SmallCaliberCentral

About a month ago I bought a new Ruger 77 MK II sporter in 204 Ruger. It is a standard modle with a blued 24" barrel and wood stock. I like the rifle's looks and the way it handles, and at first it grouped very good at around 1 1/2-2" at 200 yards. Then the groups started getting fliers and opened up to 4-5 " at 200. And it seems as the barrel temperature goes up or down because of air temp or shooting, the groups move up when warm and down when cool, as much as 4 to 5" either way. Then a friend helped me to free float the barrel and install a Timney trigger which shrank the groups to around 2 - 3" at 200. But the groups still shift up or down according to temp. Maybe I should clean it more often. I have'nt cleaned it in 50 - 100 rnds or so. I have'nt let the barrel get much more than warm, let alone hot. I checked the Bushnell Legend scope and mount screws and they're tight. I checked the stock screws also, tight. Should I see about doing something to the stock? I have tried 3 different factory and 2 handloads. The best is a friends handloads, 39 gr Sierra's and RE-10x powder with the 2" at 200 average groups. What am I doing wrong ? I don't want to ruin one of the best guns I've ever owned.

50 - 100 rounds of naked bullets?

Sounds like it's time for a thorough cleaning.

You may also want to bed the action. You have verified there is no barrel/stock contact when it warms up?

P.S. I'd be pretty disappointed with 2" groups at 200 yards with a tuned handload.

i have a remington xr-100 in 204 and its 200yd groups are under an inch and after 30 to 40 rounds they will be around 2 inches

Try a thorough cleaning first. Use a bore brush and really get it clean. Then see what happens. If it doesn't improve then you can rule out a dirty bore. If and when the groups start opening up again stop and clean it again to see what happens.

If that doesn't do the trick, then you might need to look at the bedding or scope. How new is the rifle? Most factory rifles take a couple hundred rounds or so before they settle in.

did you take the time to brake your barrel in? or did you just take it out of the box and start bangin away? if you did not brake the barrel in, i suggest you start from scratch, and start out right. you know the drill. shoot and clean, shoot and clean and so on. but start out right by using a good copper remover first. i use barnes cr-10. this stuff really stinks, but does a good job if you take the time. start by dry brushing the barrel about 10 times with a bronze brush. next run a patch saturated with cr-10. let sit for about 1 mi..next run a another patch saturated with cr-10. than you can go do something else for about 30 min. it is important to let this second patching sit for a while. now you can start with a dry patch. you will need a lot of patches. the dry patches will come out with a green color on them. keep dry patching until they come out clean, no color. this would indicate that all or almost all the copper fouling is gone. now you can start to break in the barrel. hopefully this will help. just remember, shoot maybe 3 to 5 rounds and stop and clean the barrel without the cr-10, i use hoppes #9. run this down your barrel, then dry patch until patches come out clean. then shoot another 3-5 times and start with the #9, and dry patch routine until clean. do this 4 or 5 times. now you are ready to put on paper, but shoot the first 2 or 3 rounds into the dirt, as these will be fliers. the more you shoot with out cleaning the barrel means you need to clean more diligently and take more time cleaning the next time.

Thanks to everybody for the advise on cleaning ect. I'll try that and in a few days let you know how it shoots. To answer some of your questions : The rifle was new 5 weeks ago. Hot or cold I can slip a dollar bill between the stock and barrel. I guess I really did'nt break in the gun right. I cleaned it with a bronze brush and Hopps #9 when I just bought it, fired 10 -15 rounds, then cleaned it again, then fired probably 30 - 40 rounds and cleaned it again. And then maybe again in 20 -30 rounds if my memory serves me right, then nothing till now. So I guess I sort of dropped the ball on the proper break-in. I'll have to get to town and get some copper solvent too.
I was wondering, it seems like a fella named George (vartung) has a rifle like mine that shoots real well. How well does it shoot ? (Maybe I'd have the same luck if I learn to take care of my guns a little better.) Thanks again guys.

cs: Vartarg's rifle shoots very, very well. You're now on the right track with the cleaning mentioned. Most guys THINK their barrel is clean, but guess what.....it's probably not if using 'casual' methods (think about a slug of copper being slammed into a hole slightly smaller than the slug ((land diameter)), at around 55,000 psi......something's gotta give, and it's copper smeared all over inside the bore, building up on itself every shot.....)

I suppose you know but you have to use a copper cleaning solvent to really clean the barrel hoppe's won't do for copper

What Waldo said.
My Howa came "free floated" but-they didn't quit get all the wood they should have. Once that was shaved off we also noticed the action was not inletted enough, so that was binding, too. Once a little wood was sanded off from there it settled down real sweetly.

i dont use bronze brushes anymore,i use butches bore shine and sweets 7.62,takes less than 30 minutes to get the copper out,but i dont shoot over 20 rounds before cleaning!