Silly question about rifling

[uthornsfan]

So I recently purchased a very lightly used Ruger M77 Hawkeye on the forum. Gun is great, shoots wonderfully in the new Boyds cusotm LOP stock I purchased for it.

My question is this. Most all of my rifles, ARs, AK, M1, Glenfield .22 all have super smooth, shiny bores. None of these guns are Stainless like the M77 is.

The M77 bore is very rough looking. The lands seem fine, but the grooves are very bumpy. Has anyone seen this before? I was thinking that because it is CHF that might have been the cause, but from what I have read, CHF should leave a very smooth appearance as well.

[WildBill]

Not a silly question IMO. I don't know the answer, but I am sure some one on the forum does. I am curious.

[The Annoyed Man]

I used to own a stainless Ruger M77 MkII "All Weather" model in .308. I don't know what "CHF" is, but mine had what I've seen described as "chatter marks" in the grooves, which are essentially tool marks from the broach that cut the rifling. However, it did not seem to affect accuracy very much. With a lightweight sporter barrel and a 1:12 twist, it shot about 1 MOA with Federal 168 grain match, and no worse than 2 MOA with stuff like American Eagle 150 grain FMJ.

Have you shot yours yet to see if accuracy is affected or not? If you have a sporter barrel and the action isn't trued and otherwise tuned up, if it shoots under 2 MOA, you'd be getting about what the rifle was designed to do.

[Mike S]

I'd suggest trying running some J.B.'s Compound (can get it from Brownells.com if you ou can't find it locally) thru the bore. It'll remove lots of fouling that you otherwise wouldn't see (probably not what you're describing, though), & also gently polish your bore (might help with what you're describing).

[Lena]

Have you checked it for copper fouling ? If so what color was the patch ? Blue?, If all ok and shoots good forget it, I have a Rem 788 in 7mm-08 with a rough bore that I tried a very long time to clean it out, it shoots great so I just shoot it as is and keep it clean, it it is a problem to you the bore could be lapped but why waste the $$ on a factory barrel ? There are some very aggressive cleaners out there.

[uthornsfan]

It is not fouling in the barrel, the rifle is practically new. TAM hit it on the head, I was almost going to use the word chattering.

I shot it this past weekend and it shot well, considering where and how I was shooting. I would say it was easily capable of 1 MOA with 180 grain Winchester powerpoint.