Value of Ruger M77 Magnum (.458 Lott)

[Riflecrank]

Schuler Jumbo,
I had previously heard that only about 8,000 of the Ruger M77 Mark II Magnum Rifle/Ruger Magnum Rifle/RSM were made in all chamberings.
I have no info on how many for each chambering.

I found a filed away copy of the
RUGER 2004 CATALOGUE OF FINE FIREARMS
and in it the Ruger Magnum Rifle is designated: M77RSM MKII
THE GUN DIGEST never mentioned that code.
So "RSM" is a quite proper abbreviation.

That Ruger catalog also showed an MSRP of $1795.00 for 2004,
$100.00 more than shown in GD 2004.

The 2004 Ruger catalog was the big roll-out of the .458 Lott,
apparently first produced in 2002, just in time for a long-time Ruger employee to take it to Africa for cape buffalo in 2002:

 

[Riflecrank]

Here is where that "about 8,000" production number for the RSM must have been deduced:

 

[Riflecrank]

Bill Ruger might have heard about me in Botswana in 2001
with a 1998 model .416 Rigby RSM and a scrawny 42" cape buffalo
with scarred face.

He knew he could do better than that with all elements of placement for a photo-op to put in his 2004 catalog. So he sent his right-hand man off to Tanzania in 2002 with a .458 Lott hot to trot.

That was a one-shot kill at about 50 yards.
He bucked like a rodeo bull with a shatterd humerus and a pierced heart, ran less than 50 yards on three legs, through the mopane and leadwood, then fell over and death-bellowed.

Load development required only three individual bullets fired with one powder charge, and I was done.

So I loaded more of that ammo and zeroed it dead-on at 115 yards.
Of course, prior to that I had tried a half-dozen other makes of bullets with the same powder charge, none as accurate or fast.

The RSM bedding system might look like Rube Goldberg invented it,
but it sure makes for an accurate rifle.
My old .416 Ruger RSM was as it came from the factory.
I just added a slip-on leather & velcro pad to get a bit longer LOP.

That bedding system and how to glass bed it might be worth reviewing here ...

 

[Schüler Jumbo]

@Riflecrank I would appreciate reading details of the RSM bedding system to better understand the complaints I’ve read against the Ruger factory bedding and what should be done to improve the factory engineering.

 

[Riflecrank]

Will comb through the 'puter for the images of RSM bedding stuff.

Yearly production of RSM, all chamberings, by serial number listings,
so merely an estimate from Ruger dot com approximations:

Approximate total of RSM production from 1992 through 2010 =
7,815 + ???
where ??? = last year of production.
So what was the serial number of the last RSM produced ?

My two RSM rifles come from the two greatest years by numbers produced.
1998: 941 produced, enough to float up to Anchorage, AK where I found it in 1998, NIB.
2006: 1506 produced, improved the odds of me finding one at Cabela's on the used rack, with spotless metal and carbon-fiber stock.
Impulse buys.

 

[Rafiki]

It's not really a bedding system, I'm not sure what category you would place it in. Try and picture this; there are 2 screws near the front of the forend. One of these bolts the barrel to the stock (free-floated it is not). The second screw bolts to the recoil lug to the forend, again, way forward to where it is on most rifles. The recoil lug is not directly attached to the barrel. The recoil lug has a long heavy plate attached to it with a hole in the end. That hole goes around a nub on the receiver that accepts the famous Ruger 60-degrees forward receiver screw.

Why or how this contraption works is a mystery to me but it does.

 

[Schüler Jumbo]

@Riflecrank was the factory recoil mitigation system reengineered on the RSM .458 Lott you purchased with the carbon-fiber stock?

 

[Riflecrank]

@Riflecrank was the factory recoil mitigation system reengineered on the RSM .458 Lott you purchased with the carbon-fiber stock?

No. Same as on the wood-stocked version Gen-3 RSM.
Whether Circassian walnut or carbon fiber,
the recoil plate may be permanently embedded.

I coined the nomenclature "Gen-1, Gen-2, Gen-3" for the Ruger
RSM over 20 years ago.
Happy to see it so widely adopted across many forums.

Likewise, if I google for info on the RSM bedding system with recoil plate, what I find is my old images being re-used by others. Happy-happy.
Some of those are images copied from others that I have painted words and arrows onto and recycled.
What goes around comes around and here it comes again ...

And from another magazine article about same time:

Gen-1 above with barrel band embedded in fore-arm wood.
Gen-2 comes next with same fat, 24" barrel, but barrel band moved out of wood.

Recoil plate permanently embedded in walnut by AHR above.
Recoil plate permanently embedded in carbon-fiber below:

Yes, reassembly is particularly fun.
Just throw the parts together on a sheepskin and they will commence to mating and screwing themselves together.

 

[Schüler Jumbo]

Outstanding explanation @Riflecrank!! Many thanks!!!
1) Which RSM Generation do you personally prefer?
2) What is your theory as to why Ruger engineered this bedding system with recoil plate as opposed to a “traditional” recoil management bedding system?

 

[Rafiki]

Outstanding explanation @Riflecrank!! Many thanks!!!
1) Which RSM Generation do you personally prefer?
2) What is your theory as to why Ruger engineered this bedding system with recoil plate as opposed to a “traditional” recoil management bedding system?

Yes, great explanation @Riflecrank, especially the reasoning on why Ruger contrived this recoil system. You may remember that I was contemplating changing all that with my project rifle but I ultimately did not and I'm happy I didn't now; I didn't even epoxy that plate in to forend. RSMs are fantastic rifles.

 

[roklok]

Interesting that the .375 RSM has a 4 round magazine, while the .458 Lott only has three. Too constricted at front of box apparently, being case heads are the same diameter.

 

[Riflecrank]

Ruger M77 Mark II RSM
The "S" in "RSM" may refer to "with barrel Sights" not "Safari,"
just as it always has since the Ruger M77 R and the Ruger M77 RS of 1968.
Whatever, we all know what "RSM" stands for now.
All three generations.
I like them all.

 

[Riflecrank]

Interesting that the .375 RSM has a 4 round magazine, while the .458 Lott only has three. Too constricted at front of box apparently, being case heads are the same diameter.

Just like a Pre-'64 M70 .375 H&H, holds 4 down,
but the .300, .338 and .458 WIN MAGs hold only 3 down, due to less tapered carts.

About the only way I would consider improving any of the RSMs
would be to
1) Re-bore the .375 H&H and chamber to .458 WIN MAG: Gen-1,-2,-3.
2) Re-chamber the SAAMI .458 Lott using a SAAMI .458 WIN MAG reamer with non-cutting belt: Gen-3

 

[Rafiki]

Ruger M77 Mark II RSM
The "S" in "RSM" may refer to "with barrel Sights" not "Safari,"
just as it always has since the Ruger M77 R and the Ruger M77 RS of 1968.
Whatever, we all know what "RSM" stands for now.
All three generations.
I like them all.

Yes it does but "Safari" sounds so much better

 

[Schüler Jumbo]

I’m beginning to think that because Ruger machined the top quarter rib integral with the RSM barrel the engineers decided to rotate the barrel 180 degrees and machine a lower quarter rib as opposed to machining a traditional barrel recoil lug.
Then that decision led to the recoil plate and lug system. Do you think there is any reasoning in that thought process @Riflecrank as to why Ruger did not employ the traditional recoil barrel lug?

 

[Riflecrank]

Ruger was using the recoil plate on the M77 RSC .458 WIN MAG that had no quarter rib.
They added integral quarter rib after the recoil plate was used before the RSM.

 

[Schüler Jumbo]

Okay. Ruger engineers saw something that led
them to the recoil plate system so possibly the investment casting of the actions.

 

[Robncolorado]

I have all 3 of the RSM's, with the 375 my go to that has been on several safaris. My 416 was used to take my first elephant and my Lott has only seen a few rounds through it. I recently found my receipt for the 416.... brand new in 2007 it was $1678.40!

Seriously great guns for the money. I've slicked up the actions and replaced the triggers with Timneys, but for the money I don't think you can beat them. To me one in good condition one is worth $2500-$3000.

 

[Rafiki]

I have all 3 of the RSM's, with the 375 my go to that has been on several safaris. My 416 was used to take my first elephant and my Lott has only seen a few rounds through it. I recently found my receipt for the 416.... brand new in 2007 it was $1678.40!

Seriously great guns for the money. I've slicked up the actions and replaced the triggers with Timneys, but for the money I don't think you can beat them. To me one in good condition one is worth $2500-$3000.

Ya know, I hear all the time that RSMs are good rifles "for the money", that's not true; they are great rifles, no qualifier. I bought my circa 2006 in 2023 for $2500 as a project gun. I found it to be one heck of a gun, highly accurate and with features that a similar M70 can't match.

 

[Robncolorado]

Rafiki,

100% agree..... Best- Rob