hi ... i have a ruger 77h sporter ... since 1992 or so.
in my opinion the quality of ruger barrels are pretty good, good enough for 1moa or better .
there are a couple problems with the r77h ....
1) bedding ... there really isn't any in the factory setup . just stock bolts that keep the metal from jumping clear out of the wood ... then when the bullet is halfway down the barrel the magazine metal may or not crash into something . .
when i first got mine, we started a group on the internet ... this cute little rifle shot mostly 2 to 6 moa out of the box. our group was called * the ruger 77hornet victims group * one benchrest buddy of mine called ruger and they thought his 6 inch groups was within expected results .
2) the 2-piece bolt design is actually just fine ... but with varying rim thicknesses and a 0.030 gap behind the front ...or locking block ... half of the bolt, the thought is that the gun will rattle differently from shot to shot .
*******
the first thing i tried was pillar bedding the 2 stock bolts ... but the most important was adding a recoil feature .. i simply milled a 3/8 inch counterbore into the bottom of the barrel an inch ahead of the action and epoxied an aluminum plug into that counterbore. then sunk a matching counterbore into the stock and epoxied ( devcon aluminum ) a recoil pocket. a little flimsy for a magnum but it seemed to be enough for my hornet . full loads dropped to 1 moa ... hornady sx 50 gr bullets . oh, relieve everything else that recoil might bounce off of ... like the magazine metal .
since i just plink, i shot it that way up to about 6 years ago... the gap in the bolt bothered me, so i got a good take-off barrel here on the cba... and set back, rechambered with saami reamer, and set headspace to bolt-bump .... this caused the bolt gap to disappear ... now i have to try any new brass to see if the rims fit ok, but heck it seems better ...
but the big improvement was bedding ... recoil/vibration control .
i have heard good things about the green mountain barrels ... barrels are a statistical thing but i think it is worth a try to bed your rifle first. oh, and lap or “ gary's bore snake “' your barrel... whether factory or new match barrel . for barrel dimensions, no real difference . we tried many different designs in benchrest rimfire and the best barrels were just the lucky pick from the pile. 2 grooves might have been slightly worse.
i still have that saami reamer yet if you want to use it ... manson or clymer i think . let me know. not too many chips from a hornet chamber ; never wear it out .
i also see complaints about the r77h trigger ... but mine seems ok to me .. about 3 pounds , but i just plink .
oh... light recoil .. i wound up with a simmons 22 mag 3-9 with AO .. working fine so far .. $75 .
just some thoughts on a cute little rifle .... ken
oh if you are still thinking rebarreling i collect varmint wt. br match grade barrels .. 14 twist, 20-22 inches usually . might work for the hornet . email me if . the guys take these off if they don't shoot 0.1- 0.2 groups .. or if they lose ( g ) .