Ruger 77 Tang Safety

[Steiny77]

Dad gave me his old Ruger 77 tang safety, .270 a while ago. I've shot it a bit and the safety switch is extremely hard to slide back & forth. It functions as it should but very tough to slide.
In the wrong hands this could lead to it not getting returned to SAFE and a potential accident.

Anyone ever dealt with this and have a suggestion for the fix?

 

[Ben Lamb]

I've got a tang safety M77 that's pretty easy to operate the safety on. Sounds like there may be some grit or dried oil on the mechanism? It's not a bad idea to pop it out of the stock and give it a good scrub. You may also have an issue with it binding on the wood if you have some swelling or someone replaced the trigger but didn't relieve some areas.

Speaking of triggers, I'd also recommend a timney trigger for it. The factory pull on mine was over 7 pounds. Not sure what yours is, but w/a timney you can down to a reliable 1.5 pounds.

 

[Sheltowee]

Dad gave me his old Ruger 77 tang safety, .270 a while ago. I've shot it a bit and the safety switch is extremely hard to slide back & forth. It functions as it should but very tough to slide.
In the wrong hands this could lead to it not getting returned to SAFE and a potential accident.

Anyone ever dealt with this and have a suggestion for the fix?

Have you taken the action out of the stock and cleaned any grit out of the safety/hit it with a little lubricating oil?

 

[Boarmaster]

Get it out of the stock , inspect and give it a cleaning. It is not a common issue that I know and the safety on my old heavily used Tanger is smooth as silk. Its very likely something simple. I used mine for two decades.

Good luck and let us know what you found. I didnt know until today you could get a Timney.

I thought you could only get springs. Good to know. My only complaint was the trigger and I only had that complaint after putting one in another rifle I own.

 

[Potsie]

Pull it out of the stock and hit it with a good dose of break cleaner.

My FIL gifted me a BPS that was 100% unusable because whatever oil he used in it gummed up and turned into almost a lacquer/varnish. Took it apart, sprayed it with brake cleaner, soaked the parts in acetone, then put it back together. Cycles like a champ now.

 

[44hunter45]

I had my factory trigger adjusted to a crisp 1 1/2 pounds. I used to carry this rifle chamber hot too. Woke up one day and decided life is too precious.
This is the rifle that @p_ham is installing a 3-POS kit on, filling the tang hole, and installing a Timney to a more reasonable hunting weight. New life for my first ever big game rifle, which I had parked in the back of the safe.

Some tricks you need to know on tang safety Rugers: (These are for more serious tinkerers, if you are not confident in this area go to a gunsmith. )

1) The factory trigger is very low tolerance and sloppy. This allows for inconsistency if you are applying any lateral (sideways) pressure as you squeeze it. This can be fixed with a couple of shims on either side of the trigger to prevent the side slop. I made my own, but there is a kit from Brownell's designed to shim sloppy cylinders on Ruger revolvers that works great. What you get is a set of feeler gage thin washers, pre-punched and good to go. Put in enough shims to kill the side slop, but not cause additional pull on the trigger.

2) To get below 3 lbs you will have to cut springs. I no longer recommend this. You should never have to stone a Ruger Mk1 trigger.

3) When you disassemble the safety to clean it, the detent spring on the side will go flying if you are not careful. I had to buy another one from Numrich. Found the original 15 feet away years later.

4) This is a trigger blocking safety. The trigger and safety moving parts all effect each other. You really need to clean and lube them both. If you are not confident messing around with the trigger, it is gunsmith time.

5) For a stiff safety, don't forget to check for a bent or bound action bar from the button to the safety cam. This can get bound by gunk in the stock under the tang. If the tang has been bedded, look for interference with the action bar and the bedding. The underside of the tang is relieved to make room for this bar. The first thing I would do is remove the stock and see if the safety frees up. If it does, this is where you need to start looking. Sometimes bedders forget the relief cut in the tang allows bedding to be high in that area. The fix is to remove the little shoulder of bedding if it is there.

6) No matter what you do in this area, the final test is to verify the chamber is clear, then cocked and safety on SAFE, slam the butt HARD on the floor. Even set to 1 1/2 pounds, mine would never dry fire this way if I had it set up right. I would also test after each slamming that it did not fire when I pushed the safety to FIRE.

7) Never trust a tang safety in a rear window gun rack! The safety button is right under the hook on the gun rack and it can be bumped to the OFF position. Ask me how I know. I fixed the outside hole in Red Green, but keep the inside hole as a reminder.

 

[cahunter805]

I’ve seen plenty of rifles gummed/gunked up due to WD-40. It was the go to for years with many people. That stuff gets nasty over time.

 

[44hunter45]

I had my factory trigger adjusted to a crisp 1 1/2 pounds. I used to carry this rifle chamber hot too. Woke up one day and decided life is too precious.
This is the rifle that @p_ham is installing a 3-POS kit on, filling the tang hole, and installing a Timney to a more reasonable hunting weight. New life for my first ever big game rifle, which I had parked in the back of the safe.

Some tricks you need to know on tang safety Rugers: (These are for more serious tinkerers, if you are not confident in this area go to a gunsmith. )

1) The factory trigger is very low tolerance and sloppy. This allows for inconsistency if you are applying any lateral (sideways) pressure as you squeeze it. This can be fixed with a couple of shims on either side of the trigger to prevent the side slop. I made my own, but there is a kit from Brownell's designed to shim sloppy cylinders on Ruger revolvers that works great. What you get is a set of feeler gage thin washers, pre-punched and good to go. Put in enough shims to kill the side slop, but not cause additional pull on the trigger.

2) To get below 3 lbs you will have to cut springs. I no longer recommend this. You should never have to stone a Ruger Mk1 trigger.

3) When you disassemble the safety to clean it, the detent spring on the side will go flying if you are not careful. I had to buy another one from Numrich. Found the original 15 feet away years later.

4) This is a trigger blocking safety. The trigger and safety moving parts all effect each other. You really need to clean and lube them both. If you are not confident messing around with the trigger, it is gunsmith time.

5) For a stiff safety, don't forget to check for a bent or bound action bar from the button to the safety cam. This can get bound by gunk in the stock under the tang. If the tang has been bedded, look for interference with the action bar and the bedding. The underside of the tang is relieved to make room for this bar. The first thing I would do is remove the stock and see if the safety frees up. If it does, this is where you need to start looking. Sometimes bedders forget the relief cut in the tang allows bedding to be high in that area. The fix is to remove the little shoulder of bedding if it is there.

6) No matter what you do in this area, the final test is to verify the chamber is clear, then cocked and safety on SAFE, slam the butt HARD on the floor. Even set to 1 1/2 pounds, mine would never dry fire this way if I had it set up right. I would also test after each slamming that it did not fire when I pushed the safety to FIRE.

7) Never trust a tang safety in a rear window gun rack! The safety button is right under the hook on the gun rack and it can be bumped to the OFF position. Ask me how I know. I fixed the outside hole in Red Green, but keep the inside hole as a reminder.

EDIT:
8) It is possible to set the trigger adjustment screws to the point that it will rub on the safety cam shaft. This could cause the symptoms the OP is experiencing as well. The safety cam shaft has a flat side which faces the trigger in the FIRE position. In SAFE, the full diameter of the shaft faces the trigger and prevents trigger movement. It at best touches the shaft, but does not apply any pressure. If there is pressure, the cam actually has to lift the trigger, which causes resistance. When you pull out the safety cam shaft, look for any marks which may indicate the trigger is riding on the shaft with too much pressure. Look at the trigger too for rub marks. Blue Dykem is great for finding rub points like this.

Again - If you cannot pass the test in item #6, the rifle is not safe to handle.

 

[longbow51]

Don't mess around with safeties and triggers unless you absolutely know what you are doing. I bought an old Sako for my wife, and the sear would not hold if the rifle was in the vertical position. The guy had played around with the trigger and didn't know what he was doing. Extremely lucky nothing bad happened.

My friend Kirby fixed it for like almost nothing. Find a local smith who knows what they are doing or send it to @p_ham.

 

[Ericbender]

I’ve never had a problem with my tang safety