I had considered buying a new rifle but decided that my Ruger was worth investing a little money. .308 M77, fac trigger was junk, and the bull barrel needed to be floated. Went with the Timney trigger, 2.5lb pull, and after some tuning by my gunsmith, the break is perfect and the accuracy is unreal. Did mention tuning because at first the firing pin and trigger were not meshing. He made the proper adjustments and the rest is history. Also, put on new rings and scope w/ a mil dot reticle.

Would never take a shot at a deer at 500-600yds, but a hog or coyote, most definitely.

caliber "forgiveness" is no substitute for not knowing your DOPE. if your too lazy to carry a DOPE card, tape one to your rifle or heaven forbid memorize it you don't need to be shooting that far. If your hopping that the caliber will save you, your already screwed. To make a kill shot you have to put all the correct variables into the rifle system and put the bullet exactly where you want it (distance and wind are the first two, but density altitude shouldn't be overlooked). If you do that, your .270, 308, 30-06, 6.5creed, 243, 300wm.... will all do what they are designed to do...KILL

just know whatever you use, it will take about a .5-.7 seconds for the bullet to travel 500yrds.... a lot of wrong can happen in an half second

If a shooting class/training are not apart of your equation your behind the 8 ball before that bullet even leaves the barrel

Honestly if your serious about achieving your goal you should leave the Ruger as it is, its a fine gun but what will happen is your going to ditch it and want something else, it always happens.

I can ring steel all day for contact to 1K with better than average success but I've only shot 3 deer outside "normal" hunting ranges. Only 1 was under "hunting conditions" the other two were on my range were I had "complete control" of all variables. All three here head shots at 300yrds for all purposes just chip shots

good luck