2025 Florida Ruger Scout Build
Goals
My goal was to build a lightweight, short-barreled, scoped, lefty 308 bolt action for hunting. The rifle needs to be light and short to stay out of the way while I cross overgrown brushlands and swamps. I decided on a Ruger M77 Scout due to its reputation for accuracy, durability and dependable Mauser-like bolt action. I planned this build for a while and built a shopping list of mods to the stock Scout rifle. My finished Scout weights 8.1 lbs empty and 8.9 lbs with 10 rounds of ammo in the magazine.
Specs
2025 Ruger Model 6821 M77 Mark II Scout, 308 Win, 18.5in barrel, LH Bolt Action, Matte Stainless, plastic 10 rnd mags
VSeven Titanium Micro Brake
XS Sights Pic Rail Rear Extension w/ Rear Ghost Sight, mods for 40mm scope
Warne Quick-Detach Medium Ht 1″ Scope Rings
Leupold VX-3HD Rifle Scope - 3.5-10x40mm - Duplex CDS
Ruger Scout Composite Plastic Stock RH, mods to change to LH
Victor Universal Titan Cheek Rest, Nylon, Tan
Grovtec Locking 1" Swivel Set (front), Rotating Button Base & Button 1" Swivel (rear)
Viking Tactics VTAC Wide Padded Hybrid Nylon Sling with Quick Adjustment, Highlander Camo
Barrel
My hardest decision was barrel length and metal. To minimize size and weight, I initially planned on a 16” barrel, but the only 16” lefty M77 comes in blued steel. My common sense caught up and I changed to an 18” stainless barrel. For people in less humid climates, there were still a handful of NOS 16” blued steel M77s for sale when I checked in Oct 2025.
Trigger
Based on stories about heavy triggers on the older gen Ruger Scouts, I planned to replace the stock trigger assembly with a Timney Triggers upgrade. However, I found the OEM trigger to be perfect: Uniform pull and I would not want the tension any lighter. I suspect Ruger improved their trigger with the Mark II Scout.
Brake
The OEM barrel brake is long and has a reputation for ringing. I replaced it with a VSeven titanium micro brake to knock 7/8” off the length and drop the weight by one ounce.
Composite Stock
The biggest weight shedding mod is a Ruger composite plastic stock, only available in right hand. I bought a replacement Ruger righty composite stock and carved out plastic to convert it to a left hand stock. It took a number of passes to get the fitment just right, but I took my time so it the barrel/receiver fits nice and snug in the stock. The stock change reduced the weight of the rifle by 0.67 lbs and it is immune to wet and humid conditions.
Strap
I installed the Grovtec swivels at the locations recomended by VTAC. Up front, I relocated the OEM machine bolt stud and fitted it into a hollow stock section using a machine nut.m On the front stud I mounted a Grovtec 1” locking swivel. On the rear hollow stock, after messing with a locking swivel which did not like, and I ultimately mounted a Grovtec button base and 1” button swivel to provide the full rotation needed in the rear. I really like the comfort and maneuverability of the Viking Tactics VTAC sling and mounting points, especially after adjusting the sling cushion to be a few inches from the rear mount. Umm, cush!
Scope (Part 1)
I originally planned for a Leupold VX-3HD Rifle Scope in 2.5-8x36 Duplex CDS, but saved $100 by buying the 3.5-10x40mm on sale. Since this is a conventional eye relief rifle scope, I removed the OEM pic rail/rear sight and added an XS Sights rear rail extender equipped with a rear ghost sight, which is made specifically for the Ruger M77 Scout. I mounted the scope with Warne QD medium height rings, and the fitment was so tight, the 40mm end of the scope literally sat on the pic rail. I was going to leave it as is, until I realized that there was no clearance to fit a lens cover over the 40mm end. This tale gets worse: Read on.
Pic Rail
I have a major bone to pick with XS Sights, the maker of the custom pic rail. I am calling this issue “a mechanical engineering fastener selection failure.” The custom pic rail required longer mounting screws, so I was forced to use the supplied screws sized to fit a 5/64 Allen wrench, along with the XS Sights recommendation to seat the screws with thread lock, also supplied. I have toothpicks wider than 5/64 inches! When it came time for me to remove the pic rail to cut it’s length for my 40mm scope, I found that one of those tiny screws had fused itself to the frame of the barrel. I am an seasoned mechanic, and was able to determine that either that screw was going to snap, or I was going to leave that screw in place forever. I don’t even want to think about trying to drill out a teeny tiny steel screw from a soft stainless alloy barrel, do you? That screw is in there forever.
I suspect that the screw that XS Sights chose to mount their pic rail is a softer alloy than the OEM Ruger screw, so the replacement screw “melded” with the metal of the stainless barrel. These days most fasteners are only available from China, which rarely specifies material specs. This must be a nightmare for parts manufacturers. I plan to send XS Sights a friendly message that they need to supply harder mounting screws.
Anyway, now my plan changed to using a Dremel to cut a pic rail in half while “permanently” mounted to my brand new rifle barrel. Weeping. Elevated blood pressure. Cursing. More weeping. But I did complete the mod with no additional drama. As a side benefit, that pic rail surgery shed a few ounces from the gun weight as well.
Scope (Part 2)
If I had just bought the 36mm scope as planned, I would have been pleasantly ignorant of the pic rail mounting screw issue, and my Scout mod project would have ended a few hours sooner. In hindsight, I am still glad I got the 40mm because the extra magnification and brightness is worth my project trauma. On a similar topic, I heard talk about how low-magnification high-ER Scout scopes allow the shooter to jump from non-scoped eye to scoped eye with precision that can’t be matched with (1) traditional eye relief scopes, and (2) medium+ magnification. Wrong and wrong, at least in my case. I can easily jump between non-scope and 10x scoped eyes, while following a target.
QD Scope Rings
A traditional Scout feature that I retained on my gun is to have iron sights in place in case I needed to remove the scope. The Warne QD rings allow me to remove the scope in about 10-seconds.
Cheek Rest
I added a Victor nylon cheek rest which is necessary to raise the eye to scope elevation. One spacer was just right for a scope on medium height rings, but just a tad too high for the ghost ring sight. The manual sight is just a contingency and it is easy enough to drop my cheek when I need to use it.
Paint
I initially planned to paint the stock and scope camo. but now I on the fence. I am concerned that paint will rub off or scrape off the plastic with normal use. Besides looking rough, I have this fear of flaked off paint adhering to inconvenient places, such as the scope lenses. My terrain is usually tan, green or a combination of both. So if I paint it, I would rattlecan stock and scope in tan with green and brown highlights. If I do decide to paint it, I don’t know if I can bring myself to paint the barrel.
Can
I considered but rejected a suppressor, primarily due to the length penalty.
