mine
I've got one of those ugly 7.62x39 Rugers myself. Bought about 1995 for $414 dollars, the shop had 3, I bought the last one. While I was filling out the paperwork, I guy walked in and inquired........sorry buddy. A talented pal worked over the trigger, and it is an absolute delight to carry and shoot.
The look of the boat paddle stock took some getting used too, but they are TOUGH and I believe you could drive a nail with one. The little Ruger is my only stainless rifle and it can suffer a degree of neglect and come out of it none the worse for wear. Get it wet or bloody, discover it a day later, and the rifle is still okay. I've hunted mine quite a bit, killed my largest whitetail with it (about 19 yds) as well as 5-6 others. Purchased originally for bamaboy, he hunted it for a couple of seasons (killed 2) and moved to something bigger.
The rifle has always worn a Leupold 2-7x, but I am thinking of swapping a Leupold 1.5-4x Freedom on to it, the 7.62x39 cartridge really doesn't need more than 4x given it's intended use and range. The 2-7x will better serve a recently acquired Ruger Predator, 18.5" in .308, but not this season, and I digress. For those kills I mentioned, I loaded the now discontinued Sierra 135gr SSP bullet, and yes, it was .308" in diameter. I shot the same bullet from my Mini30 as well. I was never to terribly impressed with the expansion of that slug, we were driving them to about 2100 fps, from the M77, less from the shorter barreled Mini. The M77 shot into about 1.5" and that was good enough. Deer got dead regardless of accuracy and moderate velocity.
When my supply of 135gr Sierra's dried up, I went shopping for a new bullet, and settled on the .310" Hornady 125 gr SST. The M77 could stand having the bullet seated well out from the cannelure, that and/or the increased diameter yielded a substantial gain in accuracy. The M77 shoots the SST into 1" groups consistently, and we get 2225 fps and the single kill with the SST bullet (bamaboy) indicates better expansion. I wrote that kill/performance up in these threads, you might search for it if interested.
I have not hunted the little Mk77II-7.62x39 in two seasons, but it was my wet weather, rough country, climbing tree stand rifle for some time.