? Or falling and accidentally closing the bolt without a safety?

 

[ActionBob]

I received an answer from James Wisner and it isn't good...

"I do not know of anyone who has made one for the Old Ruger M77 in about 25 years."

Sorry guys

Mark it sounds as if he may be referring to the old original M77 that came with a two position tang safety.

The problems referred to on this thread are unique to the three position safety on the M77 Mark II and M77 Hawkeye rifles.

 

[ActionBob]

I missed the part in your post about the hunter removing the safety. My mistake.

As to your second point, I thanked the man for sharing a lesson so that others, especially me, don't have to learn it the hard way. Perhaps you missed something by a mile or two yourself?

I think you did as well. There was nothing derogatory written in the post you responded to and his first point was valid. There are several big negatives to carrying a rifle with the bolt up. I haven’t hunted with a PH yet that does that, but if that’s how they learned so be it. I’m not sure which is worse though a potentially faulty safety in a rare circumstance or accidentally stoking out the bolt losing the round and possibly getting leaves or brush in the action when you need it? Or falling and accidentally closing the bolt without a safety?

I apologize for being abrupt and sharp in my response. My explanation is that a very good friend of mine was almost killed when he couldn't get a round loaded due to this unique issue. I'm probably over sensitive to this and taking things wrong.