Author Topic: Help with a Ruger M77MKII (Read 479 times)

turkeyhunter · « **on:** September 02, 2004, 03:57:59 PM »

I have a Ruger M77MKII .280 with a Hogue overmolded stock. This will be my main hunting rifle but I have a problem. I need a stock with a shorter length of pull. I absolutely love the Hogue stock but it seems they do not make a shorter stock and I don't see any way to cut this one down. Please give me some suggestions what to do. Is there anywhere out there to find a shorter replacement stock? Has somebody out there cut down a Hogue stock before. Please help me with this. I love this gun and the way it shoots but it just is not comfortable on me with the long stock. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Turkeyhunter

bchannell · « **Reply #1 on:** September 03, 2004, 07:47:31 AM »

I don't think you'll have much luck with cutting the Hogue stock down. The only suggestion, without having a custom stock, either wood or synthetic, made, which would cost an arm and a leg, not to mention it would not be ready for hunting season, is to find a take off walnut Ruger stock. They're on ebay all the time. Then have it shortened to fit you.
I've been thinking of putting a Hogue on my Ruger .270 and was wondering how heavy they are? Just how long is the length of pull on Hogue stocks?

safetysheriff · « **Reply #2 on:** September 03, 2004, 03:24:33 PM »

Can you possibly go with a thinner, or perhaps a Very thin, recoil pad?

I took a significant amount of material off of the rubber recoil pad on a Remington, and can see where I could take some off the pads used on the Rugers I've worked with as well.

I'd take the pad off the stock. verify where and how much material I can take off without ruining the pad, and then use a bench grinder to re-work the pad to my needs. That's how I've done it in the past -- with good results thus far!

If you've never done this.....then be careful holding the pad against the grinding wheel. You can remove a lot of material in a hurry....so work SLOWLY. Go to the library to get a book on simple gunsmithing projects if you think that will help. It's well worth the good results.

Take care.

SS'

turkeyhunter · « **Reply #3 on:** September 03, 2004, 04:59:12 PM »

Thank you for all of the advice. Here is what I ended up doing.

I called a couple of the local gunsmiths that I have dealt with before to ask if they had done this job before on a Hogue stock. Neither of the two had but they did offer to look at it and both estimated around 75 to 100 dollars for the job. In the meantime I went to the Hogue website and found information about cutting the stock down so I decided to give it a try. I carefully marked the stock and took a little over an inch off on my bandsaw. I then finished the job on my belt sander lubricating the belt with WD-40. After I cut down the stock I went to Bass Pro to look at the replacement recoil pads hoping to find a Limbsaver pad that I could modify. Believe it or not one of the pads almost fit my stock perfectly. Just a little sanding on the edge with my Dremel tool and I think the fit is more than acceptable. The only problem is that the screw hole didn't line up with the ribs in my stock so I filled the stock with fiberglass resin and I will drill and screw the recoil pad into that. From what I can tell it doesn't add that much weight to it and has the added benefit of making the stock just a little more solid sounding.

Hopefully I will finish fitting the pad tommorrow! This was a fun project and really wasn't very hard at all.

Thanks again!